Hillcrest Elementary

2^nd Annual Family Walk-a-Thon

The Race is On

I thought I would make one giant thank you post for all of my family out there who didn't hang up on Jessi when she called asking for money. Last year I started this walk-a-thon and it turned out so well we decided to do it again for our elementary school. Poor Jessi has been seeing all of these presents, posters, and race flags lying around the house and just wants to keep them all. We tried the "Chuck E. Cheese" idea this year – you know where you spend tons of money to earn tickets to buy a little tiny toy. Well I had to order all the presents ahead of time so Jessi, Josh, & Shelby (it's beneath Quinn now that she's in the Intermediate School) have been drooling over the prizes you win for raising $10, $20, etc. If only I could have those presents in all of the 450 students' homes as well we might actually hit our goal! If you want to check out the website (Maria helped me create it last year) it's www.HillcrestPTO.blogspot.com Again, thanks everybody!

Lots of News

For my birthday this year Joaquin surprised me with a trip to Yellowstone with the family. He rented a hotel with a pool (that's just a must according to the kids) for 2 days in West Yellowstone. It was a little tricky because I was still on "limited bed rest" so I wasn't supposed to exercise. We just visited the sites that were close to the road and if there was a walk, I would take the short cut with Shelby while Joaquin took the others the scenic way. By the end of the day everyone was begging to come with me, wimps! We really had such a great time together and just loved having Joaquin for 2 days all to ourselves.

The kids weren't too impressed with the boiling water. "Cool I guess Dad, but are there any rides?"

This was my favorite view, the waterfalls nice but aren't Quinn & Jessi gorgeous? Hee, hee. We were able to see both the Upper & Lower Falls and loved them.

The gift shops were all the kids favorite place. "Old Faithful - cool, Paint Pots - they stink, but can we please please please go into that Gift Shop?!? I'm sure it's got something I haven't seen yet!"

Here's a great pic of us in front of Old Faithful.

Which pictures to choose? The kids favorite animal was the Bison - and we saw sooo many that by 6:30 pm (as we were trying to get out of the park) when we had to slow down for people gawking at them the kids would say, "It's just a Bison - get out of the way!"

Here's our First Day of school picture. This is the first year that Quinn & Jessi have been in the same room (with the new baby coming we did some shuffling) and it's been glorious! They come up dressed and happy around 6:30 am. Joaquin has always thought Quinn deserved her own room since she was the oldest (can you tell he was a spoiled first child as well?) and I just think that's poppycock. I've never had my own room - ever - and I'm fairly normal. Jessi used to beg to sleep with Quinn every night and then cry when she couldn't. This is so much easier for the mama - thank you new baby!

I forgot to update everyone on our kitty issue. We were happy to receive 2 kitties from "Dippins" Mother, one girl named Lily and her brother named Prince Trouble. They have survived almost 2 months now - yahoo. Other than a little bout with diarrhea - yuk - they have been the perfect pets. Quinn is still so much like my Mom says I was and just lives to be their favorite. She's been trying to train them to curl up around her neck, she feeds them ham when I'm not looking, and cries every time Joaquin tells her they need to go outside for awhile! They tolerate Shelby & Josh and Jessi still just doesn't really care.