Ashlynn's First Day of Kindergarten

Ashlynn had her first day of school last Monday (Aug.25) I am a little bit behind on my posting. Sorry but its definitely been a crazy week. Greg had "same day" surgery on his kidney stones Tuesday, needless to say things didn't go as planned and he had to be transported from the surgical center to the hospital where he was admitted and had to stay over night because he was in so much pain from passing about eight stones at a time....OUCH!!! He was released Wednesday night but still in pain. Hopefully he can get feeling better real soon!! Anyway back to Ashlynn, after her first day Greg and I thought it would be fun to take her out to lunch, you know for being such a big girl!!! We took her to Pizza Factory because she always tells me she loves their bread twists. So when we where done she said to me "I'll pick where we go tomorrow for lunch." So I explained to her that we wanted to do something fun for her first day of school.....don't get used to it!!!:) Ashlynn had a fun week even if her dad was sick. She got to play at her friends Bridger and Dakota's house, she even got to sleep over Tuesday night....she was in heaven!!!! Thanks so much Tanalyn for all your help with her, it truly helped me out a lot. Also, thanks to my parents for taking Mitch and letting him sleep over!!!! I know that wasn't easy!

American Fork Canyon...

A week ago Sunday (Aug. 10) Matt called and asked if we wanted to go up the canyon for dinner??? My first thought was...NO, HELLO the Olympics!!! Then I thought for a second about how my poor children have not been up the canyon this year, or haven't done anything like that in a long time and I knew they would love it. So I told Matt we would go!!! Its not that I hate the outdoors(altogether)....I'm just much more comfortable in my own home, you know where there are no bugs, mosquito's, smelling like fire, bee's (which did attack our food!) etc. Okay so we did have a fun time! Thanks Carson's for the yummy food and good times!!! Maybe we'll have to do it again sometime.....MAYBE!!!

Hogle Zoo...

Okay, so Tanalyn and I have been talking about taking the kids to the zoo basically all summer. So finally we decided that Friday was the day....no ifs, ands, or you know what about it!!! Well it started raining that morning (just my luck!) but we decided we would head up anyway and see what happens. It actually turned out to be a great day, by the time we got up there it basically stopped raining but it was still overcast so it wasn't too hot! The kids had a blast. Mitch fit right in with the monkey's!!! I loved watching the penguins, they were so cute! Ashlynn just loved being out and about with her friends, she did say she didn't like the black bear because...."its back had dirty stuff on it." Ya thats my child, if you are dirty or you stink then well we really don't want anything to do with you. I'm kidding.....well kind of!!! :)

The day was a success....well that is until we were about 2 miles away from home, that's when a lady ran a stop sign and we t-boned her. It was a pretty scary feeling knowing you are about to hit into another driving car and there is nothing you can do about it. Luckily we were in Tanalyn's suburban or I think it could have been a lot worse. I think Tanalyn and I got the worst of it with a few burns on the arm from the airbags and a couple of bruises. I was just very grateful that all the kids were alright!! If you do ask Mitch about the wreck he says "it loud."

I do have to say Tanalyn, you have got one awesome insurance agent, I mean showing up on the scene and all!! What was that insurance company again...oh ya, American Family, well I guess it does help if you are married to your agent!!!

I am just glad we finally made it up to the zoo, now where are we going next???

Weekend of the 24th

On July 24 we went to the Orem Owls baseball game with the Parker's. As you can see they have a play ground there for ALL the kids to play on!! Needless to say that's where Mitch and I hung out for most of the game with ALL the other kids running around....I thought I was going to go crazy!!!:)

After the game they had a firework show which was really good!!

On Saturday we went up to Park City to ride the Alpine Slide. We had a blast!!! All the kids loved it even little Nash!!!:) Greg and I went on the zip line while Matt and Tanalyn stayed with all the kids. I have to admit I was a little nervous to try it, but I am glad I did.....it was so much fun!!! After we had are turn Matt and Tanalyn went on it while we stayed with the kids.

After we had lunch we were headed to the "Alpine Coaster" everybody we talked to said it is so fun. Well as we came out of the restaurant it started to sprinkle. So we thought we would just hang out for a minute until it stopped. Well it stopped.....for a minute, we got back up to the park and everything was closed. Well we thought again its not going to start raining again, we'll just wait here and be the first in line.....ha ha ha!!! It started down poring, we couldn't go anywhere. It was just us and the workers standing under the ski lift pavilion. Needless to say we never got to ride the coaster, are fun day had ended early thanks to a nice down pour!!! Oh well, we all had a great time.....especially the kids:) After we had left Park City we headed for Little America where we stayed that night. We took the kids swimming and they loved it!!!
It was a great weekend, we'll have to do it again sometime....right Parker's!!!!!

This was right before the down pour!!!

During the Rain Storm!!!

Ashlynn freezing right after we ran for cover!!!!

Happy Birthday Mom.......

July 8th is my moms birthday. Us girls thought it would be fun to take her up to Good Things Utah and then out to lunch. Well it all sounded great!.......but my mom was called to jury duty, of all days!!! So we all decided we would go up to the show and then meet her for lunch afterward. That is if she didn't have to stay for the trial, which she didn't! The ladies of the show couldn't believe that my mom was call to jury duty. At the end of the show when they announce any birthdays, they put the camera on Sami and Allyse while they talked about my mom going to jury duty.....it was pretty funny!!!

Sami Jo, Allyse, Sadie, Jen, Aimee, me, Mandy, & Tanalyn

The Girls with Mike the announcer....are new friend!!

Sami Jo, Allyse, and Sadie

Latter that night we went to Cafe Rio for dinner with the whole family and then to Mandy's house for some presents and cake!!!


I know your birthday was a little crazy this year mom, but I hope you did enjoy what you could of it!!!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game.....

Last Monday the Parker's asked if we wanted to go to the Bees game. Well Ashlynn had a little melt down earlier that morning because she wanted to go with Greg down to Vegas for a very quick trip, I mean down and right back.....doesn't that sound like so much fun!!! Anyway Greg couldn't say no to her with her big tears rolling down her face so they had already left when Tanalyn called to ask about the game. So me and Mitch tagged along:) We had a lot of fun....thanks Matt, Tanalyn, and boys!!!

Land of the Free!!!!

Happy 4th of July!! Well it's yet another tradition with the Chipman family..... I know, I know another one!! We "camp out" up at my parents home on July 3rd. So the whole family brings their sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, treats, and of course the air mattress!!!
We all had a blast!!! Greg brought some fireworks so we had a good little pre show!! I got to watch from the front window, thanks to Mitch who doesn't care much for the fireworks:) Even Pat and Larry came down to enjoy them and a Pepsi!!! When it was time to settle down, we all went in the backyard to watch a movie. Normally we bring out my parents tv from their room and hook it all up so we can watch the movie, but this year Shawn brought a projector. We hung up a white sheet on the house and it worked perfectly.
Greg loves his fireworks, so for the 4th he put on a great show just outside on the street. Thanks to Greg and are neighbor Matt, we had an awesome show!!! We could even see Pleasant Grove's fireworks from are house!!! Ashlynn had some friends over and they all had so much fun!!! Mitch did allow us to watch them outside, he just didn't let me put him down the whole time, and after every firework was done he would say "done fireworks, fireworks all gone."