School Days! School Days!

Was it just me or did summer just fly by way too fast?!  I can't believe the first day of school is already here!  With backpacks loaded, lunches packed, and mom's traditional first day of school pictures taken, they one-by-one headed out the door.  Ready or not, they shall be taught!  I usually love the first day of school and have ever since I was a little kid.  But today for some reason I'm feeling a little sad about it.  Maybe it's the fact that summer seemed to zoom by this year, or the fact that Lance is on a mission and Jordan is starting her first day of college today. And I can't believe Nicki is a junior this year, Hunter is a freshman, and Tanner is a 4th grader!  And maybe it's just the light rain outside (yes, can you believe rain on the first day of school, which right at this moment is no longer on the light side!  Kind of nice though).  Whatever the reason, I'm feeling a little nostalgic today.  Maybe that's called old age!  I can remember every first day of school since Lance started preschool.  I always feel a few nervous butterflies for the kids on their first day.  Since they won't admit to having them I always tell them I have enough butterflies for all of us!  I do the typical worried mom thing and worry about them making new friends, finding their way, doing well in school, and not eating lunch by themselves if their friends don't have lunch the same period.  And you know what, with all that worrying every year it always ends up just fine!  I can't wait for them to come home this afternoon and hear about their day, or read Lance's email, or get Jordan's phone call this evening.  And I hope they all started out their day knowing how much we love them and how proud we are of each and every one.  Yep, we are definitely blessed to have the greatest kids in the world! 

Schofield's, Sleepless in Seattle!!!

This year for our family vacation we flew out to see Pam and Al (Den's mom and stepdad) in La Conner (San Juan Islands), Washington just north of Seattle in the gorgeous Puget Sound. What an amazing place! There was so much to see and do that we just couldn't fit it all in in just a few days. We started off at the boat show as soon as we reached La Conner. La Conner is a quaint little town that reminded us a little of Carmel...lots of little shops and a little marina. Pam and Al's backyard has some of the best views we've ever seen..and the blackberries!!! Ask Tanner about all Grandma Pam's blackberries! YUM!

We spent the next 2 days being tourists in Seattle. What a fun place! Day 1 we rode the monorail into downtown Seattle, went to Pikes Market where we strolled the streets and bought doughnuts at the famous Daily Dozen (If you like a LOT of grease, they were pretty good).

Then it was off to the Seattle Aquarium, lunch at Ivar's (famous for their chowder, which even Tanner ate and loved!), and then to tour the 605 ft tall Space Needle. Words can't describe!

The next day we went on The Underground Tour. We first saw this on Ghost Hunters on the Discovery Channel, so it was a must do. This was one of the neatest things we did. We learned lots of Seattle history and saw some really cool things. No ghosts though!

After that it was off to ride The Ducks! This was hilarious!!! It's a land and water tour of Seattle on these old WWII boats that were part truck part boat. Our Captain (driver) was hilarious and had us pretty much rolling in the isles. We sang, danced in our seats, quacked (yes, we actually had kazoo quackers) and laughed our way through Seattle. Highly recommended if you're ever in the area. We hadn't laughed that hard in a long time!!!

On the way home to La Conner we stopped at Snowgoose Produce where we had the most immodest ice-cream cones ever!! (Yes, we had to get in our ice-cream!) These things were waffle cones with at least an entire quart of ice-cream on them. The best blackberry ever!

Day 3 was spent at the beach at Deception Point as well as Cranberry Lake. It was an absolute beautiful day! It's this little spot where one side of the parking lot is the actual ocean and the other side of the parking lot is Cranberry Lake. We combed the shore for shells and rocks, explored tide pools and ate a picnic lunch.

Then it was off to the lake side where Kim and the kids rented a pedal boat and pedaled around the lake for a while. A nice relaxing day. We could've spent days here!

Our last day there we took a ferry from Anacortes (home to the late Burl Ives) to tour San Juan Island and stopped at Friday Harbor for the day where Dennis and I found true love. Yes...the place we want to retire!!! Friday Harbor is home of the best whale watching sites from land in the U.S. Although we didn't see a single whale, the news the night before reported that the ferry traffic was backed for hours due to the number of whales in the harbors. We drove out to the Lavendar farm, went Letterboxing (thanks for the idea Kristi!), watched for whales, and played in the tide pools at Lime Kiln Point. Then shopped and ate dinner before getting on the ferry ride home to pack.

Thanks so much to Grandma Pam, Al, and Kristen for letting us come play with them. We will always cherish our memories of swimming, picking blackberries, Friday Harbor, playing in Seattle, and best of all.........BEING TOGETHER!!!!

P.S.... Lance and Jordan....we missed you :)

The Daily Scoop...

The Lagoon-ies!

We had a great time yesterday at Lagoon with Tara and the kids (plus a couple friends). I just love being an aunt! ALMOST as much as I do being a mom!!! It was a perfect day...not too hot and not too crowded. With the exception of Tanner getting sick after riding the Spider, Wicked, and Colosus all in a row! He's a rockstar! I had to bring him home to lay down for a while, as well as to take Nicki to work. Then Hunter and I went back to meet up with Tara and the gang for a couple hours after dinner. After a long day at Lagoon it was definitely time for an ice-cream break at...where else...Dairy Queen to see Nicki! It was a Blizzards and fries fest. We had some hungry goonies. All in all it was a great day! And I came away feeling even more blessed to have these special people in my life and for being able to spend time with them doing something I absolutely love to do. Life doesn't get much better than this!

The scoop of the week!

We had a super fun awesome week when our "California Cousins" came to stay with us this week...complete with Aunt Tawni, Uncle Terry, and Kristi n Chris. They all came up to Utah for Sheryl's big wedding "pre"-ception ;) We had a houseful...but oh what a great time we all had. The whole gang stayed with us on Tuesday night, and then just the Williquette's (Kristi's family) stayed through Friday. Can I just say what a bunch of adorable nieces and nephews I have! (Even if Hayden did call me Grandma...which I am taking as the biggest of compliments!!!) Tanner had a blast hanging out with Sarah and Miranda. They even got to sleep out in the tent. I only wish I'd gotten pictures of that!!! Hayden and Jonathan are two of the cutest little monkey's I've ever seen...and happy every minute of the day....unless you take their hotwheels away!



It was a busy week with the bridal shower and all the party prepping...but it was great to see everyone. We only wish we had more time to play! And we totally missed Tara, Josh, and Dakota!!! Hopefully we'll get to see them soon.