cute kid...crappy camera

sy went off to first grade this morning and when i picked him up at the end of the day, he ran to my car window and proclaimed, "this was the best day ever!". what more could a mom ask for, right? ok, maybe to have his dad here for the first day of school instead of in california finishing up his internship. oh, and maybe to have the good camera here to capture the big event. the good camera is currently with said dad in order to capture all his hiking adventures. we had an amazing summer with many grand adventures, including trips to las vegas, california, jackson hole and montana. we had so much fun but this mom is very eager to get back to routines that include certain times of day when children may possibly be somewhere else---like school. as i have said many times, this mommy was born without the homeschool gene so, needless to say, the first day of school is met with audible hoorays mixed with a splash of hallelujah. this year is going to be exciting for many reasons. sy is in a new chinese immersion program at wasatch elementary and will spend half of every school day learning mandarin. this mixed with the excitement of eating lunch at school should keep sy on his toes for sure. he even did school lunch for the first time today so we have quickly tackled that new scene. soren will be starting preschool shortly and perhaps he will learn the 2nd half of the alphabet song so i will no longer be called a liar when i tell him there is life after the letter "p". craig will be in his second, and last, year of the mba program at byu and we should have an idea of where we will be headed next spring by christmastime---cross your fingers. as for me, i will be doing my best to keep us all healthy and happy and alive (which is a major accomplishment some days). thanks to all our family and friends who made our summer awesome. here's to a great school year!