On Our Way to Harvard......

In accordance with Welch family tradition, we take pictures of the kids by the front door on the first day of school! Yesterday was Porter's first day of SECOND GRADE!! He started at his new charter school, and we're happy to report that he LOVES it there so far! YAY! We'll keep you posted on his progress as the year continues.




It was sunny out, thus the squinting.



Good luck, Mr. P - we know you'll be the smartest kid in second grade!

xoxoxo

Graffiti: Mitchell Style!

We've had quite a bit of rain the last 24 hours, which cooled the weather down for a little while. I told the kids to take advantage of it and play outside. We broke out the sidewalk chalk, and they went to town on our fence!








The best part of their art projects......is the ability to simply hose it off, and start over!

Race #2

I'm sorry to report that we forgot the camera this morning.......BUT......The good news is that I had two handsome gentlemen running with me today! Brandon and Big Mike (my father-in-law) ran a 5k with me today! I ran just a few minutes ahead of them, but we all had a great race and were happy with our times! Woot Woot....the motivation is still there!!

Our Visit with Kevin!

As most know, my brother Kevin has been in Iraq for the last 15 months, and we hadn't seen him in over 2 years, so we were SOOO EXCITED for our visit from Kevin. He was 9 when I graduated from High School, and we hadn't spent a whole lot of time with him in the last little while, so it was so nice to hang out and get to know him even more. I still remember my sweet baby Kevin who loved to let me snuggle with him. I loved being the little mama to him! We're so grateful to have him back, and for him to have made it through 2 deployments....safe.



Fafa and Punkin came to see him on Tuesday. We always love to see them, and it was nice for them to reconnect with Kevin.



Wednesday, Kevin and I decided to load up the kids in the car and drive the APACHE TRAIL. It's just about 100 miles in a loop that takes you through some beautiful Arizona country. There was a 22 mile stretch that was a dirt road, and a single lane at times. It was SO COOL! The views were stunning. It was a great thing to do on a hot day. I tried to sell Arizona to Kevin at least a dozen times along the way! We'd love to have him live down here.......hint hint!!



We stopped at one of the lakes along the way. The kids had a ball throwing rocks in.



I headed up to a bathroom....and when I got back.... the impromptu swim had begun!



Owen LOVED the water, of course - he's our little fish!





It was a long drive, going quite slow most of the time, but WELL WORTH IT for the views!!



We hit the pool a few times, and enjoyed lots of Kevin's FINE cooking! It was a great visit. We loved having him here and the long hours of chatting. He'll spend the rest of his leave in Seattle and then head back to Tennessee. We hope he enjoys his time to relax!! WE LOVE YOU KEVIN!

Happy Birthday Porter!

I know this is a bit late, but Porter had his birthday in June......and we had his little party on July 3rd. All he wanted this year was a fun sleepover with his best buddies from Surprise. So, we drove up there and picked them up on a Friday, filled them with sugar, swimming, a movie, and a quick trip to see the monster truck at the nearby motor-cross track.




The boys loved seeing how big the truck was compared to them!



The sleepover was a success......and they were asleep by 10pm, and made it till 5:30 am before awaking! I thought it would be much earlier, so we got lucky!! Dallin and Rhett's folks made the trek out here on the 4th to pick up the boys and have dinner with us. It was way nice to see them, and we had a great time. So, THANKS GUYS for coming!! Happy Birthday again Mr. Porter - WE LOVE YOU!!!

Keepin' It In The Family.....

This post is a shout out to Ashley and a tribute to Britten and Porter! Several years ago, Porter and Britten were playing at Mike and Ashley's home. The kids always played well together, so they were playing while Ashley went about whatever she had going on. Suddenly, she realized it was just a bit too quiet - and went to check on the kids. This is what she found.



They had found the baby powder!! I'm told it was quite the mess, and a pain to clean up!

So, the other day, the kids were playing and Brandon and I were downstairs chatting. It was then that we realized Porter and Tess were downstairs playing, and Owen was upstairs ALONE.....QUIET...... We ran upstairs......and this is what we found....




Alas, the family baby powder lives on!!!

xoxox

A Fun-Filled Family Day!

We decided a few days ago to venture out today and have some good family time. The weather is so nice here right now (we love it in the 90's), and knew it would be a great day to get outside and catch some rays. We started our day with a trip to the Phoenix Zoo. My parents got us a year pass for Christmas last year, and we try to go as much as possible. The kids love it there, and we all love looking at the many animals. Owen is getting so independent now, and was THRILLED to be able to walk most of the zoo. We even ran into some friends from Surprise while we were there, which - - -no pun intended - - was a nice surprise!



The zoo has a great children's area, and once Owen saw the slide - he was hooked. I had to grab him, howling and screaming, to get him to leave! We'll be sure to head back there many more times this year!



On the way home, we stopped off at the Mesa Temple to walk the grounds and take the kids to the visitor's center. Brandon and I are both giving talks in church tomorrow on families and the Temple, and thought it was an appropriate time to take the kids there again and teach them the importance and the holiness of the Temple. I just love this picture of the kids.....they are getting soooo big and sooo old!

Our big news this week is that we finally got Porter into a charter school we'd been on the waiting list for. I had checked out two different schools, and had him on the list at both...but was really hoping for one called Eduprize. We got the call a few days ago and were thrilled that he got in! He starts in August. We'll keep you all posted on how he likes it. We're excited for him to have a more intense academic program. That little boy sure loves to learn and simply cannot get enough. Our little NASA scientist in the making is sure excited for his new school!

We hope everyone is doing well and happy and we send our love on to y'all!!

xoxoxo