Back to School

Here's the gang - ready to head off to 2nd, 4th, and 7th grade.

The summer went by way too fast, and I wish we had another week or two. But I will admit, it was fun meeting friends for a late breakfast at Panera this morning, too. =)

Back to the Beach

Now that all of us kids are married and settled, my family is trying to set up a more official reunion schedule. Since we're split evenly between the East and West, our plan is to alternate back and forth every other year. We kicked off in the East by spending a week at the beach in Garden City, SC.

Adam and Courtney working on a sand castle with Grandpa and Uncle Ben

Courtney with her wild ocean hair enjoying some boogie boarding

The Brueck cousins - the last time they were all together was five years ago! Luckily, it didn't take them long to get to know each other again, and they all got along great!

Jordan and Jacob on the beach (looking innocent but probably planning their next Nerf gun assault)

Adam the merman

My two silly sisters posing in the surf

Jason catching a wave

The beach had shells everywhere! Here's Alyssa with just a few of the MANY she collected all week.

Alyssa with her uncles Craig and Ben - ready to hit the waves

Hey Jordan - there's something under your chair...

I love this picture! Dave's coming out of the surf ready to attack.

The pool had a cool night feature - when you turned on the pool light, it changed colors!

And Craig brought a cool underwater camera for daytime fun

South Carolina is a lot more lax on its fireworks regulations than North Carolina, so Ben and Craig were able to put on a real fireworks show. And they're legal on the beach, so we watched the show in the sand.

Julie and Ken using sparklers (and Melanie's camera tricks) to express their love =)

The tooth fairy visited four times! Alyssa and Jacob lost one the same night early in the week, and Courtney lost hers mid week. When it was time to pose for this picture, Nathan decided to work on his sorta-loose tooth just so he could he could be in the picture, too. He was in the bathroom for awhile, but he emerged victorious.

When Jennie came down for church Sunday morning, we noticed she matched the beach house!

And here's Ben with "Shelly." The beach house had this creepy bust of a woman with shells for hair. She quickly became a source of fun as we left her in people's beds, at the top of the stairs, etc. You never knew where she might surface next...

Jacob, Jordan, Courtney, Alyssa, and Rachael

The Brueck gang!

Thanks to Joanna (a.k.a. "family president") for finding a great beach house and organizing a fantastic week. Now the mantle falls on someone out West (shall we say Jennie?) =) as we look forward to Bear Lake 2011.

Roommate Reunion!

It finally happened! After 15+ years (gasp!!), my beloved and fantastic group of friends from BYU (a.k.a. "the Slooks") were together again. We're still amazed we all made it since we're now scattered across the country (VA, WV, UT, NC, NM, ID, MN, and CA). The years melted away, and we laughed and reminisced for two days straight.

We spent the first day down in Provo - walking around campus, shopping at the bookstore, and generally looking like the group of 30-something women we now are. =)

Here we are in front of the library extension that didn't exist when we were on campus. Other than updated hair styles, we all look the same! (Well, except for that baby on Sally's back...)

After lunch at the Cougareat (which has gone from glorified cafeteria to full-blown food court), we headed down to our old apartment at Regency...

Other than the apartment number changing, things looked pretty much the same. Ahh the memories!

The BYU Creamery is now in a new location and looks totally different, but the ice cream is still the best (and so cheap)!

And what's more Provo than dinner at Los Hermanos?? =)

That nite, we had a slumber party (Jason finds this hilarious) at Trish's sister's house in Draper. (Thanks Melinda!!) We were all exhausted (since we're so old now and all), but we still talked well into the nite. Someone would bring up a silly memory, and we would laugh until we cried. I can't remember the last time I've laughed so long and so hard!

After a slow start the next morning, we headed up to Salt Lake. We saw the Joseph Smith movie at the Joseph Smith building...

...then had lunch at The Garden up top!

We walked around Temple Square and managed to jump in the constant procession of summer brides to snap this picture. =)

After dinner at Olive Garden that nite, we said our goodbyes. It was sad to see our little reunion come to an end. My college years were fun and crazy because of these friends. Late-nite trips to Hardee's for twist cones, shopping trips to Food 4 Less, group dates, Ramen noodles, too much confetti, stolen shower curtains, eating ice cream straight from the Creamery bucket, pulling all-niters for exams and finals - the memories are endless. It's rare to find a group of friends like this, and I love them dearly! Long live the Slooks!

P.S. A special thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law Shirley and sister-in-law Jodi who came down from VA to help with the kids while I was gone. And thanks to nephews Diego, Christian, and Anthony for tagging along to make sure my kids had so much fun, they didn't miss me at all!

Passing the Torch

That would be the lawn-mowing torch, passing from father to son. Father is very happy.

The grass was extra long because we'd been at the beach, and the self-propelling feature on the mower has ceased functioning. This builds character and helps son appreciate new mower.

Son with blisters. Hopes new lawn mower arrives soon.

Beach Blast

Our annual trip to the beach with Jason's family is one of our favorite weeks of the year. At this point, we're up to 25 people (11 adults and 14 kids). We travel from NC, VA, WV, and OH and converge on a big beach house in the Outer Banks.

The week is filled with plenty of sun (both at the beach and the pool), bike riding, fireworks, water balloons, ice cream cones, late bedtimes, and cousin bonding. We're already counting down the days until next year.

Despite taking 200+ pictures, we'll just post a few highlights... =)

Playing on the beach

Courtney goes airborne thanks to Uncle Jared

Alyssa wanted to try it, too

Relaxing with drinks on their hand-crafted sand couch

Lighting sparklers

Alyssa and Dad

Pool baseball against Dad and Uncle Jared was pretty popular

Alyssa and Corinne on the go

Courtney loved boogie boarding this year

Jordan and Tyler

If you lift off the hot tub lid, they will come...

You're never too old to torment your brother

Alyssa enjoying the surf

Jordan and Tyler boogie boarding

Julia and Courtney

The Mattingley cousins

Good Times for the Girls

The close of the school year brought exciting news for Alyssa and Courtney. Both girls ended up being the top reader for their grade levels - Alyssa for 3rd grade and Courtney for 1st grade. Guess their love of reading really paid off! =)

Courtney got a second thrill when her artwork was chosen as the first grade entry from her school for the district K-2 art exhibit. The entries from all over the district were on display downtown for a whole month. (We were a little surprised to discover it was a real gallery!) =) Courtney was so excited to see her picture on display!

Courtney with her winning picture