Labor Day weekend

So, in case you are really bored and want to know what we did this Labor Day weekend, here are a few of the highlights (or low lights - which ever way you want to look at it) ha ha!

Dave and Matt built a hat rack for Casey to take with her to college~ fun project!! (We will miss you so much Casey!!)
The three girls got new church dresses for Sunday... awwww... how cute
Dave and Matt loving the woodworking!! MALE BONDING TIME! What is Dave going to do next year without his one and only male companion?!?!

Matt's car bit the dust!! Dave and Matt spent 12 (yes 12) hours on Saturday trying to fix Matt's car... they put in a new fuel pump, new spark plugs and a new fuel injector... we all climbed into the car to take it for a test ride after they finished at 8:00 p.m. and it ran! (for about 5 minutes) then it started making some new EXTREMELY hideous noises and Dave declared it a total and complete WASTE! Great. So, Matt is parking his car until the dinero magically appears to fix it some day.
Oh yes, what is a long weekend around the Doxey house without a chocolate cake? Dave baked this beauty last night for all to enjoy! DELICIOUS!
Lindsey, Katie and Ellie thoroughly enjoyed the day off by creating an obstacle course in the living room and playing games in there for hours on end... so cute!
I did my typing job almost all weekend and pretended I was too busy to do anything else!! :) ha ha -- especially any cleaning!
My awesome Dad brought us down these beauties... a whole bushel of tomatoes from his garden.. it's the second one this month! We are loving them! They are so delicious. I am canning them tomorrow! :)
We also did some bike riding on Saturday night and watched a movie or two (at least we fell asleep to them)
And last but not least, it rained on Friday night and the girls got some jumpin in...

YEA! It NEVER rains here! The kids were soooo excited, and even though it only lasted a few minutes, they had to get out on the tramp and have some fun in it! They even sang the old "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring" song. :)

So, over all, despite a few mechanical set backs, we had a great weekend. It was so nice to have Dave home for three days in a row and to all be together!! Now for the long haul -- no more vacation days until Oct. 3rd! Get those thinking caps on guys! :)

First Day of School Send-off!

Back to school for the kids! I can't believe it!
Matt was up and at 'em bright and early at 5:00 a.m. getting ready for seminary~ his last year! I decided I should at least get up with him on the first day of school (I don't know how long it will last), I haven't done it since he was a freshman!

Lindsey was up bright and early as well at 6:00 a.m. and looked cute as can be on her first day of middle school! I can hardly wait to hear how it went for her!!! She was excited mostly, but a little nervous! Those lockers, changing classes, new people etc... etc... a BIG adventure!

Katie and Ellie woke up with Lindsey so they could tell her goodbye... It's very weird for Lindsey and Katie to not be in the same school this year, they always have! Lindsey said "I am going to be looking around going, 'Where's Katie' all year". :(
Katie is so excited to have Ms.Wright. She looked so cute today, and a little bit more grown up, I have to say! She is also so excited to be the oldest in the school!

Ellie was SUPER excited to be a BIG first grader! She had her backpack packed 3 weeks ago and her outfit picked out! She looked so cute and I was so proud of her! She wasn't nervous at all. She has a great teacher as well, Ms. Mills. We'll she how she does with 6 hours at school instead of 2 1/2 and eating lunch there! YEA...

As for me-- super mixed emotions~ I am so sad that my kids are growing up so fast, and yet so proud of them all! When I pulled in the driveway after dropping them off, I suddenly got a little excited about having some "alone time"... it will be nice, while it lasts- Matt gets out at 11:30 this year, since he only has 6 classes instead of 8, and Lindsey gets home at 2:30-- so I don't really have TON of free time~ especially when I go back to work sometime this winter, so I am living it UP!!! :)

Another Random Sampler-- and a question for ya'all

First-- I have a question for all the locals:

What sports can my girls do this fall? They are done with soccer, do not want to do it anymore, and do not want to do dance either. I really want them to have one sport and one music thing ALWAYS, but I am having a hard time finding anything else for them to do... (organized sports that is), anyone have a information on swim teams, volleyball teams, tennis lessons, track/cross country teams, etc... I NEED HELP! Please let me know if you know anything about any of this.
Second --I cannot believe summer is OVER! Sad and exciting at the same time. We have had a great summer with lots of fun trips and great times. We are all looking forward to getting back on a schedule too, I think. Here's some of what we have coming up:

Matt has a busy year coming up, cross country has already started, he is going to keep his job, he is seminary president, has 4 AP classes, and then wrestling in the winter and track in the spring! Lots to look forward to!

Lindsey is starting MIDDLE SCHOOL! Wow! She has lots of fun times ahead, starts YW this Dec, is getting a new piano teacher next week, and is looking for a new sport. She has all kinds of exciting new things, like 7 teachers, PE, lockers, and is going to play the violin in orchestra for the first time.

Katie is in her last year of elementary school. She lucked out and got the AWESOME Ms. Wright. Lindsey had her last year. She is planning on running for office and is so excited to be the oldest in the school! She is starting piano with a new teacher too, and is also looking for a new sport this fall.

Ellie is going to first grade! WOW! She is getting all grown up, going to school for a FULL day and eating lunch there too. She is so excited! She got Ms. Mills who is awesome too! She is hoping to start soccer this fall ( if Mom ever gets her signed up)! Amazing that she is this big.

Leslie- I am freaking out that all my kids are going to be gone all day and am thinking about going back to work PT.

Dave- doing his regular thing, working his buns off and enjoying being with the kids whenever time permits! :)

So, that's about it for today, just me stressing/organizing and getting ready for the BIG day a week from today!

We have a tradition every summer before school starts I take the kids on individual "Dates". They get to pick where they want to go to lunch and what they want to do for their activity.

We have been busy this week doing our dates...

First was Ellie-- we went to lunch, then we did a little school shopping and then went to Peter Piper Pizza, played some games and rode the rollercoaster... FUN!

Then Katie-- We went to lunch, did some school shopping and then went and played Laser Tag together.

Then Matt -- we went to lunch, did some school shopping and then went to see "the Dark Knight".

Today is Lindsey's turn -- we are going to lunch and she picked school shopping for her main activity (she is going to middle school-- suddenly clothes are more important!) and then we are going to go to Sonic for a delicious drink!

It's been a fun week. I love going out with the kids individually. It's so nice to talk with them one on one and do something fun together! I LOVE MY KIDS!!! Hard to believe there's only one week of summer left ! WoW!

Matt Delivers a Pizza to BRIAN REGAN!! :)

So, Matt has a job as a pizza delivery guy for a place called Rosati's. He delivered a pizza a few weeks ago to a guy named Brian Regan who lived in a HUGE house, not far from us (for you locals-- right by Lone Mtn. Park). Matt thought, "that's cool, he has the same name as Brian Regan.." But when he delivered the pizza, he didn't even recognize him... He said he didn't look anything like Brian Regan... so he didn't put it together.
THEN... today, his good friend Scott Albright went and delivered to the same guy... Scott hadn't been there before and when he saw the name he asked him, "are you the comedian Brian Regan?" and SURE enough he was!!!!!!!! WOW!~ These boys only quote the man EVERY DAY! How funny! I guess that's part of the "goods" of living in VIVA! :)

(P.S. To those of you who are saying you don't know who Brian Regan is-- he is a HILARIOUS comedian. Rent or buy one of his videos or check him out on youtube or itunes. He is DANG funny and really clean!)

Lindsey's quilt/family project

Katie and Dave hard at work
Dave, Lindsey, Katie and Ellie from above... Ellie has quite the quilting skills we found out!
Finished product~ with edging! CUTE huh!!!

So, Lindsey and Matt traded mattresses and Lindsey didn't really LOVE Matt's old red/blue comforter, so I have been telling her all summer that we would teach her how to tie a quilt for her bedspread this summer... so since it's August already, I decided we needed to get to it! Thanks to LuJean for letting us borrow her quilting frames and thanks to DAVE for being our expert at ALL projects~thanks to Target for the cute sheets.

These pictures are taken when we are almost ready to take the quilt down (only one row left). This is after about 9 hours of work! And we still had to bind it! :)

This brown/tan/pink polka dot pattern will go really cute with her pink walls. GOOD JOB everyone! We had fun quilt tying while watching the first 2 days of the OLYMPICS! :)

P.S. If you are wondering if quilting is any cheaper than just buying the comforter, NO it isn't. I found out. I just wanted to give Linds the experience! It's a great family activity too!

Maddie came to visit!!!

We had a great visit with our cousin Maddie this past week. She stayed from Wed-Sat. We played on the trampoline TONS, watched videos, made cookies, did each others hair-doos,went swimming at the YMCA,went to Cafe Rio, saw the AWESOME movie "Kitt Kittredge" and went to see the Bellagio fountains,chocolate fountains and the "flower room". Thanks for the visit Maddie. WE LOVE YOU! :)