McShane Memorable Moments

School is finally back in session. I don't know whether to shout for joy or cry my eyes out!! It's definitely going to be an interesting year for our family. Our oldest daughter Elizabeth is a senior this year and our youngest daughter is in Kindergarten. A new beginning for one and the ending for the other. But what's also unique is that Eyn is beginning High School this year as a freshman and Trent is ending elementary school with 5th grade. Definitely a unique year!!

I can't say that everyone was excited to start school again, but I think everyone kind of felt like it was time. I always enjoy aspects of starting a new school year. It's always great to get back into a normal routine, set new goals, and start fresh and new.

Elizabeth all ready for her Senior year! Her schedule shouldn't be that bad this year so "HOPEFULLY" she will get more sleep than she did last year!!

Eyn packed up and heading to the bus. Eyn seems to be excited to "Finally" be in High School. He got a new cell phone this weekend so he's really ready!

Trent and Amberly on their way to school. We have a new elementary school that is only .35 miles from our home so Trent is excited to be able to ride his bike to school. (So am I!!) It will be nice having the school so close to our home and not having to fight any traffic to get there.

I can't believe my baby is in Kindergarten! She is more than ready to go and will do a great job! It's all day kindergarten here so I know she will definitely come home tired.

Trent and Amberly in front of the new school.

Amberly outside of her classroom. She was quiet, but was excited.

Amberly and her new teacher Ms. Lyundahl. (I think that's how you spell it. You pronounce it young doll.) She is incredibly sweet and I think Amberly will just love her!

Amberly and her Daddy. Darin went to work late today so he could see everyone off on their first day of school.

Amberly quickly made a new friend. I'm sure she will love kindergarten!

I've had many people ask me how it feels to have my baby going to school now. I really have a hard time answering that. I'm sad because I loved my time with Amberly when she was home with me. But, I'm happy for her because I know how much fun she is going to have. She has missed having her best friend Katie to play with and with be so happy making some new friends. Amberly loves to learn new things and make new things so I know how great this will be for her. I'm sad because with her gone to school it's like I'm stepping into a new phase of my life that I actually haven't looked forward to. But, I am excited for me too. I hope to be able to do many things that I have wanted to do which I haven't been able to do. I'm also excited because I plan on volunteering more in the schools. I hope to go to the temple more often also. It will be hard to adjust being alone all day, but it will be good. :) Darin and I have also been talking a lot about it being Elizabeth's "Last" year in high school. It seems like there are too many "Lasts" this year. When I think about her leaving to go to college next year that's when I really get chocked up. It's just hard to imagine life without her here all the time. We just keep telling ourselves to enjoy every minute of this year and we hope to make it a great year!

It's time to catch up on what's been happening with our family the past month.

We were able to take an incredible trip to Idaho/Utah during July. I cried on the way home because I didn't want it to end! I loved everything about our trip. I miss my family up there so much and being able to spend time with some of them was fantastic.

We began our trip on July 17th. We ended up leaving late in the afternoon (Darin had to work 1/2 a day) so "Darin" decided to drive all night. It was exhausting but we were so glad he did because we were able to spend more time in Colorado. We decided to stop at "Seven Falls" in the Colorado Springs area. What an incredibly beautiful place! The temperature was perfect and the views were beautiful. The picture at the top of the blog is from Seven Falls. We rode an elevator in a mountain to the top to have beautiful views of the falls. Then we went back down (Eyn and Trent walked the stairs down) by elevator and everyone except me (there was no way I could do it due to my recent surgery) walked the long, extremely steep stairway to the top of the falls. If you look at this picture closely you can see them climbing the stairs.

This picture shows an exhausted and sore Darin. It was a long stairway!

Once on top, they hiked even further to explore and see what they could find.

I love these pictures they took!

I can honestly say that my children are not afraid of heights and are quite courageous when it comes to climbing! They loved it!!

From Seven Falls we continued to travel straight up through Colorado. It was absolutely beautiful! We loved the Colorado mountains! While in Denver we made a slight deteour and went to see the Denver LDS Temple. It was gorgeous!!

The next day we traveled across Wyoming. This next picture is of Amberly at one of the rest areas we stopped at. It was incredibly windy there! She was fighting the wind trying to stay on the rock!

You can tell how windy it is by looking at her hair.

Trent had to get in on the picture taking too! He's so photogenic!

We arrived in Blackfoot Idaho late that night and stayed with my Mom's Cousin Lois and her family. What a wonderful time we had visiting with them! I feel bad that we didn't go and visit more family while we were there. When we were there it just felt so good to be able to relax.

On Monday we got up and traveled over to Jackson Hole, up through the Teton Mountains and into Yellowstone National Park. What an incredible journey! Our family in Idaho had told us this was the route we should travel and were they ever right!!

We stopped at this lookout point after traveling through the steepest mountains! Our brakes were really hot after we were up there!

At this lookout they had a few trails that went high up the side of the mountain. So, off my hikers went again!! I waited and made friends with a cute little chimpmunk and enjoyed the beautiful wildflowers.

After nearly an hour of waiting for them to come back they arrived out of breath and thirsty. Darin was shaking his head and couldn't believe that he had actually let them hike up there. He said it was extremely steep and dangerous, but our children didn't even flinch. They just wanted to keep going.
We then proceeded to travel through the Teton National Park. The mountains were absolutly beautiful!

We then arrived in Yellowstone. It was getting late in the afternoon so we decided to go to Old Faithful. We made several stops along the way to view the breathtaking views. Words can not decribe how beautiful it was!

At Old Faithful we arrived right after it had errupted so we had a long wait. While we were waiting it began to drizzle and of course we were not all prepared for the weather so we were slightly chilly. (Darin had his jacket, he was the lucky one!) As you can tell by the picture we were slightly damp but we can now say we've seen Old Faithful do her thing!!

The next day we got up early and spent part of the day enjoying the park. We were able to see a few beautiful mooses and some bison. We loved walking down to the edge of the Huge waterfall and being able to be close to it. Our quick trip to yellowstone was just that, quick. We would of enjoyed spending more time there.

We left Yellowstone and traveled to Rexburg Idaho to do a tour of BYU Idaho for Elizabeth. We really enjoyed the tour of the campus and loved the feeling of the campus there. The temple was absolutely beautiful. When you drive into the Rexburg area you instantly see the temple high above the city.

After leaving Rexburg we made a quick stop in Idaho Falls to see the temple there and to feed the ducks. I love the peacefulness we felt there. The ducks were very friendly and we all enjoyed feeding them.

After enjoying another fun evening in Blackfoot with family, we traveled to Salt Lake City. We were able to stay with another one of my Mom's cousin Geri and her family. It was great to be able to see them! We got up early the morning of the 24th to go and watch the Pioneer Day Parade. It was hot and long but we enjoyed all the colorful floats and "Loud" policeman on motorcycles.

It was wonderful to see President Monson as the Grand Marshall of the parade.

After the parade we "had to" go and see the High School used in High School Musical. This was one of Amberly's top requests for our entire vacation! We went back later that evening and were able to see inside the back windows into the cafeteria. It looked just like in the Movie!

The next day we did Temple Square. I love to be on temple square. It's like paradise in the dark and dreary world! This picture is of Trent from the observation deck in the Church office building.

I think one of my favorite days was spending Sunday with my brother Tom and his family in Provo. We had such a fun day! They don't live far from the river and Utah Lake so everyone walked over there. The little kids were being good and just put there feet into the water until Uncle Tom dared Elizabeth to do it too. Of course she did and before we knew it they were all drenched! Especially Amberly! Her poor pants didn't want to stay up they were so wet!

We took some fun family pictures. We haven't all been together in over 6 years and that was before Amberly and little Josie were born.

Cousins photo

Josie was so cute! She wanted to sit on her own rock. She was not happy when Hayden got to hold her for a picture. Cute little Josie!
Tom, Hayden and Josie
We had such a fun day! When I figure out how to add a vidio I'll have to add our "Rockstar" jam session. I definetly saw a different side of my brother and husband!! It was so much fun!!

The next day we were able to tour the BYU campus. A huge Thank you to Uncle Tom and Aunt Louise for inviting Eyn, Trent, and Amberly to their house while we spent time on campus. It was fun for me to go back and see the campus up close. It's been a long time since I was a student there! We had a great time there and it was nice to be able to spend that time with Elizabeth talking about college and the Pro's and Con's of where to attend. We ate lunch at the BYU Creamery and enjoyed the yummy ice cream there!
BYUOur last BIG day in Utah was spent at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon. What an amazing day we had! We bought day passes so we could do all the activities there all day long as much as we liked. Everyone loved it!
This picture was taken at the top of the mountain after we had just taken a tram up it. (I did not like the Tram! Don't ask me why, I just didn't enjoy it!)

This picure was taken on the Peruvian Chair lift. Darin and I were on the next chair behind them taking the picture. I loved this ride! It was a long way up to the top, but it was so enjoyable! The few bumps along the way up were a tad scary, but so relaxing and beautiful!!

At the top we were able to play in the snow! It was cold, but so much fun! As you can tell I think Eyn enjoyed it a little too much! (Elizabeth was his target on the other side of him and I'm quite sure he hit the bullseye many times!)

Here's Super Dad and Amberly on the Alpine slide!

Here comes Amberly and Eyn!

Elizabeth and Eyn on the Ziprider

Elizabeth and Eyn again on the ziprider

Trent on the chair lift heading up to the Alpine Slide

Our day at Snowbird was wonderful! It was a great way to end our trip.

The next day we left Salt Lake City and headed home. I for one was not looking forward to the drive! We "had to" stop in the Moab area and have another hike. Up the side of the mountain they went to this arch. Elizabeth even stepped on a snake on the journey! It was a steep climb, but they all made it!

After we arrived back in Texas we saw this great place by the side of the road. It's called "Cadillac Ranch". I had heard of it before but didn't know where it was at. You can learn more about it at the following link: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220 We were lucky because a family leaving had some extra spray paint so they gave it to us. It was a fun quick stop!

Well, that's the end of our incredible summer vacation. None of us wanted to see it end. We are so glad we were able to go and enjoy our time away from home.