Return of the prettiest BYU coed

It was inevitable that Erin would have to return to BYU.  Rick stayed home with the boys who had just started school and I got to have some great mother/daughter time.  In a few short days we got her moved into her apartment, stocked on food & supplies, ate at a few of our favorite place, and Erin even got a job before I left!

It is a beautiful drive (once you hit Arizona)

I've always gotten excited to once we can see the "Y" on the mountain!

The day we arrived, we drove by her apartment to take a quick peek :)

All settled into her cute room - now she just had to wait to meet her roommate, Lauren.

While I was there, I got to sleep in my old bedroom from when my dad was finishing up his time at BYU.  It was a neat experience!

She's ready to take on the new year!  Look out world!

Getting her job finalized

Cosmo's girlfriend

In the kitchen of her new apartment right before I had to say goodbye

Utah really has amazing skies

My comfort treat for the drive home

Mother-Daughter date to the Safari Park

One of Erin's "must-do" activities of the summer was a trip to the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park.  We waited for the last possible day before heading back to BYU to finally visit the animals.  What a fun place to spend a day!

We started off on the African tram ride where we saw one of Erin's favorite animals - the cheetah,

and a baby rhinoceros - so cute!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this giraffe who just left it's tongue hanging out for a while.  Their tongues can be up to 20 inches long.

After the tram, we visited the lion exhibit.  Those animals are huge!

 We got to watch the gorillas get some sack lunch treats - it was neat to watch them "fight" over the bags.

We saw some beautiful birds in one of the aviaries

We were fascinated with the bat exhibit.  They are fun yet creepy animals.

Erin couldn't resist the opportunity to feed the lorikeets.  

Surprise!  This one hung out on Erin's head for a while.  Luckily we escaped without any "droppings"!

Even the lorikeet posed for the picture :)

It was a great last hurrah for Erin before getting back into the swing of things at BYU.

Together Again!

After 6 years in separate schools, Bryant and Parker are finally together again!  With Bryant as a senior and Parker as a freshman, they have just this last year together as Pumas!  We are looking forward to the perks of having children in one school - they ride together, have the same late starts, and have a brother as support any time it's needed.  What a great year we hope it will be!

Since they were heading off at the same time, I was able to make them a yummy breakfast to share before heading off to school at 6:45AM.

The obligatory first day of school picture - I promised them that someday they will thank me for forcing them to take so many pictures!

After school, we had lunch and the traditional chocolate chip cookies while they shared their highs and lows of the day.  I think it's going to be a great year!

August is the best month for the beach in southern California (they really should start school after Labor Day around here).  So we blocked out the last day of summer break to spend at the beach.  It was the perfect weather and the water was so clear. 

Erin's typical way to hang out at the beach

Rick pretending to be Parker