It's all Good {Rachel}

  Ya all know how I sort of poured my soul out to you the other day, about J High? It wasn't half as bad as I said it would be. I had lots of fun and I'm glad that I could try something new. Now, it is kinda boring.... I guess I just needed to test it out for 4 days to see what I was "missing out on". Turns out it is just OK. I really think I like Elementary School better. I guess I liked having a "personal" relationship with my teachers, my teachers from Kindergarten to 6th grade are like old friends to me. {Some more recent than others...}
  J High is all good and fine, but on the 4th day {Of J High} all my friends and I couldn't stand it... so we took a little trip back to the Elementary School. Our visit consisted of 1 hour of visiting and root beer floats. I love that school & all the people who work there! I guess I will HAVE TO  have a good next week at school, because I have no choice. But, I will just try my very hardest.

Love,

         Rachel

J high's after story. {Jessica}

Well folks, all in all, J high was so fun! I can open my locker, run to class and somehow manage to stop and say hi to friends. Yesterday, we had to walk through the ninth grade hall to go outside. I decided to plow my way through without saying sorry. Remember that Jolene and I have almost all the same classes together and as we walk through the halls, every single person that bumps into us, is quickly followed with a "Sorry!" from either me or her. I continue walking through the halls and come to a girl standing next to this guy. Semi close. And I just decided to walk right through them. Mistake. The guy had a bag of chips and the girl wanted them so bad, that she reached her hand/arm around my stomach to get them, and even if I had to break her arm to get through without being noticed, at this point, I think I would.

Anyways after that awkward position was over, I somehow always manage to shove someone I know (That's older then me) into a locker. Oh the triumphs of slamming a big, bad ninth grader into the lockers. Ya... I'm a tough sevy, watch out for me.

Blurry I know. But it's so cute huh?

Love, Jessica

1 Scared Sevy {Rachel}

  Yup, that one scared sevy is Rachel Slack. I am not looking forward to tomorrow at exactly 8:57. {Well I am, just not at this moment.} The J High is coming closer than comfort. In fact, I leave for that place in only hours. I know... I have heard this a million times "It will be OK, you will love it! There is 400 kids who feel the same way as you do," I know all of those things are FACTS it is just that those words of comfort... don't comfort this scared sevy. {Yes, almost to the point of wet underwear.} But a teacher at my school did give some good advice to live by "Don't panic, we will tell you when to panic."
  Thank goodness I am a girl and I have other things on my mind. My personal designer {Jessica Baxter} helped me pick out what new things I will wear on the big day. {I know, it is Tomorrow but lets pretend NOT!}

  It will look better when it is on me {Yes, pictures coming soon!}, but for know let me keep de-stressing. What else? Oh yes, 1. the HUGE school with halls A B C D commons, middle and North! AAAHHHH! Nothing {let me repeat that} NOTHING  was ever this confusing at my 4 halled elementary school. 2. There will be big 8th and 9th graders. I am mostly concerned about the 9th graders. {As scared sevy #2 already told us.} And 3. this is all new to me,  and MY FAMILY! You know it is a lot of pressure being the oldest. You have to make a good impression... for your family! {Not really, I just thought I would throw that in there.}

  Here is some things that have kept me busy, but not exactly distracted.

Setting my alarm clock for 6 freaking o' clock in the morning!

 Loading my back pack with all the J High necessities.

 And going to the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL open house! Kate got this confetti from her 1st grade teacher and if you put it by your pillow it will help you get a good nights rest and have sweet dreams. Dang, I should have asked her teacher if she sold any of that for 7th graders.

  On the positive side, my dad finally cracked open his "double regular" sized Mt. Dew. Check out this honker!

It is a 24 oz drink in a can! My dad was pretty exited when he picked this baby up on the way to San Fransisco for a business trip.

  Well, off I go to be a sevy {That is what they call seventh graders at my school.} I just thought I would post a picture of Scared Sevy #2

Here goes the life of a 7th grader.

Love, {a very anxious, nervous, and a bit exited}

Rachel

Holy. Crap. {Jessica}

Can I just say the following without being judged completely? Summer is over, school starts tomorrow, it's almost time to go to J high for orientation,  I WANT TO GO BACK TO 6TH GRADE, there are going to be so many kids there, I have to have 3 binders for all my assignments, and I really want to just go back to 6th grade and call it good.

I am trying to tell myself that I just need to go to get it over with, but, you know. I am scrambling to get everything ready AND having 3 binders is kind of alot. Don't you think? I went to "Back to school night" with my brother and sister, and I am so going to miss that place. They even have new t-shirts this year. Ugh.

Anyways...wish me luck. Hopefully I won't get trampled, stuck in a locker, stuck in a trash can, get lost, hate my teachers, or worst of all, DIE!

Love, Jessica

P.S. I am so going to post a picture of what I'm going to wear, my nails and hair! (That's kind of the only exciting part. :)

1 Baby Sitter and 2 Bikers {Rachel}

On Saturday I had one of my first baby sitting jobs! It was fun to play with the kids, and get payed $33! Yay for finally not being so poor!

While I was tending my dad and Reed went on a bike ride up to the "P". They had a great time!

Reed with the P in the back round.

Reed with the amazing view of Payson!

(Yes, I was being a little sarcastic about the view.)

Ya got to love days like this

Love,

      Rachel

VICTORY! {Rachel}

  Yes! I finished my Harwrard Family Blog! I made this so my extended family can all keep in totch. I set up the blog, and sent out an email to my hole family!

This blog will be super fun to read and post!

Love,

         Rachel

Silly Kate {Rachel}

  As Kate and I where eating Chewy Chips Ahoy after dinner the folowing conversation took place.

Kate: You should practice your piano
Rachel: Why?
Kate: So you can get a punch. {A punch is how my mom keeps us engaged in piano, reading, and math games over the summer. We each get a card with our name on it, and every time we practice the piano, read for 30 min, or play a math game we get a punch.}
Rachel: NO!
Kate: You never give yourself a punch.Do you?
Rachel: Mom already let me chash mine in for something.
Kate: No she didn't.
Rachel: Yes she did! Even ask her!
Kate: No I believe in you!
  I had to laugh when she added in the "in" instead of saying "I believe you". It did make me laugh. I love my little sister!

P.S.
    Do any of you have any idea where I could find myself a good quality pair of these? {Oxfords}

Ya got to love little sis.

Love,

        Rachel

Dang! {Jessica}

I haven't done this in forever. Let me just tell you why.
A: I went to Oregon for a family reunion...which was very fun. I love being with my family. I hardly ever get to see them too because I live in Payson Utah and they live in Union Oregon, for crying out loud. We had a road rally, auction and went huckleberry picking. For those who don't know what a huckleberry even is, I sure feel sorry for you. My mom made us a huckleberry milkshake one night and they were fantasticly amazing.

Yum. That's all I can say.

B: Five of my guy cousins, (Ryan, Jeremy, Cole, Tyler and Isaac) three pairs of aunts and uncles, and myself had the opportunity to go on Trek. I was very scared at first because I had no idea where I would end up. But when I got there and saw that my Aunt Melanie and Uncle Mike were my parents, I was very excited!! Obviously. In my "family" I had the best group of people I could have asked for! They made the Trek fun and I am very glad I went. The spiritual experience there is amazing. I got to hear lots of testimonies and I walked on the actual path that the pioneers walked on and it is considered "hallowed ground".  I had an amazing time, with the people I love and can't wait to see the people I met again! {pics to come later}

C: I get back and a couple days later, my family and Rachel's family go camping. After a week of camping. But it happened to be very fun because um...WE FED A DEER! It just walked right up to us and we fed it pancakes, muffins, licorice, and marshmallows. Rachel can post pics on that later. I don't have any of the deer.  

We fed squirrels too. 

Joseph's bug.

D: And last but not least, last night, my mom comes downstairs with an envelope from the church. To Jessica Baxter. And talking is not something I like to do. Oh boy.  

Love, Jessica

Been there, Done that {Rachel}

  On Monday I went to Lagoon with all of my Slack family. Two of my older cousins weren't there so I hung out with my younger cousins {and I still had a GREAT time.} I am proud to say that I DID go on the following rides.

On this one your cart spins while you are riding the coaster!

 Plus more!

  Here is a good story for you: There was this game called "Speed ball" and ya all know how my family loves baseball {Yes, extended family too.} so of course we had to play. Reed really wanted a hat for his prize. The rules of this game are you have to throw 70+ mph to get a big prize. {That is what Reed was drooling over.} My dad had his shoulder replaced a long time ago... so he thought he wasn't even going to get close to 70, so he had my uncle {my dads younger brother} throw. My Uncle got 71 on his first try! So Reed got what he wanted. After that my dad had to beet his little brother so he payed his 2 dollars, picked up a ball and ended up throwing 72! {As you can see below he was pretty exited.} Then my Uncle tryed again only to get a repeat of 71. But, after the battle everyone went home happy!

I had a pretty great time riding rides, and chilling with my cousins!

Love,

     Rachel

Crazy Day {Rachel}

  Yesterday was a little crazy. First I went to Swimming lessons, then came home and took a 12 minute shower {My mom said I could only have 12 minutes.} after that I quickly gathered my things and we where off to Richfield. This summer we have been doing a lot of things in Richfield and/or with my cousins from Richfield, that is a {very} good thing. It is my great Grandpas 100th birthday in December so we had a big family reunion to celebrate! It was super fun! Plus, we had to have these name tags that said "Hi, my name is ______ I belong to Warren" {Warren is my grandpa} I liked the name tags :)

 At the Reunion on we had a silent auction this is all of Kate's baby things that she won:

  After the festivities with my big family, we took some flowers over too my Grandma's headstone. I know, I look kinda sad in the pictures, but I didn't really feel like I should smile.

  Soon after we said hello and good bye to Grandma we went to Marcia and Grandpa's house. They live out in the country part of Richfield {Ya, all of Richfield is country} but what I mean is they have like 2 next door neighbors, lots of cows & fields around, and a dirt road. So, we can drive golf cars!

 It is so fun to really steer a steering wheel, push the gas, and use a real blinker!

  When we where done visiting with Marcia and Grandpa we drove to Nephi, where the real "Crazy Day" started.

  After our dinner at Taco Time we headed to the rodeo grounds where the Demolition Derby is held! Believe it or not... the Dunn's, Baxter's and my family all went to the Demolition Derby! {Ya it is kinda a Red Neck/Hillbilly thing... but it was good for all of us to get out a little.} I may have seen a 12 car pile up, I may have scram very loudly, and I may have possibly danced the chicken dance with Makenna.

    Ok, ya I did all of the above, and it was all worth it. I had a great time!

Love, Rachel

 

 

Chop Snip & Clip {Rachel}

  On Thursday after swimming lessons my mom came to me and said, "Do you want your hair cut?". I decided... why not? So I went all out. I told the hair cutter lady {a close family friend} that I wanted a trim and layers. It is the perfect length, I LOVE it!

  I think it will be good for a change, and for school!

  Before hand I decided I wanted to get these hairy ol' eyebrows of mine waxed I did, and it made my eyes red and puffy! It hurt only for a sec... and now I have beautiful looking eyebrows!{Have you ever heard the saying "Beauty Hurts"? it is true!}

Here is to shaking things up a little!

Love,

           Rachel

Going Pro. {Rachel}

  Yesterday my siblings and I started swimming lessons. They are early in the morning at a house in Elk Ridge. Now when I say house I really mean mansion

 Do you see that balcony in the top left corner? Yup, that is part of their HUGE house. Oh, and don't for get they have a pool house that is the size of my {regular} house. As you probbly guessed the dad is a doctor. Yeesh, that would be awesome if it was all mine.
  Today during my lesson I was beating all 3 of the other kids in my class {including Reed} I was smoking them {at the front crawl}! Every time we finished a lap I would look back and the other kids would be just crossing the middle of the pool! My mom said I should consider being a swimmer! I think it would be super fun and it would go along great with my new role model.

I LOVE Missy!

  The Olympics have been so fun to watch, and I love cheering on my team! It was crazy to me that a 15 year old girl could break a world record {I think...} and win a gold medal! That proves to me that I can really do anything. One time when she was swimming the anouncer said that she was 15 and Reed said, "Wow! That means that she can't drive yet!". I thought about that and he is rignt, she can't even drive! Then I was watching a interview thing and she still goes to high school just like the rest of us, but the cool thing was that she said her friends and teachers support her and her swimming! They will help her with home work, big assignments etc. GO MISSY!
  While Kate had her lesson today I finished reading my book, Nicole! I would highly recommend it to anyone. It was so cute, and had an awesome story line.

I love summer!

Love,

           Rachel

Happy Days {Rachel}

  On Saturday my cousin Makenna got baptized... after we got home my other cousins took me to Richfield to hang with them. On Monday they brought me back because Hayden has a Basket Ball camp in PG. {Pleasant Grove}
  These past 2 days we have been having some good times playing on the iPad, making locker decorations, and jumping on the tramp. My little cousin Preslie loves to be by Makayla and I, it is so funny! The other night she didn't want to go to bed because she thought we where going to do something with out her! {And we where going to go to bed in like 5 minutes!} Oh, you got to love 5 year old cousins. Below is some pictures of us making our darling locker decor. {I hope it really does work!}

   First we had to punch out a million circles... {And some squares}

 Then we hot glued them to a long piece of rick rack:

 And here is the finished product.

  I am hoping to hang it on my locker door like a garland... but if it doesn't work I will just go with plan B.

Love,

        Rachel

Big People Play Little People {Rachel}

  While my two cousins where here we played Little People. {They are a Fisher Price toy.} And at my house we have lots. My cousin who is 5 wanted to play so Reed, Kendrick, and I all decided we would play too. It kind of reminded me of when I was 5! Kale {the 5 year old} thought we had WAY cooler toys than what he has at his house, it was funny how he was drooling over everything in our play room.

Kale and the car wash.

Mine and Kale's house.

The barn/Kendrick's house.

The Circus train and Reed.

Ya know, being 5 again wouldn't be all that bad!

Love,

         Rachel