Logan Starts Kindergarten

I can get any pictures uploaded, but I did want to record Logan's first day of school.  He got a little flustered, but after some help from a friend in his class, he was a-okay.

We decided that as long as the weather is good, we'll walk to and from school....good idea and a bad idea.  On the first day of school I kept having nightmares that I was late to pick him up and he was just devastated, well, we didn't give ourselves enough time to get there, we also had a neighbor kid with us, it was really really hot, and Damon crashed on his scooter...soooo we were late picking up Logan, only about 5 minutes, but to him it was eternity and yes he was devastated.  He was afraid he was going to have to walk home all by himself.

I give him credit for holding back the water works until he actually got to me.  He forgave me by the time we got home though.  And he went back no problem the next day...it's too hot to walk home from school right now, so we decided to walk to school and drive to pick him up, which worked out really well....and I left extra early and waited at the school for about 10 minutes for him, I was NOT going to be late again.  And the first thing he said when I picked him up on day 2, "thanks mom for not being late"  :)

Anyway, so back to day 1, the teacher sent home a cute idea to have fun talking to you kid about school.  With a mini bag of M&Ms and each color has a question that goes with it.  I wrote down his answers:

Red: What is your teacher's name? for the sake of privacy, I won't answer that one.
Orange: Tell about a new friend in your class.  Coy
Yellow: Tell about your favorite thing you did at school. Played with Coy
Green: Tell about a rule you learned at school. No pushing at the playground
Blue: Tell about your favorite part of your classroom. Learning, and looking at and reading books
Brown: Re-tell a story that your teacher read to you today. There was this girl going to school with a racoon....

It was fun, I'm so excited for him to be in school.  While walking the halls of the elementary school, it dawned on me that, wow, I'm a mom!  And I have a kid in school! (Yeah, I know, a little late to get the message 4 boys later).

Logan, I love you and I hope you always love school as much as you do now!  Until next time...

FHE 2 for 2

I got sucked into Pinterest...I know tragic.  Not too sucked in though and so far I've actually been implementing a lot of ideas that I have seen.  Some of which pertain to hair.  Since I don't have a girl of my own and now that my hair is crazy long, I decided to just play with my own hair and experiment.  My hair is really thick and stick straight and rarely holds any curls, yet I long for curly hair sometimes.  So, I found a curling iron method that is supposed to hold the curl longer...and it did, but still by then end of church it was almost straight again, but at least I took pictures right after I did it so I could remember that it curled.  It took a really long time too, it was really pretty and I got lots of compliments, but it's not something I will do regularly.

 It's been fun to have really long hair again so that I can do braids and fun things with it again.

 Short hair is nice too, it's easier to keep away from the kids, but I think I still like the variety.

 I'm going to wait until after family pictures this Fall and until it will still be about shoulder length when I donate it to cut it.

 Mostly the reason I get frustrated with long hair is this cute guy.  He loves to grab my hair, and he's come away with a fistful of hair before.  :)

 So, for the title of the post.  We are 2 for 2 for temple visits.  We had planned to go to Oquirrh Mountain Temple this week, but it ended up being Morgan's late day and he had to stop at his parents on is way home from work, so we were going to meet up at Jordan River.

 All the gates to Jordan River were closed, so we couldn't get close enough to even take pictures, so we went to Oquirrh Mountain like we originally planned.

 And it was totally empty, and I'm thinking, what's the deal, why do we keep picking temples that are closed...then Morgan mentioned Monday Night, and it dawned on my that duh, of course all the temples are closed on Monday Night because of FHE.  Wow, I'm brilliant.  It's still been really fun to see the temples and the boys have been really excited about them.

 No one else was there to snap a family pic, so we just had to take turns.

 Logan got to take a few pictures as well and did pretty good.  He's kind of a random shooter, but sometimes he actually gets something good.

 We did a little puzzle activity with craft sticks..also something I got from my sister and Pinterest.  :)  It was a little difficult putting them together on the grass, but it was still fun.

 Logan got a few good shots of the pretty flowers.

 And even a kissy face picture of mom and dad, I thought he did really well on that one.

 His favorite was Angle Moroni and his "arrow" it took us a while to convince him it was a trumpet instead.

 Jaron was pretty tired that night and little indifferent to everything.  :)  We let the boys wander around a little bit and then Morgan went to check on them and they had gone completely off the temple grounds getting ready to go into the busy street.  And of course when he said stop Tra ran faster....that's when we knew it was time to head home for the night.

 I got the boys all sunglasses the other day and Damon put them on Jaron this morning and Jaron thought it was the greatest thing in the whole world.

 He's the only one that didn't get any sunglasses, but it looks like maybe I should have found some for him.

He was totally rockin' it!  I sure love my boys.  It's been a fun summer, but after our big Yellowstone Family Reunion, I'm looking forward to getting back into a good routine, we've been doing pretty good this month so far, but sometimes it's nice to just do whatever.  :)  Until next time...

Coming up for Air

I just did about 3 posts, but this one is by far the most important for me and my posterity, so if you just want to skip to pictures, feel free.

*Deep Breath*  Sometimes I feel like I'm swimming out in the middle of the ocean.  I'm fighting the currents that are pulling me every which way and some days I feel like my life vest is gone and other days it's there holding me up, but that's not the main point.  The main point is that I'm doing all this work and all this swimming and honestly feeling like I'm swimming toward the right destination, but as I get closer and closer, I realize how far I have gotten off track.  It's usually little things here and there, that you wouldn't normally even pay attention to, but it's amazing how one little inch of deviation makes such a huge impact a mile further on up.

Sometimes I wish I could get a "re-do" and I guess in a sense we always have that option, but the hardest part is first admitting how far of course you are.  Throughout our lives, and specifically throughout our married life we have had those aha, wake up moments and been able to steer back on course pretty quickly and easily...when you start adding children into the mix, it gets harder.  Bad habits are harder to erase and good habits seem harder to build and strengthen, but it's worth it and I know that.

So, recently, I guess basically August 1st, it happened again, time to make a change, time to re-commit to living and keeping standards high, in a "I'm scared of what evils are out there trying to steer us our kids off course, we need someplace (home) to get away from it all and have a break to take a breath and keep going" sort of way.  Logan is going to be starting Kindergarten this month and I can't help but wonder if I've taught him enough.  Does he know how to play nice? Does he know how to be respectful? Does he know how to stand up for himself?  etc...I know deep stuff for a 5 year old, but it all comes back to what we do in our home and are we living up to our gospel standards.  I feel like I needed a helicopter to come and pick me out and drop me back on course and set me up with a tank full of patience.

Family Home Evening has always been a challenge for us.  We made a commitment when were living in Oklahoma that we would have it no matter what.  We did really well for a while, and then life happened, we moved, we built a house, moved again, added two more boys to the family, and that sort of thing so it slowly disappeared from our lives, but we had a wake up call and we're back on course.  This month we're focusing on temples.  We have about 4 temples all within about a 15-20 minute drive from our house.  This week we visited Draper temple.

 The boys really loved it.  That Monday had probably been the craziest day I've had in a long time.  We took Tragon to the dr. because his gland were tremendously swollen, his tonsils were basically touching at the back of his throat.  I was able to find friends to watch the other kids while I took him in.  (and of course it would be very easy to jump to a really crazy scary conclusion of what it could be).  Though I put on a good front, I was actually starting to get nervous that it would be something serious.  Answered prayer #1: it was only strep.  Not fun, but definitely better than the alternative.

 I also had an appointment later that afternoon to have a root canal re-done.  I was pretty stressed and nervous about this, and now I have a sick child that I don't really want to pass off on someone else while I go in, but I've had a really bad toothache for the past week and a half and can't wait 5 more days until the next available appt.  I called around and thought I finally had a solution, but then my sweet husband called with the best solution.  Have Grandma come down.  I was so scattered that day I don't know why I didn't think of that.  Answered prayer #2: Grandma was able to come down and just happened to be in between watching other grandkids.

 Since I already had a babysitter lined up for the baby, I felt like I should keep that.  Answered prayer #3: Jaron slept the entire time I was gone, but I know for a fact he wouldn't have done that at home with all the noisy boys and then grandma would have had to deal with a really fussy/tired/hungry baby.

 Answered Prayer #4: The root canal cost about 10% of what I was expecting.  It was about $150 instead of the $1000 that I was prepared for.  Answered Prayer #5: It really wasn't that bad.  I got the "good" dentist, I didn't have a super numb face, my jaw didn't lock up or get too sore, and it's been a really good recovery.  I haven't had to take any additional pain medication other than what I took when I left their office. Answered Prayer #6: I was prescribed an antibiotic to finish treating the infection in my tooth...that seems like a weird answer, but when I was in for Tragon's appt I asked about Jaron because they share a room and the dr said that babies typically won't get it unless the mom gets it, well, now I'm pretty sure I won't get strep if I'm on an antibiotic too.

 Answered Prayer #7: Morgan has had a really stressful time at work lately and has had lots of late days, and Monday was no exception, but he was able to get home by 7:00 for FHE   (which I was determined to have despite the crazy day, I felt like it was a test to see if I really meant it) and I had the energy to take care of getting kids ready for bed and fed and ready to go see the temple...hence the pajama attire for the boys.  :)

 Answered Prayer: #8  The boys loved the temple and were already excited to go see another one next week.  I don't know if these are all specific answers to prayers that I asked for, or if they are more like tender mercies of the Lord, but either way since we have been re-dedicating our lives and efforts to our scripture study, prayer, and service as a couple, individually, and as a family I have truly felt His hand in our lives, even if it is seemingly menial things.  To me, it meant the world.

 My heart is full of gratitude for my Savior and for my family.  I have been so blessed in my life and I hope that I can have the strength and courage to teach my sons to be righteous and strong and find their testimonies.  I can think of no greater blessing than being able to be with my family forever.

 I am so grateful for the temple and the opportunity I had to be sealed there to my eternal companion.  I would be so lost without him.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to make those eternal covenants and hope that I can do better in the coming days to prove myself and do better and be better.

Until next time....remember, sometimes life gets hard, sometimes there is a calm before the storm and sometimes there isn't, but either way hold fast to the rod and you'll never get too far of course...

Forever in Blue Jeans

My mom's birthday was on July 31st.  My dad's birthday is on the 7th, and their anniversary is somewhere in the middle.  The kids all got together and go them tickets to the Neil Diamond concert at Rio Tinto Stadium.

 We got my mom all dolled up and it was so much fun.

 I don't have girls of my own, so I get to play beauty parlor with my mom and my nieces...at least the ones that will let me play with their hair.

They had such a fun date, and it was so fun to seem them doing something like this together.  My parents have sacrificed so much for their kids and I hope they know how much we love them.

I don't think we could even comprehend how much they have done for us until we because parents ourselves.  These two are amazing and have been such a great example as parents and as husband and wife. My favorite compliments are: "You look/sound just like your mom" and "You're turning into your mom"  some people might dread those words, but I look forward to them and I hope that I can raise my boys as well as my mom and dad raised theirs.  :)

Tanner Flat Camping Trial #2 before Yellowstone

I forgot the camera...I hate it when that happens, although at this point, it's pretty tough to get any pictures anyway since I'm always chasing around a little boy or holding my baby.  :)

We went camping up at Tanner Flat a couple weekends ago and it was really fun.  We were only able to go up one night, but I think that was just right for Jaron.  He loved being outside and loved being held, but when it came to sleeping, he does not like to sleep on/near/by/close to anyone.  It was quite the challenge sharing a cot with him (another not so great idea).  In the end I put him in the carseat for about half the night and he did fine, but I was still up all night worrying about him.  :)

We had a cousin pirate birthday party, we made fun pizzas, sat by the fire, got to hang out and visit and explore.  The boys had a blast!!!  We went up with the Hadlocks and our kids are basically the youngest of the group and so most of the older cousins kept watch on the little ones.  (Audrey is Damon's favorite right now because she carried him across the little stream to get to the rock.)  It was really nice to let them basically just wander and explore.  I tried to keep an eye on Tragon, but even he got away from me a couple times.

And of course, no matter when the kids go to bed, they are up and ready to go sometimes before the sun.  We were the first ones up, I tried to keep the kids quiet as long as we could, but I think we had everything packed up and ready to go (we were going to go on a hike...didn't pan out) by the time everyone else was waking up.

We've done a couple "camping" tests in preparation for a 3 nighter at Yellowstone coming up over Labor Day.  We tried two separate tents so they could pack smaller....bad idea.  We tried cots...bad idea, it's much easier to get to the boys if they need something when we're closer to the same level.  Sharing a sleeping bag/cot with the baby...bad idea.  Now though, I think we've got a pretty good idea how to make things work and we're looking forward to a fun vacation trip.

So now I'm on the hunt for a smaller travel camping bed for Jaron so he's not rolling around all over the tent, because boy does he move around a lot in his sleep.  :)  Other than that, I think we're good to go, and after all that, we found out we'll have a cabin available too.  We might do at least a one night trade and let the older boys camp in a tent, but as for me and my baby, we'll be nice and warm inside.  I can't wait, camping and "trips" are actually starting to be more fun with our boys getting a little older.