First Day of School

With a bit of a heavy heart I sent three boys off to school today. THREE. I am always a bit sad to see summer come to an end. We had a lot of good quality time together...lots of good memories made.
There was lots of excitment this morning. So seeing them happy and ready to go was exciting to me as well.
Drew started kindergarten and I think that may be where my heavy heart comes from. He was definitely ready, but this mom was not quite ready to give up that time I had with him before all day kindergarten. But he was so cute and so excited to get there. Nothing but smiles. Love that kid!


So farwell summer and hello fall!

Reminders

There have been several things lately that have reminded me just how blessed I am by my knowledge of the gospel. And what it comes down to is that my family is what brings me hope. There are trials, bad things are unavoidable in life, but there are also glimpses of heaven each day.

July

July has been a good month. We spent the Fourth in Colorado. We took several hikes, played outside, and enjoyed. We did what we love and that is being with family. Blessings come in the form of nights of family dinners where everyone is laughing, kids are running, and no one wants to leave the table because the company is so good. We had that. And we loved it.

July brought freedom. And a scaly leg.


And lots of hot summer days filled with neighborhood projects, pirates, and a whole lot of dirt.

And a few surprises...there are truly no Lego free zones in my home.

Wisconsin

Last year we went up to the Wisconsin Dells, loved it, and talked it up. Then Mark's sister Sonia and her family decided to give it a try. So in June we made our way up there to spend a week with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins. It was so much fun. We were so happy to be able to really spend time with Sonia's family. The kids had a ball with their cousins. And we got to enjoy the beauty of the Dells and water parks!

Cruising the Wisconsin Dells...a river with amazing rock formations.

Cute kids!

On the cruise you would get out in a couple of places and see some pretty amazing places. It was amazing.

Playing in the water.

After a long day at the water parks...sitting in the hallway waiting out the tornado warning...with all the other guests and the people who were eating at Denney's next door. Thrilling. The crazy part was I never got nervous at all, just annoyed at not being in our room.

What I did on my summer vacation

Sit. Sit. Sit.
Friday night(June 18) we were madly packing for our vacation (this post coming soon) when we heard that awful scream you hear when you know that your child is truly hurt. I ran towards the scream and Mason was picking up Easton from a fall off the bed. We learned that night that Easton can get himself up onto his brother's bed all by himself. But the getting down is a different story. A trip to the ER revealed a hairline, spiral fracture of the tibia. So a week in a splint and three weeks in a cast are the result. Poor kid watched all the fun of vacation from the arms of a family member or his stroller.
Easton has adjusted well and keeps on moving. He had to revert back to crawling, which he was not too pleased about the first few days, but appears to not be bothered by it now. He has been a trooper and just gotten used to being carried or pushed in the stroller all the time when not at home. His only complaint comes when he gets the sponge bath, he loves his bath and Easton does not appreciate the water going and not being able to get in.

This was on the way home from getting his cast. Drew picked out the color.

Four Eyes

The other day I was collecting stray dirty laundry and came upon this. It made me laugh, so I thought I would share. Dallin has found the perfect place to keep his glasses - a ceramic snake he painted at a pottery place last summer.

Eight is Great!

Dallin has been thinking and dreaming of his eighth birthday since Christmas. It was a celebration lasting over a week. Starting with a big party (a whole lot of boys!) and then ending with the culminating event of his baptism. Dallin could hardly sleep he was so excited for all special celebrations for him.
I am so proud of Dallin. He has really worked hard this past year in all things. There have been obstacles in school that he has hurdled and gone farther than he knew he could. And he has been working hard to be ready to be baptized. Dallin is a loving boy with a lot of energy. He is an outdoor boy who loves nothing better than to hop on his bike and ride, stop for awhile and dig in the dirt, and run around with all of the neighborhood boys. Dallin has a talent for making friends easily. And I just love those big brown eyes - I love when he looks up at me and says, "I love you mom." Thanks Dallin for being you!


Birthday breakfast.


There were a whole lot of boys at Dallin's birthday.


And the sweetest moment of turning 8, his baptism. Both sets of grandparents came to celebrate the day with him. It was beautiful and it was spent with our wonderful friends whose daughter was also baptized. Thank you Straley family!