Welcome to our World

I think my children are handling the back to school season better than I am.  K says second grade is basically just like first grade (which fits with what I gathered at the open house).  You would think with 2 children still at home for lunch, I wouldn't get all emotional at lunch time, but I sure did D's first day of 1st grade.  For me the jump from kindergarten to 1st grade is much bigger than the leap from preschool to kindergarten.  It's a huge increase in time away from home that tugs at my heart.  Of course, I did get all emotional dropping M off at her first day of kindergarten.  Hubby has taken to dropping off children on their first day of school because I hate crying, but since M is in afternoon kindergarten, that didn't really fit with his work schedule.  So there I was, trying to hold it together so I wouldn't freak my little girls out.  I think that other little girl clinging to her mother and sobbing was enough.  I was very pl...

We finally made it to Red Rocks!  It was a perfect summer evening in which we highly enjoyed the talent, silliness, and uplifting Piano Guys concert.  We had watched a Jon Schmidt performance at a high school back when we were engaged and this was so different and so much better.  The venue is inspiring in an of itself and although I think the piano is probably the greatest instrument ever invented, the cello is still my favorite.  It was fun to see Steven Sharp Nelson introduce the crowd to Bruce Lee and you couldn't help but laugh at their bad jokes.  I was also quite impressed that they didn't hide their belief in God and thanked Him for the miracles it took for them to reach the point they are at today.  I think in this politically correct society that takes some gut and I am happy for them.  They are comfortable with who they are, show humility, and are willing to share that even in a concert setting without sounding preachy.  Well done! ...

All the work we hired other people to do is finished!  The tile, carpet, and counter in the wet bar were the last projects to get done.  It was so hard to find people to do the work for us once spring was here so we didn't have it finished when we wanted to but hey, this is a want, not a need!  I also found it very interesting/infuriating the prices some people were willing to charge for the identical product.  For example, our backsplash tile in the wet bar would have cost us $32/sq. ft. if we had bought it from the place near hubby's work.  Luckily he thought to look online and it was $12/sq. ft. with free shipping.  Yes!  I couldn't find anything I liked at Home Depot or Lowe's as much as that one so I feel like he saved the day on that one.  He also received a huge compliment from the counter top guys for measuring so well.  The man had some fancy laser machine to help him and he said there were very few people who could measure like my...

After loving the astronomy program we went to in June, we planned our next camping trip to coincide with Astronomy in the Park.  We spent Thursday afternoon getting ready and set up camp just in time for a neat ranger program on bird intelligence. There were some great stories in there and one Edgar Allen Poe reference that gave me the best laugh of the week. After the children were asleep, hubby and I watched the Perseid meteor shower. What a beautiful view from our campground. We found out later that if we had stayed up an hour longer it would have been 10x better. Whoops. Can I just say, we love our pop up camping trailer?  After the program the children were cold and whining so hubby just turned on the furnace. Problem solved. Spoiled!!!  It was super cute to see how excited they were that we bought N her own sleeping bag and that they would be sharing mattresses with siblings. Friday morning we hiked from the Fern Lake Trailhead to the Pool for the first time. ...

Isn't it strange how sometimes when really neat things happen you remember the way it felt but have a hard time putting it into words?  I've had a hard time writing this blog entry. I wanted it to be an extra nice and special one, but as many of my plans go, I'm falling short once again. On August 8th we had the lovely privilege to watch our oldest daughter to be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In our church, you are given a name and a blessing as a baby but need to be at least 8 years old to be baptized. For at baptism you are promising to take the name of Christ upon you and keep His commandments. When you are confirmed you are given the gift of the Holy Ghost -- as you listen to that still small voice, He will guide you, protect you, and testify of God's truth. It was a beautiful program. K was baptized with a friend from her primary class and I was so glad his mom had already gone through this with her olde...

I signed my 3 oldest children up for a day camp for 3 different reasons.  For K, I wanted her to see that she can try new things and be good at them (since she is great at everything she tries).  For D, I wanted him to have fun being active and conquer summer boredom.  For M, I wanted her to find physical activities she enjoyed that she hadn't tried before.  All 3 of them LOVED it!  My children were so depressed as I picked them up from the last day of camp.  They cannot wait for next summer.  They have already pleaded that they may attend more than one week of it.  Their leaders all took lots of great pictures of them, but here are my favorites. These are from K: These are from D: And from M:

 have our bed stolen regularly by girls who don't sleep in their own beds...  buy lemonade and have faces painted by the neighbor girls...  spend hours looking at Lego catalogs...  play in the rain...  feed lettuce from our garden to our critters...  accidentally let the dog swim in smelly water at our favorite park...  receive flowers from our children to celebrate our wedding anniversary...  find selfies on our phones...  clean up LOTS of messes...  enjoy more softball games...  catch frogs while D plays flag football...  play with dolls and teddy bears...  find a way to procrastinate going to sleep without getting in trouble...  play outside in the evenings...  play air hockey on the table that Marcee and Richard gave us...  force K to do homework...  have Grandma Karyl play games and build with blocks...  force D to do homework (he actually l...