First Day of School

 This may be the official day that I have been dreading all summer long. The day the Rowan went back to school, because this year it is Kindergarten. The school is so big and he is so small, and the classroom is much bigger, and there is only 1 teacher. Most my worries have to do with if he will go unnoticed and unloved. He blends in to every classroom so well, but he does need more attention. I want to be assured that all the hard work he has done the past 2 years still has that same momentum in the new environment.

But, if the first few days are any indication of the year he is going to have in Kindergarten I have nothing to fear. He did amazing!

But, I want to give credit where credit is due and in the case of Rowan's first day the thanks goes straight to Josh. I have said it before I will continue to say it...Josh is one heck of a kid. He helped Rowan all the first morning his first day of school. I did not ask him to this, he just began to help him pack his lunch, get his socks and his shoes, fill up a water bottle for him, and then continued to tell him how he was going to be on the same playground together and the same school and maybe get to ride the bus sometimes together, and Rowan's excitement grew and grew all morning long.

I thanked Josh a couple times, and proceeded to be so amazed at how willing he was to help. After all, the new 8 am start time for school is no joke especially given the fact that I DO NOT sleep through the night because a certain baby does NOT sleep through the night and I basically I have created a monster when it comes to night time feedings.

Josh at one point in the morning said, "I'm just so excited for the littles to go school!" And then I realized he didn't even realize how much he was helping me he was just so genuinely excited for little brothers and their new adventures he just wanted to do anything he could to get them excited about it too.

We all got the school that morning to get Rowan squared away. Kaj saw some friends and went with them. 😂 ( it's really fine though. Everyone has their strengths. And later when I was talking to my mom about the morning and we chuckled at Kaj's leaving with buddies she pointed out that Josh is simply more secure. I think this is true. Kaj needs his friends. And Josh knows he can help his brother out and his friends will still be there) Josh stayed with me and the littles. I met with his teacher quickly just for her to check in and make sure I wasn't concerned about anything that morning, and Rowan waved a sweet goodbye to me, and we were on our way. Rowan does a great job. Honestly, when it comes to Rowan I know he is extremely smart and capable so my worries can get the better of me but logically it was not any surprise that he did great.

 When I picked Rowan up at the end of the day I checked in with his teacher, Ms. Walden, who Josh had, and I loved her, and asked how the day was. She started getting choked up talking about how proud she was of him. I love this about her. She just loves so easily which is exactly what Rowan needs. Someone who loves easily and who will pay attention to him.

I have some terrific boys. Josh is great, but so is Kaj, Rowan, and Jonah. They are all capable of so much and I am hoping I can look at them with eyes that see their strengths first and can encourage their weakness.

When I found out Rowan had Ms. Walden this year I felt assured that Heavenly Father places the people in his life very specifically. He, of course, has a hand in all our lives, but maybe with these special spirits He has both hands.

Summer Utah Trip

 It's becoming a tradition to go out to Utah during the summer. I would love to be going out more, but if we get out for a decent amount of time each summer I am happy with that. We packed so much in while we were there! It makes looking back on these pictures so fun.

Meg and Alan moved to their new house at the beginning of the summer so we thought it would be a good idea to stay with them since they are a ways out. But, in terms of driving into town it could not be more perfect. A hour and half closer to your peeps--sign me up!

We went skate boarding, boating, celebrated Emma and Brynn's birthday all in the first few days of being there. Boating was an awesome time. We were so thankful that Alan's parents were nice enough to invite us out. The boys had never done anything like that before, and I was so impressed with how much they were willing to try. Kaj is so much braver than I was. (For some reason I tend to think that because we share similar qualities and that he is also supposed to be as scared) Kaj tries everything. And he would try everything again and again if we let him. They loved the swim breaks, and being out on the boat. I had forgotten how fun it was myself. I realized it had been about 12 year since I have gone boating. That is a helluva a long time, right!? Right. Not that I am a big boater 😂 So perhaps that language was a little over the top . The crazy thing is that night...Jonah was full on having hallucinations! We believe it was the combo of being in the sun all day and not drinking enough water 😳 I mean I just wasn't aware of how much he was drinking there was a lot going on. But, yes, that night he did not sleep due to the fact that he was scared of the bugs and looking at the butterflies. It was so scary. Luckily, he was fine the next day. But, I was so worried that night that he was going to be a mad man.

 Another very fun part of the trip was the fact that it was the first time a lot of family members had even met Little Lily bears. So, those were sweet moments for the cousins, aunts, and uncles to meet her.

meeting cousin Noel for the first time

 After the first few days at Meg's house we went to Midway to stay with Mor Mor and Pappy/Boppy/Granpy. Midway really is so beautiful and my parents house it so nice. Their view from their backyard I don't think I could ever get sick of it. It is so lovely.

We did a lot of swimming when we were there due to the very extreme heat. I felt slightly snobbish wish the heat because it was really quite astonishing. I guess I really have gotten acclimated to Oregon. It is about 10 degrees hotter in Utah and it just so happen that the week we were in town the heat spiked. It was about 102 degrees almost every day we were there. So, yes, a lot of swimming, and lot of sunscreen o'er here! And, a lot of swim shirts. 😂 I laugh but Sam wouldn't think it's funny.

One day when my mom and I were driving down to take the kids to the pool we questioned if the air was working. I kept saying, "is this not working?" Even though the temperature was very obviously not changing and the fan was only blowing it at one speed. I guess I thought it must be in my head or something, but as we drove on and we had beads of sweat on our faces finally convinced the air conditioner in the car had gone out. So, we did have a slight unexpected car repair while we were there. No matter. The trip went on.

I also had the chance to go to a free pound class the Caitlin was teaching at the City Creek Mall right by the fountain. Another day that it was 103 degrees 😂 but we were in the shade so it wasn't that bad, and that class is so much fun. It may be my most fun workout class I have done. I really enjoy it. And lucky for me, someone snapped a pictures of the class there, and I got to a chance to see what a hooligan I look like. But, ya know what! I was having fun.
 So, in a nutshell, we swam, we saw llamas, we saw fireworks, Uncle Sam's dog Baxter almost gotten eaten by another dog, and we were sweaty. 😂

 No, much more than that we loved being with the family we loved having the kids play with their cousins. I love just spending time. For me, there doesn't have to be much planned I really just want to be with everyone. So, it will always be a successful trip because of that.

my all time favorite picture of these two

Maybe this one. They could not look more like a happy couple 

going to see the llamas

meeting Aunt Whit

cool cousin Addi

the temple made from Legos

my friend Terri commented that this looked like their souls were  talking. For some reason I just loved that

Brace Face

 There. I said it. That was the only title that seemed right. Let the record show I have not called Kaj this.

He looked so handsome with his braces, actually! 😍 Just me?

Kaj got his braces on the day before we left for our trip to Utah. I was ready for the flood gates for complaining and whining to begin but there was none of that. He asked for Tylenol when he needed it, and even when it was quite time yet he was patient and did not make a big deal of it. We had prepped him in advance and I think that helped. But, yeah, he is in phase 2 of his early orthodontic treatment and I am so happy we got him moving a long with this early. It is amazing the changes they have made in this department since I had braces in just their approach to it. It is crazy to have kids this young starting with braces but it also seems like such a smart move- in my professional opinion 😏 instead of waiting for all the teeth to come in and to see what disaster they need to fix to actually be proactive and make changes early so down the road it will go a lot smoother. I mean, yeah, Kaj will have braces on twice 🤪 but he will not have to have braces on for years and years and years.

I loved his crooked tooth smile before, I love his current braced smile, and I know I will love it after.

Cultus Lake

 We were invited to Cultus Lake this summer (had it not been for friends it would have been too overwhelming to go) and we had an amazing time. It was a beautiful lake. The water stays shallow for a long ways out so it is not that worrisome for the littles, and my boys had so much fun. We stayed for a good chunk of the day. Lily was shaded most of time, ate, and even fell asleep while the boys took their tubes out. The older boys took turns taking the littles out but they also had a great time just playing in the sand. I will sometimes watch Jonah and Rowan together and feel so much gratitude for Jonah. Of course, he is needed in our family for so many reasons, but one of those reasons has got to be for Rowan.
Rowan may actually never recognize how lucky he is to have him as his brother.