A is 8!

 Dear Sweet A,

You are 8! It never seems too crazy thinking of how old you are when you have a birthday. You fit right in with the rest of your friends at school who turned 8 long before you. You are mature and tall and smart. 

At 8 you love to read, if the book interests you. You are a great reader and pronounce almost all of the words correctly in the Book of Mormon when we read out loud at night. Your favorite books are disaster books, like I Survived. You still have a fascination with the Titanic but have kind of given up finding new things to read or new movies to watch on it. I think we've seen them all! 

You love to go shopping. One of your favorite past times is looking on Amazon for things to buy with your money. You are usually careful with your money and your favorite store is the Dollar Store because you can get a lot of bang for your buck there. The time that this doesn't apply is when it comes to arcades. You would spend all your money at the arcade if I let you. 

It wasn't a surprise that you wanted to go to Boondocks for your family birthday activity this year. You chose to eat out at Red Robin with Gramma and Grandpa and wanted In N Out with your siblings. We also got to sing to you with your cousins the day before school started. Here's some pictures of the celebrations!

The first day of school was also an early out day and your birthday, so you took candy to school and then when you got home we were ready to run to Boondocks for some fun. We realized while we were driving over that it was closed on Monday, so we went back home and you got to eat popcorn and play Minecraft. You handled this really well, happy with our second choice in activity. You played Minecraft until it was time to take treats to your first tennis lesson. Your class sang to you here too:

You were a little nervous about trying tennis, and in fact you were angry that I signed you up without asking you first. You told me that you weren't going to class. I asked you why and you said that you had tried pickle ball at camp and didn't think you were good at it. I assured you that everyone was a beginner and everyone started out the same as you. Reluctantly you went to class and ended up loving it! This transitioned nicely to our Come Follow Me lesson the next night where we learned that Jesus learned things grace for grace. He was perfect, but like us he didn't know anything when he was born. He had to learn everything little by little. Knowing this about Jesus helps us to be kind to others as we realize that everyone is in a different place spiritually. We're all learning and progressing at different rates, and none of us were born with perfect knowledge. The lesson asked how this knowledge helps us be kind to ourselves too and we made the parallel to learning to play tennis. Everyone starts at the bottom and learns bit by bit. You will learn how to get the ball over the net. You need to give yourself some grace when you try new things! 

When you got home from your tennis lesson, it was time for your present scavenger hunt while Dad made some friend chicken sandwiches at your request:

After dinner we had big ol donuts and sang to you again:

It was a pretty fantastic birthday I think. 

Friday was early out so off we went to Boondocks to see if we could use your birthday pass that day instead. They gave you a 3 hour pass and the 2 boys had free laser tag passes, so you did that together:

I also bought an arcade card and you guys played some games:

A, you got to do a few outside activities there too:

You are already asking when we can go back. 

You always ask what our next trip is too. You love trips! You sleep great, even when we're all in a cabin or a tent or a hotel room together. You are adventurous and really loved canoeing at the lake we went to. You also rode a big heavy mountain bike with the big boys. It was the smallest bike that they have but you couldn't get on by yourself. Once I helped you get going, off you went! It was so brave. 

You love dogs, and especially puppies. You ask every day when we can see your friend's puppies again 

Your favorite foods are still chicken nuggets and fries and chocolate. You also love mac n cheese, strawberries, cereal, peanut butter on pancakes, and apples. You are learning to like kale and blueberries and watermelon. You have made great progress with healthy foods and I'm proud of you for trying hard to eat more fruits and veggies. 

A, you are still stubborn but have grown up a lot this year. Even though you don't want to do a chore, you usually get it done without yelling about it. You were proud that the other night you loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher all by yourself! You like to vacuum on your own too. Thanks for doing your part to help me clean the house. 

You moved downstairs to the basement and I'm proud of you for that too. Just a year ago you were too scared to even go downstairs, especially at night or down the dark hall. Now that you're older you realize that it's just another room. There isn't anything scary downstairs! You and TJ get along great down there. 

You started to really practice the piano this summer and voila, you're now on the last song in the first Lesson Book! 

A, when I was filling out some get-to-know-you papers for your teacher at school, it asked for me to list your strengths and your fears. I couldn't think of any real fears that you have! It was even hard to list your strengths because you're good at most things that you try! You're a pretty cool guy.  You're kind but you don't let people take advantage of you. You're funny. You make friends easily, you aren't afraid to raise your hand and participate at church (and I assume school), and you're usually even-tempered. You're a rock for our family, confident and sure of who you are. I love watching you mature. It's a privilege to be the one who helps you learn about God and life and how to find joy while we are here on this Earth. 

Love you,

Mom

PS Here are some pictures from your birthday photo shoot, which also is your baptism photo shoot. I will post a few of my favs here and save the others for your baptism post. You are about 90% for height and weight, compared to other kiddos your age. Like I said, you're tall and mature! I love your thick brown hair and your brown eyes, just like your Daddy. You are my handsome little man.

Ward camp in the Uintas

 HI!

Over our last weekend of Summer we went to our ward's camp at Lyman Lake. I kept changing my mind back and forth about going. After temperatures in the 100's all summer, that weekend it was supposed to be about 60, down here! I knew it would be freezing up in the mountains. We also had to miss some back to school nights if we decided to go, and Saturday morning bright and early Lulu and Hammer had a stake youth activity. Dad was driving up with Hammer whether I went our not, since it was the deacon's campout too and Dad helps the deacons. In the end my FOMO one, as I don't remember going up in the Uintas before. I knew since we were staying in cabins that we wouldn't completely freeze at night. 

We got up there Friday, not too long after lunch. It was cold but we were able to do some archery. Also, there were chipmunks everywhere up there!:

This is part of an obstacle course I believe, walking across a little pond:

Dad shot an arrow right through the neck of Washington after the other leader pinned this on the target:

It was fun to try, although I thought these bows weren't the easiest to use:

After that we walked down to the lake, but it started to hail, fast and furious:

We spent pretty much the rest of the day and evening in the lodge, where it was just as cold as outside but we were dry:

4 square:

Games:

Dinner was hamburgers provided by the deacons and more families came up to sleepover. I'm not kidding when I say that we could see our breath in that lodge. I was freezing even with my coat on. But we had fun chatting while it stormed outside. 

Bedtime wasn't the best, but we were warm! And the next day it was cool but beautiful. It ended up being perfect temperature for riding the mountain bikes that they have there, and for canoeing:

It was too cold to use the paddle boards or to swim in the lake. TJ and I walked around part of it looking for a good fishing spot:

Later in the day we came back with Dad and you did a little fishing at this spot:

Unfortunately you didn't catch anything, but right after this we had dinner and the wind died down making the lake clear and reflective and so beautiful:

Here's Hammer after we cleaned out our cabin, showing what the cabins looked like:

We drove home in the dark after dinner and all slept like rocks that night. In the end, I'm glad that we went! There was a lot to do up there! It was a beautiful peaceful spot. A sure loved being out on the boats. Hammer loved the bikes. TJ loved fishing. Lulu wished she had friends there but liked learning to play pickle ball!

Thanks for coming along on the adventure! A good attitude and creativity made for a great time.

Love,

Mom

First Day of School

 Hi!

School started this week. I wasn't really ready for school to start. I love summer so much. There are so many things to love about summer: I love being warm and being outside. I love going on walks after dinner when the sun is still shining. I love lazy days with no schedule. I love having my kids home with me. I love planning activities and trips. I love swimming and warming up right when I get out of the water. I love seeing you be creative when you get bored, and being friends with each other!

My love for summer started when I was little and we would come home to Utah. Remember how I lived in different countries when I was in Elementary and Junior High? That's the same ages that you guys are now! When school was finally out at the end of June (the school year seemed to last forever), we would pack up our stuff and head home for our Winter break, because it was Winter in Chile in July! The anticipation of coming home for the summer just about drove me crazy. I had dreams about being there for weeks before we left. We stayed with Nana and Great Grandma and it was like paradise for me. I loved cousin time, Grandma time, eating American food, popcorn and fireworks on the 4th of July, staying up late and hearing the crickets outside, and playing outside on the real grass. We stayed until around July 24th and then it was time to go back to real life. 

I have to admit that I liked school, even though it didn't compare to summer in Utah. School was pretty great too. 5th grade was my favorite year but 8th was a close second. It's fun to make friends, feel responsible, and learn new things. I think you guys like school a lot too. You were excited to go back and didn't seem sad about summer being over. I believe that you guys love summer too but that you like school just as much. That is great! We still try to do something fun on early out Fridays, and we still see cousins and grandmas throughout the whole year!

Lulu, you are in 9th grade this year. You were super happy with your A-day classes when you first came home on Monday. You love your seminary teacher and signed up to play some of the opening songs on the piano! Accompanying isn't easy and I'm proud of you offering! Your first song, Come Follow Me, is coming along! You're also excited about yoga and band and you're gonna do great at Honors English. B-day has some harder classes but you're gonna do great:

Hammer, you are starting 7th grade at the big Junior High School. We walked through your classes a week before school started and I could tell that you were gonna pick up on that quickly. You have a map-loving kind of brain so once you figured out the logic behind the numbering, or at least memorized those 2 weird classroom spots, then you were good to go. You said that you have made new friends and I am excited to watch you learn trombone:

TJ, you made me laugh when you came home from school and said that you have the best teacher ever. She must have made quite the impression on the first day! She has a popcorn maker, waffle maker, cotton candy maker, and a million Mickey Mouses in her classroom. You're excited for all the parties and fun times ahead and for the learning challenges that she told you about. I'm excited to watch you progress in 5th grade Spectrum. 

A, it was your birthday on the first day of 3rd grade! You took candies to share with your new class. I think this is the first time that you asked why we put you in school when we did, making you the youngest in your class. That wasn't an easy decision but you are so smart and keep up with everyone else in the grade. You're also tall and fit right in! You are going to love your new teacher and you're excited to have some friends in there. 

So, here we go with another year! You will all do great if we can get organized and have a routine after school. I'm so proud of how well you do with learning but also with how kind and respectful you guys are. I love you!

Mom

St George Summer 2021

 Oh boy guys, this is the long St George review.

We went down on a Friday morning after Hammer finished his last band class. When we got there we had burgers and popsicles at Great Grandma's condo:

A, you picked up a piece of a cactus and didn't notice that it was covered in tiny needles. They were smaller than a hair! I tried to get them out with tweezers but it didn't work. Aunt B poured glue all over your hands, and your cousin N's hands, and after it finally dried the glue worked! It pulled most of the needles out of your hands:

The next morning we got up early to find a petroglyph slot canyon. It was super smoky, which was a bummer at first. Look at the sun coming up:

When we started hiking though it was super cool weather, because of the smoke I guess!:

So then I wasn't too mad at the air after all. It was perfect weather for hiking. We hiked through sand and over sandstone. There wasn't really a trail, we just used directions and google maps to find our way:

Then we found what we thought was the entrance to the slot canyon, a big tree:

Wrong tree. Luckily there was a sign that said to go just a little farther and then we found the right tree!:

It was such a neat canyon:

Hiking back out:

From there we tried to play in the river like last year but the water was all muddy and stinky and the sand was like black mud. So off we went to the dino park instead. Only A wanted to ride the train:

Then it was swimming time! We swam in all 3 locations:

Gramma took you to the Dollar store and you couldn't have been happier:

Pizza picnic at the park:

And night swimming!:

Sunday we went to church and then had smoothies at Great Grandma's condo. She and Great Grandpa told us what it was like when they were little. Grandma didn't have tv but they loved to listen to the radio, she lived by a bakery where she could buy 2 cookies for a penny, and she liked to play kick the can. Grandpa had a best friend named Harold and they accidentally set the coal shed on fire, he remembers a girl who pooped her pants in 2nd grade, he loved to play marbles at recess, and he was a cheer leader in High School. Grandma and Grandpa danced at a school dance when she was in 10th and he was in 12th and their first date was to Lagoon. You guys were really good to listen and ask questions:

We painted rocks outside:

And then the cousins put on a play:

That night we had a little birthday party for Audrey who turned 2. Cupcakes, treats, and glow in the dark dancing:

Monday morning we went out to Fire Lake Park. It's a swimming hole right next to Ivins Reservoir. We were the only ones there for a while and the water, though muddy, felt great. The shallow area was fun to play in and I let you guys swim all over with your life jackets on:

You liked watching Uncle B make a "hot tub" on the other side of the lake:

We stayed all morning and came home for a late lunch just when it was starting to get crowded. I liked the weather for swimming in the morning much more than afternoon, so that was perfect. This ended up being our favorite activity of the trip. 

The boys played lots of games:

and had lots of fun doing laser tag and mini golf. The girls did nails, made bracelets, colored, and listened to music:

Time to swim again:

After dinner we did some pictures at the condo:

then Lulu and I went to see a play at Tuacahn. We had a fun time. Hammer was in charge of the boys. You guys watched a movie and then went to bed. Such good boys.

The next morning we went to put our painted rocks on the Aspiration Trail. It was actually really hard to find the trailhead! We finally found it and put our rocks out. TJ liked this gator one someone else left:

And it's had to see, but there are your rocks that we put all together!:

That was a hot hike. One last swim before we packed up and came home:

We had an uneventful drive home with lots of movies, so that was good.

You guys are fun to travel with. I love seeing you get excited about finding new places and enjoying the outdoors.

Love,

Mom