Back to School

Before school even started, Scarlett was corresponding with her teacher.

 

 

The boys have been in violin for about a year now. I'm so proud of them.

Scarlett could hardly believe that finally, finally, it was her turn to go to school with her brothers. I was feeling blessed because for the first time ever, every single one of my kids had a friend in their class, and we got the good teachers that everyone was recommending. I'm so glad.

We love riding bikes to school. It is the funnest, easiest part of my life as a mother.

 Watching Scarlett run to meet her classmates is so fun. She's the happiest kid.

 And Juliette started preschool!!! She loves her backpack and her teacher and her classroom and show and tell and the songs they sing.

Now that Juliette is in preschool, there are about 4 hours a week where I don't have any kids with me. It has been 10 years since I have been on my own with no kids. To celebrate my first moment with no kids, I went and got myself some Pho and I ate it really slow all by myself and looked out the window of the restaurant and enjoyed my solitude.

Summer's Last Hoorah

We met up with Megan and her kids when they were visiting from Texas. It seems like another lifetime when we lived in California with them. Every time we get together we plot ways that we can live by each other again.

We had one last cousin day at Lagoon before school started. We made some great memories this summer hanging out at Lagoon.

Hiking and Eclipsing

One Saturday morning we decided to hike some trails in our neighborhood. Since we live right by the mountains, there's lots of options for hiking. We decided to go up the canyon in Centerville and follow a creek.

We stopped lots of times so that the kids could play in the water.

Later that week we watched the solar eclipse with Jared, Heather, Kristine and our kids. It was so interesting and eerie.

Later that night we went up the canyon in Bountiful and roasted hotdogs and s'mores and Jared and B and Edmond and the big boys went on a bike ride.

I love living so close to the mountains.

Fourteen Years married to this guy

I love my husband. He is constantly playing with the kids, cooking for us, planning trips for us, providing for us, and fixing stuff for us. Without him I would be so lost.  

Every year on our anniversary we like to watch our wedding video together. It's strange to see us as we were back then. We were so happy-go-lucky and in love. We are not happy-go-lucky anymore. Life has had it's way with us, four kids have had their way with us, our careers and responsibilities have aged us. But we still love each other. That will never change. I love B's laugh, his beach-y California boy good looks, his voice, his hands that fit so perfectly with mine, his legs (they are sexy, if you haven't noticed, you need to pay attention), his perfect teeth, his big muscles and the way he can still pick me up and carry me up the stairs for fun, the way he always answers my phone calls or calls me back right away. I can depend on him like I could never depend on anyone before. He is my biggest blessing in life.

On Facebook I made the following post: Fourteen years married to this guy. Aren't I the lucky one? I knew somewhere in the beginning of getting to know him that I wanted to keep his laugh next to me always. I gave him my heart and he has kept it safe all these years. I know that wherever we go, whatever we do, as long as he is by my side, I am home

Reunions and berry picking

Whenever we ride bikes to the library, we walk past this huge raspberry bush that sits next to the sidewalk by a commercial property. The berries are always hanging there, going to waste and getting to old to eat. I always let my kids eat the perfect ones. And I wondered if anyone even cares about these raspberries?

One day the kids we wanted to make berry cobbler, so we walked to the raspberry bushes and started picking about 2 cups worth. I started to feel guilty as we did it...wondering if this probably wasn't the right thing to do. But all the berries were just sitting there going bad...so anyway we picked some and came home and made a cobbler. We won't do it again though because I felt like a total thief. But it was a fun experience.

I met up with my Snow College roommates. It's been 20 years since we were all living together. It was so interesting to talk to them and see where they're all at in their lives. Tara has been living in Saudi Arabia with her husband and kids on a compound and he works as an accountant for an oil company. They have a house in Traverse Mountain and come back to Utah about three times a year. They love their life.

Tori was always so smart and hard-working in college. She now does CT scans (forget the specific name of her job title) and she has some cute kids and a good husband.

Sini and Adam are building a massive modern house in Alpine and afterwards she took us to see it and it's beautiful and I'm so excited for her.

Nanette lives in Springville where they built their own house and they had 80 acres and 2 turkey farms. They recently sold 70 of the acres and have quit the turkey farming. Mortality rate was too high. But they are staying in Springville and they are happy.

The next night I met with some of my VC sisters. Always a treat and a privilege to spend time with these ladies.

Bend Oregon

We had a reunion with the Cooley's in Bend Oregon. We stayed in a big house with a pond and a hot tub and lots of water toys.

We stopped by the Children's Museum while we were there. Pretty amazing.

We went spelunking in a nearby cave.

Walking downtown was interesting.

Juliette spent every spare minute in the hot tub, even if no one would go in with her.

We hiked to this beautiful waterfall.

I caught these guys having a moment.

Family picture in the shirts that Grammy got us.

We went down the Deschutes river. I wrote about the experience to my nephew Chase who is on a mission. I'll just paste what I wrote here.

We went to Oregon with the other Cooley's and I'm attaching pictures. The river rafting was awesome. Class 3 and 4 rapids and Grammy did not want to go but she pretty much didn't have a choice. On the biggest rapid there is a HUGE hole that most people try to avoid. People actually park their raft before the rapid and get out and hike to scout out the rapid and kind of make a plan for how they want to hit it. Not us. We didn't have a guide because we are cheap. We DID have women and children and elderly people in the boat . We didn't stop to scout out the rapid, we decided to just go for it. Grammy said don't hit the hole but we went straight for it and hit it perfect and I was up at the bow with all the little kids on their knees in front of me, holding onto the ropes and I was holding onto them and when we came up to that hole and I saw the raging water churning and raging eight feet below us, I wanted to take it all back and start over and prayed "please God don't let us die" and then we went down and that wave swallowed us whole and ate the front of the boat. Grammy and papa were in the middle and they got thrown back on their backs and Grammy got a huge bruise on her arm. B and Edmond were in the very back and took on lots of water but nobody got thrown out and we didn't capsize. When it was all over I turned around to count everybody and we all looked like a bunch of drowned rats but we were laughing so hard. It was seriously the biggest hole ever and we about killed ourselves and it was hilarious. Couldn't stop laughing after. Major adrenaline rush.