1st Days 2016

 August 17th came really fast! We feel cheated that our August summer was cut short. Way short. I don't get the new calendar the school district uses. What happened to starting near Labor Day and ending just after Memorial Day?  Makes me sad. But, nothing we can do. Back to school we go.

Bodie is going into 1st grade and starting the French program. Half day English, half day french. He is kinda nervous about it. But the first week is complete and I think he will be fine. He is loving lunch at school. He keeps wanting to eat hot lunch and try everything out. Jax and Creed do not eat school lunch anymore. So I am packing lunches. Bodie is just sometimes. I miss summer mornings. So laid back and free with no where to be.

We got our school shoes purchased and I got them all 1 new shirt to wear on the first day. So we are set. They don't even know what back to school shopping is. Yet!

Jax gets to rule the school. From the outside. Literally. Both his classes (French/English) again this year are out in the portables. So he is rarely in the school building. Way over crowded. But, this is the last year. He will be moving to Jr. high with the current 5th grades. Bam, 2 grades gone. It will free up classroom space at the elementary which is very much needed. Skyline High school is doing a grade reconfiguration and it switches 9th grade to high school and trickles down to 6th grade going to Jr. High now. Anyways...

 I moved Creed classes to be with more friends. So he is a happy camper being with some friends. Hopefully he can find a best friend or close group like Jax has. He doesn't seem to mind, but I do. Just being a mom ya know.

These clowns. Creed's into flashing signs. So you'll see that a lot. Rafe wanted to wear his new stuff as well to walk them to school.

The boys watch out the window for when the herd of kids starts walking up the street for school. They join their friends and the whole group goes together. Kinda neat, I'm glad.  I snapped a quick picture of part of everyone waiting at the crossing guard. She waits for everyone to catch up before they start crossing. It takes a while. I snapped one last picture before leaving Jax and Creed with their friends on the north side of the building then headed over to the other side to wait with Bodie and the younger grades. I did this the next morning too because it was so chaotic the first day I knew I had to help Bodie the 2nd day as well. They made it for the first week. 3 days only, but it was a long 3 days for them.

I said on Instagram, "The school better be good to us. All 4 of my babies are under their roof this year!" 

I know they aren't babies anymore. But what fun for them to all be together!

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Rafe started Kindergarten today! A week after his brothers started. They do an assessment the first week on all the kinder. He was ready and kinda excited. Until I told him to get dressed, he didn't want to go to school. I told him Ms. Nelson will be sad and wonder where he is. That seemed to work. I had to use that last year as well for preschool.

 Rafe wanted a group picture with his brothers. His first day was a big deal as well. They all get to walk to school together this year. I love it. It will be nice for me. I won't have to drive anyone. Just carpool with Rafe when he gets out. That makes me happy. :)

 Here are some pictures of my youngest child going to his first day of Kindergarten. I can't believe I just had to type that. I can't believe I am already here, this new stage of life. I knew it would come. I brought a tissue in my pocket. And when I got home from dropping him off I realized I didn't even tear up this year. I did feel kinda sad I guess when I got back home and talked with Greg. I know next year when Rafe is in 1st grade, it will be my "freedom" year. Being gone all day. And I will cry for that one. 1st Grade has always been a bigger deal for me. Gulp.

The top 2 pics he is with our neighbor Kaiser going into the building. Then the bottom 3 are after school when I met him getting out. Bodie was on his lunch recess and saw us, so we said hi. He had a good first day. Bravest child of mine yet! I know being there so much last year with Bodie made all the difference. Rafe knew the teacher, the room, the routine, the computer stuff, everything. He was a pro.

August push!

School is starting! It starts so early this year, middle of August! What the?! So we have to hurry and go go go, do do do, and squeeze in as much summer fun as we freak'n can!

Aug. 1st

I had been wanting to take our family and hike up to Cecret Lake in Albion Basin at Alta ski resort. The wildflowers were in bloom and then Greg wasn't able to ever make it to go with us. By this time it was the tale end of the flowers so one morning I took the boys by myself. A little crazy I know.

But we did it. It was nice and cooler up there, we all got up there without too much work or drama. Slow and sure, we told Rafe he could make it to the top of that mountain and zig zag to get there. He was a trooper. We made it!

We found our own little (big) rock to explore on. I let the boys dip their feet in the water since we weren't allowed to swim in it. And on one side of our rock was steep and if you go into the water you will slip. Sure enough Bodie slipped and went in, and every time he tried to move to get out he slid more and deeper. He was scared, and I knew if I went in I would slip too, then we'd both be in the water struggling to get out. And we had an audience of people watching. So I grabbed Creed who was already wet and we made a human chain down into the water and retrieved Bodie, still on the slippery rock but up to his shoulders. 

So in the picture Bodie has his clothes off so I could ring them out before we went back down.

Back down, was a Rafe nightmare! We made it half way and something made him mad and oh boy he did his screaming and crying and carrying on. None of us could help him, he was just mad and stubborn. A few passer-byers looked at me and nodded and said "I've been there" - because everyone could hear that kid scream!

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That same night Greg's work had an appreciation evening at the Zoo. So we went for free. Thank goodness we didn't pay because I would have been mad. Half the animals weren't even out. I would have thought in the evening when the sun isn't blaring over head and it's cooler they would be out. But nope. Empty! We still had a good time. But wish we could have seen... animals! ha!

The highlight was the tiger! And I love the animals the boys chose for the carousel. It fits their current personalities and recent interests.

Aug. 2, 5, & 7 ***

I caught Jax one evening while, his brothers were at a neighbors playing night games, being silly while he mowed the lawn. Waving, making faces, and this picture of him jumping and hitting his ankels. We had some water gun fights, and sometimes ends in anger. We had dinner with my mom one evening while Greg was out of town and walked around the temple. And for a few days we had lots of little rain storms. I caught a cloud on my way home and took a picture of it headed over our neighborhood looming in front of Mt. Olympus. Lots of cool lighting too.

Aug. 8 ***   I used my selfie stick (since Greg was out of town) and was trying to be sneaky taking a picture of the boys while we watched the Olympics one evening. And then when they noticed the camera, they all broke out being silly for the camera. Yeah, let me take a picture of your bum?!

We are all really loving watching the Olympics. The boys are all impressed with Michael Phelps and all that we watch. Best family TV ever!

Aug. 9 & 10th  *** One afternoon we went to Aunt Laura's neighborhood pool with cousins. The boys had some fun off the high dive. Creed did a flip and ended in a bad belly flop. Slapped him good, he cried a bit it hurt so bad. Poor kid. But he went right back at it. Bodie and Rafe had fun using their life jackets. How many more years of swim lessons until they can "swim" (sigh).

And the next day we headed downtown to Temple Sq. with our friends the Ungurens. We did the Children's church history musem, had lunch at the Gargden Restaurant, and went to the top of the Church Office Building to the observation deck and thoroughly enjoyed the views!

I love the picture of all 8 kids at the doors to the temple. All trying to get in "Let us in, Let us in"!

Aug. 11th ***

I truthfully am loving the the ages of my children. I can go do things I never would have done before with little toddlers or babies. I took the boys to a fun water park, Cowabunga Bay. All-by-myself again! It was such a fun day! I dare say my favorite day. We all loved it. It was warm, the water was warm, it was clean, it was fun for all ages, no deep pools for going under or drowning. Rafe was fine on his own. The older boys loved all the slides. Bodie, Rafe, and I had fun doing some of the "calmer" slides. 

Greg was planning on joining us around 4pm for the last few hours. But, Jax unfortunately jumped in the lazy river (we all LOVED) and he shouldn't be jumping of course and straight down on his foot and hurt it quite bad. We thought he might have broken it. So after pulling my boys away from the awesome day we took Jax to get an x-ray. And it showed he did not break a bone. Just a good painful strained ligaments or something.

It was a bummer missing out playing with Greg and leaving a little earlier than we wanted. But I know I will never forget the feeling I had that day with my boys and I all playing hard together. I will also never forget this summer, when I realized I can do things with my children I never did before. We are in the next phase of raising our boys, and I say bring it on!

Aug.13th ***

Saturday ended up being another favorite day actually! We went up to my favorite place. A Williamsen family reunion at the Valley in Eden, Ut. by Pineview Reservoir. Ok, so it wasn't the reunion that was so great, it was the location. We hung out and ate lunch, stuck together with my immediate family, the boys had a blast playing with all the toy cars on the tennis court, doing a zip line, playing with cousins and ending with a coin search in sawdust!

I loved being up there. Sure it's a little different, it's not "ours" anymore, my great uncle still owns the property, but it was so nice to see it again. And remember all of our great memories. I was mentioning to Greg about how a few times that afternoon I thought of my dad and almost teared up a little how he would have loved to be there and how weird it was to be with his family and he isn't here anymore. Then on the way home I was trying to tell Greg and I had a good little cry.

 Anyways, not to be too sappy anymore... Here are the boys and their excited faces riding the zip-line they had up there at the reunion.

 Aug. 13th cont.***

And then that night we headed down to Alpine for dinner at Greg's parents and played some, took our trailer back to it's 10 months out of the year parking home. And went to the local park and thoroughly enjoyed Alpine Days! So much fun things for the kids to do. And we also watched a pretty awesome firework show right overhead. It started way to late for so many kids, but oh well. We got home at almost mid-night. Ugh.

 A fun thing we did first was ride a wild bull! The boys thought it was great. I only have 1 or 2 pics of Greg and Rafe because they didn't last long at all and were thrown off right at the start. Ha! In Greg's defense the guy controlling it was pretty wild with the adults. :)

Now it's Sunday, tomorrow is back to school night, no plans yet for Tuesday and school starts on Wednesday. Ready or not!

Bobo is 7!

 Another year older. It amazes me how that happens. I can't believe Bodie is already 7. He seems younger to me. I think of him as like 5 years old still. It's weird. Maybe because I've spent so much time thinking of him and worrying about him and what to do with his future and deciding to have him do Kindergarten again. So I have kept him this little young boy in my mind. Sometimes he seems just so cute and little still.

Here's a baby picture when he was about 7 months. Such a cute HAPPY baby. Happy all the time!

But man, sometimes he seems like such a big boy. He is a big boy, literally a giant. As we've called him many times, he is our tank. I love his round chub on his hands and feet. I have Greg keep shaving his hair because I love how it makes his face and eyes look. 

Bodie is such a character. He is just like Greg and Jax. He loves to be silly. Sometimes we have to help him "tone" it down. He can be shy around others, but with family, he is pretty wild sometimes. He loves video games, hamburgers, pizza, ice cream, hotdogs, pickles, and Cheerios. He is content to play with his brothers. And is starting to pick on Rafe more. Some days he's excited for 1st grade, other days he tells me he's not and we discuss his worries. He loves to stay in his pajamas all day. With his 2 front teeth out his speech sounds are hard, it's going to be tricky to start speech again this school year since he needs those teeth to help him. I pray they come in already!

He has been really scared about things recently, especially at night in bed trying to go to sleep. It's been extreme actually. He heard some scary stories that terrified him. Traumatized is more like it. It makes me sad what he says he thinks about (zombies and such, etc.) We are making slow progress on getting him to be ok without all lights on, and singing many songs and him always calling us in the night. In the beginning he would cry and cry. After weeks and weeks this summer we are almost back to "normal". A process of baby steps but it is getting better. Phew.

Bodie is still a hoarder. We are always dealing with his collections, in his bed, night stand, spot on the couch, and the stash in the car by his booster seat. I throw a lot away when I can. Ha!

Anyways, so he's been looking forward to his big day. Counting down and telling us everything he wanted. 

On his b-day morning we only had half his presents, the rest arrived from Amazon later in the day. It was like the presents just kept coming. He got his Skylanders, Kylo Ren light saber, some books, cash, and 2 fun water gun blasters and building things from grandma's. Oh and a new water bottle. His old ones he chews on the spouts and ruins them. 

For his cake he said he wanted a flag cake. Hmm? Ok, maybe because the Olympics were going to start soon so he was ready to show American pride! Ha! I don't know but I happily decorated it as a flag for him. We all love a good spice cake.

That day we took him to get his balloons, and had lunch in a park and then played with his water guns for a week. He was a happy happy boy and it was a great birthday! We sure love him!

Summer happenings

 August will have it's own post. So here's what we have been up to this summer. Right after school got out Grandma Lorenzon had a "tea party" down at her house. Me and the older boys with cousin Soren in the picture. 

Greg got glasses. The boys still can't get over how he looks with glasses. Heck, I can't get over it. He looks so different. But older and more distinguished ay? He only needs them for reading at home up close. 

We had the city clean up and were trying to throw out all the boxes from our shed. The boys had a fun few hours playing in them. And those boxes are 2 big water heater boxes. Yes, that's 2 we had to replace. Greg is a rock star and did them both. One when out, and the pressure caused the other to go out. Fun for us! Bodie loved trying out Jax's friend Kaden's "tri-cycle" I called it a big wheel. 

And the boys dressed nice for Sunday. And the sacrament meeting picture I tried sneaking both Jax and Creed were mad a me so Creed wouldn't look at the camera and Jax turned after I took this. They were mad because they were of course being naughty and lost dessert or something for their behavior at church.

We've gone boating a few times. Not much though. We went on our annual camping trip to East Canyon with the Ungurens. And we invited the Wheeler family this time. It was lots of fun. I took a picture of all the kids swimming around. And finally! One of our boys has tried wake boarding. And Creed got up, just for a few moments. But he's up! And the boys hanging with cousin Liam and being "American Ninja Warriors" on the boat tower. We love that show man!

We got home from the Uinta's on the July 24th. And a lot of celebrations were happening on Monday the 25th. So we did a few sparklers to celebrate in our pajama's. And yes the 2 of the boys are holding their sparklers as if they might be peeing. Because they're boys! Greg and I taking a selfie after the temple one evening. 

Rafe posing with Creed showing off the 3 stickers on his shirt. He got them for the 3 shots he got that day for starting kindergarten. He was cute and gave 3 little screams each poke. He almost cried at the end but was brave and didn't, he will tell you. I'm just a little sad about the fact my baby will start kindergarten. I'm trying to gear up for it. And it's a normal thing in our house to break out in a dance party and shirts come off. Sometimes more comes off as well. Geesh!