The Boys...

 I just wanted to give a little update about the boys and their first month in school.   So far we are all adjusting quite well to the new school schedule. I bought Ryker his own personal alarm clock to help him get up early. With the charter school starting at 8:00am and living about 11 minutes away from the school, we have to leave our house at 7:40am. That's pretty darn early for a 6 1/2 year old. But he's been doing really well with the early schedule.

Ryker has been assigned to read 20 minutes a day. And so we have been doing that. His reading has greatly improved. I didn't realize HOW well he was doing until we received an email this week from his Literacy teacher. She told us that she had been monitoring Ryker and noticed he would do really well moving him up a level. Apparently he's reading at a 2nd grade level! Pretty cool.

This made me even more proud of him. I know he's a smart kid, and I'm not just saying that because he's my kid. He really is very bright. That's why I think this school is going to be perfect for him. With their leveling curriculum he is able to excel.

In recent months Cy had really been enjoying bedtime stories. Which I love because he hasn't seemed too interested when he was younger. Well with all of Ryker's reading lately, Cy likes to listen to Ryker. So then the other night Ryker read bedtime stories to Cy. Oh it was such a neat moment.

Now, about Cy in preschool. So, his preschool teacher is the same teacher that taught him during swimming lessons.  So she knows that Cy struggles listening to instruction. During the swimming lessons he would dunk his whole body under the water and then he couldn't hear what she wanted the class to do.

So when school started, she said she was ready for him to be the same way. But last week she told Jesse and me, on separate occasions that she was really impressed with how well he was doing in class. He's staying on task, listening to instruction, and paying attention to his teacher and  classmates when talking in front of the class. Yay!!! This made me do happy to hear because I was worried he would be the disruptive kid class.

When we aren't in school or doing homework, the boys take advantage of the warm weather that seems to be fading away faster than we'd like. They love to go on "grasshopper hunts" lately. I'm impressed how easy they can catch them. Being a girl this is something I'll never be able to relate to. But they sure think it's pretty cool. And that's fine by me. I'll let them be boys.

I find so much joy in these two handsome boys. They truly make me happy. Whenever I'm having a bad day, they somehow know how to brighten it up for me.

Goodbye Grandma Mickey

 

Grandma Mickey was relieved from her suffering frail body on Tuesday afternoon (9/2/14). We all felt sad yet happy for her at the same time. A blessing that comes with the knowledge of the gospel is we know that she most certainly is in a better place. That gives us comfort during our loss. And thank heavens for that.

 

Her funeral was this last Saturday (9/6). Jesse was scheduled to work, but called his Chief and found out he was aloud to take some grieving time off. So he was able to take the first half of his shift off.

 

My clients were all very understanding when I had to reschedule them all. So I too was able to attend the funeral. I'm so glad that I was able to be there. It was such a tender meeting. I feel like everyone who spoke honored her and gave such good memories of her. It was all very touching.

 

Before the funeral service started, they had the family prayer. And everyone who wanted to could give their last goodbyes before the closed the casket. At that moment, my father in law (Mike) and all three of his siblings went up together and gathered around Grandma Mickey. I hurried and snapped a picture of them around the casket because I thought it was such a tender moment. 

 The funeral was held at Mickey's ward house in Sugarhouse. Then we all drove up to Brigham City to attend the Grave Side Service.

 Jesse was honored to be a Pallbearer. Along with 7 other of Grandma Mickey's grandsons (Mason Smith, Brady Smith, Drew Smith, Tyson Smith, Andrew Smith, David Record and Jeffery Olson). The moment that they each took off their boutonniere and placed it neatly upon the casket was another tender moment for me.

 I already knew that I am so lucky to have married into the Smith Family, but it was evident on this day that the reason why the Smith family was so great because of Grandma Mickey raising her kids to be such good people. I am forever grateful to her and for her amazing example of love, service and selflessness.

Grandpa Bill died 20 years ago, so I never had the chance to meet him. But one of the tender mercies that I learned about all this was that Grandma passed away on their anniversary date. What a sweet reunion they must have had on their anniversary.

We will miss you Grandma Mickey! Love you!

Preschool

This cute little nugget started Preschool the day after Labor Day. 9/2/14. Can you believe it?

 

Tuesdays and Thursdays he goes from 9:00am-11:00am. So that means on those days Jesse and I have 2 hours to ourselves. That is if we aren't working. But for sure I get Tuesdays! Kinda nice to have that time for us.

 

But it's pretty incredible to have Cyrus be old enough to be in Preschool. I forget how grown up he's getting. With the second child they don't seem as big because the first child is obviously always older. So I still think Cy is just my little toddler. Nope he's a big boy now going to Preschool.

My hopes were that by the time Preschool started we would have been past the pooping issues. Nope. We had days where things were looking hopeful, then we'd have major set backs. With this in mind I went to his school teacher to see what we should do. I had heard from a lot of people that most schools won't let kids in if they aren't fully potty trained. And I of course don't want him NOT to go because he needs it. I NEED it! Ha.

Thankfully his teacher was very understanding and just said that some kids it'll be the time where it clicks. They see other kids going to the bathroom, so they want to do it too. She said to send him with a Pullup/underwear in his back pack just in case he has an accident. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen, but chances are they will.

Cy's surprised me how excited he was on the first day of school. I didn't think he really cared about the whole thing. But he kept saying "Les go Mom, Les go". He was almost getting upset with me that I would tell him it wasn't quite time to leave. Haha.

Labor Day Weekend

In past years we have made it a tradition of going to Moab over Labor Day Weekend with the Smith Family. We were all planning on going until about 3 weeks before. Reason being is that Grandma Mickey's cancer had come back and they were not expecting her to live much longer. For 3 weeks her kids (Mike and Heidi, Uncle Dave, Aunt Care & Aunt Mare) took turns taking care of her as she was fading away. As they are waiting on pins and needles for her to pass, Mike and Heidi felt that we shouldn't go to Moab because we didn't want to be far away if something happened.

 

So we just had to wait until the very last minute to see what we should do. We knew we weren't going to Moab, so Heidi was looking all over for a condo that we could at closer to home. Thursday (8/28) afternoon she finally heard back from someone about a condo that was available that weekend up in Eden. It was a really good price, so she booked it.

 

Friday morning (8/29) I frantically packed up all of the food I thought we could use and our clothes all in the truck by myself. Jesse was working and was planning on meeting us there since he was already up that way. Seemed silly for him to come all the way home, to turn around and go right back up that way. Unfortunately he had to work throughout Labor Day Weekend. But since we were going to be in Eden he could go back and forth from work and the condo. But we got to spend Friday and Sunday with him. Where if we would have been in Moab, he wouldn't have been able to come at all. So that was a bonus.

 

Andrew couldn't join us Friday day because of work, Mike was taking care of Grandma Mickey, and T&T couldn't come up because Ty was feeling sick. So we were little in numbers. But that's ok. We'll take what we can get.

 

Our plan was to play at the lake all day Friday before we checked into the condo. So once again we were at Pineview. Yay! Being a Friday it was really quiet because there wasn't very many people there. It was heavenly (I checked Ryker out of school so he could be with us).

 The girls were grateful to have Jesse there. He was very helpful with the wave runners and being the non-stressed out one of the group. I think the women having to pack everything up with out a man's help was overwhelming for us. So we were all relieved to get there all in one piece and be able to just relax.

Jesse is just so wonderful. When he is around he brings so much love, security and a sense of fun. So when he isn't around we certainly miss him.

 Of course the three boys were loving playing in the sand. They can spend hours digging. HOURS! I don't know how they didn't fall over from exhaustion. I guess they did once we put them in the car.

 Emily's siblings all share the 2 wave runners. And so we were able to borrow them for the weekend. I have never actually ridden on one before and Jesse took me out on it. And I was scared for my life. He's crazy! I made him take me back to the beach.

Later I drove it around myself and I liked that much better. I guess being behind Jesse driving was just too unnerving for me. I liked being able to have the control of the machine.

We actually got Ryker up on his skis again. He popped up every time like it was Now he just needs to work on STAYING up. But he's definitely improving. It's a shame we couldn't get him to start this out at the first of the summer. The improvement we saw only after two visits to the lake was impressive.

After playing hard, we packed everything up and headed to the condo. We hurried and unpacked our stuff and went out to eat at a yummy Mexican restaurant called Carlos & Harley.

After stuffing ourselves with Mexican cuisine we went back to the condo to get all settled in. The place we stayed at was called Moose Hollow. They were so awesome and only 10 minutes from the lake. It's so beautiful up there. I was telling Jesse that it would be nice to live up there.

Mom, Emily and I took an inventory of everything that the 3 of us brought for food and we made a menu for the rest of our stay. I think we did a pretty dang good job of using up all of the food that we brought.
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The plan for Saturday was to go back to the Lake. By this time Jesse had left for work and Mike and Andrew were with us, while T&T were going to meet us at the Lake. But after we all got ready to go, we looked outside and saw that it was overcast and looking like a storm was blowing in. Ahh Stink!

We thought maybe it would blow over and we could go to the lake after lunch, but by the time things started to clear up we didn't think it was worth paying for only a few hours. So we just played card games while the little ones napped.

There really isn't a whole lot to report about Saturday and Sunday besides the fact that we were all so happy to just be bums all day long. We did go to church on Sunday morning. But the rest of the time was spent playing games, hanging out and eating way too much food. It was wonderful! It's nice doing nothing sometimes.
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Monday we went back to the Lake after we packed everything up from the condo. Since it was actually Labor Day, the Lake was packed with so many people. We still had a good time, just was feeling like Friday was nicer because it was more peaceful.

That didn't stop us from having an enjoyable time. The girls soaked up some Vitamin D while the boys played in the sand with Andrew.

 We rotated taking turns on the wave runners. I took the boys out for a little spin, but we weren't gone too long because it made me a little nervous with all the boats around. There is a law that you must not be within 150 feet of another boat. But with how many boats and wave runners that were out there, the lake felt suddenly really small.

The boys loved riding with me though. Which made it more fun for me. Cy was giggling over every bump we went on. It was cute.

 Then it was time to bring our fun weekend to an end. We packed up in the car and we headed home. I think Cy was out within 2 minutes of us driving away. Ryker was more like 20 minutes later, but still they were both so tired from our fun day

On the way home I was hoping to stop by the fire station so we could say hi to Jesse while he was working. But he wasn't answering my texts or calls because he was super busy. So it didn't work out for us to come visit. But that's ok. It was good to get home earlier and unpack the truck. I was so exhausted and just ordered a pizza (which I never do) for dinner.

Even though our Moab trip fell through we still made it a fun weekend. It's been 3 years since we have been down there. We are missing it. So things have to work out next year so we can go. I think Jesse wants to try and go down there for a whole week. That would be awesome! Fingers crossed it'll work!

1st Grade

It's hard to believe that Ryker is old enough for this to be happening! Gone all day! Sheesh!

 

He was so excited for the first day though. I couldn't help but feel happy for him. I didn't bawl like I did when he went off to Kindergarten, but I did feel a little prick in my heart thinking about how old he is getting. I think I didn't loose my emotions because Jesse was in the truck with me when we dropped Ryker off. 

WPA starts much earlier than regular Elementary Schools. Instead of starting at 8:55am, WPS starts at 8:00am. And since the school is much further from our house than Bountiful Elementary is we have to leave our house by 7:40am to get him there in time. I was concerned about this. But so far it's working out pretty great (I might change my mind once the winter season is in full swing).

To help Ryker get up in the morning when I'm at the gym, I bought him an alarm clock. He thinks it's pretty cool since it's in the shape of a large LEGO piece. But it makes him seem very grown up. Crazy that my 6 year old needs an alarm clock already.

Nice thing about him starting earlier, is he gets out at 2:30 instead of 3:30. So it feels like we get more of a day to work on homework and do stuff before bedtime.

Boating before School Starts

Ya know? I used to go boating with my family EVERY single week. But it's been about 3 years since I have been able to go with them. My Dad's days off used to be Tuesdays, which I too have off (hence why it was so easy for me to go with them every week). Then he got a new job and it was then Wednesdays, which I don't have off. So it became very difficult for me to go when they went.

 

Well now that Jesse has full days off I decided it would be fun if we could go with my parents on a Wednesday that Jesse had off. So I had to schedule out a month in advance to be make myself take off that Wednesday before school started. That way my entire family (J.A.R.C.) could all be there together. There were a few Wednesdays this summer that Jesse went with my parents, but I stayed behind and worked. So I was really looking forward to going!

 

When my turn came up, the water was perfect and I was excited! My board and I were reunited after 3 long years apart. ;-) It felt so good being out there. I think I had some of the best jumps I've ever done. It was pretty awesome! 

The last time I was with this guy on the lake, he wasn't even 1 yet. Now that's crazy! 

After I had my run, it was Jesse's turn. He is so freaking good at both wakeboarding and the slalom ski. He's the one that taught me how to get more comfortable jumping off the wake. So one of these days I'll have to have him teach me how to slalom like he does. He can cut so well on that right side. It's just beautiful! 

 

On those Wednesdays that Jesse went boating without me, he had tried to get Ryker to ski. But sweet Ryker is so timid when it comes to new things that his fear takes over and he just cries. We know this happens and we know that the only way to get him over those small fears is to push him. Not in a rude way. In a loving way. We saw this several times during swimming lessons. Whenever the teacher asked Ryker to do something new (Such as: holding his breath under water, swimming the length of the pool, jumping off the diving board, or diving off the diving board) he would break down and cry. But the teacher just reassured him that he was safe and everything would be ok.

 

So same thing with water skiing, when we told him we wanted him to try it, he cried. Jesse got him to try a few times when he was with him but he was so upset that things weren't working out for the good.

 

A week before we were going boating, I told Ryker that Jesse and I would be going boating with Grandma and Grandpa, and we want him to try and ski again. Of course he burst into tears. I gave him a moment to cry it out and said that he had to get all his tears out then because on the day of he needed to be brave.

 

So for a whole week, I heard him bring it up to me daily. Worrying that he wouldn't get up. But I just reassured him that everything would work out and that he needed to trust his Mom and Dad!



 

Well, his moment came that Wednesday and he put on his brave face. I could tell that he was nervous but he still got in the water with Jesse. Jesse had made a deal with him that he had to give it 6 solid good tries before he would let him back in the boat. He explained to him that every time he tried he would be learning something. Even if he didn't get up.

 

On his 6th try he got up and went for about 2 seconds across the water. We were all cheering for him from the boat because of how thrilled we were for him. And he was excited as well. But because it was his 6th time trying he was ready to be done. Haha. We all tried to talk him into trying one more time because he would be even better. But he was done. And that's ok.

 

He came in the boat and I couldn't help but feel so proud of bravery! He's such a stud! Also as a parent it was a really good feeling to know that pushing him out of his comfort zone paid off. Jesse and I both knew that once he got up he wouldn't be able to stop talking about it. And it's true! Every person that he comes across (teachers, friends, family, neighbors and ward members) he would tell them that he skied. 

 

After all that, we were starving. So we anchored the boat and ate some yummy lunch that mom had packed us all. Then it was just time to chill! We relaxed on the beach/boat for awhile and then we went and played on the beach. It was fun having two of my sisters there. I had found out the night before that Manda was going to be joining us, so that's was a nice surprise. They are pretty awesome girls! Love them SO much!

 

August has been a very rainy month. Which is really strange for this time of year. So I know that I was very happy to see that the sun came out  for us to play at the lake. I would have been totally bummed if we got rained out. Thank our lucky stars it was a Great Day! And what a way to end the summer. And when I say summer, I am talking about the school summer. I am hanging on to every last warm day! Summer isn't over yet. It just can't end.

Park City Girls Trip



Third Annual Christmas in Park City Girls Over-nighter took place at the end of August. This was AMAZING! Oh I just can't tell you how much I love these women. I've said it before and I'll say it again. But I love being with them because we can be ourselves and there isn't any judgment or drama. I truly am so lucky to have scored so BIG on the Smith Family. Not one of us come from the same mother, but we certainly get along like we do.

 

I know I can speak for my sisters-in-law when I say that Heidi is very dear to all of our hearts. It doesn't hurt that she spoils us by taking us to Park City for a Christmas Present. ;-) But honestly, she is the best Mother-in-law any girl could ask for. I love that she accepts me for who I am and I know that she loves me for who I am. When I'm around her she makes me feel so loved and that I have so much potential. She not only makes me feel that way, but everyone that she comes in contact with.  

Spending a day at the Tanger Outlet Mall was a success! After Wasatch Peak Academy called me that week, School Uniforms was added to my list of things to buy at the Mall. And I scored big at Old Navy. Ryker is suppose to wear either a red, white or blue collared shirt, with either khaki or navy blue shorts/pants. So I was beyond thrilled when the polo shirts were on sale for $5 each.

We all agreed that we want to keep this tradition up. It's a ton of fun and it's something to look forward too every year! Thank you Heidi! We Love you!

Where did August go?

My goodness... I have no idea where the month has gone. August was so full of summer activities that I just never found the time to record everything. And come Sundays when I did have time, I was exhausted and probably fell asleep on the couch during post church "quiet time".

The month of August has brought us so many good things I don't even know where to begin. As I was looking back through all the pictures on my phone, I couldn't help but feel happy about how we ended our summer. I think I just start at the beginning when we went on a little hike as a family.

The Monday morning after SpudMan, the boys and I met up with Jesse in Ogden. He wanted to take us on a hike up Waterfall Canyon near his work. So as soon as he got off that morning he was able to take us on the hike. Thankfully Chantel was able to come over in the morning to be at the house with the boys, while I went to the gym and to the grocery store before leaving for Ogden  (I still needed to get my Monday duties in before I went and played).

The hike was a about a mile and a half up. So not too bad. The boys did great. I was really impressed with how well they were climbing up the mountain. I love that the boys are getting big enough to go and do activities like these. Of course Cy loved climbing over the big rocks. The larger the better. One particular rock he climbed to the top and when reaching the top we hear him say "Look Guys, Come 'ear guys, It's Danj-wiss". Well that should be Cy's life long motto. If it's dangerous then he wants to do it. His bravery can serve him well, but there have been numerous occasions that it has frightened me.

Upon arriving at the end of the trail, we reached the waterfall. Jesse said that the waterfall wasn't running as full as it was in the Spring. Him and a few other firemen had hiked it back then and he liked the hike so much he wanted to take his family to the waterfall. The boys of course loved it when we made it to the waterfall, not only because of the tall waterfall, but because of the large rocks they could climb on.

Our Garden has been in full bloom. Everything was producing and we were loving it. Especially the peach tree. Once those ripened we were feeling a little selfish. We of course shared them, but for some reason we were feeling greedy and wanted to keep them all to ourselves. None could be wasted and they all must be eaten. And don't you worry. They did. Peaches and Cream are one of our favorites. That just screams summer!

 

 An exciting day was the day we picked our one and only watermelon. It was the only one that survived the Rats from eating the baby watermelons. Yes you read that right. Rats. Ewww. Jesse suspected we had some type of rodent eating them. And he was right. He caught/killed two of them. And we didn't seem to have any other problems after that. But by that point we only had one watermelon that didn't get eaten. That is, until us humans picked it.

A favorite thing we like to do in the summer evenings is to hang out in the backyard swings. The boys really have enjoyed having these hammock swings in the yard. I love going out there as the day is starting to cool down and we can all be together. It's especially sweet when Jesse is home as well.

 

As the summer was coming to a close. We had school to look forward too. Back in January I had put Ryker in the Wasatch Peak Acadamy Lottery in hopes he would make it in for 1st grade. But I lost hope when I had found out they had pulled from the lottery at the first of summer with to success of Ryker making it in. Well with a week and a half to go before school started, I got a phone call at the salon from WPA. They said a 1st grade slot had opened up and Ryker's name was drawn from the lottery for that spot. I was so excited!

 

This school is a Charter School and uniforms, but that's not what drew me to this particular school. Their curriculum is awesome! It's called Leveling! Each child is tested and they get to learn at the level that they test at. Therefore, if they are ahead they can continue to excel. And if they are behind then they won't feel like they are holding the other students in the class behind as well.

 

They also have an hour of Spanish everyday. :-) And they have 3 periods. One for their home room learning, literacy and Math class. I know I'm not explaining it all very well, I just loved how everything is set up. Oh and they have a great website to help keep parents informed. It's fantastic.

 

After I calmed down from my excited-self I started to feel a little concerned that Ryker would be sad to leave his old school where he had made friends. So I was a little nervous to tell him about it. But when I told him he was thrilled.