First Day of School!

The summer flew by--starting school again is always bittersweet to me. I find comfort in having my kids all home with me. I like being able to "cleanse" ourselves from the outside world and the pressures of school and friends. One of my favorite things ever is watching all four kids play together nicely. Unfortunately, the "nicely" doesn't happen all the time.

I could tell the girls were starting to get bored and that they were ready for a new routine. And, I am ready for more structure as well...just not homework!

Of course Kaitlyn and Brynn loved everything about their first day. It's nice that they love school so much.

Brynn--1st Grade

Brynn could hardly sleep the night before school started. She was up most of the night with nervous anticipation/excitement.

Cute outfits compliments of Betsy and Russ and the closing of Shade girls. Thanks guys...the girls love them!

Katilyn--3rd Grade

She's so excited to learn cursive writing this year!

Beautiful Bandelier

Today we took a fun-filled family day trip to Bandelier. Bandelier is a National Monument where Ancestral Pueblo peoples lived for thousands of years. You can see their dwellings and other artifacts and hieroglyphics in the canyons and on the mesas.

It’s a couple hours or so from Albuquerque—and of course Scott insisted on the scenic route which was beautiful but added another 30 minutes to the trip. Not far from Bandelier, Brynn threw-up in the car. Being that it was really beautiful outside and not so much inside, we stopped and cleaned up and enjoyed the fresh air for awhile.

Once we reached Bandelier the kids did great with all the hiking and looked like monkeys climbing up and down the ladders and trails.

On our way back down the canyon towards our van we drew a lot of smiles from fellow hikers. We started to figure out why once we noticed how they didn’t usually have children or at least in every case the adult to child ratio heavily favored the adults.

Our family looked quite the opposite. A worn out pregnant lady pushing Jared in the jogging stroller, Ellie asleep in Scott’s arms wearing only a diaper (she refused to wear anything else after we stripped her down to play in the creek), Brynn busily snapping photos to the left and right, and Kaitlyn wandering nearby through the bush in search of bugs and other critters.

By the time it was all said and done this kind of sums up how we all felt.

We took the 'short route' home that turned out not to be so short after a couple wrong turns, going over some big bumps, and having Brynn throw-up one more time (at least this time we were prepared). Most of the turns came from an attempt to find a certain restaurant in Santa Fe called ‘Bobcat Bite’ that Scott read about in the Wall Street Journal. We eventually gave up when Ellie started to make it very clear that this extra detour wasn’t very cool. In fact she kept driving this point all the way back home.

Despite a few setbacks we had a great day together—so much so that Jared even mentioned he wanted to live in Bandelier forever.

Pink or Blue?

We have a lot of PINK in our house now. (Scott thinks pink=extreme emotion and moodiness).

So bring on the BLUE!!! It's a BOY!

When the tech told us it was a boy, Scott replied, "Why do you think I wore my blue shirt." Oh, I just thought it was because half of his closet was full of blue shirts. Apparently, he had planned his wardrobe for today. As if wearing blue could maybe determine the gender at the last minute.

We're all excited for a boy although the kids told me this morning they didn't care if it was a boy or girl....just as long as it wasn't a dinosaur!

Don't I Have Cute Kids?

It's Great to Be Eight!

Sweet Kaitlyn turned eight on June 3rd and was baptized the following Saturday, June 6th. My mom and dad and brother Caleb and sister Abby were able to come down from Utah to be with Kaitlyn at this special time. I was so grateful they were there. Abby, Mom and Dad sang a special musical number that really invited the Spirit into the meeting.

Scott baptized her, and I gave a talk. My dad said the opening prayer and Caleb said the closing prayer. It was special to have family with us to show their love for Kaitlyn.

We are so proud of this cute girl! She is such a good example to her sisters and brother and to her friends. She is kind and respectful to others. She is an extremely good helper with her little brother and sister. She loves to catch bugs and will pick up just about anything but spiders! She is artistic and a wonderful writer and reader. She also loves to eat just about anything and I'm grateful for a child that exclaims almost every night, "YUM! This is my favorite dinner. I love this!"

Scott's dad always calls Kaitlyn "Miniature Abby" because Kaitlyn reminds him so much of my sister Abby.

Bird Watching...in the Kitchen!

I heard a strange noise behind the blinds of one of our kitchen windows. When I went to investigate I found this hummingbird wildly flapping it's wings trying to escape outside through the glass window. I guess my windows are so clean that it couldn't even tell it was there (Ha!). I'm not sure how long it was there or how it even got in.

We tried to capture it, but I was a chicken and called my neighbor to help. I knew she was a big hummingbird fan. She came over and caught it with her bare hands and let it go outside. It was great after-dinner excitement!

Prolific

Prolific: Fertile, producing offspring or fruit in great abundance—applied to plants producing fruit, animals producing young, etc

A perfect definition to describe what's been going on in our yard. Scott's words to the young men summed it up (the Bishop related this to me).

"Kitten's were born under my air-conditioning unit. Bunnies were born under my lettuce plants. Pigeons are nesting on my roof, and Sarah is pregnant."

It has been an exciting couple of weeks with all the wild-life producing around us. The kids love every minute of a new discovery, and it makes me laugh that our tiny backyard has been the choice spot for so many mothers.

It has also been a bit disconcerting. I have no compassion for the pigeons who leave droppings all over our house and barrage our roof with their garbage. The kittens were so cute, but their home was the spot where the air-conditioning unit connected to the house. I could hear noises in the walls when they were about. It couldn't be good. I was also afraid the mom would lash out at our kids if they tried to pick up a baby, which I knew they would if there was any possible way. Scott got fed-up with the extra offspring around here and sprayed vinegar all around where the cats had made their home. We haven't seen that little family since.

We're still fighting the pigeons. That one is never-ending.

The bunnies are a story all their own. More to come on that.