Back to School

Week one of school went great! We are on the early track this year which means the kids start at 8:00am and are out by 2:15pm. I wasn't sure I was going to like it but I actually love it. The kids just get up, eat, get dressed and off to school they go but I love how we have all afternoon together. As winter sets in I may not like getting them off so early but right now I love it. Emily is in first grade and it is so odd to just have Aly and Janey at home. Aly is a good little helper and it is nice to focus on pre-school play again. Janey is walking around furniture like a champ and has given up the baby food for the good stuff with texture and taste. She still puts everything in her mouth which is a challenge at times. Last night she crawled into our shower and sucked on soap. I guess I'll have to come up with a new consequence for her when she gets older and says a bad word because the taste didn't bother her one bit. I wonder sometimes if the girl has taste buds. Aly misses her playmates all day but I will be starting a little playgroup once a week with 3 other moms that will be fun for her. She is growing up fast and is quick as a whip I tell ya. The girl is full of humorous one liners.

The four older kids all love their teachers which I am so happy about. Katy has a male teacher for the first time and is not in with her best friend Ivy but seems so love her teacher and his sense of humor and interesting lectures. Jacob and Hunter are in the same class this year, the first time since kindergarten. Their teacher is very supportive in helping them with their dyslexia and is even interested in becoming a certified tutor. She has taught 15 years, loves BYU, and loves to teach. The boys were thrilled that she is cougar fan. Emily has a substitute for the first couple of weeks while her teacher recovers from her new baby. She is in the same class as her cousin Chauncey and seems to love eating lunch in the lunch room and being with the big kids.

I'm adjusting to having more time on my hands and somehow still filling it all. I was just called as cub master today which I am really excited. We have a great cub scout program in our ward and I love that I get to work with my boys. They both high fived me after I was sustained in church. I was called just five minutes before the meeting so it was news to them when I stood up. Jonathan starts at his new school tomorrow and is looking forward to meeting his new students.

Yesterday we planted seed in our front yard. A project that was much harder work than I had suspected. The backs of my legs are very sore today from bending up and down a hundred times. Now we just pray it will grow. The kids are so excited to have grass. I would hate for it to fail.

Camping at Currant Creek!

On July 27 we headed out on the long awaited and anxiously anticipated annual camping trip. Jonathan worked his magic and actually packed all the paraphernalia it takes to go camping with a family of 8 for 3 days. As we drove out of the driveway we still were undecided on our camping location. We headed up Provo canyon and somewhere along the way decided to try Currant Creek (a campground we had seen rated highly online). It is located just East of Heber and North of Strawberry Reservoir. We pulled off the paved road and ventured off road for close to an hour on a very bumpy road. Our brains were all a bit joggled by the time we arrived. We pulled into the campsites and found plenty to choose from. We settled on one that had a nice veiw of the lake through the pine and aspen trees and was right across the road from a great pioneer park also surrounded by trees. It took just under 3 hours to make our little campsite feel like home. The kids were begging to get wet so we headed down to the lake. There were very few other campers and we felt like we had our own private shore (mostly rocks with a little sand here and there.) The water was cold but refreshing and the kids had a great time splashing and trying to stay untangled from the lakeweed (as opposed to seaweed).

After a dinner of taco salad and homemade cookies we headed out for a little evening hike. There was a one mile hike up through the Aspen trees. It looped around the top of the mountain and gave a great view of the dam and lake. The sun was just setting as we arrived back at camp. We sat around the campfire for a while and then called it a day. The first night camping is always interesting. We didn't sleep a whole lot between kids that were cold, a baby who wouldn't sleep, sore legs, headaches, and kids rolling on top of each other. Finally about 4am everyone fell into a deep sleep which only lasted 3 hours but at least it was something. We broke in our new campstove that morning with eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns. That morning we took another little hike around to the top of the dam at the head of the lake and the kids played on the playground that included a log home and a covered wagon. They have such great imaginations. There were no other campers in sight so they had the whole place to play on their own. We spent all afternoon at the lake trying out our borrowed blow up kayak, dodging or catching fish (depending on the child), and skipping rocks. It was perfect! We had a weenie roast and smores that night and fully saturated our clothing and tent in the smell of camp smoke. We did some major rearranging of sleeping conditions that night and we all got a lot more rest. Being extra tired helped too!

The next morning the kids discovered pioneer sidewalk chalk. They would burn the ends of their sticks then write and draw on the concrete pad the picnic table was on. It came off with water and they loved it. We took one last dip in the lake where Emily made a friend with a leech and Hunter spotted a water snake that all the kids took turns holding (much braver than their mother). We packed up and headed home with dirty clothes, smelly hair, sunburned cheeks and wonderful memories!

Enough of the babbles now for the blessings: We have been greatly blessed this summer. We feel as though angels have been watching over our children especially Alyssa. She locked herself in a hot car, ran away from us at the city fireworks show, tried taking a solo stroll around the block, and fell inches from the firepit. Since we can't lock the girl in a room we are thankful for angels and promptings of the Spirit