Mitch was out of town over Labor Day weekend, so I took the kids to This is the Place Heritage Park. I hadn't been in years and the park was bigger than I remembered. We were there for almost 5 hours and we didn't see or do everything! We had so much fun though and we need to go back sometime!
The highlight of the day was running into a former missionary companion of mine. Becky Oman Engh, aka Sister Oman. I am terrible at keeping in touch with people, and I quit Facebook, which she didn't have anyways, so it was a very nice surprise to run into her with her husband and two cute boys. I have so many fond memories of my time with her. She is a naturally funny person, as in she doesn't try to be funny, she just is. She was so sweet and while she was very homesick when we were in Latvia together, she was still a joy and taught me a lot about loving people. I will always look up to her and am thankful for her example to me, even ten years later!
We spent some time picking peaches at my grandma's house over Labor Day too. I love her backyard. There used to be so many tall trees and a barn. She had it all taken out after my grandpa passed, but I still love it.
Marcus started preschool in September. I joined three other moms and we take turns teaching, so I end up teaching once a month. I also joined a second group, but we only have three moms, so some months I teach that group twice in a row. I don't mind, in fact it's fun teaching these cute kids! And the best part is it's free. ;) The women who are in the groups are all wonderful and I'm grateful for them. It's Kellee Mudrow (Mason's mom), Lara Lifferth (Anna's mom), Jessie Molyneaux (Taysom's mom), and Camille Bennett (Brynlee's mom).
Marcus was so upset the morning of his first day of preschool. We hadn't seen Mitch for over two weeks at this point and Marcus was struggling. So these pictures are what I ended up with.
Speaking of Marcus, a couple of his funny quotes from the past couple of weeks:
I told Marcus he makes me happy, to which he replied, "You make me happy AND grumpy, Mom." Well, if we're being honest ...
"Mom, someday I want to be a human boy bigger than you!" I told him that I bet he would be someday. "Like Daddy?" Yes, like Daddy.
He ate his first Reese's peanut butter cup. He asked what was in it and I told him peanut butter. He said, with big eyes, "I like this better than peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches!" Me too!!!
I love that boy!
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| I was on a (long) phone call with my friend, Brandi. When I finished I found the kids like this. :) |
Layla had a piano recital and she played amazing! This recital was a big deal because she graduated from Level 1 of the Suzuki program. It takes most students 2 years to pass the first level, she did it in 1.5 years. She is becoming such a talented pianist and has passed me in ability. She played her recital piece perfectly and I was so very proud of all her hard work. Her teacher had nothing but praise, which is saying a lot since she can be extremely critical (in a good way). She said of all her students who played that song, Layla did the best. We gave her flowers and a card, she earned a Suzuki certificate that we framed and hung above our piano, and my parents gave her a small bust of Beethoven and a piano pencil and pen. My grandma Ruth also came, but Mitch's mom had just had her back surgery so they couldn't make it. It was a very rewarding night after a lot of hard work and tears!
Layla has also been practicing the monkey bars every day at recess. She has some impressive calluses on her little hands! Now she can do the monkey bars easily. I love that she's learning the lesson of hard work, practice, and perseverance!
The months of August and September were rough! Mitch was out of town for both months, only coming home for one or two weekends. I'm usually one who can take care of myself and am introverted enough that I don't mind him being gone on work trips once a month or so, but this about killed me. We didn't see him for two weeks at at time, or longer, and it took its toll on all of us. The poor kids missed him so much! Marcus started really acting out, Layla cried every night, and I broke down and cried several times too (and I never cry). Finally, two weeks ago, this d@m* project ended and Mitch came home. Wahoo! He took the last two weeks off and it has been wonderful! Not only do we get to hang out with him, but he has been incredibly helpful! I should add here that I was very, very sick since the last part of August and only this week did I start feeling 100% again. So, Mitch was helpful since I was so far behind on life and just making through one day at a time and he helped me get caught up and rest until I felt all the way better.
The kids and I also joined Snapchat to pass the time while Mitch was gone and I was too sick to do anything. Some of our pics had us laughing pretty hard!
My parents and our neighbors and friends were also helpful when Mitch was gone and I was so sick. They brought dinner and watched my kids a lot. My parents took my kids for an entire weekend and I seriously didn't get out of bed the whole time. It was depressing. I had some sort of infection in my lungs (the chest x-ray didn't show walking pneumonia, but it was something similar) and I couldn't do anything. I had terrible stomach aches from all the antibiotics. It took three rounds of antibiotics, one steroid pack and lots of cough syrup before I started feeling better.
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| They have so much fun sleeping over at my parents' house! Especially with a pile of whip cream for breakfast! And my mom always takes them to do fun things! |
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| Our friends, the Mudrows, took my kids several times while I was sick. |
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| Marcus loves their baby boy, Brody! |
Layla and I were able to join Nicole and Oakley on our 3rd annual girls trip this month! We saw the play, Peter Pan, at Tuacahn. It was so much fun, as always. I'm so glad we started this tradition and that our husbands are okay with it! We stayed at my grandpa's house this year and he has the most incredible view from his porch! Mitch bought Marcus a Transformer toy for them to play with while we were gone, so they had lots of fun too.
I have been busy the last few weeks with photography. It always picks up in the fall. It's a fun job to have and I've learned a lot this year, especially about editing. I like the challenge that comes along with it. Someday I'll put in more of an effort and have a legit photography business, but for now it's a good amount while my kids are young. I've also been really busy with the PTA. We had our first book club meeting where we discussed the book The Wednesday Wars, which I loved. It's a good feeling to get kids excited about reading!
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| Maybe I mentioned this in my last post, but I went to the Coldplay concert in August. Ahhh, words can't describe the joy I felt. My most favorite band. Ever. The concert was incredible! It was also very loud and my left ear hurt for two days afterwards. I was slightly worried. #worthit |
