Spring 2018

It's been a busy season for us, but full of all good things.

Layla had her "Hero Day" at school and she chose to present on Sacagawea. She spent a few hours, over a couple of weeks, researching and preparing a slide show, a poster, and an interview portion in which she dressed up as Sacagawea and I interviewed her in front of the class. I only helped her when she asked and let her do all of those things on her own. It was hard for me not to step in and make suggestions, but I knew she'd do great and could gain a lot of confidence if I didn't and only helped when she asked. So that's what I did, and Layla totally rocked it! I was so impressed with her slide show, and mostly with her ability to stand in front of her class and present the information like it was no big deal, with a smile on her face. What a great skill! And she is so beautiful. That really stood out to me as I watched her stand in front of the classroom. She's lovely.


I took Marcus to his Kindergarten Roundup. Why they call it a roundup, I don't know, but I don't love it, haha. Marcus was disappointed that they didn't "sit in a circle since it IS called a roundup!" Hahaha, that kid! We sat in a short meeting about general school info, then they took the kids to the classrooms where the teachers talked to them about a few things and had them color a picture while the parents got more info about the French Immersion program. It will be interesting to have him learn French. I honestly don't know what to expect for him, but I do know he'll have a great teacher because we met them both and they were wonderful. Anyways, he was excited to be at "his school" and he looked so grown up sitting at the desk, coloring. Attending the Roundup helped it seem more real to me that he's going to Kindergarten. It felt like setting up the Christmas decorations and how that helps me get in the mood for Christmas. Now I can wrap my brain around my baby going to school. It is incredibly bittersweet!

Speaking of Marcus, we had him diagnosed as lactose intolerant. :/ For several weeks he would complain of a stomach ache after breakfast, which usually consisted of cereal or pancakes and milk. Last week we stopped giving him milk all together and the stomach aches stopped. we bought almond milk and he loved that. On Saturday he ate 3 scoops of ice cream (we usually only give him one scoop) and he, of course, complained of a stomach ache. He ended up throwing up 5 times that day. It was rough, and sad, and concerning. I took him to the pediatrician, who confirmed lactose intolerance and said we're doing what we should be by avoiding dairy. He said because Marcus tolerated it for the first part of his life okay, that there is a really good chance that as a young adult or adult he will be able to fully tolerate it again. But until he's older we'll avoid milk and ice cream. Cheese and yogurt he seems to be okay with, so that's good at least. He does love yogurt. I feel bad for him, and it was frustrating figuring this all out, and there will still be trial and error, but I'm glad it's getting better and it's not anything more serious. And Marcus is an easy going kid, so I'm thankful for that! And for our pediatrician, Dr. Fennel. He always explains things very well and reassures me.

At the doctor's office.

After Marcus threw up, we went to Smith's to get him some applesauce and Pedialyte. We made Layla push Marcus around in this little cart. He was really excited about it. She was not. Mitch and I thought it was great.

Mitch is getting near the end of his Ph.D. program. He took a week off work last month so that he could take his big test. It took him almost 40 hours to complete. He felt good about it, but it hasn't been graded yet. Knowing Mitch he got an A though. ;) I am so happy for him that he is almost finished with school. He has worked so hard and I know he's looking forward to being done!

I finished my first semester at USU (well, online anyways). I earned an A in my class and am very proud of that. It gave me a boost of confidence that I needed as I now have two challenging courses ahead of me. I am taking on this summer, it actually starts on Monday, and it has a lab with it. I'm not sure what to expect for that. I am grateful for the opportunity to go back to school. I love it and feel that it is what I'm supposed to do right now.

The weather is great right now. We are itchy to go hiking! These last few weekends have been so busy we haven't been able to go to the mountains yet. And the next three weekends are full, but hopefully we can get out after that!

I often find selfies from the kids on my phone. I came across these gems recently:

We even got Oakley in the background on some of these, lol!

This is a classic Marcus face. He squints like this and sticks his tongue out a little whenever he points at something or thinks really hard about something. It makes Mitch and I laugh every time and I'm pretty sure it melts both our hearts too because it's such a Marcus expression.

 And I can't remember why I took these pics, but I love that this is my view in the back of my car:

 Layla finally got around to painting her canvas masterpiece she got for Christmas:

Babysat cute Viv. She's always happy to help me sort the laundry.

 We had Easter. We did dye eggs, but apparently I didn't take any pics. The Easter Bunny brought the kids baseball gear and some inflatable boxing gloves and body armor things. They are hilarious!

The kids went fishing with my parents and Evelyn and had a great time!

We rode trax and went to the Clark Planetarium with the Whitesides over spring break. It's always a great time with them and I just love Liz.

Speaking of Liz, she generously took Layla's baptism pics for me. She is a great photographer! I snapped this pic on my phone afterwards. I do love how the pis turned out, but it is pretty easy when your subject is so easy on the eye! 

 Layla also had ballet pics so I snapped a pic of her right before. I'm still waiting to get those back.

 Another round of swim lessons. Marcus has improved a lot, but still needs to work on being comfortable with his face in the water.... Layla can swim and still loves it.

We're so excited to spend our summer at Cherry Hill and swim all day long!