August 28, 2022
We are full swing into the new school/fall schedule! From soccer with Addie, to Greyson's swimming lessons, and Kassie's Anatomy class at UVU to my Improv class that wraps up this coming Monday we are moving a mile a minute it seems. But we are enjoying the variety of things that keep us moving. The kids are enjoying their classes at school and Greyson was excited to start PreK this week at the elementary school Hinckley and Addie are at. He was also very excited to be starting the 15 minute online portion of school he has each day which is helping him learn his letters and such through online kid games. "I'm a grown up now!" he says, because he has "work on the computer."
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| First day! |
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| Red carpet to PreK |
Hinckley starts tennis in a few weeks, but for now he is enjoying getting to know some new friends better and had some fun times this week riding the bus home with one friend and also having a "late over" on Saturday night. In keeping with the deal, we watched
The Fellowship of the Ring since he finished all the books. He was quite enthralled, and it brought back a lot of memories of my own. So far it appears his teacher will not be assigning homework, which has caused much glee on Hinckley's part and much sorry and envy from Addie who has quite a lot.
Addie is still enjoying soccer and had a game in the rain on Wednesday. I watched Greyson do "obstacles" throughout most of the game at a nearby playground where he lived out his dreams of being the "beastmaster" (from a Netflix show similar to American Ninja). Addie was really resistant to going to soccer practice the next day, but once I was able to actually get her to go over by her team and start she had a blast. She has made another really good friend in her class and now has a couple girls in the neighborhood and a couple girls at school that she enjoys playing with. In between meltdown fits and silly moods where she tries to push all the buttons of her brothers (and parents), she is constantly pumping out artwork and tender notes on behalf of her friends.
Greyson is loving his school, and seems to be soaking it up. When we dug up all the yard strips on Saturday he was eager to play on the "obstacles" (the sod piles) and is always finding ways to try and turn something into an obstacle game. He can climb around the entire exterior of the play structure in the backyard (including the slide) and is especially happy if we watch.
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| Beastmaster |
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| Summer relaxing |
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| Grown up work |
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| Ripping 'em up! |
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| Headless Hinckle |
Kassie is really enjoying her class and is relearning the various systems of the body in her anatomy class. I enjoy hearing what she is learning about and am reminded just how incredible our bodies are! Ripping out the yard strips was a reminder about my own mortal body and how quickly it can get completely exhausted. Phew! We are hoping to get a little more out this week and the next job is figuring out the sprinklers. I accidentally broke one of our neighbor's sprinkler heads which was not fun to see early Sunday morning as water shot way up into the sky. I've loved my Improv class and consider it a highlight of my week. We laugh so hard together, and it's been a great way to learn how to break through some of my social anxieties I feel like. I've also had a ton of fun the last couple weeks meeting with a couple guys who work from home in the neighborhood to play pickleball during my lunch break. All of these things have been inspired by reading
The Power of Fun which talks about looking for activities that combine connection, play, and flow. Pretty great!
August 21, 2022
We've finished up the first week of school for the two olders. They are both really excited about their teachers and classes and have friends already which is wonderful. Addie found a nice friend in her class that helped her calm down on the first day when Addie was quite distraught at saying goodbye to me before going in. Hinckley rode his bike to school twice this week and is pretty excited about that. One of the days he rode to his friends after school to play and both he and Addie are getting more confident either calling friends or just running over there to see if they can play. It is amazing!
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| First day for the two older kids |
Addie had another soccer game and did some really great defense. She is starting to get a sense of position and had some great kicks and her confidence is growing a lot! She loves "running around" though which had me thinking maybe she wants to try a sport where that is all you do (cross-country). Haha. She continues to spend a lot of time each day drawing pictures and writing sweet notes to give to family members or friends. When she found out her teacher loves Disney she drew a bunch of princesses to give her and was so delighted about that.
Hinckley filled in his pit this week as a part of the deal to have that done by the end of the first week of school. He seemed ok with that and not too upset. He has had a fun summer out there with the shovel and his imagination! His fish Darth Vader is still somehow clinging to life and we wish there were more we could do to help him in his old age. A neighbor suggested putting him in the freezer as the most humane way to "put him down"...? Not sure. Hinckley finished The Return of the King, the final Lord of the Rings books and is very eager to see the movies. Following Trent and Tristan's precedent I have agreed to the deal and though I know he didn't understand maybe 40% of what he read I am impressed he stuck with those books all the way to the end. Reading those with Hinckley has reminded me just how amazing they are!
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| A final playtime before filling in the pit |
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| First day of school, ready to go into the trailer! |
Greyson has enjoyed some of the extra time for himself this week with siblings gone at school. He has started building elaborate structures with colored blocks including "spook houses", water slides, and structures inspired by his new favorite TV genre: obstacle course game shows. He loves to see how people jump and swing from things and often fall into water or "lava" with lots of cheering and chanting. It's pretty funny actually. He was excited to meet his new PreK teacher at the same school Hinckley and Addie are attending and he starts next week.
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| Giant "waterslide" from blocks |
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| a block "toilet" |
Kassie will also start school next week! She is taking Anatomy which includes a lab and will be an opportunity to get back into school without taking on too much too fast. She is also starting adult piano lessons and is excited about learning there.
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| Garden flowers! |
We had a fun Saturday yesterday. I took the kids to the Curiosity museum in the morning. The kids had so much fun doing a puppet show, hanging from the “sloth rope” challenge, and making up a bear/hunter game outside in the maze while it rained on them. Addie discovered a baby snail near the large snail I was observing and we had fun seeing them slither along together. Afterwards we came home shivering from the rain and everyone got "cozy" and we watched Daddy Movie which today was Newsies. The kids didn’t seem to love it a ton, but they watched it nonetheless and I think it was good for them. Kassie also took the kids on a final summer bike ride to Maverick for slushies earlier this week before school started again and they enjoyed that! It is amazing to be able to go places like that now as they are all getting more and more self-sufficient.
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| Puppet show curtain call at Museum of Nat Curiosity |
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| Soaking at the Maze |
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| Snail observations |
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| Baby and Mom snail |
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| Shaved ice with scattered showers |
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| Sunday morning tea time |
August 14, 2022
The kids finished up swim lessons this week and loved it very much. They all improved a bunch and were so excited about it. Addie went down "the red slide" 15 times and is now diving off the edge and trying all sorts of things, which is a big deal seeing as how we couldn't get her to put her face in the water just 2 years ago. Hinckley is interested in the swim team next year and Greyson just loved everything about the water. We had some final summer activities this week with Kassie taking the kids berry picking in Mapleton, Greyson attended a couple days of a "summer camp" with the neighbor just behind us, and we took a few strolls to nearby parks and around the neighborhood. Hinckley and I had a really fun date at the AF pool where we “swam laps” and dove to the bottom of the deep end. We also played “transformer horse” where he had to stay on my shoulders/back as I dove around the shallow end. That was really fun until the lifeguard told us to stop. We picked up a lemon filled donut from Avenue bakery on our way home.
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| Magical Mullet deep diver |
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| Moment of creation |
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| Ready for cowboy day at PreK camp |
Addie was overjoyed to have her 7th birthday this week after counting down for weeks. We went with the Kay kids to play laser tag at a local place in Lehi and that was a blast! After the birthday dinner (pizza) Addie was excited about a new Elsa dress she got. Kelli was also interested and so they two dressed up and it was really cute. Addie also had her first soccer game this week and seemed to really enjoy it. It is fun to see her learning and growing so much and it is hard to believe she'll be 8 next year.
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| Birthday girl and Mom |
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| Eating cake with Kay cousins and Nana |
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| Playing with dollies and Kelli |
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| Ready for presents! |
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| Laser tag kids |
I had my first full week of work and am getting more oriented to how things are going to happen and what my role will be like. I am extremely impressed and excited about the role and company, and am eager to get going on my projects. Kassie found a desk addition item that will allow me to raise up my desk and stand when I want to so my home setup is feeling really good! I'm very grateful for how this is all shaking out. Kassie and I celebrated 11 years of marriage this week. Unfortunately Greyson was burning with a fever so we cancelled our plans for dinner and Western Dancing at the rec center on Saturday. Mom came and watched the kids earlier in the week so we were able to go play games with some friends in Saratoga Springs which was fun.
August 7, 2022
This week the kids started swimming lessons and that has been a hit! Every day they get ready with lots of enthusiasm and come back beaming and with many stories to tell. Greyson is really into it and loves splashing around and doing "bobs" (no talking of being drowned this year). Addie has also improved a huge amount and is not scared to dive off the edge of the pool. Hinckley is thinking he may want to do swim team next year and is enjoying learning the stroke techniques better. On Monday night we went to the Lehi outdoor pool to celebrate achieving their summer Lehi Library accomplishments but thunder and lightning ended the event after just 15 minutes which was distressing.
As this was my last chunk of time between jobs we did our best to make the most out of it. On Tuesday we went up and got a tour of Welfare Square and then visited the Church History Museum. The kids really loved seeing some strawberry jam being bottled by machines at the Square and they were over the moon about getting some BYU Creamery chocolate milk at the end of the tour. The Museum was really neat and they have a new section there that is interactive for kids (as shown on the latest Friend to Friend broadcast). I also had fun taking the kids to the Dino museum at Thanksgiving Point on Thursday where we ran through the exhibit and also watched a 3D IMAX movie about the Artic. It was pretty fun to see them constantly reaching out to grab an eagle or polar bear and looking confused at being empty-handed.
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| Behold: the air fryer |
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| Greg's new controversial hat |
A blessing this week is Hinckley's idea and then being willing to share rooms with Greyson in Greyson's room. We had had the conversation about where I'd work for many weeks but never landed on anything that looked like it would work. But this might be it! We did an ultra-deep clean of Hinckley's room and got rid of 2 trash bags worth of stuff. There were many tender moments where he made the tough choice to say goodbye to various itty bitty items and knick-knacks. His fish Darth Vadar still lives but looks like he is ailing. I moved into that room as my office in time for my first day of work on Friday at the new job. The first day was purely set up and compliance meetings so I am looking forward to the coming weeks where I'll learn more specifically about my role.
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| Hinckley's last hurrah in his old room |
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| The room before the transition |
On Saturday the boys and I hiked Stewart Falls and Nana came along. It was a beautiful day with overcast clouds flying by quickly and the wind rushing through the trees. The boys were very lively on the way up, commenting on everything including the discovery of a vampire log (a hollow log with shapes like teeth and horns) and all the funny-shaped trees that looked like "L"s and "J"s. Greyson made it all the way up and back the 3.4-mile hike without complaining! It was a win. Addie and Kassie had a shopping and Kneaders date while we were out. Addie was full of things to say about the dressing room (her first experience with that) and all her new back-to-school clothes. It's really feeling like the end of the summer with just one more full week before the kids return!
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| Checking out the falls |
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| We made it |
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| Vampire log |
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| Hiking with Nana |
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| A final summer splurge |
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| Compromise |
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