Richard & Toni's Wedding

At the beginning of October we drove out to Utah for Richard and Toni's wedding.  We were just recovering from some serious cases of croup that Nate and Eli had when it was time to go.  We were a little worried but thankfully the trip went well.  We left around 3am Thursday morning and got there that evening.  

Eli loved taking a break from his seat and having a turn at the wheel:

The older kids were so excited to see snow in Nevada!  It snowed quite a bit in Tooele on Friday and despite our lack of snow clothes, they loved playing in it:

Mostly they just loved playing with their cousins.  Here's Nate and Lilly at the rehearsal dinner:

In fact, Nate hasn't stopped talking about his cousins.  Just this morning he was moaning about how we don't live close enough to any of them.

We were worried about the weather for the outdoor wedding but when it was time for the ceremony, the sun was shining through the trees and it was beautiful.  It was a bit cold later on, but it was still beautiful.  I was so blown away by Toni's family (who made the wood arches, benches and tables) and how beautifully everything turned out.  I mean check this out:

(These next pictures are courtesy of Joe's cousin Monica)

The good-looking couple:

I liked this one of Marsha with the guys and cute Jace, the ring bearer:

This is what I did for most of the reception:

Elijah was cold, still sick, and not having it so I tried to be the good wife and manage him while Joe performed his groomsman duties and caught up with family he doesn't see often.  Despite a cranky baby at times, it really was a wonderful day. 

We spent one more day up in Logan with Tom and Lorna watching Conference and then it was time drive home on Sunday. It was a quick but fun trip.  Plus, we even got a great new family picture out of it (thanks to Tom!):

Nate is 4!

We celebrated a birthday around here not too long ago. Nate turned 4.  I think he had a fun day.  [Sidenote: I've noticed a trend in my birthday posts that I've decided needs to end today.  Pretty much every time, I say something about the celebration being "low-key" in an apologetic way.  This is how we do birthdays and I need to stop feeling bad about it!  I think our kids are doing alright so we're good.]  

Back to Nate...we started off the day like we normally do--decorating with balloons and streamers before he woke up.  The girls loved helping with that.  He wanted German pancakes with raspberries so that was a tasty breakfast.  Then it was off to work and school for Joe and the girls.  We had some fun time together.  I really love my mornings with my boys.  Sometimes mornings are mostly spent cleaning up the breakfast/lunch-packing/last-night's-dinner mess or trying in vain to get jobs done (see last post) but I do love it nonetheless.  

We had fun meeting Joe for lunch at (where else?) McDonald's.

(pay no attention to that guy in the background...I'm too lazy to crop these)

Later we had his birthday dinner (roast beef with corn on the cob and rosemary bread; he was this close to deciding to have tacos for dinner...).  Then it was present time.

All I could get out of him that he really wanted was more light sabers.  So, he did indeed get another one--a purple Mace Windu one this time.  He was excited that it actually lights up and makes noise.  That brings the total up to 5 light sabers!  Crazy kid.

His sisters picked out a cool foam sword that was a big hit.  I love these pictures of him opening it:

He also got these great books that he loves:

I just love these expressions:

Time for cake and ice cream!  Nate decided on a chocolate Yoda cake:

I still can't believe he's 4.  I just love this guy.  He make me happy every day.  He's in a fun stage right now because he's getting older and learning tons, but he still says or does adorable things all the time.  He's just so fun to watch.  I love when he gets in his crazy energy modes and starts jumping around like crazy chasing his football or whatever, trying to drop kick it and catch it, too.  We call this game "Poo-yah".  

We got cable recently (for the BYU football season) and what have we done?  Watched a lot of really quality TV--like Full House reruns and many episodes of American Ninja Warrior.  Our kids love that show.  Nate proceeded to come up with his own version of the jumping spider:

Nate is getting to be a better reader.  He loves sitting in the front seat next to me while we wait to get the girls from school.  He always wants me to write words so he can sound them out.  Unfortunately, he doesn't love trying to read sentences in an actual book.  We did get him through one BOB book but now he refuses.  I'll take interest where I can get it, though.  He also loves counting on his fingers to figure out math problems.  I am dearly hoping his love of math will last longer than the girls' did.

He's a great artist.  He drew this self-portrait the other day for Joe that I just loved:

I love how he drew his hat and the huge F.

He is very imaginative and is great at coming up with all sorts of games for us, often involving goo monsters.  He knows I don't love pretending to kill things so he'll change it for my sake to putting people in jail and making sure they don't escape.  

He can still be quite sensitive at times if he gets his feelings hurt.  He has mastered the pout, too, and does it a lot.  Sometimes I can't help but laugh at his big ol' pouty lips, though.  It's too cute.  He really hates when I do that. :)

He is such a great big brother to Elijah.  Now that Elijah is bigger, he's not quite as gentle with him as I'd like. Sometimes he'll just start bothering him to get him to cry.  I think it's more curiosity on Nate's part than ill will.  I guess that's what big brothers are for.  Wrestling around...

Elijah sure seems to love it.

I love this series.  They are brothers for sure!

It's going to be fun watching them grow up together. I'm so blessed to be a part of it.

We sure love our Nate!

Spinning

I had one of those mornings today.  One of my biggest struggles during this phase of my life is deciding how I will spend my time.  Perhaps this will always be one of my biggest struggles; maybe it will just look a little different later on.  I don't know.  All I know is that I sometimes feel that my mind is just spinning and spinning and I can't get it to stop and settle down.  I spend so much time worrying about what to do next that I can't seem to get much of anything done.  Sometimes it's just that I'm keeping so much in my head--lists of things that need to get done, stuff I need to get, schedules, meals, etc--that my head feels like it could explode.

After a bit of a hectic morning getting the kids off to school and Joe off to work, it was quiet again with just me and my little boys at home.  We spent some time cleaning up, like usual.  Nate wanted to play various games but somehow I managed to convince him to get dressed and get his jobs done.  I dressed Elijah while trying to persuade Nate to dress himself.  [Sidenote: It is exhausting helping a newly 4 year old get his jobs done each day.  His only jobs in the morning are get dressed, make his bed and brush his teeth.  Still, sometimes it takes all the patience I can muster to get through it.  I know it will pay off eventually but man is it hard some days.]

Finally, it is time for Elijah's nap and I have promised Nate he can watch TV for a bit.  Then, the spinning starts.  I should exercise.  I wanted to try and exercise every day this week and I haven't.  No, I should just shower while I have the chance.  Who knows how long this nap will last.  No, I should hurry and get dressed so I can spend some quality time with Nate.  My phone alerts me that I really need to pay bills.  I start paying bills and doing other stuff like that.  A bill is two days late.  How did I miss that?  I am so disorganized.  I push through and get some good, important stuff done.  I shower.  My thoughts are still spinning: Nate has watched enough TV--I should go turn it off.  No--I should go make some bread.  We are out and are fighting valiantly to stay within our food budget this month.  But, I decide that I must call a friend that means so much to me but that I have somehow managed to not call for almost a month after I said I would.  I am a terrible friend.  Oh and then there's that other friend that I haven't spoken to in months. I need to call her!  I call the first friend and have a good but short conversation since she is at work. I finish doing my hair and then remember I haven't said a prayer yet.  I kneel down and it all kind of hits me.  I end up pleading with God for some quiet--a quiet mind and heart.  I feel better after that prayer.  I remember yet again that when I set aside quiet times for reading and planning I don't seem to feel as hurried and crazed during the day.  Sometimes I still do, but usually I don't.

So, I did accomplish some good things during that nap.  But, Nate watched an awful lot of TV and I forgot that Elizabeth didn't have her lunch at school and I was supposed to bring it to her.  Oh well--the school gave her an "emergency lunch" and it was fine.  I didn't bake any bread (psh--like that was going to happen :).

What did I learn from this?  Life is a tricky balance sometimes.  We need to be gentle with ourselves and also make sure to give ourselves time to focus on what's most important.  We desperately need perspective--an eternal perspective to help guide us through this busy, crazy world we live in.  God can give us that if we just ask Him for it.  We don't have to do it alone.

First Day(s) of School

 We were told when we moved here, and I first went to register the kids, that there wouldn't be any space at the neighborhood school so they would be offloaded to another nearby school.  They said the waiting list was just way too long.  I was kind of upset at first but determined to make the best of it.  The girls got adjusted to the idea of a different school.  Well, apparently they had a crackdown and found a bunch of people that weren't following the rules and didn't actually live where they said the did.  A few days before school started, we found out that Elizabeth had gotten in.  Unfortunately Natalie had not, although she was very next on the list for her grade.  We decided to go for it and hope for the best.

So, the first day of school came and the girls were at different schools. They were nervous but they did so great.  I thought they'd be really upset about not having each other.  I mean look at this:

They still love to dress alike.

 Brand new 3rd and 2nd graders.

So, we split up... Joe dropped Elizabeth off and I took Natalie:

Goodbye sister!

 They both had great first days.  I was so happy about that.  That was actually Nate's first day of preschool, too.  We started a preschool co-op and he has been loving it.  It is perfect for him this year.  Sadly, not one picture of his first day--sorry Nate.  I'm sure there will be more on that later.

After 6 days of racing between schools for pick-ups and drop-offs, we found out Natalie got in, too.  It was sad for her since she had already made a good friend but she handled it well.  We're having some regular play dates, too, so they'll still see each other.  The resiliency of that girl amazes me.  So, she had yet another first day of school in her new class.  Now we're into the full homework routine and we're having struggles.  Hopefully their work habits improve soon or I might go crazy.  Ah, back to school... :)

Goodbye Summer

We were able to squeeze in a little more fun right before school started.  We had one last beach day on a school day.  It was a pretty hot day and we had a lot of fun:

The next day we went to a fun local event.  It's a huge multicultural festival called Happy Kid's Day. We were there for like three hours and didn't even hit half of the booths.  Natalie wanted to spend some of her tickets paying for a chance to have her picture taken with a python:

That girl has no fear when it comes to animals/bugs.

The kids all had fun on the pony rides, too:

These guys were cool:

The Sunday before school started, we drove out to the temple.  It's always good to be there.  The Oakland temple is especially important to us since that's where Joe and I were married:

(my first experiment with a filter! So dreamy, right? :)

Look at us now--4 kids and almost 10 years later:

Joe had some fun posing the kids on these bushes:

Not sure what the grounds crew would think of that...

Some other summer adventures...

The kids have been playing with the blocks a lot more lately.  Here are some of their creations from a lazy morning:

Natalie's restaurant, I think, with Cinderella taking the orders.

Nate's tower:

That's probably what I love the most about summer break--the kids having enough time for long, drawn-out pretend play together.  It's so fun to watch.

Natalie lost her first top tooth just in time for school:

And Elijah got his first tooth:

Now he has two!

Last but not least, Nate dressed up like Joe:

We miss you summer!