Looking forward to a crazy busy weekend!

This little angel is going to be blessed by her daddy. A day I have looked forward to for SO long. House is clean, food is being prepared, friends and family are on their way. This is what life is all about.

My male model

Nate is in the Ensign again! A few months ago Brother Call called and asked Nate to "model" again for an upcoming article. He's in the September issue on page 72.

I tease him now. He is the official "male model" of the family. If this law thing doesn't work out he has great new fallback career option. ☺

Still, its pretty cool to be an a magazine that goes throughout the world!

Back to school

Today marks another first day of school. Blessings were given last night, outfits set out and lunches packed. With that, 3 boys were all ready for a new year.

Dallin starts 4th grade:

Parker starts 2nd:

And my Landon starts KINDERGARTEN! (In the afternoon...hence no shoes in this pic)

My Sweet Landon: (AKA Lou, Little, Loo-Lee, Lando),

I swear you were JUST this tiny, sweet little boy about 5 minutes ago:

I see a LOT of your baby sister in you. I've always thought she looked exactly like Parker but now that I have gone back I do see you there as well.

Today is your very first day of school. A year ago I was dreading this day. Just the thought of sending you out into the world made me sick. I'm not sure why I was feeling this way...perhaps because you were my baby and I feel this fierce need to protect you. I decided against sending you to a preschool outside the home because I wanted to spend my days with you. I wanted to teach you and help you learn. I felt I could do that because you were the only one at home during the day and heck, I did go to school to learn about teaching young children! I figured I could do an ok job. I'm so glad that we decided to do the mom preschool and that I had those years to spend with you. I even considered keeping you home with me another year....mostly for my own selfish reasons. I couldn't do it though. You are SO smart and SO ready to go. You've been the baby in this family for 5 years up until a couple of months ago. You'll always be MY baby boy and is it hard to let you go.

I'm excited that you will be going to a great school and that you have your big brothers to look out for you. I'm glad that you're only gone for a few hours...just long enough for me to get some things done and pick up the house a bit. I'll sure miss my little buddy though. The house will seem so quiet without your high pitched squeaky voice and your sweet helpful nature.

As I walked away and left you standing in line ready to head into your classroom I started to choke up. You were smiling from ear to ear and I was hiding my red tear filled eyes behind my sunglasses. I was so grateful to see Parker come running across the field to welcome you to school. You are blessed with brothers who love you and look out for you.

Being a mom is hard. You spend days and days doing these day to day tasks and then suddenly you look up and realize that your baby boy is going to kindergarten and your oldest is going to be 10 in a few weeks. Where did the time go? Have I taught you what you need to know? Are you confident and thoughtful....caring and driven? Have I done a good enough job preparing you for the mean things people may say and do? Do you know that you are a son of a Heavenly Father who loves you?
I guess all I can do is just keep trying....and you will just keep on growing. And I will always be here for you....your first day of kindergarten, high school, college, and forever.

I love you baby boy. I'm excited for you. On to the next big chapter!

Momma

Yellowstone 2012

Just got back from 2 jam packed days in Yellowstone. All of us (myself, 3 boys, one husband, one grandma, and one baby sister) crammed into an expedition filled to the brim with snacks and sleeping bags made it back just in time for school to start tomorrow.

We started out with a quick stop over at Big Springs and John Sack's cabin. EE had never been there and she loved it!

Our first stop once we got into the park was one of the boys all time favorites: The BOILING MUD!

Next we stopped at the Yellowstone Grand Canyon. I love that place. It is so incredily majestic. There was a bit of smoke in the air from some controlled fire in the area. Usually the waterfall is even more beautiful. Darn haze.

 A small note on this photo: As we were walking over to see the falls a man from some other country was literally posing like this. Seriously. I HAD to have Nate pose too. It was so darn funny to pass up such a photo opp.

 Dal is still totally afraid of heights. (You may recall last years visit to the Grand Canyon) He looks a bit nervous here wouldn't you say?

Next we drove through Hayden Valley and saw lots of Buffalo.

Our next stop was behind the Lake Visitors Center. It was so windy and the waves and smoke on the lake made the beach look a lot like the Oregon Coast. Oh, I loved these moments. I was feeling so blessed. So grateful. I am just so in love with my little family.

That night the girls stayed in a hotel while the boys camped. After all, baby princesses just don't camp.

The next day we got up early, ate a delicious breakfast overlooking the lake and then headed over to Old Faithful! The view doesn't get much better than this!

I just loved hearing the laughs and screams of delight coming from my boys when Old Faithful erupted. I love that they love going to Yellowstone almost as much and me.

As we walked around all of the different stops, I began to feel like we were kind of a family on parade. Everywhere we went people were stopping us after seeing the 3 boys and wanting to know if the baby underneath the blanket was a boy or a girl. It was funny to me that complete strangers would shriek with delight when finding out that Anna was indeed a girl. It made me wonder what people would have done had she been a boy. 

Anyway.....

West thumb is one of my favorite stops. The colors of the pools are so vibrant and beautiful.

On the way home we decided to drive through Teton National Park...the long way home. Poor baby sister. She was SUCH a great traveler and sleeper this entire trip. When it was time to put her back in her car seat after stopping in Jackson Hole she looked at me and said without saying a word....

"Don't you DARE put me back in that car seat."

I love living so close to these beautiful places. It amazes me how many people come from all over the world to see Yellowstone. I have to drive an hour and a half to get there. It's in my backyard pretty much! What a way to end a wonderful summer. One of my favorite places with some of my very favorite people! Goodbye summer!

Time for reality tomorrow morning!

Our longest and best summer day.

Yesterday was the craziest day of summer we have had all year. They boys and I woke up early, picked up our neighbor Jaydn and hit the road! We met Grandma EE down in Lava and ventured east find the ghost town of Chesterfield. Grandma had learned about this place in one of her books. She had been wanting to go all summer but I wasn't feeling confident about taking the baby anywhere until recently.

What an AWESOME little jem of a place in the world! We had so much fun learning all about this little town founded by Mormon pioneers back in 1880. Many of the buildings have been restored and now youth groups can go and have awesome devotionals and campouts in this vacant town.

 The assembly hall:

 The mercantile which in now a museum:

 The church building:

 The store was SO cute! Grandma was LOVING it. The worker there showed the boys how to use all of the old wooden toys!

 After checking out Chesterfield for a good 2.5 hours we backtracked over to Lava to spend the day at the pool. It is WONDERFUL now that all of my boys are big enough to go on the slides alone! It was wonderful having Grandma there to help watch the baby so I could get in the water and play with the boys too. It wasn't too busy and it stayed a comfortable 86 degrees. Perfection.

After leaving Lava Nate called and said he got the box seats to the Chukars game from his work. We ran home, ate, showered and changed and then headed to the ball game. We invited our cute friends the Turvilles to the game. Even though they lost we still had a great time!

 The kids get to run the bases at the end of the game! So cute!

What a DAY!

A GREAT day.