July 2018

July turned out to be a very busy, crazy month, but not with our usual fun family activities.  2 things had me quite busy this month.  The first was my project at work that I have been working on for 14 months trying to get done.  It proved to be my hardest project to date (and hopefully ever) and well I'm proud to say we got it launched the last week of July.  But I worked 35-40 hours each week in July.  With 3 kids home all day, this was super stressful for me.  The other reason July was crazy was I called to be primary president in our ward.  I was called as a 3rd counselor a few months prior but it's been super busy trying to get my presidency in place, holes filled and everyone up and running.  We have 122 primary kids with 30 nursery aged kids.

It's a bit crazy to say the least.  So when you see that we didn't do a lot this month, now you know why.  I'm trying hard not to feel super guilty about it.  My kids still had a great month, they spent a lot of time at home yes, but they played with friends, swam a lot, spent time with grandma and cousin Abbey and luckily Shane works from home and was able to take them a few places that I don't have documented (fishing, bounce houses, swimming, Ninja gym, etc.)  And the kids were awesome.  Of course they wanted and needed my attention but for the most part they tried to be understanding and let me get my work done.

Luckily we made up for a lot and packed in a lot of our summer activities the 3 weeks of August before school started.  More to come in the August post about that.

Jaron and I went on a Mother/Son date to a Jazz Summer League game.  He didn't have a Jazz shirt to wear so he thought we should both wear our BYU shirts...lol.  We got tickets on the 12th row and had a great time.  I think Jaron ate almost that entire bucket of popcorn but he thought it was pretty cool to see a Jazz game in person.



On top of my crazy month, Shane and I got asked to be in charge of our ward/neighborhood 4th of July Breakfast.  And it was at the park with no electricity to make breakfast with.  However, it turned out great.  We had some good help and a great turn out and although it was busy, it was fun.  We did the usual kids bike parade but I was so busy I barely got a pictures.  That afternoon Skye Estates hosted a big neighborhood event with bounce houses, lunch, cotton candy and snow cones.  That night we watched fireworks at Sandy which has become our tradition.



We couldn't forget our 7-11 day with free slurpees.  Although I was in the office that day so Dad was nice enough to take them and even sent me a picture!



Sad to say we barely made it to Draper Days this year.  I love Draper Days but we just didn't make it this year to the concert and fireworks but we did make it to the Dog jumping contests and got to see the petting zoo and reptile exhibit.

One Saturday morning we went and got donuts and went on a short hike up the canyon and enjoyed our donuts.



We did lots of swimming in our pool this summer.  It's been nice because all 3 kids can swim and I don't feel like I have to be in the pool every minute.  So there were times I could go take them for an hour and still check email as needed while they swam.  Still not ideal to sit there working but at least it got them out of the house and doing something they love.  They all learned to do flip/somersaults into the pool so they think that is so fun.  And they can all swim the entire length of our pool which is about 50 feet long.  I was so happy to see that, especially Jaron who at the beginning of summer I was still making wear floaties.

And the month ended with Jaron turning 5!  But we'll save those details for their own post.

Jaron turns 5!

Our cute, sweet Jaron turned 5!



Jaron had a great birthday.  His birthday fell on a Sunday this year so we had a family breakfast and presents in the morning, went to church and then went over to my parents for a family birthday party.



The next day we had his friend birthday party.  We rented a bounce house and invited his cute friends over for a bounce/water party.  It was fun and a pretty easy party to hang out in the back yard while the kids ran around playing and eating treats.



Jaron still loves to keep up with his sisters.  He never likes to be left out and is still mad that he doesn't have anyone to share a room with.  He loves all sports and will often just go outside and play soccer by himself.  He got a new bike for his birthday and he loves to ride around and is always asking to go on a bike ride.  He's recently started liking Power Rangers but most of the time just watches what his sisters like to watch.  Jaron is usually very happy but certainly has learned how to whine/complain/beg when he doesn't get his way...we are working on those emotions and the right way to deal with them.  We've worked really hard this summer on his speech and he finally has his S sound correctly, which is exciting but a little sad.  Now he says Siena instead of Dena or Stena.  He still has a ways to go but is definitely improving and working hard at it.  He still will talk to just about anyone and people are always commenting about how cute and nice he is.

My favorite thing about Jaron is he will still snuggle with me whenever I want.  He loves to snuggle on the couch, sit on my lap and gives the sweetest hugs.  His favorite thing to do when I help him get dressed is to 'fall into a hug'.  This is where as the shirt comes over his head he falls down into my arms for a hug.  He insists on doing this every morning and night and tells me he will still do this even when he's a teenager.  I'm holding him to that.

We love you Jaron and can't wait to see the great things you do this year.

June 2018

Summer!  Wow, we've been busy.  Lots going on this summer even if we don't have any trips really planned yet.



It's been nice to have some lazy mornings at home.  We also implemented a summer chart that has worked really well.  Each kid has 5 things to do each day. 
The Girls:  Read to Mom/Dad, practice Violin/Piano, read to themselves, do a workbook page or journal page and one chore of my choosing.
Jaron: Read to Mom/Dad, workbook or journal, Practice his speech, Learn his site words and one chore of my choosing. 
For each thing they do they get 1 point, for a total of 30 points each week.  I don't force them to do any of it.  If they want to earn points than that is what they do.  They also get no tablet time that day unless these things are done.  Then we have things they can get with their points.  They can save them up for something big or use them on something small.  Some of the things are date with mom or dad, extra tablet time, candy bar, save up for a certain toy they want, etc.  It's worked really good and except for the week Christy was in town they've been 100%.  :)

All in one day we had all 3 kids start something new for the first time.  Siena started piano lessons, Aria violin lessons and Jaron T-Ball.  It's fun seeing them learn and grow. 

Aria was so excited and anxious to start violin.  It was like Christmas when her violin arrived.  Her excitement has diminished considerably.  Even though I warned her, it's a lot harder than she thought.  However, I think she's doing great.  She's caught on pretty quick and is already on her first song Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  Aria's teacher is a senior in High school and Aria is her first student so I think there's been some adjustment there but it's getting better and I think it's going to be a good fit.



I thought Siena would be so-so about piano but she actually likes it more than I thought.  She's pretty good about practicing and is excited to learn her songs.  I like her teacher a lot and her teacher thinks she picking up on things really fast.



Jaron loves to go outside and play baseball with anyone that he can find.  He loves to play catch and hit the ball.  I thought he would love T-Ball but it's just been ok.  He likes it but it's been a little slow for him and I think he definitely likes soccer more at this point.



The kids are obsessed with pizza and would eat it every night for dinner if we let them.  So we decided to celebrate Italian Republic Day.  We got pizza but decided to make our own crazy bread.  I was impressed that it actually turned out pretty good and it was fun to make with the kids.



We got a new pass of activities to do this summer and went with the Get Out Pass.  So we've been doing some activities on our passes.  One was we get free horse rides at Gardner Village which of course the kids love!  We also got to visit the farm and hold the baby bunnies that were 3 weeks old...too bad they were too little to adopt!!  While we were there we did the Fairy Festival scavenger hunt which was so cute and just at their level.  There were 26 fairies from AtoZ and each had a clue where to find the next one.  They loved finding each one.



We've had lots of pool days at our pool and we've done a week of swim lessons.  All my kids are getting to be pretty good swimmers which is nice to see.  Of course it's always better when mom or dad get in with them.




We've been on 3 hikes this month.  Battle Creek Falls in Pleasant Grove, then we went on a pretty hard/long hike in American Fork Canyon.  It starts at Silver Fork lake and you hike 2 miles pretty much all up hill to another lake and then back.  I think it was over 4 miles round trip.  My kids were exhausted but I was so proud that they made it.  They claimed they were never going on another hike again.  But...we went on a hike the very next week.  A fun one up to Upper Falls past Bridal Veil Falls in Provo.  It was short (.8 miles round trip) and fun and we had the waterfall to ourselves.


The Brian's came to town and it's always so fun to spend so much time with cousins.  We had our annual dinner up the canyon for hot dogs and smores.  We went to Gardner Village one day and the kids even got to have a sleep over with their cousins for the first time.  They were so excited to be included in the sleep over.


The Pace's also came to town and it was so fun that they got to stay with us one night.  We went swimming and the next day went to a park in Pleasant Grove and it was fun to just hang out.  I love that they all just pick up where they left off last and get along and play so well together.
 

We celebrated Shane's birthday by going bowling with the kids.  The kids loved it and then we went to Los Hermanos for dinner, which Shane and I love.  We also celebrated the 4 boys that have birthdays together (Well Collin is the day before) and Father's Day.


The girls have been obsessed this month with sleeping in the same bed.  Doesn't look comfy but they don't care.  I only care when they keep waking up early!


We took our kids to walk around the Mount Timpanogos temple for FHE.  We've lived here for over a year and have never taken them to this temple to see up close.