Growing up

On Wednesday, we went to Farrer Elementary for a preschool evaluation for my baby. He was tested to see if he fit the qualifications for the special education preschool program. He does. It was a family affair. Our four family members plus a teacher and a speech pathologist in one preschool room to enjoy at our leisure. At least, that's what Ryan thought. Evan finally got used to us being there about halfway through. He wasn't okay when Oliver got up to go get Ryan who was just 5 feet away, but that passed. The preschool teacher he has been assigned to called earlier, but I wasn't home and she hasn't called back yet. It's kind of scary that this is progressing. I'm not ready to send him away from home for 2 1/2 hours. I just know that he'll be pretty stressed out to not have mom and dad with him, but I'm hoping for the best. I think I've been thinking about it too much and need to stop thinking about it and just wait until things happen.(Ha Ha! Yeah, right!).
I never thought that I'd be sending a child off to school at the age of 3. I was hoping to not worry about this for two more years. I just need to remember that this will be beneficial for him. It will get him more accustomed to school and being away from home and all of that fun stuff. A friend mentioned to me that this could be good for my relationship with Ryan. And let him develop more in his own way. I'll keep you posted, but some nights this just tears at my heart to imagine what Evan will think when this gets started. Will he think I'm abandoning him? Will he be able to be comforted? Will he be able to learn from this experience? I'll try to stay positive, but...he's my baby. I never realized until now that I'm actually a protective mom. I don't want him to be hurt.

Our Angel is Three

Three years ago right now, I was in a hospital beginning my recovery from the birth of my first beautiful child. There was snow on the ground outside and he was a week early, but Evan had finally joined our family. It started out as quite an adventure. And what an adventure it continues to be! I can't believe my baby is three. I can't believe what I have learned from these three years. Evan has opened my eyes to the ability to reevaluate the visions I had of my life and adjust and still love it. He has made me fall in love with eye contact. And I'm so glad that he has his father's eyes. Evan is my sweet little boy who loves his family more than anything else. (And that's saying a lot in comparison to pacifiers and other things made of paper or plastic). And he will continue to help me develop as his mother very soon as we near the decision for him to start preschool. Evan loves us and we love him. Happy birthday handsome.

Fall Break in the desert

by Oliver
Friday morning we loaded up the trunk full of camping gear and headed south on I-15 even though we still hadn't decided excatly where we were going. I had Friday off from School, so Megan took the day off and we headed south. I was getting bummed from the last few weeks of stormy fall weather and decided we needed to get some sun.
Usually on road trips, we are on the way to visit someone or someplace specific and I try to get us there with as few stops as possible. This time however we had no where to go and plenty of time to get there.
We stopped first at Fillmore, the kids needed to get out and run around a bit, and we had never seen the old state capitol building even though we had passed Fillmore several dozen times. So I pulled off and drove through town following the signs....and all the sudden we were on the other side of Fillmore and no capitol building! Some how we passed right by it. So we stopped at some little park instead and the kids ran around a bit.
We took off south again and ended up in St. George. One of the places on our list of possible stops was Snow Canyon. After getting some last minute things at Walmart in St. George, we followed signs up hwy 18 through Ivans and found the entrance to the state park at Snow Canyon. The campsites were all full though so the ranger gave us directions to Gunlock state park. About 15 or so miles further west.
Gunlock state park is about 3 feet wide and consists of a boat dock and a few picnic tables. When we pulled in there wasn't another person in view. We set up our campsite, ate some tin-foil dinners and roasted marshmallows. This is getting kind of long so I'll try to wrap it up.
We had a crazy night with the wind almost blowing our tent over several times and kids ending up not sleeping in their pack-and-plays. It was still too windy in the morning and our stove kept blowing out so we didn't get to cook our pancakes and eggs. In spite of a few random annoyances, we were so excited to be out in desert of southern Utah on an adventure to let anything ruin our spirits. We followed some back country roads through Washington and Iron counties, ate some "famous" pie in Veyo, found the Meadow Massacre site, saw a lot of beautiful country, birds, and a few crazy hunters. On the way back north, we tried again for the old state capitol building and were successful. We made it back in town in time to watch the 2nd half of the football game. What a great weekend. Thanks Megan and boys for the fun times!

Celebrating the Everyday

One blog that I enjoy reading is called Bloom. This last week they've been focusing on how we celebrate the everyday. Mainly through photography which I of course think is brilliant, but it leads me to think about how I celebrate the everyday while it still is that day. And as I was thinking about it, I think I do a pretty good job. Here are some of the dailies that I have enjoyed.

"Bubba!" or bubbles for the rest of you. Ryan has definitely made use of this new word and being cute. Every day this week he has had his mama blow plenty of bubbles.

The mess that is my house. I'm enjoying it. I really am. I'm also enjoying the fact that my husband said "how do I start a crucial conversation with you?" so that we could talk about maintaining this mess of a house.

The need that my babies have to be cuddled and near each other and their parents.

I had to get a picture of this. This is a sad reality to our life, but definitely an everyday experience. Evan DESTROYS books. He loves to tear and rip and every other synonym to those. Which means we don't read to the boys as often as we should, but don't worry, we do try sometimes.


My husband who doesn't like having his picture taken. But he still makes me happy.

And then I had the opportunity last night to go to a relief society retreat and I actually did some crafty things. They aren't near perfect, but it was quick and it was fun and I enjoyed myself instead of being nervous or afraid of not knowing people well enough or not.

My boys. I love them. They are enough to make the longest, hardest day be forgotten.

What everyday things do you find joy in...or maybe you need to learn how to find joy in?