Adjusting to Change

As I mentioned in the previous post, August has been a little intense.

While we are very accustomed to the rigors of RA training on our family life, we are NOT accustomed to having Daddy gone too. So on Saturday afternoon after the last bits of RA Training and building preparations were complete, Oliver said: let’s get outta here!

We went for a drive. Along the way we found sheep enjoying the mountain roads.

And we made it to the top of the highest mountain in Carbon County: Monument Peak. It’s at an elevation of 10,452 feet and we all made it to the top together!

Because you can drive to the top! So even our car made it to the top! (You can’t see Evan in the picture below, but if you could you’d notice that he wasn’t comfortable leaving the stability of the car to venture across the rock studded mountain top.)

Well, the morning after the previous post, Oliver was out the door before 7am. I happened to get a picture of him on his “first day of school.” Doesn’t he look sharp?

I can’t forget the other happy teacher around here. Natalie also had her first day of teaching a lively group of high school students. We do like this aspect of change in our home. Our house is now between Natalie’s work and Natalie’s home. That means she stops by after school to visit!

But this is the photo showing more proof of how our adjustments are going. At the end of the first day of school and a week and half of getting up early, Oliver was so tired. But the boys were very happy to have Daddy home. The next instance would have shown Ryan on top of his dear tired daddy.

It’s been a long week. I’ve had to make adjustments, Oliver has had to make adjustments. The boys have as well. We have been a very spoiled family up to this point in our lives. We have been able to spend so much time together as a family every day that we aren’t used to having daddy gone all day long. Oliver is now up around 6am, ready and gone before 7am and (on good days) that means the boys wake up to no daddy. Being a first year teacher means lots of work. Which means even though he’s contracted to stay until 3pm at school, he really stays as late as possible in order to get as much done as possible. So Oliver gets home around 5 or 6 or later in the evening ready for some dinner and then just 4 hours later its time to put the boys in bed and Oliver’s ready to go also.

This is a giant change for our lifestyle. The constant used to be that we’d stay in bed until Evan woke us up or until 9 or 10am, whichever came first. Then we’d be able to spend most of the day together because Oliver’s classes were nicely spread out throughout the week or packed together on a couple days. And then while the boys would still go to bed at 10pm, Oliver and I usually weren’t in bed until midnight or later. So to say that this has been a rough week might be a bit of an understatement. We are adjusting. I, personally, am having to learn what its like to have a husband who works all day. We are realizing we need to be better about planning meals so that Oliver can actually eat lunch at school the next day without buying it. And we need to figure out how to get Ryan and Evan to have good daddy time each day. Some of the other things that I wasn’t planning on being hit with are for Evan’s school. We got a phone call from his teacher saying that a letter would be coming soon, but that she is Evan’s teacher and school starts on this day, etc. I wasn’t home at the time and so I haven’t yet called the school to follow up. But I had expected Evan to have the same teacher he has had since beginning preschool. Someone he loves and trusts(and who I trust). But that’s not the name on my message, or on my letter. I worry about Evan’s adjustment to the new teacher, especially if his old teacher is still working just down the hall. On top of that, with Oliver driving to work before 7am everyday, we were thinking of having Evan adjust to riding the bus to preschool. I was okay with that if that was the only adjustment he’d be making-to build on the previous years. But now, new teacher, new school(did I mention that?) AND a bus? ….Just breath…

So after all that rambling of me trying to explain myself and after a week of adjustments, Oliver decided it was time to find another county highpoint to visit. So today we packed everyone into the car for a drive through beautiful valleys, up a crazy gravel road on the side of a mountain, along a road we thought would be gravel but was more like mud to a gorgeous meadow near the Sanpete County highpoint of South Tent Mountain. After a rather surprising and traumatic car drive(next time we’re taking a truck) Oliver decided against hiking to the 11,285 feet peak, but instead we played in the meadow at about 10,400 feet while Oliver collected some plants.

Ryan liked helping Daddy dig up the plants.

Evan and I had some peaceful moments looking at flowers and holding onto each other. This was great until he attacked me on the way home with my own glasses.

I love my family and we will figure out how to be a family with these new changes to our lifestyle. This reminds me of a quote I used to have in my room growing up. “Life is change, growth is optional.” I need to remember that we want to grow. We want to progress as a family. So no matter how smooth life has been for us, perhaps it wasn’t helping us grow. Thanks Change. I guess you’ll always be our companion. Try not to surprise us so much in one week next time, okay?