First Day of Preschool

Caleb's official first day of preschool was about a week before the big kids went back to school. He was so excited to wear is Ironman shirt, his Mario book bag, and a big smile. His transition from Bunny's to Bear's has been a smooth one. No tears. No freaking out. No kicking over garbage cans.

His new positive attitude about school has made going to work so much more pleasant for me, and I am beyond grateful that our year is off to such a good start!

School Shopping

School shopping with three kids is a cruel and unusual punishment. Especially since one of them has reached a very-picky-about-the-clothes-I-wear phase, and one of them runs wild through any store without regard for anything or anyone.

This little goof ball gets the 2013-2014 best school shopper award. Hands down. No question.

Staring Down a 10 Mile Run

As part of my half marathon training I had to run a couple of 10 mile runs on the weekend. One weekend we were in Bountiful, and Carl took me 10 miles away from his house and dropped me off. This was me staring down the first 10 miler of my life.

Unfortunately, this was pretty much the only downhill part of the whole run, so I enjoyed it until I hit the hills.

Being Caleb's Mother (or, Muver, as he calls me)

Gardening help is expected, even when the carrots are not quite ready.

 

Being trapped in spiderwebs is more common than not.

 

Church is only survived by a climb in a tree and a subsequent rescue by some older boys.

Enough Rain to Splash

We have seen quite a bit of rain here in Rock Springs this summer and fall. I don't remember a time in the almost five years we've lived here that there has been enough rain to create puddles. There is plenty of wind, but not that much rain.

With enough rain to make puddles we walked around the neighborhood until we found some really really deep ones. Once we found the best ones, the kids went crazy jumping and splashing. It was pretty fun until the sun went down and Caleb peed in the best puddle...

Preschool Orientation

 

Caleb graduated from the Bunny's class at the college, to the Bear's class. He was pretty excited to attend the annual preschool orientation. However, not as excited as Christian looks in this picture. That poor chair was working pretty hard!

 

Welcome to Bear's Caleb, please, have a cookie!

 

The Hair Growing Process is a Hard One

 

Getting Ready for Church

 

Now that our church meetings begin at 12:30pm, we can usually make it to church on time. Sometimes with time to spare, like this random Sunday morning when Cali and Carter were pretty proud of how good they looked!

Mosquito Attack!!

 

Pay no attention to the stretch marks, I actually earned those! What I didn't earn, or deserve, was 70+ mosquito bites from the Emery County Fair 5K that I ran this summer. When you first see this picture you might ask, "how short were your shorts?" Well, I had capri length running tights on. So, either some mosquitoes got trapped inside, or running tights are no match for mosquitoes.

Either way, it was the worst I've ever itched in my entire life. In the middle of the night Chrisian thought that there was a mouse in the house. Not to worry, it was just me scratching at my own flesh. This picture was taken about a week after the initial attack, when the itching was almost bearable.

I will never underestimate the power of bug spray ever again!

Aunt Ruthie's Funeral

 

On the first of August I received a text message from my dad that my Aunt Ruth had passed away. Although she suffered from many different health problems, her death was very unexpected. Especially since it occurred just days before her daughter, my cousin, Nikki's wedding day.

I was able to leave my kids in Bountiful with Vicki in order to attend the funeral. Christian was at work in Colorado, and with Brandt gone to the Navy, I picked Alexis and Kate up on the way to Fountain Green.

It was a very nice service, and very emotional to be back in Fountain Green where so many of my childhood memories were created. 

 

My mom and dad talking with old friends and relatives. 

 

A picutre of my grandparent's house and farm from the cemetary.



 

I still don't think it's very fair that my grandparents aren't around. I've missed them on so many occasions.

 

My siblings and I had this arrangement made for Ruthie. She really loved beautiful things, and I'm sure she would have picked something herself.

 

We stopped by my grandparents house to see some of the renovations that my aunt and uncle had been working on. It was very bitter-sweet. The new additions and updates are amazingly beautiful, but it was a little like walking into a familiar place, but not knowing where you actually are.

 

Rock Springs City Track Meet

Ready to rock it out track meet style!

Caleb scored a 2nd place in the long jump and the softball throw.

He was very thrilled to get some ribbons!

Carter sprinted all around and competed in nearly every single event. He even did the 400m, which he was super proud of.

It was a really fun evening with lots of our Rock Springs friends!

 

Kolby's Blessing

Is it really possible that these are the only pictures I got from Kolby's baby blessing? Christian's sister Melissa blessed her baby the same weekend we were in Castle Dale for the fair days. It was a great day with family and food... and shirtless cousins in a tree? This is too random even for me!

Grandma Zora's (Say it Fast and it Sounds Like Grandmasaurus... like the name of a dinosaur)

One evening whilst in Castle Dale, Caleb, Brock, and I wandered down the road a few blocks to my Grandma Peacock's house. Or as Caleb calls her, Grandmasaurus. Brock liked sitting on Mari's little motorcycle, but he mostly liked eating the spider webs off the handlebars. I tried to stop him, but he liked them too much, this kid will eat anything in the outdoors.

Caleb climbed the tree house and swung on the famous rope swing of death. It's still the same rope I used to swing as a kid!
 

 

 

Just in Case She Hasn't Had Enough Birthday Parties...

While at the Emery County Fair, Grandma Gwennie surprised Cali with her own birthday cake and some birthday cash.

Emery County Fair Days

The Emery County Fair is a favorite for all Castledalians. This year Alexis, Melissa, Cali and I ran the annual 5k. Cali had a goal to finish in under 40 minutes and she did it! She finished right around 37 minutes, not bad!

Cali, really did have shorts on, they were just really short and her shirt was really long, which makes for a funny photo!

After the 5k we got cleaned up and headed to the parade. Brock Gilson turned out to be the most adorable and totally useless candy catcher. As you can see, he just sat around and looked cute, which resulted in no candy gathering.

Caleb worked so hard darting in the road for candy that he HAD to dump a bottle of water on his head. I don't think he even really liked getting the candy, but he loved permission to run in the road!

Cali and Carter road on the city float with the mayor. This is Neal's last year as the mayor, so they probably won't be riding on a Castle Dale City float ever again.

Caleb got his face painted like Spiderman at the park. No offense to the wonderful fair merchants, but come on, I paid for this... It is my opinion that Caleb could have painted this himself.

Caleb also got some more Chuggy Chuggy time!