Letting Go... Man It Can Be Hard

Yesterday I sent my firstborn child off on a field trip. An overnight field trip to be exact. My kids have never been away from me overnight, unless it was with a grandparent. So to send him off on buses with teachers and other kids I barely know was, well, it was extremely hard for me. I put on a brave face though, so as to not embarrass him in front of everyone.

When he brought the permission slip home, I asked Trent if we should even let him go. He of course thought I was being silly. Which I admit, I was. It is hard to see Trenton growing up so fast. Sometimes I still picture him as my little four year old boy and not the 10 year kid that he is now.


Before he left I probably told him, okay, it was way too many times, that I would miss him. I asked if he would miss me too, and he said, "Sure mom." Then he looked at me a little guiltily and said, "Actually, I think I might be too excited to miss you." Stab to the heart. Hey, at least he's honest. He did promise to miss me at least once before he got home from school today. I'm glad that he was excited to go. We all need things to be excited about in life.

Ahhhhhhhhh...

Can I just say that this kid is cr-a-nky lately. That's why I am extremely grateful that he is taking naps again. Not long ones, but at least it gives us a momentary break from all of the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth that this kiddo is so into of late.

It's nice to see that he does have a mellow side to him, even if it is only while he's asleep.

Sunsational

A few nights ago we were out and about doing a few things. While driving, we came to the top of a hill, and this burst into our view.

I had to pull the camera out right away. I love taking pictures of sunsets. What a beautiful way to end the day.


Last night while in my kitchen baking cookies, I glanced out the window and saw this. Can you believe this is the sun? This was taken at about 5:00 pm last night. I remember several years ago, 8 to be exact, the sun looked like this due to several fires here in Colorado. It looks strangely beautiful, but ominous at the same time.

Boating Fun

Our friends, the Dransfields, were so kind to invite us out on their boat with them today. It was so much fun.

Melinda showed all of us up with her wake boarding skills. After she finished and was getting back on the boat, Preston looked at me and said, "Mommy, dat was awesome!" He was thoroughly impressed. She caught air several times.

Lamar has some pretty snazzy wake boarding skills as well.

Trent too. Trent had some fancy foot working going on while he was wake boarding. You can tell he's a snowboarder.

I'm not nearly as tricky as the other three, but it had been about 16 years since I had been up on water skis. I didn't catch any air, but I did get up on my first try! And I did travel outside of the wake for a brief moment, until I face planted in the water that is.

Miss Kimberley was looking fabulous and glamorous as usual. Isn't she lovely?

Pete was in charge of the flag. He did a very nice job at it. ;)

Captain Lamar. He looked so happy to be out on his boat. Boys and their toys. :)

Preston loved watching everyone wake board/ski behind the boat. You could tell by the look in his eyes that he wished it was him out there, fearless little thing that he is.

Thanks Dransfields for such a fun time!

Don't Get Too Close

Well, it finally happened. Trenton has hit the "don't get too close to me in front of my friends" stage. It took him so long, I was hoping it wouldn't happen. When I walk the boys to school in the mornings he'll stay right by me, and even hold my hand part of the way, but as soon as we start to get close to the school, he'll start to walk ahead of me, and then when we actually get to the school, I barely even get a wave goodbye, let alone a hug anymore.

I ended up driving the boys to school the other day and I hadn't changed out of my pajamas yet. Trenton kept asking me if I was going to get dressed before we left. I told him no, that I wouldn't be getting out of the car anyway. He says, "Well, what if someone looks in the car and sees that you're still in your pajamas? That would be so embarrassing!" I ended up going in my pajamas of course. My bright hot pink ones with white polka dots. I think he's gotten over it.

So my first born doesn't think so much of his ol' mom anymore. When did this happen? I used to think he would never hit this stage. Several boys I know have been like this since the first grade. I should have known that it was only a matter of time. I guess I should just count myself lucky that he lasted until the fifth grade. At least I still get hugs from him at home, while none of his friends are around to see of course. ;)

Brotherly Love

Imagine a grown man, about 26 years of age, two small children, ages 6 and about 3, and a teenager, oh, probably anywhere from 13-15 years old, driving along in a pickup truck on a quiet back road on their way from Orem to Provo. Imagine said grown man, Scott, say to the teenager, Mike (Scott's youngest brother), "Hey I bet you couldn't jump out and run alongside the truck while it's moving at 10 miles an hour." Mike responds back with, "Sure I could." Scott, "No, you couldn't." Mike, "Yes I can." At which point, Mike opens his door, and starts getting into jumping position. My dad, Scott, again says, "You won't do it." Next thing we know, Mike is no longer in the truck, and we feel a big BUMP in the road. Now imagine that same truck screeching to an abrupt halt. Yes the bump in the road was indeed my uncle Mike. Luckily the truck only ran over his shoulder and not his head. So back in the truck goes uncle Mike, and we rush to the nearest E.R. Mike has a broken bone in his shoulder (go figure). I remember sitting there next to my dad when the doctor came out and asked, "Well sir, now how did this happen?" Silence for a moment, then "Ummmm... Uhhh."

The Funny Lookin' Cow

I have been thinking about my dad a lot lately. Its funny how I'll go for a bit and not think of him too much, and then other times I can't stop thinking about him and some of the funny things he used to do.

Today as I was driving on the back roads to go run some errands in Parker, I was reminded of the back roads my dad used to take us on sometimes to get from our home in Orem to my great grandma Menlove's house in Provo. My brother and I used to love it when dad would take the back roads because that meant we would get to stop and look at what we endearingly named 'the funny lookin' cow'. Funny looking was putting it mildly. It looked like a cross between a cow, a yak, an oxen, and who knows what else. Let me put it this way... it looked like someones breeding experiment had gone horribly wrong. Whenever we were going to grandma Menlove's, my brother and I would beg to go the back way. More often than not, my dad would humor us. I think he liked seeing the cow just as much we did, if not more so. We wouldn't just drive by either... My dad would almost always stop, and we would get out and go stand by the cow's corral and just sit and stare at it for a while, comment on how funny it looked, then head on our way to grandma's house. I'm grateful for a dad who would take time to stop and smell the roses... er, I mean, stop and gawk at the funny looking cow.

Vivi's First Day

Vivi started her first day of school yesterday. She has been begging me for at least a month to be able to go back to school. She has been dying to be with Miss Jen again. I guess her mom isn't nearly as fun. Which is probably true. I don't know anyone quite as fun as Miss Jen. So happy day, Vivi got to go back to school, and let me tell you, she's about died and gone to heaven about it. I don't know what she's going to do next year when she has to move on to Kindergarten and leave Miss Jen behind. It might get ugly. ;)

1st Day of School!

The boys started back to school this morning. While I miss them and wish we could all still just kick around and relax for a few more weeks, I have to admit, it has been kind of nice having such a quiet house today. It is amazing what taking two kids out of the equation for several hours does to the volume in our home.

Trenton is starting fifth grade this year. When did I become old enough to have a fifth grader? I think he has been a little nervous this last week about the new school year. He has hit that age where he has started to worry about what other people think of him. It makes me sad that he is starting to worry about that stuff. By the time he left for school this morning though, he seemed really excited. He was dressed, had his bed made, had eaten breakfast, and had most of his lunch made by the time I woke up at 7:00 this morning.
Colson was equally excited. He has been wanting to go back to school for the last two weeks now. He will be starting 3rd grade this year. Do you love the outfit he chose for his first day of school? Hawaiian print green and khaki shorts, and blindingly bright yellow shirt. I love Colson's choices of clothes sometimes. He is such a happy kid.

While it's hard to have the summer end, it is always fun and exciting for the kids to start a new school year and be able to watch them learn and grow not only from their books, but from their experiences as well.

12 Years and Counting...

My darling hubby and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary today!

Neither of us even realized our anniversary was so close until we went and did sealings in the temple the other day and were asked how many years we had been married. We looked at each other and you could tell the thought hit us right at the same moment that it was going to be twelve years in just a coupe days time! What a special time it was to go back and do sealings for others just two days shy of our own sealing date. (Even if we didn't realize it at the time;)

I recently had someone ask me to describe what life with Trent is like, using three words. At the time the three words that came immediately to mind were: fun, interesting, and never boring.

Anyone who has ever been around Trent knows that he loves to laugh and have fun. He loves to make others laugh too. And I've never seen anyone so good at making themselves laugh. ;) I can't tell you how many times we have come home from parties with friends, and he has a pounding headache because he spent the whole night laughing his brains out. Oh, and what a laugh he has. It is a very distinct and contagious laugh. You could definitely pinpoint him in a room of hundreds of other laughing people. I love that he has such a great sense of humor, and that it doesn't take much to get him laughing.

Life with Trent can definitely be interesting. In a good way of course:) Several years ago he was taking a Microbiology class. I think this was one of his all time favorite classes. I've never seen anybody get so excited over germs and bacteria. Anyway, I got to spend the whole semester hearing about all of the lovely little bacteria and microbes that were growing on my dish cloths and other various places in the house, and on or in my body (a little more infromation than I really wanted, but whatever, right?). It is generally like this when he is learning about things he finds fascinating. You get to know and hear about all the gory details. (Thank heavens he's only taking Spanish classes right now:)

Things are never boring around our house. Even if you took our four kids out of the equation, life would still never be boring with just Trent around. I have never known such a projector. I remember when I was still in school, I would come home and the furniture would be all rearranged. Trent loves when he can mix things up a little, or make things just a bit more exciting. That's probably why we have already had the inside of our house repainted several different times, even though we've only lived here for a little over three years. There's always something going on with Trent around, whether it is a project, a new job, a new class he is taking, or whatever. Like I said, never a dull moment.

Trent is fun, intersting, never boring, and so much more. He is very kind, loving, tolerant of others, trustworthy, compassionate, and friendly. Trent is truly one-of-a-kind. He is the type of person that people like instantly. I am always amazed at some of the things people will tell him, even after only knowing him for five minutes. And I have never seen someone win over such a grumpy person and get them smiling in such a short amount of time. It's true, I've witnessed it thousands of times in our married life, and am amazed every time. I have learned so much from him about how to treat others.

I love that husband of mine, and am so grateful for the day that he chose to have me as his eternal companion. He has brought so much joy and happiness into my life. He is a wonderful husband and an amazing father. I am so grateful for the example that he is to our children and to me. I love you my darling, and am so grateful that I not only get to spend the next twelve years with you, but eternity as well!