Kindergarten is a Piece of Cake!

Little Dude started Kindergarten last week. He was SUPER excited! He got up early, as most kids do on their first day of school, and was ready to go in a flash. Too bad his parents were a little slow. I am going to have to get used to this getting up early thing.

I still can't believe that he has started Kindergarten already! I had been having a hard time with it at first, but once we dropped him off, I had so many things that I needed to do that I didn't have time to stress or worry.

He did great! He wasn't scared and was trying to enjoy it all! I walked him to his door and he got to be the line leader! He looked at me and waved good bye and that was that!

When I picked up him up I asked how it was he replied by saying "Kindergarten was easy mom! This will be a piece of cake." I wondered where he got that from until he handed me a cupcake that he got from Mrs. Wilson that said "Kindergarten is a piece of cake." I love that he has enjoyed it so far! I really hope that this excitement lasts!

4 years

I am a day behind everything this week. I have very good excuses. One of which is the fact that my oldest started school today.

I didn't cry once. Is everyone really proud of me?

I have pictures that I will post tomorrow. But for today I just needed to sit down and write what I fully intended on writing yesterday.

4 years ago yesterday I got news of the death of my dear friend, Kirsten. This news was quite possibly the hardest news I have ever had to deal with. It changed me forever.

She is always on my mind and I miss her every day. Her death took me years to get over. My hubby just said that he was proud of me for not crying yesterday. I know that I will see her again, and that is what holds me together this time of year. She was a wonderful person and today I wanted to take a minute and remember her.

Kirsten, you were a great friend and an example to everyone! I love you and will see you again someday!

To all you.....find someone this week that you have been thinking about and tell them how much they mean to you. Pass the love along. It goes a LONG way! You never know, you may never get the chance again!

I heart Nice people

I *HEART* Charity!

Thanks again my lady for being so kind!

I am not sure that I am ready.

Tomorrow we go and meet little dude's kindergarten teacher. For some reason I am not sure that I am ready for this. Yes, he has gone to preschool for 2 years, but this seems so different to me. Maybe it is the year around school. Maybe it is the fact that he will have homework. Maybe it's because he is going to learn how to read. Or just maybe it's the fact that he is growing up way too fast and needing his mom less and less each year.

I am pretty sure that is it.

I didn't really think that I would be emotional about this, but as they day gets closer to him starting school I find myself getting a little teary. I never did this when he would go to preschool. Infact I think I was too excited to send him off for a few hours.

The more I think about it the more I think of the influences that he will have around him. I fear that I haven't taught him enough to be strong and to be himself. I fear that he will get there and just become different. That he will become too wound up in the worldy affairs in life that he will forget what he stands for.

Then I take a deep breath and realize that I have FAR too long to be worried about this kind of stuff. I hope and pray that kindergarten is still a little sheltered. I am still sad that he is growing too fast though.

I bring to you the Dinosaur Hunt

As you all know my little dude planned a dinosaur hunt for the family to go on. He put a ton of planning into what we were going to do and where we were going. He even packed a backpack with a few essentials. A compass for everyone, his book on dinosaurs that he carefully marked with sticky tabs important info, a bag of hot dog buns, a can of pineapple (little dude said that it is so you can eat the pineapple then if you get lost in the mountains and need something to drink you can drink the juice), and a bottle of water.


My little princess packed her backpack too with a girl's must have....her princess dress up shoes.

When there is any food involved little man is game for anything.


We got a later start than we had hoped, but we were not going to miss out on what little dude had planned. We drove up Butterfield Canyon and let Dude tell us where to stop. We only had to turn around twice before he found the perfect spot. When we first got out of the car little dude saw this fork and we so excited that he had found his first treasure.

Boy is he in for a surprise!


When we got all set up little dude grabbed his gloves and found a log to sit and look around. He found a trail leading up the mountain from where we were and decided to take us up there.

So here we are on a "Dinosaur Hunt" looking for fossils or dinosaur bones (humoring our kids) and pretending to be archaeologists. When we walk up the trail a little; right in the middle of the path there were REAL BONES! Yes, I know! Can you imagine the reaction of the kids when we find REAL bones on a "Dino Hunt"?
The kids were funny. Dude was a little weary of it, but Princess actually picked it up. They looked at it for awhile and decided to move on and see what else we could find. When we walked maybe 20 more steps here is what we found.....

So of course daddy had the kids get out the book to see if they could identify the type of dinosaur it was. They determined that it could possibly be a Stegosaurus that looked a little like a dear.

The kids can now say that they went on a dinosaur hunt and found real bones! Little dude was pretty happy about it.

He hiked for a bit longer, but it was starting to get dark. So we decided to go back to camp and eat the pineapple and bread.

This is an experience that we as a family will never forget. I am so glad that we gave Dude the chance to explore his idea. We all learned a great lesson that day! I keep thinking, what if we didn't take him? What if we didn't make the time to take him on this hunt that he put a lot of thought into? I really hope that I never get too busy to miss an opportunity like this EVER!

Where have I been?

I have escaped from the blogging world for a bit. Where have I been you ask? Well, lets just say that there hasn't been a single clean dish in my house for days. 16 loads of laundry were starting to call my name (well I finally heard it anyway). There are 4 bed rooms, 2 bathrooms, a dining room, kitchen, living room and family room that has been neglected far too long.

Let's not forget to mention a little thing called the Olympics that have been hogging the airspace on my tv for the last week. (Michael Phelps is a ROCKSTAR!)

So as much as I love blogging, I do have other responsibilities (I hate being responsible). But I promised the Dino Hunt pictures so they will be coming soon!

I promise!

Something Special

Dear Princess,

With each day that passes us by, I have to wake up the next morning and come to terms with the fact that you are growing up. You aren't my curly haired, sweet talking, cuddly, silly, LITTLE girl anymore. NOPE~ you are all that (minus the curly hair, and the little part) and much much more. I can't believe how grown up you have seemed to me lately.

Every day I tell you that you are special. I pray that you never forget that. I have said so many times before that you have taught me so much. You really have, there is just something so different about you. From the very first time I laid my eyes on you, with your chubby little cheeks and your beautiful big eyes, I knew without a doubt that you are a precious gift that has been given to me (us...your daddy love you too!) Every time I hear the song "I am a Child of God." I think of a time when your daddy and I went to the temple while I was pregnant with you. I was SO scared to be having another baby, it was so soon after your brother was born, and the timing just seemed so, so, off. While sitting in the temple I thought of the words to that song and I instantly knew how special you were going to be. As your mother I have a responsibility to lead you, guide you and most importantly walk beside you and help you find the way. Four years later and thinking about how I felt that day brings tears to my eyes. I was at that moment more than willing to accept the timing and know that it is YOUR time. I was at that moment thrilled to be your mother.


Today you started another year of preschool. You were so excited to have me drop you off and to see your friends again. I, on the other hand, could not get passed how every time I blink my eyes you are another inch taller, or a little more wiser. I pulled away thinking this time is going by too fast. Pretty soon you will be leaving for collage and I just don't know what I am going to do with myself then.
With being the middle child and the only girl you sometimes get a little let out of things. The shaft is what your dad and I call it. I lay awake at night and try to think of ways we as a family can make this better. I thought of something last night (some time between the hours of 12:30 and 4:00) and I want to commit to you right now that you and I are going to spend more time together. I hope to accomplish a few things with this. The first is to be your very best friend. Since I asked you the other day who your best friend was and you told me the comb that was in your hand was your best friend, I realized that you might really need a friend right now. Someone that will sit on the front porch with you all afternoon and comb out your Barbie's hair and be a voice over for your little barbie swim party. The other thing that I want to accomplish is to teach you how important you are and to help build you up. When I was telling you today all the ways that you have taught me you said the silliest thing. You sweetly added that you had taught me how to listen. That really hit me. You really have, although, I have a really hard time with it still. Which brings me into the last thing that I want to accomplish while spending more time with you. I want you to know that you will always have me to talk to. I will listen! I will offer advise, I will not judge. I will ALWAYS be there for you!

You had a big day today, and I am truly proud of you. You are so smart and so amazing. There are so many things that I want to teach you, but all I really need you to know tonight is that I love you with all my heart. No matter how big you get, and no matter how fast the time flys on by that will NEVER change!

Happy first day of preschool sweetie. I hope that you enjoy it and live every moment of it!

Oh yea, your brother had a big day today too. He learned how to do this.........

He is saving the bigger stuff like starting school for a few more years! But you taught him how to do this, so to that I have to say......

Thanks for being an awesome sister too!

A Count Down of my Own

While everyone else I know had been counting down to when they get their new Twilight book, or have been M.I.A because they are reading it, I have started a new little countdown of my own.

See I don't read often. It will be a miracle if I ever read Twilight. BUT I have read (and quite enjoyed) all the Harry Potter books. You could say I am a little obsessed.

So here is my countdown. To the new Harry Potter movie The Half Blood Prince coming out in November!

Waiting

I am waiting to get my memory card reader back from my friend.

Hurry up Cherie!

Just kidding, she doesn't even read my blog.

As soon as I get it back I will post about our AWESOME Dino Hunt! NO ONE is going to believe the story!

Really, it is crazy! I am so excited to share it!

In the mean time, you can check out what I have been up to over here. There are more to come soon! (I am talking to you Jen!)