Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving – with no pictures to show for it!  We went down to St. George to visit my parents.  My sister Susan and her husband Rogan and son Asa were there too.  We had a blast – eating great food, playing fun games (Dixit, Bang, Lost Cities, Wyatt Earp, For Sale) and just generally enjoying each other’s company.  What a blast!

Star Wars in Concert

In October we heard that Star Wars in Concert was coming to Salt Lake. We immediately set about trying to find tickets to it, only to
discover that they were pretty pricey.  Nick and I decided not to
mention it to Jacob, as we figured it was not in the budget.

Well, the day of the concert, I was checking the ads on KSL (thanks to
my good friend Nova) and found the tickets for half price!  I was so
excited, and immediately bought tickets for Nick and Jacob to go.

These pictures were taken with Nick’s cell – and needless to say, the
concert was a hit. Before it even started you had the opportunity to
walk around the arena and meet the different Star Wars characters.
They had exhibits, replicas and various representations of the movie.
Jacob was even wearing his “Vader Lives” in honor of the occasion.

The concert itself was incredible.  There was a full orchestra (the
Star Wars orchestra) and a four-story movie screen behind them.  C3PO narrated different scenes/themes from the movie.  Nick and Jacob were completely entranced.

When they got home that night, they were both giddy with excitement.
I am so happy that they had the chance to make such a great memory!

Happy Halloween!

From our little dragon and our knight in shining armor

Block Party

Yesterday, we had our neighborhood block party. It was such a blast! While we were there we ran into our neighbors, which made it even more fun. Jacob loves spending time with his friend Emma - from the first minute they saw each other they were racing off together, holding hands. I loved spending time with Emma's mom Jamie, and Nick always enjoys speaking with Michael, Emma's Dad. We went around to all the booths together. They had some fire trucks/emergency vehicles, some maintenance vehicles, and lots of food. They also had a place were the kids could make a rocket and then shoot it off. The nice woman at the table gave Emma and Jacob a big hint - the rockets went higher if you cut the tails to triangles. Boy, did they fly high!!

Sam had a good time too - his favorite part was dancing to the music while Jacob was in the bounce house! Here is a sampling of his moves:




(P.S. Ok, so I honestly thought that I rotated this when I edited it in imovie. I was wrong, and am apparently too lazy to change it. Feel free to ignore the video of Sam. Also, please forgive the pictures, they were taken with my phone and not my camera!)

Soccer Jacob

Jacob started soccer this past week. He has been looking forward to it all summer long. We were going to sign him up for it last spring in TX, but with preparing for the move I didn't want to add anything else to our already hectic schedule. We bought him a team USA jersey a few weeks ago in preparation for the World Cup next summer (Nick can't wait), and he has his own uniform from his team, the light blue team - which we have unofficially named the "Blue Thunder." Tuesday night was his first game and it was a blast! He is in a non-competitive league, and he really loves it so much. You can see the happiness on his face when he is out on the field.

And let's be honest, it is completely amusing to see a whole gaggle of kindergarteners chasing after a soccer ball in a clump.

Jacob is in kindergarten!

I can't believe that Jacob is in kindergarten! He loves it so much - everyday he hurries me to the car because he wants to be there.

The night before Jacob started school, we had a celebration with all of his favorite foods: homemade chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese, peas and chocolate cake. We talked about our family theme for the year "anchoring our souls to Christ," in family home evening, and then Nick gave Jacob a father's blessing. It was wonderful! We also presented Jacob with his very own school journal that I had made for him. I look forward to seeing the pages filled with his memories and pictures.



Walking in! My big, brave boy.

Family fun

After Nick’s crazy week-long three-credit class, we spent some time outdoors playing football, swinging, and just plain having fun as a family. We love the weather here in Utah, and we are trying to take advantage of it every opportunity that we can!





And my favorite photo? This one:

What does that say about me as a mom?

Thus it begins...

Nick started his one week super-intensive class yesterday. It is from 8-4:30 pm everyday, and he was up until 10:30 last night working on homework (with a brief time out for a very short family home evening). Sigh.

I'm not going to lie, it has been nice spending so much time together this summer. Even when he was studying, it was still at a somewhat leisurely pace. I know that the next few years will be hard - that we've been spoiled for the past few years with time - but gosh. It is not fun missing your best friend.

To top it off, Jacob starts kindergarten in two weeks. I can't believe it. I'll be losing another one of my best friends. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to the time with Sam, but it will be different. Who will ask all of the random questions? Who will keep up a constant chatter?

On the bright side, Jacob is only going to half-day kindergarten. It was something I really struggled with. I really wanted him to go half-days, but then I worried that I was being too selfish, wanting to keep him all to myself. What if he wanted to go the full day? What if it would have been more valuable to him educationally to do it?

Thankfully, the decision was taken out of my hands. When we went to register him last week at school, we found out that a) the full day kindergarten was full and b) it wasn't really a full learning time, it was a half-day with extended care! Woohoo! I can keep Jacob with me a little longer without the guilt.

For now, until school starts for Jacob, we are filling our time with lots of outdoor activities - in hopes that it will help me not miss Nick so much. Yesterday we spent forever at the playground (in between nap times), and we also made yummy brownies for FHE. Today, we went outside in the morning and are planning on hitting the zoo as soon as Sam wakes up. While he takes his afternoon nap, Jacob and I will attempt the Lion House rolls. Tomorrow we will hit up the library.

Hopefully these activities will take the edge of off missing Daddy. Soon we will be into a routine, and everything will work out. For now, we will play and bake ourselves better.

Here are some photos from this morning outside (and yes, Texas friends, Sam is in pants and a light jacket - it is only 60 at 8:30 am).

Molars

We hate you. Please come quickly, and bring back my sweet child. We miss him.

Grandma and Grandpa

We spent a wonderful two weeks at my parents place in St. George. The boys absolutely loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, and Nick and I really enjoyed our extended vacation. We were fed, loved, relaxed, read great books, played outside (before it got hot!), played inside, and had great conversation. It was a blast! Next time, though, I won't let Grandpa be so camera-shy.

CRUISIN' 2009

We went on a cruise! This is Sam as we spent our day flying to Orlando, Florida. My parents generously paid for our family reunion to take place on the Carnival Glory, stopping in Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. We had such a great trip, and we are so grateful to Mom and Dad for it. Thank you so much!!!!