Starting School

Gosh! School started and life went into over-drive. Connor started 2nd grade this year. He is in Mrs. Talbot's class. He started the school year knowing a handful of kids. His best friend Jaron is in his class. I challenged him at the start of the school year to make new friends in his class. He has done so well! He has been so kind and loving to a boy in his class who has autism. He has an aide that sits with him and helps him during school. Connor and this sweet boy sat by each other at the beginning of the school year and I think it was a bit of a shock for Connor but he has really learned to love this boy. He plays with him at recess sometimes, and lets him join his friends in whatever they are playing. The little boy has a short attention span and usually doesn't play too long but it's so nice knowing that Connor plays with him and includes him.

Dylan started 1st grade and he is in Mrs. Echols class. My boys both scored in the teacher department this year! We love Mrs. Echols. I am able to go and help every Monday for an hour in Dylan's class. I am also the room mom so I get to help with parties and holiday celebrations. Dylan is smart as a whip! He is quiet and a good leader in class. He has some tough kids in his class but he always manages to stay on task and get his work done. He has made some good little buddies this year and is learning to love sports. He plays soccer, football, or basketball at recess.

Samantha started preschool at Watch Me Grow Preschool with Miss Julie and Grandma Smith.  To say she has waited her whole life to go to preschool is the absolute truth! She couldn't wait to go! She loved her teachers before she ever started preschool. She is my little social butterfly. She has crushes on "all the boys!" and "every single boy loves her!" So, I think I have my work cut out for me already! She is starting to write her name and knows most of her letters. She is counting higher and higher every day and she thinks she can speak spanish (she cannot--but it's fun to hear her try!).

My kids love their teachers this year! I feel so blessed to have such wonderful teachers handling my kids everyday. My boys have grown leaps and bounds this year. They all have teachers who are passionate about education and love children. It's been such a fun year for them!

10 years!

June 5, 2014--Paul and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. I tease Paul that it has been a LONG ten years but really I mean that it has been LONG for him! He puts up with lots of my moodiness and crazy town thinking!
To celebrate our anniversary we headed to Las Vegas! We hit the town hard! And by hard, I mean, we wandered the strip, hit a really expensive buffet, went to a Cirque de Soleil show (KA), watched the water show at the Bellagio, and people watched to our hearts content! We stayed in a fancy shmancy hotel room at the Venetian.  It was so fun to be just Paul and Tara again for a night--not mom and dad! We talked and laughed about our highs and lows in our marriage. We took more selfies than is even appropriate to admit to! We remembered our long nights in the hospital with Dylan (sharing a room--sticking to the plan of pretending to be asleep so the nurses wouldn't kick one of us out--not showering because we just knew the doctor was coming in to release us--and on and on!), our first night home with each baby, our honeymoon night and the cheap hotel Paul's dad got for us, buying a mini van on our 7th anniversary, and being completely happy with our three beautiful children.
We were going to go to the Las Vegas temple but on our way there, we got a dreaded phone call from my sister (who was watching our kids) letting us know that Dylan had the barfs! That cut our trip a few hours short. We raced home, repacked our bags and hit the road again to rescue my sister!

 

RIP Jimmy

A few months ago Paul was decided to go turkey hunting with Dylan and Samantha. Apparently he hasn't learned his lesson about the cost involved in this hunting event. A few years ago he went, and it cost us about $1000 by the time all was said and done!! (a story for another time!) Anyway, he ventured off in the 1999 GMC Jimmy that he's been driving around since we graduated from college in 2005. The Jimmy was in ok shape. Paul had spent many long weekends repairing and doing odd little fixings on it. It ran fine, just always needed something fixed!

He decided he was going to haul the Rhino up to Cedar City and find himself a turkey! Dylan and Sam went with him, while Connor and I stayed home--fearing the Jimmy wasn't going to make it through the trip.....well we were right! Paul was heading up the Black Ridge and blew the motor in the Jimmy! He got to an exit and decided to just take the Rhino out for a ride anyway--he's always such a good sport about life. I, on the other hand am not! (I would have been so mad and made him come right home!)

They ended up having a great ride and made it home just fine. The Jimmy was still drive-able for the most part. The ride home was almost all down hill anyway--thank goodness!

Paul made a few phone calls about getting a new motor put in it but the cost/risk far out weighed what I could handle and so we opted out. We were a one car family for about a month. It was ok. I had to drop Paul off every morning for work and then come pick him up after but it was fine. It did get old though!!

The Jimmy was a good little SUV. Paul drove it for 9 years and we had a lot of fun with it--but I am so happy it is gone!!

RIP little Jimmy!

May 2014

May was a fun month for our family. Dylan graduated from Kindergarten!! He loves school and is a great student--and pretty smart too! He loved being in Mrs. Stewart's class. He made tons of new friends and became a great reader. His graduation program was so cute. Even grammy came down to see him graduate.

Dylan also celebrated his 6th birthday on May 23rd. He had a birthday party at the house with a bunch of neighborhood friends! We played games and got wet. He was spoiled rotten. He chose to go to Dickey's Barbeque for his birthday dinner--a great choice above pizza (we eat pizza every Friday night!)

Baseball

This year Connor and Dylan both played baseball! They had so much fun. This was the first year I split them up and let them play on their own team. Connor has been pushing for a little more independence and wanting to do things like play with friends, play sports, and hang out--without Dylan and Sam! I love that he is wanting a little independence.

Connor got to play with a whole slew of kids from the neighborhood and school. I think he knew every kid on the team. He practiced hard and it really paid off. He hit the ball every time he was up to bat this year--ok, except twice. He was a hittin fool this year! He is catching on to the fielding side of the game as well. He played awesome and had a great time with all his buddies.

Dylan loves baseball! He loves all sports really, but he is so fun to watch play baseball. He can crank the ball pretty hard--now we just gotta get him movin those big old feet! He too, had so much fun playing on a team with lots of kids from school and in our neighborhood! His coaches were so fun and really taught their team about the game. Dylan loved wearing his bright yellow team hat all season long!

Spring Fun 2014 (part 2): Zion National Park

Friday night everyone (Rob, Mom, Shelbie, Scott, Chad and Colton) all got to our house. We only had time to shop for treats/lunch for Saturday and then we all went to bed. Saturday morning everyone except for Mom, Paul (he has a hernia--and has to have surgery!), and the kids all got up and hit the road at about 7:30 and made our way up to Zion National Park. We took the shuttle up to The Grotto, where we unloaded the bus and hit the trails to hike Angel's Landing! The sun hadn't hit the bottom of the canyon yet and so it was freezing! We knew we had to get moving if we wanted to warm up! We started at about 8:30. We took our time getting up--there were switchbacks, paved trail, sand/rock but overall the first 2/3 of the hike were pretty easy. It was so fun walking and talking with my brothers and sister--and Rob too! We laughed at people we passed and got out of the way of those who were on a mission to make it to the top first! We kept joking about a guy who was probably not cut out for the hike who kept stopping because "oh, ouch! Man it feels like someone is stabbing my calves with a knife!" He kept us entertained off and on--and he made it to the top! It took us about 3 hours to get up, and only 40 minutes to get down! We stopped and took lots of pictures on the way up but practically ran the whole way down. It was so fun--and so scary! We had looked at pictures on the internet a few days earlier and sort of thought we knew what to expect but it was so crazy watching people hike and climb and holding onto a dumb old chain for safety in real life! Shelbie didn't quite make it to the top but she did get to the chains. The rest of us put on our big girl panties and took off--literally holding onto the chain for dear life. Haha, it was so so so much fun and I am so glad that I actually did it. I kept telling my brothers and Rob that I had to do it for Paul, I had to show him I could do it because he was "medically" unable to do it--which I was super bummed about. The top looking down was breath taking and I actually had to sit down because it made me a little bit dizzy. Chad and Scott were like mountain goats up there, jumping off rocks, climbing up on little ledges for a picture, and standing way to close to the edge for my little heart to handle! Rob was awesome and let us do our thing and he took all the pictures on the way up--so sorry, for all the butt shots of myself and Scotty boy! It was honestly one of the funnest, hardest, and best hikes I have ever done! So glad we did it--but we'll have to go again so Paul can come.

After we did Angel's Landing we met up with Paul and my mom and the kids for lunch. Paul cooked us up a burger with all the fixings. While we hike Angel's Landing he took my mom and the kids through the tunnel and scared my mom a little! Yes!! After lunch we got back on the shuttle and went to Weeping Rock. It had been raining a little bit so there was a little more water running off the rocks than the last time we were there, so that was fun to see. We also did the river walk trail, but only for like half a mile--after that, we were pooped! We loaded the shuttle back to the car and headed to Golden Corral for dinner!

Oh, but I can't forget the wile turkeys we saw at our last stop--Paul had the male turkey so huffy puffy with his turkey calling skills. Paul would gaggle at the turkey and the turkey would do it back and then puff up his feathers and strut around for a bit. The little kids, and us big kids...couldn't quit laughing!

We also got to watch mountain climbers scale the cliffs...so cool!

It was such a fun day. I think everyone was so tired by the time we got home--I don't even think I said goodnight to anyone. I am so thankful my family was able to come and stay. We only saw about 10 minutes of conference but the time we got to spend together was worth it for me. Can't wait to do it all again!

I have a billion pictures posted so to see the other post you probably have to go back a page--but don't miss Spring Fun 2014 (part 1): Snow Canyon