Conference

Brian was lucky enough to be invited to sing in the October 2011 Priesthood session for General Conference. He practiced for weeks and weeks. There was a dress rehearsal the week before where the families were invited, since we wouldn't see him during the session. I sent McKay to Melinda's and took a cute three-year-old date. He was so excited. We drove up with Keri Haynie and her three boys. Gavin watched the boys in awe and laughed and laughed as we drove up. A sign of things to come with us and our boys, for sure. Keri says the gross potty talk grows exponentially with each boy. Awesome.

We sat really close to the choir, but I'm not sure Gavin could see Brian. His excitement faded after they practiced the first song. The two hours were long for him, but we had fun visiting and walking around the fountains outside to pass some of the time. It's always a good reminder to me that I need one-on-one time with all of my boys. I love family time, but there is just something about that undivided attention. I love that Gavin loves it and hope that he will for many years. I'm sure soon he'll think I'm a dork and wish I wouldn't act like I knew him at all...

18 month McKay

Holy moly, little man. Eighteen months? You seem so big to me. Well, that's probably because you are, but still. Gone are the days when I can control you in my arms. You wriggle and scream to get out and then you are off and running. I love the lopsided sound of your footsteps running. You are quick and into everything. Everything. You are opening up the child-locked cupboards and spraying any bottle you can get your hands on in that two-inch space. My dad says that 18-months is only a milestone to mormons. Either way, you walked right into nursery and didn't look back. I was prepared for the worst and you shocked me completely. I think dad is more grateful than I am about that, since he's had you during church your whole life.

You are such a great sleeper. Night sleeping is a breeze. You'll do 12 and 13 hours. There have been a few nights lately that you woke up crying. I held you for five or ten minutes and you were ready to go back. Teeth maybe? You have officially switched to one nap during the day which has been good for you. More often you wake up talking to yourself rather than crying. That's new. A two-hour stretch is awesome for you. Since you have broken all the rules, we take what we can get. If you wake up while Gavin is still sleeping, that's our time together. We read and play and you generally love the attention. I think it's important to have that alone time with each of you.

You want to play with the big kids. You run and chase and generally just mess things up. Like pulling train tracks off tables and smashing into kids who are running way faster than you. It usually ends in crying, but you are trying to find your place. Is it with them where it's fun and interesting or back with mom when it's safe? Let's not pretend that you never cry, because you get pretty dang offended when you don't get what you want. Like face turning purple and not breathing kindof cry.

You say uh-oh, binky, blankie, and some version of Gavin that is consistent but sounds nothing like it. You yell "Mommy!" just to get my attention and then follow it with a bunch of jibberish. You pump your arm up and down every time you see a truck, hoping for a honk. You say hi to the kids walking to school in the morning and wave at everyone. You are now aware of planes and helicopters in the sky. You hand-feed Wilson his food one pebble at a time and then wash your hands in his dog dish. You yell, "No, no!" whenever you hear a dog bark. You learned that from me, by the way.

You can follow directions and surprise me with what you understand. Recently I asked you to go and get your monkey pillow and you ran back with the right item in a matter of moments. All on your own you brought me a shirt to put on you. Then you went back for some shorts. Then you brought me the shoes. Your outfit was made up of your summer swimming shirt, but I just ran with it and chalked it up to you saving me time and you being cute.

You are interested in bugs, dirt, toilets - pretty much anything I don't want you to touch. It's really the toilet one that grosses me out... But you love to wash your hands and be clean. You recently have figured out bending over so we can wipe your buns like we do your big brother's. Not time yet, but I think it's funny to watch you copy everything he does. That can also be a bad thing... You have also finally decided that you love books. You weren't interested at all until a month or two ago. Now we can't get you to stop. You bring one after the other and plop yourself on any lap that will have you.

Today you climbed up the rock wall part of the mini-park by our house. I was right behind you, but you did it alone. It scared me. I remember that day when suddenly Gavin could do things that I didn't think he could (or should!) and that it was a sign of his independence. You are becoming more and more that way. Fearless and curious. Although you are a mama's boy, you will need me less and less. It just means one thing - my baby is growing up.

Kid Pix - July 2011

Love how these turned out! www.breezee-bluebird.com

September

Is by far the best month of all the months. Really. It's beautiful. We can sit outside and go on walks and be the perfect temperature. It's the beginning of fall, which is my other new favorite. Just this past year I realized how awesome fall was. Where have I been for the past fourteen years? Utah truly is beautiful right now.

Why else we love fall: peaches. I refuse to can peaches this year. Why should I when my mother-in-law has 200 jars in her basement free for the taking? We have a beautiful tree that produced buckets of deliciousness. We ate fresh peaches by the loads. Plain or with cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and milk. I made peach pie, peach tort, peach tart, peach ice-cream and now I'm thinking peach crisp and peach shakes. Yum.

Then there's the back-to-school part, which speaks to my teacher side. I have zero regrets about not sending Gavin to preschool. There were two days there, right at the beginning of the year, when I doubted myself. But now I'm convinced and holding strong that this was the right thing for us. We have been loving story and music time at the library. It gives us enough of an out and Gavin loves it.

I'm just hanging on to every day that is beautiful as this. Glad to not be sweating and walking around in a swimsuit (yuck) and glad to not be snowed in yet. I am trying hard not be getting nervous so soon about the snow.

Technology

I have a little beef with the world these days. It's technology. The reason I am writing this is to remind myself that life without computers, phones, and Facebook is possible and actually quite fulfilling. (Just in case someday I am persuaded to turn into that person who is texting and apping and whatever else it is people are doing on their phones 24/7). I feel like I'm single-handedly trying to stop the world from evolving and it's just not working.

It was nice to open my Parenting magazine and read an article that supported everything that I believe. Like this:

Our collective whatever-ness about technology has become a smidge scary. Roughly one in five adults admits to poor mobile etiquette but continues the behavior because everyone else is doing it. It's time to rediscover undivided attention, eye contact, stillness, the nothings that happen between the somethings.

I love that! I totally agree - so many people are not looking at each other or even talking to each other because they are so busy staring at their phones. We have more than once walked into a restaurant and seen a couple sitting side by side working their phones. I don't know why I care what they are doing, but it irks me. Brian and I had a long conversation and wondered what we can do to stay focused on human beings and how we are going to raise kids in a time like this. We always have said no kid of ours is going to have a cell phone, but I am beginning to wonder. I'm the one who forgets my phone half the time. And I still take our phone off the hook every day. Am I the only one who doesn't want people to find me at a moment's notice?

Last week, after reading this, I took a week long break from Facebook. It was not a bad thing. I love FB for the networking part - and less for the I-need-to-know-what-my-2nd-grade-best-friend-is-doing-this-minute kind of thing. It's love/hate, I guess.

The article also talked about stay-at-home-moms who need some social outlet. Someone to talk to. I think that's me. I have a few favorite blogs that I love to read and somehow that makes me feel more connected or that I'm not doing this mom-thing all on my own. But then just today one of my favorite blogs wrote about the need to sometimes be bored here at home. That's just how it's going to be. And I think I'm starting to get it. For me, it's the need to not be plugged in all the time.

This is a whole bunch of randomness about nothing, but that's all I've got right now.

Back to the routine

We have had a blast this summer. I feel like summertime with two little ones shouldn't be as busy as it was, but surprisingly, we had so much going on. I didn't even make time to blog about it. I may or may not get back to doing that in detail. But, in a nutshell:

• Lynsey and her boys came to visit for a week. Carnival, rodeo, crazy fun chaos with five little boys.
• Brian and I went on our Stake Trek as Ma and Pa. Walked 18 miles in 3 days. Loved our nine teenage kids. It was so neat to literally see them be touched by the spirit.
• Brian went to Clear Creek for a week.
• I attempted to do an olympic distance triathlon in Echo Canyon with my cousin Jourdan and aunt Susan. Almost drowned. But learned a lot from the experience and told myself I would try again...after I learned to swim in open water.
• Bear Lake with the Robinson clan. Two days was too short. We're going back every year. I love it there.
• Taught two district classes - one with my friend Michelle. It's always fun to talk to teachers and remember how much I truly love it. Wondered if the participants thought this stay-at-home-mom teaching them about reading comprehension and writing was a fraud.
• St. George with my dear friend Karen and her four kids. The two of us and our six kids took the condo by storm and finally were able to relax for the first time all summer. Brian and Jason joined us for the weekend.
• I left from St. George with the boys while Brian headed back to work and made the trek to Arizona solo. Bravery! Had a great time with my sibs and their kiddos. I really, really love my brothers and sisters. I drove the entire way back all by my lonesome. I haven't done that since college. The boys were SO good and I pulled over once for a "fifteen."
• The summer ended with a triathlon sprint with Brian in Bear Lake. This time I did not freak out in the water and had a great time completing the race with Michelle. I've caught the tri bug. I'm not fast and I'm certainly not going to win any medals, but it's been fun to get off my can and work for something. I have shocked myself trotting around in public in spandex. I never ever thought I would see the day.

I saw eight of my siblings this summer (everyone but Mark and Anne). Lynsey, Dave, Nate and their families all came to our house and we drove up to see Britton in Salt Lake. The rest we saw when we visited AZ.

In there somewhere, McKay learned to walk (about 14 1/2 months) and has several molars coming in. He then turned 15, 16, and 17 months old. Walking has been the best thing to ever happen to this kid. Now, over two months later, he is getting faster and faster and is pretty much running (with some biffs in there, of course.) He finally started to say mama (about last week) and says me, ball, makes sounds for an owl, lion, dog, car, and fish. You know what a fish says, right? He signs all done, more, eat, and drink regularly and can tell us what he wants with pointing and walking us to wherever that thing is. He's finally over the screaming-until-mom-figures-it-out phase. Phew.

Gavin and I have been doing "Mommy School." It's the best time of our day. We wait for McKay to go to bed after lunch and then we sit side by side. We are working from the Mother Goose Time kit where everything is prepared for me - I just have to open the book. I am lucky to borrow the stuff from my friend Steph and just pay $5 per month or two just for the craft supplies. Gav's naps are iffy - we're about 50/50 for how many days he will sleep. But he does do quiet time and will stay in his bed until I tell him the time is up. He used to kick and scream and want to come out. He's getting better about it. He is learning to do chores and is a big help (when he wants to be). On good days, he walks in and says, "What's my next job, mom?" Other times, he selectively ignores me and goes on doing what he was doing. Typical three, I guess.

With the start of a new school year and after this crazy summer, the school routine is just what I've been waiting for. I know I don't have kids in school, but I think my brain just functions that way. I know the free-for-all is over and it's time to pretty much stick to our nap schedule, get out and play, clean up, run errands, and be to bed at a reasonable time. I feel relief and am again reorganizing the house. Less is more is my theory these days. Lots of stuff is making its way out.

Brian is back to work at Summit and now is working Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5-10 to get his internship hours for his LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor). I'm so used to him being home by 5:00 or 5:30, but this year and probably next I will have to get used to that change. It will be nice because then he will be able to work a few nights a week and be a therapist and bring in some extra money. He loves his job at Summit and this will just be a bonus for him.

And after all of that, I'm tired. Ready to move on and keep up and record the memories once again. Bring on the fall! I'm going to the crawl space to get the decorations right. now.

Summer 2011 Highlights in Photos