For Reals Back to School - (August 2017)

Our motto for the year

Okay, so now that we've had a couple of weeks to settle in to school, let's assess.  So far this year is 1000% better than last year.  I attribute that to not trying to adjust to a new house, new schools, new friends, etc. all at the same time as adjusting to new classes.  So much less stress and anxiety going on around our house, for which I am SOOO grateful!  (Oh, and sidenote, same thing happened when we  got home from vacation.  I was so worried about how stressful it was going to be to get back in town with only 2 weeks before school started - it was nothing compared to last summer when I was trying to unpack a house, entertain family in town, deal with a change of command, get utilities turned on, and register kids for school all at the same time.  So, so, so grateful we did not move this summer!!!!)

So, there is something about waking up at 5:30 in the morning that makes me forget to take first day of school pictures.  So I didn't get a shot of Aly first thing in the morning - again.  But here is her beautiful face. ;)  She is still taking her online Spanish 2 course, but has finished the first semester, so good progress going on there.  She likes AP World History, hates math (Algebra 2), is learning a lot in Driver's Ed, and Language Arts, Chemistry, and Digital Design fall somewhere in between.  She also has a Study Skills class where she can do a lot of homework from other classes, which is nice.  Cross Country is well underway - we are praying for a healthy season with no injuries, and Early Morning Seminary is back in swing.  It stresses me out just thinking about the lack of sleep Aly is getting and how she's going to fit everything in.  She's a trooper about it though.  Love her determination and hard work.    

This is Lise's water bottle, where she carries her sticker collection.

  Last year Lise had her first 21 outfits picked out for school.  This year she decided she was not going to have cereal for breakfast every day and made a mini "breakfast recipe book" with note cards.  So she's been making muffins, breakfast sandwiches (w/English Muffins and sausage), waffle batter, eggs, and granola with fruit and yogurt.  Love to watch her creativity in action.  

We had to do a little swapping around, but Lise finally got the electives she wanted - Computer Web Design and STEM (Science. Technology. Engineering. Math.  You had to qualify with test scores to take this class.) She is also in Algebra 1, Language Arts, Physical Science, and US History.  Lise is happy to have a friend in each of her classes this year, which also comes in handy if you forget to bring home your notes. ;p  She has started a new dance class this year (Leaps and Turns), and is continuing on with Drama Kids. 

Lise made me walk to the bus stop with her on the first day of school.  (She actually wanted me to drive her there!!)  The bus driver was laughing at me for taking pictures for 8th grade but I was like, "If she's making me come to the bus stop then we're taking pictures!"

Kate and Kylie looking spiffy with their new shoes and backpacks.  I wonder how long it will be before either of them get holes. ;)

Big 5th and 2nd graders, even though they're both about the shortest in their grade!

Feeling pretty good about Kate's teacher situation.  (Forgot to get pictures at "meet the teacher."  I'm just forgetting to take pictures all over the place!) They are trying to get the kids ready for middle school by switching teachers for different subjects.  So Kate has Kissel/Pendleton, and has friends in both her homeroom and her "2nd Period".  So far, so good.  Kate is also doing the Girl's book club again this year and is fully immersed back in karate and doing well in weapons training (Bow Staff skills!!!)

 Super happy with Kylie's teacher situation as well.  She has Mrs. Leighton, who just happened to be Lise's 2nd grade teacher as well.  (Definitely seeing a pattern here.)  Most of Kylie's class ended up with a different teacher, but she still gets to see her friends at recess and is making new ones in class.  Plus, I think Mrs. Leighton is just what Kylie needs this year - sweet, loves hugs, and Kylie is already feeling more confident in her math and spelling skills.  Looking forward to a great year!!

As for me, I will be mentoring again at the elementary this year, volunteering in the Plew Library on Fridays, assisting as a reading helper in Kylie's classroom, helping with science projects in Kate's classroom, working in young women's, and organizing lunch bunch.  Hopefully that will be enough to keep me busy.  I am also testing out online grocery shopping just to see if it will save me any time, because I would so much rather be busy other places than the grocery store! ;p  

So, the other piece of big news - the Eclipse.  I did not realize this was big news until our school district all but cancelled school for the day -  quote "It will be an excused absence with a note from you" - just because they were worried about some kid looking up at the sun [and their parents suing the school].  I let the kids decide whether they needed to go to school or not.  Aly and Lise decided to stay home because their teachers weren't going to do anything, but Kate and Kylie decided to go.  And here's how the day went down:

Since I had just the two teenagers, we decided to go shopping at the Outlets!  We stopped in the Adidas store, where Aly fell in love with everything and we bought her a couple birthday presents.  We bought a couple cups of pretzel bites with some Mango Lemonade (delish!), ended up each getting a shirt at Aeropostale with the buy one, get 2 free deal, and Aly found this awesome baseball cap.  As we were walking around, the eclipse started happening and it was like looking through sunglasses - without them - or like there was a fire going on somewhere nearby.  It also didn't feel very hot outside, which was super nice.   We ended up with 93% coverage.  The other amazing thing is that while all of this was happening, there were a bunch of people in the parking lot with eclipse glasses and they let us borrow them for a couple minutes.  It was so cool to look up at it (and not have our eyeballs burned out!)  It turned out pretty great because I think it was actually cloudy over in Niceville, but where we were in Destin was sunny!  It was a super fun day out with my girls and I'm so glad we went.

A picture through the eclipse glasses

When we got home I made the girls watch "Ladyhawke" with me, just because it has an eclipse in it - hahaha! It looked a little different in real life. ;) So yeah, we really celebrated in style!  

When Kate and Kylie got home, it sounded like they had a fabulous day as well.  Kate only had 6 kids in her class and Kylie had 11 in hers.  Kate got to watch the total eclipse live online on nasa.com from multiple locations around the country while sitting on a yoga ball.  Fabulous.  Kylie also got to watch the eclipse online, make an eclipse packet, and had a Moon pie and Capri Sun snack.  Super fun!  It was a great day for everyone and a fun break from school, even though we are only 2 weeks in.

Chris told me the boat on the beach was abandoned by refugees

Meanwhile, while all this was going on, Chris was down in Puerto Rico with his guys doing some training.  We missed him a ton (he even missed his birthday!), but he did get to do a few cool things, eat some scrumptious food, and saw some of the eclipse as well.  Chris got to go snorkeling one evening and saw an amazing sunset.  At the end of the trip he was also able to visit the famous El Moro fort in San Juan.  It looked pretty amazing.  

We're keepin' it real people!

Back to School Prep - a.k.a. The Death of Summer (August 2017)

So, we came back into town with 2 1/2 weeks until the first day of school.  So it was back to real life.  Time to get back on a schedule, start XC 6 am practice, start waking up semi-early (If you can call dragging your kids out of bed at 8:30 early!), and take kids to dentist/doctor's appointments.  Time to start being a responsible adult again.  Oh man!

We did manage to squeeze in a few lasts hurrahs of summer before heading back to school, however.  As my Dad was out staying with us for a few days, he took the kiddos to see Cars 3, we hooked up with friends at the Splashpad for one last playgroup, and made it to Bippy's for some Froyo.  Aly meanwhile was off babysitting and pulling weeds to earn money and  hooked up with friends to soak in some rays at the beach.  We also had a a couple of birthdays to celebrate.

Look at the cake my Dad got me for my bday.  Thanks Dad!

My birthday was the Saturday after we got home - last year in my 30's!!  So, since I'm such a nice mom, I gave a bday present to everybody else - no chores on Mom's bday, YAY!  Actually, it was a present to me so that I didn't have to listen to anyone complain about doing chores on my bday. ;p  Chris and I went on a date that night too.  It was a super nice, relaxing bday with the ones I love.  Perfect.

Next up we had Kylie's birthday - turning 7!!  I can't believe my youngest is 7.  Anywho, we were supposed to have her party at the splashpad, but since it was pouring rain all day, a movie with popcorn it was!  Kylie loved having all her friends over.  She said, "I got everything I wanted for my birthday!"  She just loves people.

Also during this time, Lise's creative juices went on overload as she inspired Kate and Kylie with the desire to remodel their room with Lise as their personal decorator.  She created a mobile out of hangers, a reading nook, homework area with a desk, and a window seat.  It turned out lovely.

Oh, and speaking of Lise, when we got back she got to enter the wonderful world of braces.  She had actually been asking for them for about a year and was the most excited I've seen of anyone to get braces.  She's been a trooper with the pain too.  

We stuffed backpacks for the Children's Advocacy Center for Young Women's.  Love those girls!

We did have a few things to do to get ready for school: new backpacks and shoes to buy, a list of school supplies to purchase, orientations to go to, lockers to open, and teachers to meet.  It was exciting and sad at the same time.

Lise had this locker planned from ideas on pinterest for weeks.  She chose blue to match the yellow lockers with quotes about the ocean: "We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the Sails" - Thomas S. Monson, "Salt, Sand, Sea", and "Still Growing."  Cute, cute, cute.

Aly went to her orientation with friends - so no pics.  My baby's growing up. *sniff, sniff*

It's time for school to start, ready or not!!

2017 Summer Road Trip Part 6 - The Road Warriors Head Home

Well, as all good things must come to an end, the time had come for us to begin our 30 hour trek back east.   So, Monday morning at 5 am loaded up the car and away we went. (And a big shout out to my Dad who was willing to drive back with us!!) Gotta love those 13 hour + driving days.  And I don't know what it is about being stuck in a car together, but there's something about road trips that make us a little wacky and the quotes of the week just start flying.

Grandpa (trying to explain the continental divide to the kids) -  This is the continental divide.  All the water on the west side of the line goes to the Pacific Ocean and all the water on the East goes to the Atlantic Ocean.

Kate (looking out at the Wyoming Desert) - Well, where's all the water?

We stopped at Mickey-D's for breakfast where my Dad bought some cookies.

Grandpa - Does anybody want cookies?

Kate - No, we're too busy eating breakfast.

Also, do you remember how Lise thought a Baguette was a Maggot?  Well, in similar fashion, she wanted a Parfait for breakfast, but thought it was a Barf-ay.  Nice.  Why does all the food Lise likes sound so unappealing?

When we stopped for dinner, we started playing "Would You Rather?"  The question was, "Would you rather be smart or pretty."  Everybody chose smart except for Kylie.  Hmm.  We'll have to work on that.  Also, we had obviously been in the car too long because everybody's table manners were out the window.  Nobody passed the "if you were on a date test" except Kylie, amazingly.  Lise had her fingers in her newly-discovered-favorite, artichoke dip, Aly was stealing food from other people's plates, and Kate was not sitting but crouched on her chair, and kept falling over into my lap.   It was a circus.  Good thing we had the pool at the hotel awaiting us to get out all our energy.

On our next day of driving we were able to meet up with some of our Kentucky Friends who had moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  They were super nice to take us in for a night and it was so great to catch up with old friends.  (And a shout out to Jana for watching all the kiddos while my Dad and I got my tire fixed - it had a screw in it.  Thanks Jana!)  As hard as it is to keep moving in the military, I guess having friends all over the world comes in handy sometimes. ;)

Even though we had left Utah, Aly was still on the rampage to get a picture in front of as many temples as possible.  We stopped en route to take some shots with the St. Louis Temple. It was gorgeous!

Our 3rd day of driving took us to the all time favorite of my Sister-in-law Carolyn's house.  Love that Kylie and Rachel were able to share  the pair of pants that Rachel made for the pioneer trek.  Hahaha.  And the girls all ran over to the Nashville temple for some more pictures - artsy version this time.

By the 4th day we were on our home stretch to Florida - hooray!  I am so, so, so grateful for what good travelers my girls have become.  Kate and Kylie got these binoculars from their Wendy's happy meals and decided to use them as their "theater goggles" to watch the dvd player.  Love the ways they find to entertain themselves.

And when we got home, the best surprise was waiting for me.  Chris had bought me flowers to welcome me home!  He actually had to go out of town the day before and would return the day after we got back.  But he still left the house clean, dishes done, and laundry taken care of.  What a guy!  Love my stud!!!

So, yeah.  We were finally home.  5 weeks.  We had been gone 5 weeks people!  It was an awesome, crazy, fun adventure where we made a ton of great memories.  But there just comes a time when you need to head back home, sleep in your own bed, and get back into a routine.  Thank you summer adventures of 2017!  It's been a blast, but it's good to be home.

2017 Summer Road Trip Part 5 - Hanging with our Peep's

You would think that after all the crazy fun we'd been having we'd be ready to be done, right?  But no!  We still had a week and a half left to cram in as much fun as possible.

On the way back from Arizona Aly found out that she scored a 4 on her AP Human exam.  WAY TO GO ALY!  SUPER PROUD OF YOU CHICA! Of course we had to get Jamba Juices to celebrate.

We were also able to meet up with some good military friends of ours for breakfast.  So, so good to see them again and catch up.  Would love to be stationed with them again as well, but they are headed off to Italy next summer.  I guess crossing paths in Utah will have to do.

For another fun adventure, Aly arranged to run a triathlon with her Uncle Matt in Huntington, Utah, which happened to be super close to where her friend from Florida, Hannah, moved this summer.  She got to go down and see her and spend the night.  Hooray for hooking up with old friends!

This was Aly's first triathlon and she loved it.  Apparently she rocked the swimming and running but had a rough go with the bike because she couldn't figure out how to shift gears.  She was a little upset that her uncle beat her by 2 minutes, but it just seems like there's something wrong when a 15 year old girl is comparing her time to a 33 year old man.  Just sayin'.  It was a great experience though and I'm glad she was able to do it.

Oh, and this great conversation happened when we decided to go see Despicable Me 3 while Aly was at the triathlon:

Aly - What?! You're going to a movie without me??

Me - Aly, you can't expect us to just sit on our butts because you're not here.

Kate - But we are going to be sitting on our butts  - at the movie theater.

Hahahaha

And, as the climax of Aly's reconnecting with old friends experience, she met up with her Kentucky friend, Sarah, for a week of EFY at the University of Utah. Super weird taking my daughter up there - I hadn't been back since I graduated in 2000.  I mean, Aly still has a few years until college, but seriously, how do I have a daughter old enough to be thinking about college?  But anywho, back to EFY . . . 

They had a perfect stash of junk food to get them through the week.

Aly and Sarah had a BLAST! In Aly's words, "It was the best week of my life."  Here's a few snapshots of the fun she was having.

Aly with the counselors in her company

Lots of craziness going on - just like Aly likes it

Aly got to hear John Bytheway speak four times - awesomeness.

The girls in Aly's & Sarah's company

Aly & Sarah's company - they really warmed up and became good friends by the end.  Success!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Lise, Kate, and Kylie went down to spend a few days with their O'Gwin cousins.  Good times!

Now that's one big snowcone!!

Aunt Sarah took the kids to a fun water park in the area and the kids had a blast.  She said they went down this slide like 10 times.

They also had a great time using their imaginations and made up a Cinderella play for the adults to watch.  Love it.

Since I ended up kidless for a couple of days, I was able to go do a couple of things I wanted to do just for me.  First of all, I started the process of downloading pictures and putting them into the blog.  I was also able to go to lunch with my cousin Jenny.  So good to catch up with her.  We were at the restaurant for like 5 hours!  Forgot to get a picture though, dang-it. 

The Playhouse my Grandpa Jackman built.  It had a kitchen, table and chairs on the bottom and a ladder up to the bedroom upstairs.  Seriously the coolest playhouse ever!

Another thing I was able to do was to go out to lunch and go to see my Grandma Jackman's house with my Dad.  She passed away about a month before I came out to visit and it was nice to go through the house and kind of relive some childhood memories.

The booster chair I had a potty accident in as a child. This story has been told to my children multiple times, thus the chair goes down in infamy! ;p 

Love how much my Grandma cared about family history and her family tree.

I was able to snag a couple of my favorite childhood toys I would play with at my Grandma's - the build your own train track set and original Fisher Price house.  Loved watching Kylie and Makai have a great time playing with them!

Oh, and I have to take a minute to mention a couple of Kylie's quotes of the week:

Listening to Kylie talking to Makai in the back seat of the car: 

Kylie - I'm so glad I have you Makai.  You brought laughter to my life.  I haven't laughed in years.

(Where does she come up with this stuff?!?)

Kylie - Laura, do you wish you had all boys?

Laura - No, I like my boys

Kylie - Well, having all girls can be a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of DRAMA.

(Look who's talking!!!)

Also while Aly was gone, Lise and Jaden took it upon themselves to make a video tour of Grandpa's house, pointing out all the childhood memories they had around the place.  It was a very long project and the video was too long to post here, but I know it's hilarious.

When we picked up Aly from EFY, she and Sarah weren't quite ready to say goodbye so we checked out the UofU campus for a bit, went to breakfast, and hit temple square.  Is this picture a foreshadowing of things to come?  Not sure, but it sure was fun (and a bit nostalgic) walking around campus a bit.  

Love the reflection pool - and that someone showed me how to use the panorama function on my phone!

Families are Forever - Yay!

Eventually we had to rip off the bandaid though and Aly and Sarah had to say goodbye. :(  Luckily, we didn't have too long to mope about it because we were headed straight up to Snowbird that afternoon.  We were only going to be there for 2 days, but it's amazing what you can squeeze into two days when you really try.  First stop?  The pool!

Love how much fun the cousins have together!

Next up, we hit the new and improved game room.  I was super impressed.  They got rid of all the video games and put in fun stuff like Foosball, air hockey, a pool table, ping pong, and a cool mini version of shuffleboard.  So much more fun and interactive. 

Um yeah, we pretty much dominated that place for an hour or so.

Of course, there was a movie at bedtime.  Here is an aerial view of everyone camped out on the couches.

We went to visit old huts . . .

. . . and the playground . . .

. . . and finally the Snowbird Center.  Love watching these crazies having fun.

I spy the red Tram!  Sweet!

And last but not least, we took Kate and Kylie out to feed the squirrels and potguts (aka ground squirrels).  Kylie was ecstatic when we saw a squirrel come eat some of our bread.  Kylie said, very profoundly, "I think my Spirit Animal is a Squirrel."

Love hanging out up in the mountains!!