Sleepless in Saratoga

I'm sooooo glad we have dental insurance! We are taking Sam in for an emergency dentist trip since he woke up 4 times through the night complaining about his tooth and he woke up like this: There is nothing in his cheek either! But at least he smiled for the picture! Sad part is the boys were going to go on a "boys trip" to see the Long family in Idaho, for the reunion. When we told Sam that he'd have to skip the trip to go to the dentist he got pretty sad and said that he felt bad that he was going to disappoint his brothers. We are sad that it turned out this way, but at the same time glad that it has worked out for us to get it taken care of now, rather than having him suffer with it the over the weekend. Good thing Idaho isn't too far away so we can do a make up trip later.

I only cried a little

Ryan started kindergarten yesterday. I am having a hard time believing that my baby is in school. What happened to the years? And now that all the boys are in school, what am i going to do with myself? I have had a list going in my head and i thought i was excited for this day, yet i find myself wishing i still had some time with the boys here. Where is that pause button?

As some may or may not know, Ryan is a sensitive little soul. He definitely is the baby of our family. And as much as i try not to let him be spoiled the way all babies of the families are, we fall short from time to time (admitting the problem is a step to solving it right?). He is a mama's boy on top of that. Ethan and Sam didn't care where mom and dad where when it was time for nursery and school. They loved it and were excited to go. Ryan, on the other hand, has the equivalent of all three boys not wanting to be away from mom and dad. It has been a fight to get him to go to nursery/primary 80% of the time and even going to preschool at grandma's wasn't easy at first. I know it's only a matter of time for him to get adjusted, but it sure pulls at my heart stings to see him sad. Yesterday his first day, he only shed a few tears, as did I. Lucky for me someone had mentioned that they wore their sunglasses just so their kids wouldn't see them cry. He didn't see me cry. Blake did and he laughed at me. When we went into the school to make the changes the principle was the one that helped us. She walked down the hall with us and showed Ryan his new class room, and where his cubby would be' and where the drinking fountain is, and where a cute little window that is low enough for the kindergartners to see out. He sure liked Mrs. Holbrook. Later when i talked with the office to make sure i didn't need to fill out any other papers, Mrs. Holbrook with there. She said that when the kindergartners were taking a tour through the office Ryan waved to her and she waved back. She had told him that she would be riding the bus home with him that day to make sure all the kids knew the rules (since it's a bus of kindergartners). Ryan got off the bus with a big ol' smile on his face. Later when i was asking him what his favorite part was he said it was the bus. But he did say he liked kindergarten OK too. (Mrs Holbrook is the lady in the dress in the back ground by the bus).

Yesterday, since we were changing the boys to the early schedule, we took them into the school. So this morning was Ryan's first time riding the bus to school with Ethan and Sam. He was excited all morning, and didn't seem to be reluctant at all. I was feeling optimistic that making the change for the boys to all go on the early schedule, so they could go together, was the exact thing that would help Ryan. That was until he was about to set foot on that bus. He was running up to get on the bus behind Ethan and Sam, and then it hit him that i wasn't getting on the bus with him. He turned around and instantly started to cry. I went up to him and gave him a hug and said "you gotta get going, Ethan's going to sit by you on the bus, and then you're going to be with your class." And i tried to push him towards the bus. He wasn't too keen on that. Ethan realized that Ryan wasn't behind him, and came back out to help Ryan. I walked up the stairs with him, and then said good bye, gave him a kiss, and got off. As i came home i was praying that Ryan was OK and that he would settle in. I got a single ring from the school on my phone, but no one was there, about 5 minutes after i dropped the boys off at the stop. Ethan was trying to call me since Ryan cried to whole bus ride to the school telling the bus to turn around. Ethan was trying to be a good big brother. He went into the office and started to call me but the secretary said, no don't call you mom she will just worry, and she said she would help Ryan and he would be fine. They all walked to where the kindergartners were getting ready to go in. The secretary told Ethan he could go to his class. Ethan started to walk away reluctantly, and Ryan started to cry for Ethan. Ethan went running back, but the secretary told Ethan Ryan would be OK and that he needed to go to his class. I was worried when the secretary told me all of this, that Ethan would be pretty upset and worried about Ryan. I was glad that he was so concerned about Ryan (proud moment). When i picked Ethan up from the bus stop after school he told me all about the morning. I was able to tell him that Ryan did OK. He stopped crying, and did have a good day after that. Ryan will no doubt know how many people love him and care about him over time. I am just hoping that Monday will be a better day!

snake you, snake you, snake you very much!

This last weekend we were up in Idaho for grandpa Murdock's funeral. As we pulled into the drive way Saturday night i saw a snake! Even though we were in the car i lifted my leg and yelled snake! I told Blake to back up and look at it. Sure enough there it was, trying really hard to cross the driveway. It was a rattle snake, no doubt about it. You could see the rattle on the tail. Blake backed up far enough so he could use the light from the headlights. And got out of the car and headed for the garage to get the shovel. Yes crazy, i know. As soon as Blake was out of the car the boys yelled "lock the doors!" (I'm not sure how that was going to help or why they thought they should lock the doors--the snake wasn't going to come open the door in the first place.) So there we are the boys and i in the car watching Blake go after this snake with the shovel. Adrenaline pumping and all! The snake only coiled up once and Blake was able to get it once it was trying to slither away! As Blake was getting the rattle snake we saw a second snake on the front lawn! YEAH I know FREAKY! So i quickly pulled the car into the driveway and told the boys to go into the house and just stay inside. The boys ran into the house and watched from the front window, yelling from time to time. I ran upstairs to get our BB gun (yeah, hind site being what it is, that wasn't going to work). I got back outside as Blake tried to load the BB gun with the pellets (hands shaking like crazy) we decided the other snake was gone. It took off as soon as we saw it. So Blake finished taking care of removing the snake from the front yard and i got the boys in bed.
(this picture is totally zoomed in--you can kinda see an ant by the tail. I just wanted the picture of the tail.)
By the time Blake had come back in and said good night to the boys i think our adrenaline rush had finally subsided. My theory of the evening being too cool for the snakes to be out went out the window as we discussed the event. Because we hadn't really eaten dinner we had our usual bowl of cold cereal when we don't want to fix anything and it's late. And we cleaned up a little bit more from our trip and then as we were heading up the stairs Blake said he wished he would have been able to get that second snake instead now he was going to just worry about it being out there. As he was saying this i went to the front window and was looking around. And low and behold there on the drive way was the second snake. We had just finished discussing that running over the snake with the car would have been the easier/safer way to go about getting rid of it. So i went and got in the car and ran over the snake. As i backed up further to again use the headlights for lighting Blake got closer to see if i had gotten it good enough to kill it. And it was a bull snake (or gopher snake). We had read and heard that those are good snakes to have around cause they will kill the rattle snakes and here we are killing it. I know, kill first, ask questions later wasn't the smartest way to go about it, but when i see a snake after seeing a rattle snake there is too much adrenaline pumping to pause and check the snake out! The bull snake wasn't as big as the rattle snake and we have decided that the bull snake must have been after the rattle snake in the first place. So to the bull snake that is decaying in the dirt not to far from here, I am sorry.
(the second picture here is the bull snake)

Back to school.

They are back to school. They get to go to a brand new school, with new teachers, new friends, and on a bus too. They were pretty excited to go. We made it to the bus stop about 15 minutes before the bus was even supposed to get there. Because they are going to a brand new school, and they were barely finishing it in time for school to start they only got to see a map of the school so they could find their class. About mid day i got a call from the school. My mind was racing as to what they could have done on the first day to get a call to home about. As it turns out they didn't have record of the boys in class that day and they were wondering if they were going to still go to the new school. I said i put them on the bus and i thought they were there and the secretary said oh, well let me do some double checking and I'll call you if they are not here. I got a call 5 minutes later saying they were there all safe and sound. WHEW! I am glad they were. Honestly if it were any other school on any other day i probably would have panicked, but the school is still getting all their stuff organized and I'm sure there are going to be a few things that are being learned and figured as they go. It is their first day too. As the day went Ryan (who starts kindergarten on Thursday this week) kept asking me: "when are the boys going to get home", "is school over yet", and he even once said "i want to go to school too." Ryan was so glad when it was time to go to the bus stop to pick up the boys. They got off the bus with smiles on their faces and were excited to go back the next day. I am sad to see them go to school but also happy to get back into a solid routine again. On Thursday when i take Ryan i will totally cry i know it. But i am also so excited for the fun they are getting to have as they are starting this new adventure.(at the bus stop)

Catch it, if you can!

This last Tuesday evening the boys decided they wanted to go out side and play catch with their new nerf football (the kind that whistles). The boys way of playing catch is i guess the way all boys typically start out playing catch. It's more of a throw chase wrestle thing. I guess that's the beginnings of football more than catch. But they call it catch so i don't get mad at them for tackling each other. So out they headed and sure enough before long someone was mad or crying and upset so i told Blake will you please go out and show them how to play catch the right way! You know you stand there and I'll throw it to you and then you throw it to him and the he will throw it to me. That kind of catch, then everyone is happy for a little bit. I know I'm a mean mom. So Blake went out there (and almost stepped on the frog, see previous post) and started to help them out. As it turns out, they all needed some real help in learning how to play catch with a football. It was quite amusing to watch them play catch. I guess it's not a built in thing. After some time that night the boys were getting better already. We don't have any future Heisman's here but they can play catch now. At one point in time while Blake was talking with Sam about how to catch and throw the football i looked over to see Ryan doing push ups on the sidewalk.
Then he started doing one armed push ups. Ethan started to try and do it and said "it's to hard, Ryan is pretty tough." We did point out to Ethan that Ryan didn't have as much to push up so not to feel too bad. Ryan thought he was something else, and thought it was fun to do them. With a little more training and some major growing Ryan will be ready for football for sure!

Frog and/or Toad?

I am no biologist. I do not know the differences between frogs and toads. And i certainly can't remember which ones you're not supposed to touch. Back about 3 weeks ago Blake and i were shutting down the house for the night and as we were heading up our stair inside the house we looked out the window in our front door and saw a big spot, blobish thing on our sidewalk just out the front door. So we went out to see what it was. It was a toady/frog thingy (see note above). I thought hmm, that's weird there is no water up here for this guy. Blake mentioned at that point that there was some kind of dessert toad/frog that he remembered catching as a kid on camp outs and such. We figured he was somewhat random to be up here on our sidewalk either way. But figured he couldn't do any harm--in fact he'd catch more bugs for us so we were fine with his choice of sidewalks. Still we figured it was a random chance that he was here, and took some pictures so we could show the boys in the morning. Well this last week as Blake was heading out to play some much needed catch with the boys (check back for next post), he went out the front door and about stepped on our little friend. Whew, that he didn't really squish him. That would have been totally disgusting!!! This time the boys got to see him and loved that there is a frog/toad around our house. In our flower beds by the front of the house we noticed a little while ago that there was a hole. We had figured that it could be just some settling of the dirt or worst case a mouse hole or vole hole. Blake even put some decon by the hole, and figured he would flood it the next day. As it turns out it's toady's house/hole. I am so much happier knowing it is a hole for him. Who needs gnomes when you've got frogs? And really anyone who knows what kind of thing it is feel free to let me know.

Until then we call him Toady and if you see him on the sidewalk, please don't step on him. Thanks.

Lucky 13!

Last weekend Blake and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. 13 years! It's crazy how the time has flown by and yet how i don't remember what life was like with out Blake. Since we met up at Aspen Grove we thought it only appropriate that we go spend some time up there. We took the boys on a picnic up there and just enjoyed being up in the mountains. It was a beautiful day, perfect for a picnic. The boys loved watching the chipmunks and pot guts eat the leftover crackers and nuts we took up with us. I am pretty sure the sweet chili Doritos chips they kept feeding to the ground squirrels gave those poor ground squirrels heart burn that night.

After that we headed back down to Orem where Granma and papa Young have said that there is a sanding invitation each year for our anniversary to keep the boys over night! (Have I mentioned lately how much i love my in-laws.) We dropped the boys off there and went and ran some errands. We went to dinner at our favorite place the Happy Sumo (we had some gift certificates from Hailey and Kendrick, for when Blake did their taxes--thanks guys). After Happy Sumo we stopped at the store to get some groceries and went to the red box to rent a movie. We had been talking about how long it had been since we had been on an actual date. It was very nice to have the time just the two of us. I highly recommend dating, it's the best!

I can't begin to express how much i love Blake. He spoils me completely and is a great father, husband, and friend. Thanks Big Bear! I love you (more, most, infinity +1)! I am still completely, madly, and totally in love with you. Smitten.

Out of the moufs of babes.

The other day as we were driving in the car Sam and Ryan were talking in the back. As i was sitting listening to them Ryan said to Sam: "Sam I can see your brain in the back of your mouf (mouth)." I said "no Ryan that's Sam's Tonsils" Sam then proceeded to open his mouth wide so that Ryan could see his tonsils. Ryan then said "Sam your brain is HUGE!"

Never a dull moment!

Last week all the Youngs were in town. We had a number of gatherings of all kinds. Of course there were the fabulous meals, boating up at dear creek, the fun at Walsberg, the many visits, some feats of strength/contests, and to top it all off we got to be a part of Gracen's sealing to Jaimi and Jeff and then Keegan's baptism. Blake and I both commented to each other that the week fit right in with the craziness this summer has been. There were a few things we were not able to participate in and there just didn't seem to be enough time to visit like we'd hoped, but i guess that longing will help us get together in the future. But until next time we'll have the memories and pictures from this time.

Ryan went on the tube with Blake and the boys, but didn't like it much. Can you tell by the big ol frown on that little face? He likes the boat, but don't ask him to get on a tube again just yet.

Incidentally, on this tube ride Ethan went off as we rounded a corner so Blake decided he'd take Ryan off so they could stay near Ethan. Sam decided to just hold onto the tube even though the tube started to go underwater. Sam and the tube went under completely. Sam was holding onto the tube all the while for about 8-10 seconds before he decided he better let go. Chad was driving the boat and realized the tube was submerged so he slowed up for the tube to come back up. Sam popped up just about the same time. He was under long enough for me to say "where is Sam?" twice (I said them both very calmly, but i could feel myself getting more and more panicked as the seconds passed). He told me later he just figured he was going to drown. As we were talking about it i reminded him that it was a good thing he had his life jacket on. I think it solidified for Sam the importance of keeping his life jacket on. He still likes the water, still likes the boat, and even would go on the tube again, so I'm hoping that it wasn't too traumatic for him (me, I'll remember it always!).

Ethan getting ready to go down the zip line into the pond at Walsberg.

Ethan and Atticus after going down the slip and slide

Sam went down the zip line which is a shock to me since he has a fear of heights. when he landed into the pond he yelled to me to come and pick him up in the paddle boat that i was in with Ryan. but then he remembered he had his life jacket on and was much more calm. Ethan and Emma lived on the pond going back and forth in the canoes. They had a blast.

Sam running up to go on the slip and slide. He was getting cold though.
Ryan only went to the top of the slip and slide once but would go all on his own from about 3/4 the way up the hill.

the train of young brothers/boys going down the slip and slide, who says you have to grow up?

Blake and I both agree we are pretty lucky/blessed to have such great family on both sides that we enjoy being with when ever the opportunity arises.