Parseltongues

What started out as a family night on the way to the Church History Museum, turned into an evening holding reptiles after spending over an hour on I-15. We had a blast at Scales and Tails! What started out as apprehension morphed into curiosity  and bravery by the end. We were lucky enough to be the ONLY people there and that our tour guide knew everything there was to know about all things that slither. We held snakes, Blue tongued skinks (which was our personal favorite- think snake/newt/ferrett. His name was "Sausage" most fitting), touched a tarantula that was as soft as a cat, turtles, and a lizard.

I LOVE taking my kids to do new things. I LOVE having them in a position that is maybe a little uncomfortable but then, when it's over they are begging to do it again. I LOVE having a day every week where we know we are doing something together. I know as they get older extracurricular activities, jobs, dates or the likes will take them away on Mondays but for now, we are soaking it up.

The first "touching"- not so sure but she did it!

When the guy told K to "hold it like a sandwich" he was all in.

This is Peaches. I wasn't sure I could handle holding a 30 LB snake but I channeled my inner Britney and made it happen. SO GLAD I DID! So cool.

You're gonna hear me R O A R

Back to school 2017! There were a few days this summer that I was pretty sure we weren't going to make it. Moving, unpacking, working, entertaining kids, cleaning, working, sleeping, summer classes, swimming, crafting, Popsicle-ing. 

I was grateful we moved in when we did. The kids had time to make friends and have a few familiar faces when they went back.

Our back to school dinner was at our kitchen table from Texas Roadhouse, in a new house, heading to a new school with a new theme. I thought that a Lion was a great metaphor for my kids, the brand new kids at a new school. Lions are strong and brave. We talked about this scripture bringing comfort too that "God shall stand by thee forever and ever" even if they feel alone. 


D & C 122:4

4 And although their influence shall cast thee into trouble, and into bars and walls, thou shalt be had in honor; and but for a small moment and thy voice shall be more terrible in the midst of thine enemies than the fierce lion, because of thy righteousness; and thy God shall stand by thee forever and ever.

The first day of school was great. Mc has Mrs Birch- the new 3rd grade teacher that has been teaching for 15 years. She has a weird speech impediment/accent that I can't quite place but Mc seems to like her. She is very organized and her room is very put together. She has one friend she has played with from down the street in her class and made friends with girls at recess.She will be doing choir this year and I am pretty sure she will love it.Pusheen backpack, pink chucks and darling as ever.

Kingston has Mrs Greenwood. I was worried because he didn't have lunch until 1:00 PM and I was pretty sure he was going to starve. Thankfully, his teacher is pre-diabetic so she needs a snack, therefore the kids get one too. He has easily made friends and a few of his classmates are on his soccer team. He is doing REALLY well with soccer. Much better than when he was 4 and he would whine that his feet hurt and all he wanted was a snack. He knows how to hustle and there are quite a few kids from our ward.

I love that the kids can ride their bikes with ALL the other kids to school. I love that they have different opportunities and that there are lots of kids just like them. I know they are going to thrive. 

91% Eclipse of the Heart

 

The Eclipse of 2017 did not disappoint! There was mass hysteria prior to the event because so many people wanted eclipse glasses and they were no where to be found. Some people were smart and bought them in advance only to later find that they weren't approved for direct sun staring. Lots of people were heading to Idaho and Wyoming for "totality" where there was 2 min 30 seconds of blackness. I waited in line the week prior and paid $6 for two pair (figured we would share) and we planned on heading to the viewing party at the library. While we waited, already had purchased glasses, hoards of people waited for free ones. Well, 10 min before the eclipse started they walked around with HANDFULS of glasses and handed them out for F R E E (of course). Oh well. That meant we all got our own.

It was super awesome to watch the moon move in front of the sun! Our shadows got all fuzzy and it was actually quite surprising to feel the temperature drop as the sun was blocked (even at 91%).  I guess there will be another eclipse in 2045- I'll be knocking on 60's door so it only made sense to take the kids now to see something that doesn't happen every day.

The Hulk Smashes Pre-K

 

And just like that, all three of my kids will be in school! When I found out Enzo would be starting August 8th, my heart sank a little. I was ready for him to start at the end of the month with the other two kids. His orientation with Miss Amy was awesome! He found a garbage truck and some "diggers" in the sandbox so, his ramp up period was 1.5 seconds. Ironic story- there was a cute girl there and her and I chatted about how our sister in law recommended this place and she took all her kids here- coincidentally, we were both talking about the SAME sister in law (Rachel Ball). 

Enzo picked his Super hero shirt to wear on on the first day. He barely made it to being potty trained three weeks before school started (yeah!) and he was SO excited to go. Armed with a blessing from Daddy for his first day and a darling bag embroidered with his name, he was ready. While he was in school I took the older to to see $5 Tuesday movie- Emoji Movie- that ended with just enough time to go and pick him up.

Enzo and Miss Amy.

I also volunteered to be the August mom and was tasked with making 12 Troll headbands. The theme this year is the movie "Trolls". Miss Amy sent this picture- 1) I was happy that the headbands stook up straight (except boy in the bottom right corner, can't win them all). 2) That Enzo actually wore one because you can see boy top left refused. 3) Enzo NOT smiling and playing with his stomach. Awesome.

We are super excited to watch him grow and develop this year. I think he is going to really excel and do well here. I got a little misty on the first day- he didn't even seem to care that I was leaving and he seemed so tiny but he was SO excited to be there I couldn't be too sad to watch another Last of the Firsts slip away.

St Geezy 2017

A little trip down to St George with G & Chris is ALWAYS a welcomed summer activity!

We went down for a long 24th of July weekend and had a blast (like always). The lake day was awesome! It was super hot but the water is SO nice and cool (85 degrees) and the kids have a blast swimming, tubing, jumping on and off the boat and just being in the sunshine. We had sandwiches on the boat and spent most of the day on the lake.

Boating kids.

Thumbs up

Grandma Chris and Enzo- this was excellent progress :)

Me and Mc on the tube.

Mr Williamson swears he reapplied sunscreen but, from the looks of it, his leg hair didn't do much for sun protection.

We rented a movie, played games, saw G & Chris's new house in Hurricane, went to dinner, built Legos and of course hit the Ace Hardware store.

On the way out of town we decided to stop at the Wildlife Museum (or as some call it the "Dead Zoo" because it is so full of taxidermied animals). We thoroughly enjoyed it! The kids loved looking at all the animals and the stories behind the animals were pretty cool too. There were deer with fangs, the worlds largest and best Big Horned Sheep specimens and lots of animals I've never even heard of or seen in my life. A fun little stop and always nice to find new things to do when we are down there.

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Deer with fangs.

This is the fastest animal in THE world (faster than Cheetahs and the likes). It's nose is adapted to help it process cold air (heat it) so it can breathe quickly.

On the way home, we stopped at a cookie dough shop in Orem that sells raw cookie dough by the scoop (pasteurized and safe of course). It was delish but 3 scoops was about all I could handle.

With not too many vacations planned for this year (as we just bought a house), it was nice to pad a few days of summer with a mini getaway. I love the sun, love spending time with my kids and on that note, we can really start pushing to go back to school!

'Merica

The 4th of July Williamsons

We love us some 4th of July! It was fun this year to share fireworks with our new neighborhood and have SO many people huddled around the $500 worth of fireworks that Tyler bought. I love being able to fit everyone in my house too!

I am so thankful to live in this country. Thankful for all those that went before to ensure that I can worship how I want and that my kids can grow up in a place that has no limits to their potential. I love sitting back in my lawn chair watching fireworks, listening to Ray Charles on the Bose speaker sing, "America" (Sandlot style) and letting my kids stay up until almost 11:00 PM running with sparklers and laying in the grass. It just feels like summer.

Baby Noah & Britty

sometimes being married is scary

 

Since our wedding anniversary this year seemed to get lost amidst all the boxes and craziness of moving, Mark took it upon himself to schedule a weekend getaway for us in July. I think it was perfect timing and I most appreciate his stealthy planning and covert operations to make it a fun weekend. Mary Ann was an angel and watched the kiddies for us. Mark booked us a night at the Anniversary Inn- the Kahn Mansion room was nice but we had to laugh because we spent about 10 minutes looking for the thermostat, called the front desk (he asked if our room was too cold- um it was 108 outside) and ended up sleeping with a box fan. Not too far off from our first apartment. 

Dinner at Benihana- we were the first people in the restaurant but it was rather delish. We had some time to kill before our Ghost Tour so we wandered Deseret Book and Temple Square. 

We booked a downtown Ghost Tour a few months ago and it was SO fun! Just nice to do something different. We saw a few creepy buildings where people had experienced tragedy, the Salt Lake Municipal cemetery where some people believe the real Butch Cassidy is buried, the Federal Building and the Rio Grande. We were on our way to our last stop, Hatch Family chocolates (the best chocolate dipped cinnamon bear of my life) when the truck broke down! It was already struggling, the A/C was barely working...awesome! Makes for good stories.

EMF tester. Felt very Ghostbuster-ish.

We had dessert at our favorite- Gourmandise and then went to see Spider Man. While in the parking lot, we saw a daunting yellow envelope which means we got a parking ticket at Gourmandise! DANG! We have parked there a million times and never had an issue but ended up with a $35 ticket (called and disputed and ended up paying $5).

first glance- getting a ticket at 9:20 didn't fit into the Mon-Fri 9-6 PM. L A M E.

Saturday morning downtown means the Farmer's Market and mint limeades. One of my favorite things of the summer. So much awesome produce, local art, two of the hugest dogs I have ever seen, people watching and French pastry.

It is always nice to get away with Mark. We are still getting back to "normal" and it's wonderful to have him present and engaged. We laughed and talked until late in the morning. Weekend getaways are top of my list and I can't wait for the next one!