Scattered Thoughts

1.  A few days ago, Kate asked me why there were so many languages in the world.  Good question! - I know what FHE is going to be about this week.

We read the story of the Tower of Babel and talked about how we really get to heaven - by making good choices.  We then build our own tower (out of Duplos) and taped pieces of paper to each Duplo listing a good choice we can make.  The kids really enjoyed it and requested we leave it out for a few days.  Hope they learned something.

2.  I don't know how many times we have been to the Museum of Natural Curiosity without going to the children's gardens outside.  We've been to the gardens when they were just stand-alone, but not since they have been connected to the museum.  The kids really enjoyed the science playground - especially the zip line and Guard loved the fish pond.  We need to do that more!

3.  Some years ago, I found a craft kit to make your own bouncy balls.  At that second in space, I must have thought like it sounded fun and that I could be a fun mom and do it, so I bought it.  Yeah - it sat in my closet for years.  Because I'm not that fun.
Enoch finally found it.  After dusting it off, he asked if we could make some.  We had some extra time tonight, so we finally opened it up.
It was a bit of a process, but we all made one ball.  It took about 45 minutes.  And then, you have to keep track of your homemade ball and put it in a Ziploc bag so it won't dry out, harden and turn into a dangerous missile you can do damage with when you throw it to your sister.

 I'm thinking of throwing the rest of the box away.

Swimming Lessons

It's summer!  Time for swimming lessons!

My kids love being in the water, but being told what to do in the water - not so much.  They have a real love-hate relationship with swimming lessons.

Enoch did well in swimming - once he decided it was okay.  He is still trying to be comfortable with his head in the water.  He made great improvement and is doing great with his strokes.

 Kate had a great time taking swimming with Taylor and Brynne.   Her strokes are looking so good and she is probably my one who is most comfortable in the water.  She particularly enjoyed the water slide.

 Guard really enjoyed the water, until he had to go under.  We spent the first week just being okay with this.  He would tell Makiah, "Not today, no going under today," and then point back to the stairs.   By the end, he was a pro.  A cute story - Leah was scared of going under the water too.  After she went under one time, she started to cry.  She came back to sit on the step next to Guard.  He gave her a hug and told her it would be okay.  Sweet boy!

Another season of swimming lessons - it was great!

 

Pack Meeting at the Waterslides

 

 I'm not sure how long we have been having our July Pack Meeting at Classic Waterslides, but it has been years.  This year was our last.  Enoch will be graduating from Cub Scouts on his next birthday and we will also be in a different ward.  It was another bittersweet moment.  You have a lot of those when you know that things will be your last of something.  It comes with moving, so it was our decision, but it still tugs at your heartstrings.
We did have a wonderful time!  I didn't get a lot of pics of Enoch and Kate because they were off doing their thing on the big slides with their friends.  Guard was cute enough to keep me busy.  He's like a baby alligator, just floating under the surface in the little pool.  It was his favorite thing to do.

Everyone had a great time - sliding, being with friends, eating all the hot dogs, chips and soda they could.  It was a beautiful afternoon.  I'm glad that Cub Scouts do this...I probably wouldn't take my kids to the water slides without the extra push!

Guard's Selfies

Does my three-year-old really know how to take selfies?  Apparently so.  I don't know why I am so surprised, but for some reason, this just baffles me.
Guard's go-to entertainment at Costco is my phone.  Usually I find pictures of the aisles, products and a bunch of pictures of random people I don't know, but today I found Guard.

Canyon with the Randalls

 

 We spent a lovely day in American Fork Canyon with the Randall family.  My kids absolutely being in the woods and this was a perfect day for them.
They threw rocks in the river,

explored and found treasures,

and went for walks around the campground.

 It was a full day, full of fun and family.

We're Moving!

I write that blog title with a mixture of excitement, stress and sadness.

For a few years, I have been frustrated with the layout of our house.  When we built it 17 years ago, it was never meant to be 'the' house.  We were planning on staying for five years max and then move on.  It was never meant to house six people - an active family who enjoyed being together.  Our house has the space for that many people, but the layout wasn't working.  Our entire family couldn't fit into one room comfortably. 
But, 17 years later, we are still here.  We love our neighbors, we like our ward, we are lazy and didn't want to move and, Greg and I really aren't creatures of change.  So, we just dealt with the house.  Don't get me wrong - this house has been so good to us.  We love it!  We have made improvements over the years, we have the yard the way we want, we finished the basement.  We were making it work.  But - the last few months, we started to feel antsy.
It all began very innocently - we started talking.  Wouldn't it be nice if....  And then we realized how close we would be to the new high school - too close for Greg.  We can see the stadium lights from our backyard.  And then we found out the land behind our house was sold and houses would be going in.  We had no idea what kind of houses or neighborhood and that made us slightly nervous.
So, we started looking at houses.  We really didn't want to build.  We looked at houses in our neighborhood.  We looked at houses in our ward.  We looked at houses up on the bench.  Each week our circle of interest grew wider because we couldn't find what we were looking for.  We wanted to stay in the boundaries for the new high school, so we limited ourselves to that area.  No luck.
We started looking at land.  We found a lot that we loved, but by the time we decided to look into buying it, someone else had snatched it up.  It was a great, perfect lot.  I would drive by it even though I knew it wasn't ours.  I just felt drawn there.  It was very disappointing.  No luck there either.
Our last option was to remodel this house.  We weren't crazy about that option, but we felt like we had exhausted all other avenues.  We found a great contractor, had some plans drawn up and still didn't feel great about it.  Didn't feel bad, but not good either.  We still had the same concerns - close proximity to the high school and the unknown in the field behind us.  Plus, we would be putting $50,000 into a house that wouldn't go up in value because we didn't add the to square footage.  As our contractor told us, "I'll do my best to make you happy, but your not going to get what you want remodeling this house".
A few days after this conversation with our contractor, I was feeling very discouraged.  Maybe we just deal with our house and stop wanting more.  Why did I feel like I needed to keep pushing this?
One night, just before dinner, I got a call from Kristie Hampton, a wonderful woman in our ward.  The conversation went like this "So, Mark and I bought a lot a while back thinking we would build our dream house on it.  We have tried to make it work, but we just can't fit our house on the cul-de-sac lot.  We are listing it on KSL in the morning, but I had the feeling I should call you."  Call me??  Kristie and I are acquaintances, but not chat-every-day friends.  I was astonished she would think of me. 
We started talking about the lot.  Where is it?  Is it in Lehi?  How big is it?  The more we talked, I started to realize what was happening.  The lot she was offering us was the exact lot we wanted!  I was astounded - and immediately recognized God's hand in this.
We had 12 hours to decide if we wanted this lot.  Now that it was being handed to us, it was real, and we needed to decide if we were serious about this.  Greg and I stayed up until two in the morning talking and in the end, we decided to take it!
It's been crazy!  We never thought about building another house.  We've had to get our finances in order, the kids are changing schools to Sego Lily Elementary (Gavin is staying at Lehi High), we will staying goodbye to neighbors we have had for almost two decades.  As overwhelmed as it is, we know we are doing the right thing.  It has felt right from the beginning - even before we owned this land.  I know we are suppose to be there right now.  There has not been many times in my life that I have felt something so clearly and strongly from the Spirit.  And I am thankful for that.  It makes the move a bit easier.
I will post pictures of our awesome lot soon and keep a history of our new home being built.  Wish us luck!

Guard's Small Birthday Party

 

We kept things really low key for birthdays this year.  I'm not quite crazy enough to do a birthday party with three-year-olds, but I still wanted to make Guard's day special.  I gave him a few options and he chose a morning at the farm with his friend, Leah.
Guard and Leah rode the ponys,

fed the goats,

rode the wagon, saw all the animals and ate orange cupcakes.

Guard and Leah had such a great time!  It was a very fun morning!  After the farm, we took the kids to lunch at the Deli.  Guard was very happy with his small birthday party.