A few photos to document the boy's week.....our freezer is now full of 100lbs of fish...salmon, halibut, and rockfish. Highlights were of course fishing, whale watching, playing at the beach, raspberries everywhere, reindeer hotdogs, and a firepit with cousins. They enjoyed the week, which ended on Friday with a flood hot water heater and no hot water (luckily it was the last day). Now back to school.....
The boys left for an Alaskan fishing trip while the girls stayed home. We did spa night last night and got our nails done and watched Pitch Perfect. We plan to have a really fun week. We made Shahi Paneer, went out for breakfast, (put up 4 hours of flags for our boys...they put up flags on the holidays to save for their missions), went out for Thai, went to soccer games, did a lot of cute hairstyles.
With the boys gone I did not clean the floor (which I normally do every day), and I only did 2 loads of laundry a week....which I normally do 2 every day. My school really ramped up this week, so it was a good week for me to have a break from the routine. (partial break)
I watched a lot of you tube late into the night. I kinda became addicted to Hoof GP...this show about a guy who trims cows feet in Scotland. So Odd, I know....but it reminds me of the Cotswalds and making me nostalgic for my childhood and watching the ferrier trim all of our horses feet. I definitely can't sleep without Gary next to me. I think without him I would become some sort of weird cat lady.....
Soccer for 5 is starting. Last night was the first practice for Lily.... add that to piano lessons, cello lessons, robotics club, tennis, and gymnastics. I am very careful what I put my children in, because I want dinner together as a family. But just have so many children has made our lives and afternoons very busy. I do want them anxiously engaged. Lily has decided to to continue teaching her summer piano lessons, so our house is full of piano students in the afternoons and it is good for her to save some money for college.
It is interesting though because when they all left for school last week, the emotion that I felt was Loneliness just with 1 potty training toddler who likes to play on her own. I have been finding things to fill my morning with (not too much because my afternoon is chaos), but I took an nice woman with one leg to the doctor today, and reached out to some friends for playdates for Charli, and cleaned my house, my swimming in the morning with Charli a priority. School starts for me in a couple days too.
My 40th birthday is just a few weeks away, I have been reflecting a lot on what I have accomplished in the last 40 years and IF I have accomplished what I wanted to. I have been really thinking about areas I feel great and areas I want to improve. It sounds silly, but I feel like 40 is the gateway to the rest of my life, what do I want to do or rather who do I want to become?
We had another great boating Saturday. And a great date for Waygu burgers after that at Burgerfi. It is pretty delicious.
10th, 8th, 6th, 4th, and 1st grade.... and Charli still home with me. I am so grateful for school and the chance my kids have to learn. The proudest moment I had this week was when Ben chose to advocate for himself to be in a higher math class. I was really proud of him, because my efforts to move him had failed.
Rachel had a few pre-school jitters, and Ben woke up at 3 in the morning, but all-in-all school was great.
I got formally excepted to graduate school this week. I have been praying all weekend if this would be an okay choice for my family. I really love a lot of things, but they aren't so conducive to my parenting schedule. I need to be there for my kids and I want to get more education, but I need those things to work out. I would have loved medicine, dental school, nursing, but I don't see the timing as working well with a family. I am hoping to teach community college, or maybe virtual high school for a bit, we will see. I just wished I had furthered my education when I was a little less restricted by children those first few years of marriage, and I was sooooo lonely. So far I feel good about what I have chosen, and I hope to find a niche.
This weekend we got to take the boat out with Lily's friends. I love Canyon lake, it is one of my favorites.
Great first week of school! Here is to a great year! Our back- to- school (Japanese Olmpyic inspired dinner and theme: No Weak Links
This week has been so calm. With Gary Jr. and Lily visiting the sacred grove, Niagara Falls, and the Eastern US with grandparents, life is pretty calm around here. We have gone boating a few times and done crafts, went to the river with friends, but really not much . Grant got his cast off and got put in a brace, which is great progress too. Overall, a calm nice week.
I also found out the teacher's graduate program I have been pursuing is moving online, which is a real possibility for me. I, however, contacted the department chair of MCC and although MEd + 18 credit hours is listed as a requirement in the job description, he said only 1 of 40 in his faculty have gone that route. I don't know what to do. I would love nursing, PA, medicine, teaching, seminary, I just don't know what to do.
What I want is something that allows me to be flexible and work from home and still use creative juices and my mind a bit. I don't know what direction to head, and it is frustrating beyond frustrating. I feel like my hands are tied a bit.
Our family reunion was amazing at Bear Lake....we had beach days, boat days, hike days, cave days (that didn't pan out), and lots of food, devotionals, and games with cousins. I had my fill of sister time and it was just amazing to be together with such a gorgeous backdrop. My favorite was probably kayaking in the freezing water and hauling little children out to the water trampoline we had rented for the day. It was such a great time. Gary and I had the bunk room, in which there was a bed for every kid, but Gary and I also had bunks (no snuggling). I had a little weight to lose now, but it was truly a wonderful week with my family.
We made our way down to temple square the on the way back and got to look around the conference center. We sent our two oldest for a week of church history tours on a plane home with grandparents this week (there flight was delayed and didn't get in until 3am).
