As School Approaches

One of my favorite seasons of all is "back to school". I love the fresh school supplies, new shoes, crisp books, and routine. I miss going to school myself. I miss college. I loved school. I might even go back someday, maybe soon? Graduate program... That could be fun. Who knows? Right now I am excited for Kate to start first grade and be a big-time school girl. I am excited to have some time to myself to pursue whatever I want. A lot of moms are asking me what I'm planning to do with all my new-found free time. First off, I am not naive about the "all day" school thing. I know it goes by in a blink and that I really won't get as much done as I think. I usually tell those moms that I plan to do "a whole lot of nothing." And that is not entirely true. What I should say to other moms when they ask is straight from Napoleon Dynamite, "Whatever I feel like I wanna do, Gosh!"

But I do have a rough idea of what I might do with my time. But I don't want to set anything in stone. I just want to enjoy myself. I see myself exercising in the morning, working on art projects, finishing Kate's baby book, organizing family photos, working on a few blurb books, reading more classics (I'm LOVING Pearl S. Buck's trilogy House of Earth, by the way {LOVING is such an understatement}), organizing my office, painting the living room, painting the kitchen, painting every room in the house, cleaning out the garage, and volunteering a little at the school. I'm sure I will come up with more to do. Or maybe I will get all of that done in the first month and be bored. Who knows. But that is my plan. Maybe I will even get all benevolent and do some family history, indexing, or temple service.

In some ways I feel selfish about this time. The adoption idea comes up in my mind... "Julie, you have time now... you could pursue foster care or adoption." But I keep saying, I just want to inhale and exhale a little for a while. You know, catch a breather. Breath a lot. Relax, chill, breath some more. Some days I might put my feet up, watch movies, eat s'mores. And I really might do that. And I might do it just because I can. Of course I will make sure the house is in good shape before hand so the hubby doesn't come home and tell me I have to get a job or something. I will bake a little so he comes home to a warm, aromatic home and doesn't think my time is utterly wasted. But I plan to enjoy Kate in the first grade. Next year, I might get serious about something but I have plenty of time to be serious, next year.

P.S. These days, I am regularly thanking God that I have this unique family situation. It's kind of a treat. I don't want to say it out loud too much because I don't want all the other moms with all their "blessings" to get jealous but it really is pretty cool, just between you and me that is.

Park City

 We celebrated our anniversary in Park City. We stayed at the Marriot Mountain Resort and it was a relaxing two days.  I am still dreaming about the southwest breakfast burrito I had for breakfast that morning. We had a wonderful time, great food, and we even enjoyed the Arts Festival, free of charge. We got there early, before they blocked off the streets to eat an early dinner. We were able to enjoy all the booths and some lively street music. I appreciate my sister-in-law for watching Kate! That little girl had the time of her life playing and swimming with one of her same-age cousins. 

Here we are going up the lift to ride the alpine slide. I am grateful I had the insight to ride separately down the slide. I had a feeling he wanted to go fast and redeem himself from his last run on the slide when he got stuck behind some slow-pokes. When we got to the top, Scott asked the operator which of the four slides was the fastest. I made it down first because he waited in a longer line.

 He made it. As he got up, he casually told me that he had fallen off of the cart and slid with his body down the slide a short distance. I got a look at his injuries and the first and second layers of skin were ripped clean off and were rolled up all dead and nasty. The wounds were white and raw. I insisted that we get some first aid action immediately. He resisted as he traditionally does. We handed our carts to the operator and I mentioned the wound and he recommended we head to the EMT station.

Kyle was our EMT. He mummied Scott up real nice. We were all laughing and having fun but the sad part is, we were planning to squeeze in some more swimming after riding the slide and the rollar coaster but those plans were now dashed to pieces. We still sun bathed by the pool while reading books, Scott under the shade of a pool umbrella and I in the sun. We really had an incredibly, wonderful time.

Scott's wounds on his shoulder, elbow, and in three places on his leg were considerable and he is suffering more than he admits. I bandage him up twice a day with giant band aids and ace bandages. Today he remarked how impressed he is that I keep such large band aids in stock and where I go about finding such things. I let him know that these are the types of things I keep on hand being married to him because 'Scotty doesn't do small owies.'

12-Year Anniversary

Scott and I are celebrating our 12-year anniversary today! I keep reminiscing about our wedding, too.

The day started with three dozen roses (red, white, and the most exquisite color of purple I'd ever seen) delivered to my house. The card read: "Just a glimpse of the rest of our lives together." No doubt a line from the floral shop lady but it melted my heart all the same. I still think it's funny that I was the first one at the temple with my parents, waiting for Scott to show up. The way I remember it, he was even a little late. Funny because I was the one notoriously late to things. After getting the appropriate papers signed, we were ushered into the Celestial room to steal a few moments alone. How starry-eyed we must have been. After a few minutes, a matron quietly beckoned us to come to the marriage sealing room and as we stood up and took that first step from the loveseat, Scott accidentally stepped on the hem of my wedding dress and snapped out the bustle-button with an accompanying loud ripping noise in the ultra-quiet room. You can imagine the gasp that escaped my mouth. {I appreciate why temple presidencies now recommend women wear simple temple dresses for marriage sealing ceremonies.} We didn't know as we waited in the Celestial room that our Temple Sealer had been waiting in the Celestial room of the wrong temple and was desperately rushing along the freeway to make it in time to preform our sealing. He made it. We didn't even notice a delay. Time had stood still for us as we soaked in the moments. And I still tease Scott that even though I was the one notoriously emotional, crying at the Hallmark greeting card commercials, he was the one shedding tears at the altar. I remember feeling at complete peace. I'm sure he was crying because he was actually paying close attention to the ceremony when I was probably too busy trying to look pretty. Ahh, how young we were.

I could go on and on about that day. Maybe I will later. I will for sure continue to reminisce with Scott. But right now, it is time to celebrate. Scott has the day off and we still building the memories. 

June 15th Cabin Time

Since Scott's parents have mentioned that they might sell the cabin, Scott has spent every chance he can up there. We spent a weekend together in June. Then Scott took Kate up just for the day, two Saturdays in a row, while I finished up some home projects and some art I was trying to finish. He is home at the cabin. Kate is too.

  Kate and Scott on a 4-wheeler ride. They put on a lot of miles this time. Kate knows where the trails lead too. Scott would get far from the cabin and when it was time to head back, he would have her lead him to the cabin and she knew right where to go.

This was an intensely relaxing weekend for me being at the cabin with these two. I woke up and went for a hike, we had breakfast together, went for a ride, watched a movie, had lunch, went for a ride, watched another movie, went for another ride, had dinner... We had some serious fun.

June 16 Scott's Toy

 Scott loves to get toys for his birthday. He is so into play and is a kid at heart. This year we went to a cool hobby shop together and Scott picked out an RC Truck. He loves it. He plays with it all the time. When friends and family come over or when we go to our parents' houses for dinner, he brings it out and all the kids and men go play with it. Such a kick.

I still have not ventured to try it. I guess it just freaks me out. The thing goes so fast, I think it is too fast for my inept reflexes. I might try it. Usually when he plays with it I have to turn away because he runs it in the street and I just know some car is going to drive along and crush it. So far, so good. I'm just glad Scott enjoys it. Playing with the truck gives him a chance to unwind after work and that is worth it.

June 5th Gymnastics Show

From January through July Kate has taken gymnastics. She enjoyed it for a while but then started to wane in her excitement. I had to push her to go. Once she got there she was usually glad she went. She complained that her teachers were mean - I watched and felt like what she was seeing as mean was just rigid structure, discipline that is typical of any sport instruction. Some teachers were more playful but I think Kate just doesn't like the structured side of it. I insisted that she at least finish things out until the show and then she could quit. She was so embarrassed at the show.

 Here is Kate at Flip's where all the classes are warming up together in preparation for the show. Kate is in the middle just above the teacher's head.

 Kate gained a lot of skills in her short time at Flip's. The Bridge is one thing she couldn't do before she came.

 Kate was so embarrassed. She wouldn't let me take a picture. Here she shook her head and turned away from the camera.

I can see how embarrassed Kate is here too. Poor girl. She reminds me so much of me at that age, in ballet. I hated the recital part of it. I just wanted to dance and have fun. I think I thought my teachers were mean too. I loved when my ballet teacher gave us free dance time at the end of class with the ribbon-wand thing. I quit ballet after a short time. I've struggled to know what to do to help Kate overcome this fear of performing. Should I push her through and make her keep doing it? Should I just accept that she is just like me? Should I wait a while and give her another try? Hard to know. I pulled her out of gymnastics for now. I think we will try something new like Jazz dance or piano lessons once the school starts again.  

May 7th & 30th Zoo Field Trip and Graduation

I was a parent volunteer in Kate's kindergarten class all year. I volunteered every Monday and I was crazy-proud of myself for making it the whole year and never missing a day - I was accidentally brilliant for choosing Monday because a lot of the school holidays fall on Mondays so I didn't have to work quite as hard as some of the other parent volunteers.

 Here are some of Kate's class mates on the Rhino at Hogle Zoo. I was glad I went along with Kate and her class to the Zoo. I worried that it would be a crazy-stressful experience going to the zoo with a bunch of kindergarteners but it ended up being quite pleasant.

 Kate with some of her class at graduation.

 Kate with Deacon and Nautica doing the actions to one of their songs.

 Kate with Mrs. Juarez. We had a wonderful Kindergarten experience and I know that was in large part to the skills of Kate's teacher. She made school the perfect amount of fun and structure. Kate never had a day that she didn't want to go to school the whole year. She loved it.

 Kate with Paula, the foreign-exchange-student volunteer, and Nautica. Paula is a 16-year-old from Guatemala. While she waited for all the details to get worked out in order for her to attend school here, she volunteered in Kate's class. She volunteered a large part of the school year and was able to polish up her English. The kids fell in love with her.

My mom and dad and Scott's mom were able to come and watch Kate graduate. I think Gary had just had surgery and wasn't able to attend. I love Kate's cheesy grin. This look says, "I'm crazy-excited that my Grandparents are here to see my fun life at kindergarten. My heart is bursting with joy and it is spilling out all over."