Decisions

Life is full of decisions. Every day we wake up and make decisions, what to wear , what to eat, what we will do, etc. Most of the time those daily decisions are easy to make. I feel like in my life--and my little families life there are big decisions to be made. This is a big time in our life. Wrapping up school and raising a small, young family. The time has come for us to make our decision with Lucy going to school in the fall. She meets the age cut off for attending kindergarten this fall. We have known for a while that the decision would need to be made. We have spent many conversations talking about this, prayed a lot about it, thought a lot about it and heard a lot of advice. It seems everyone has an opinion on the topic--weather we wanted to hear it or not. Some opinion's were hard to hear, and some hurt my feelings. That's okay because they were trying to help and offer what they were sure was great advice. Some advice was exactly what I needed to hear and really impacted part of my decision. Some days I felt I knew exactly what to do with her and her schooling and other days I had no clue and would be very confused. We really viewed this as more of a life long decision for her--maybe that is why it became such a big decision. Starting her now would also mean starting college barley 18. I along with JJ can't imagine sending her off while still so young. We want to have her at home with us as long as we can. I also thought this would effect the group of friends she would interact with, would she have better friends if she was a year ahead or behind? Especially in those important teenage years. These decisions I just felt were out of my control and something that I can't guess on. I only know the Lucy now, the Lucy that I know is more then ready to jump on that bus and go off to school. I know she would thrive and learn a lot and she would fit right in. I spoke with her teachers during the spring about how they felt she would do if we started her in kindergarten in the fall. They had a few concerns, but they were minor and we both agreed that she would have no problem catching up if we decided to go ahead and start her. I emailed asking for advice from the other 2 families that had babies the same week we had Lucy while in our BYU ward. Asking what they were doing and if they were sending their kids. I think we covered every resource we could when thinking of all different area's of gathering all the information. Most importantly we prayed, only Heavenly Father knows what Lucy's life has in store and he will know the Lucy in 10 years from know. So with all information gathered and all the thinking we have done we have decided to hold off with school for another year. She will be 6 going into kindergarten but that is fine. We are going to keep her at her preschool which offers a 5 year old class 5 days a week just in the mornings. I just can't imagine her being gone all day long every day. She is so little---I am not sure I would know what to do without her in the afternoon. We feel really happy with our decision and think it is going to be great for Lucy. We love the teachers there and know that Lucy will learn a lot there. The nice thing with this decision is the program she will be attending is technically a kindergarten program and if we decide to have her tested next year she could possible just jump into 1st grade. Which will be a decision for next year. For now we will have her start kindergarten in another year when we move and start settling down. Yeah for Lucy--she is supper excited!

JJ's Trip To Salt Lake

A couple of weeks ago JJ was able to make the trip out to Salt Lake for the optometry conference out there. He had entered a paper into a company and won the scholarship money along with the trip to Salt Lake. We were happy to have the money but I think JJ was mostly doing the scholarship entry to get the trip to Salt Lake. Not only to be able to attend the conference but to be able to see his family. He was able to have a nice time doing both. His paper then placed 3rd at the conference and on top of the things he had already won he got a few more fun gifts. Way to go JJ. His Mom was his date to the lunch they had for the scholarship he won and it was cute that he called her on the phone and asked her to be his date. She was excited to go with him. Maybe someday JJ will add to this blog post and write all about his trip. I just wanted to make sure the pictures got posted.

Blueberries

Saturday morning we headed down to Nesbit to pick some fresh blueberries. We went last year and loved all the yummy blueberries we picked. So we thought we should go again and get some more to stock our freezer full. We had fun picking the blueberries and we were able to finish filling our bucket quickly with all the good helpers we had. Lucy did a really good job picking the blueberries and I think she came close to picking just as many as I did. Garrett picked anything he saw off the bush. We had to sort through his and pick out the good ones. We tried to show him a couple times the ones that were ready to pick and he really just didn't care.

When it came time to combine all our blueberries there were some tears. Everyone wanted to carry the bucket and some were sad that they didn't get to fill their bucket all the way to the top. We were able to teach a good lesson on teamwork, but that somehow didn't matter to them.

We have been enjoying all our yummy blueberries! I can't wait to try a few new recipes with our fresh picked blueberries. After picking blueberries we went swimming with some friends. Then in the afternoon we headed to the Zoo. JJ wanted to go since it has been a while since he has gone. I forget that we get to do all these fun things without him while he is as work. We let JJ pick all the animals we saw. (sorry the quality of the pictures aren't that great. We forgot our camera --yes I know shocking, so these are from our phone)

After the zoo we came home and worked on the yard and made homemade pizza. We took both Friday night and Saturday night easy since our week was so busy. We were gone almost every single night during the week so we took the weekend to relax at home in the evenings. I am sure JJ loved it--he loves to relax at home. We were able to rent a few movies and it was nice.

Fireworks, Bunnies, Riverwalk and a Play!

We made some "fireworks" this week using cupcake liners and coloring them with red and blue crayons. We then cut the sides of the liner until the bottom circle to make fireworks. The kids thought it was fun and Garrett especially enjoyed it. I really need to remember to do more small crafts with him, he really likes to participate.

They are kinda hard to see but they look cute hanging on our windows. They were excited to show them to JJ when he got home.

Our bunnies have grown so much and we barely see them anymore. All but 1 have left the safe side of our house. We can usually still find one if we look hard in the grass. The kids still enjoy going over regularly to check and see if we can see any.

Can you see the bunny in the grass? They are still tiny but are getting so big.

We went to the Riverwalk with some friends and it was actually a nice day to go. The weather hasn't been to hot this week so it was enjoyable to be outside.

We mostly just went straight to the end and let the kids play in the water there for a little while.

Thursday evening we went on a little outing with just Lucy to see the play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat". Lucy had been looking forward to going ever since we told her we were taking her. All day she looked forward to it and even decided to wear a play dress so she could look nice for her special time.

There were several members of our ward participating in the play. That evening there were lots of our friends there also to see the play and support those who were in it.

We had such a nice time with just Lucy. It was her first play she had ever seen. After the play we stopped by sonic to get a slush drink. It sure was special to just spend time with Lucy. She is such a sweet girl and really enjoyed having us all to herself. She told us thanks for taking her to the play and said that she really enjoyed it!

Backyard Fun!

Monday seemed like the perfect day to stay home and play! Sometimes we are go-go-go and we need days to just stay home and play and also relax. It is hard work for me sometimes to pack the bag, load up the kids and go on an adventure together. We always have fun and it is worth it but I enjoy days that we just stay home and play. So Monday we filled up the little pool and we put the little slide over the edge and the kids loved having their own "waterslide". I remember doing this growing up and it was such a blast. We played outside all morning long and had such a fun time together.

Fathers Day

We had a nice relaxed Fathers Day together. After church and lunch we had JJ open a few gifts. Before he went out of town I took him to Old Navy to pick out a new shirt for Fathers Day. I think he enjoyed getting something new, and I was hoping it would lead him to believe that was his only gift. I had something special planned for him and he had no clue. I even asked JJ if he wanted his gift early so he could wear it while in Salt Lake. He said he wanted to have something to open on Sunday so I wrapped it up for him and made him wait. Little did he know I had something else for him. I have been so excited to give this to him and have been planning on it for months. It has been hard to hide my excitement about it sometimes and I was good to not tell anyone in my family about it. I had lots of friends who knew about the project and it was fun to discuss it with them. I had my friend Ashley draw me a picture for JJ. In the picture he is giving Lucy an eye exam. Garrett is on the floor and I am beside her. Each of us has something by us that describes our personality a little bit. It was to be kinda cartoon looking but also realistic enough to tell it was us. I got the idea from THIS post back at Valentines day. I thought it was such a fun idea and got in touch with Ashley and she was excited to do it.
JJ loves it and he thought it was such a cool gift. I told him that we would go get it framed together and he could help pick everything out. He is excited to hang it here at the house and later on in his office. Whenever Garrett see's it he points to everyone and says their name. I think it is such a fun thing to have and such a unique gift. Thanks again Ashley!

Here is a closer look at the picture, I had to just take a picture since it wouldn't fit on my scanner. I love how it turned out, Ashley did a great job! I think it is so fun that there is something that goes with each one of our personalities and interest's.

After dinner we had the Sullengers over for cupcakes and ice cream. JJ requested cupcakes for his Fathers Day treat and I got his favorite ice cream, cookies and cream. After treats we played Ladder Ball and the Sullengers totally beat us. We will need to practice up and get better.

And just so you can see a little reality--self time pictures don't always work out to be the best thing. Garrett was more interested in running around or looking at us and not the camera . So you get a look at a picture that pretty much described the picture taking process that evening.

I was also able to have a nice conversation with my Dad who had a nice Fathers Day. We sent a gift up with Lauren and Braden. They had a nice BBQ together with everyone up there. It was good to talk with him and hear how things are going up there.

Happy Fathers Day!

Zoo

JJ won a scholarship and a trip to the American Optometric Association meeting, which was conveniently located in Salt Lake City this year. So he flew out to Salt Lake on Thursday morning before the sun got up and got home late Saturday night. While he was gone I kept us supper busy so we wouldn't miss him to much. We were able to do a lot of fun things with the other famlies who's husbands were also gone at the same conference. Saturday a group of us went to the zoo. It was good to let the kids just walk around and look at the animals.

It has been a long time since we have seen the polar bear out so it was fun to see it swimming around again.

I am so thankful for my friends who helped keep me busy while JJ was gone. We were able to do a lot of fun things with our friends. Pizza parties, walks in the neighborhood, swimming, Picnic's at the park with slush drinks at Sonic to cool us off, trips to the Botanic Gardens and the Zoo. I said it last year and I will say it again this year--JJ is not going back to that conference next year. I don't care where it is, it is just to hard to be a single parent. I was so exhausted each night. I am not sure why it exhaust me so much more--it isn't like we see JJ more then 2-3 hours each day anyways. I think just knowing he will be home each evening just makes difference. I was not made to be a single parent. So we are glad to have JJ back.