2016-2017 School Year

Last week we were able to go to the Junior High to get Levi and Brigham's schedule, locker combinations, and find classes.  But because that was the morning that within 1 hour we had 2 puke mishaps and diarrhea, before we were suppose to be up at the school, pictures never got taken.

Though that does remind me of an experience that I had that I meant to write on yesterday's post.  It was the beginning of my spiritual experiences that seemed to happen randomly throughout the week.  Those experiences kept me going.  Again, thank you Jesus!

So, I woke up to Ruger crying.  I always dread that first day, of getting him out of bed, right after David has left for the week.  Because it is so early in the morning, Ruger doesn't know he has left.  I swear it's like his face falls when I open up that door.  He knows that if Daddy is home, that Daddy is the one who is going to get him up.  So yeah, like Tuesday mornings usually go I wasn't all that anxious to get him out of bed.  But this time I got to open the door to the surprise of the wonderful smell of vomit.  Yeah, it was so bad that I just threw the pack-in-play away.  We had another one anyway, so I didn't feel that bad about it.

After giving him a bath and then feeding him, he has a diaper blowout.  I change his diaper and clothes and am about to get his shoes on when he pukes.  So another bath happens along with the 3rd clothes change.  Yes, all within the hour.  

At this point, all I can do is stop us all and say a prayer.  I asked Heavenly Father to please stop
Ruger from puking long enough to be able to do the school thing.  We spent over an hour at the school getting things in order as well as going over where Brigham's classes were a few times so that he felt more comfortable with the layout of the school.  Not once did Ruger puke or dirty his diaper.  The Lord truly was looking out for us.

 Last night was the elementary school's open house.  We went early in hopes of being able to talk to Hyrum's new teacher privately and even though we were the first there, it wasn't long before others were behind us.  So her and I had a meeting today after school today.  Turns out one of her children is medicated for ADD as well.  She had so many pointers for me and I quickly felt that Hyrum couldn't have been put into a better classroom than with Mrs. Cullimore this year.

 The first day of school finally arrived.

 There were a few indications that Brigham was a little nervous about the new school and new experience of having 8 different teachers, but I dropped them off early so that Levi could go over with him where his classes were again.  It was interesting that when we went last week to pick up schedules and stuff, Levi didn't even check to see where his classes were.  Oh the difference a year makes and you're a pro!

I wanted to capture the boy's personality with their shirts on the first day of school this year.  Levi's favorite pop is Coke (I hope Poppy doesn't disown him after seeing this picture:) while Brigham is obsessed with bacon.  But when I saw Hyrum's shirt at the store, I couldn't buy it fast enough!  This is just so him.  And he by far appreciated his shirt the most out of the 3 boys.

All in all, it was a good first day.  No mishaps.  I have a few friends who were struggling today with sending their kids off.  But like I have said before, I'm just so proud of these boys.  That's not to say that in the future it won't hit me hard but for now, I'm just so proud of who they are and I just know they are going to do the best that they can do.  They are going to be good examples to their peers.  And that is really all that I can ask for. 

Thank you, Jesus!

I hope I can put into words, what I have been feeling this past week, in a way that comes across as I feel them in my heart.  It's been a rough week.  Long and physically painful.  It started on Tuesday with Ruger puking and diarrhea.  By the middle of the week, Hyrum and I were dealing with the puking and body aches.  David learned that a close friend that he grew up with had passed away.  It was just a reminder that his best friend, Jered, from growing up in Provo had been dead for years and how much he missed him. 

For me, dealing with this while David was out of town was physically hard.  I physically hurt because of my own illness while at the same time scrubbing and cleaning more messes that seemed to just keep coming back.  I worried about David because I knew he was mentally struggling.

David was able to come home a day early for the funeral and then to take Levi and Brigham on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts.  If you witness how very attached Ruger is to his Daddy, you will understand when I say that this was quite the sacrifice for me!   Because that boy is smart.  And he knows when it's time for Daddy to come home.  I'm not joking.  He has this uncanning ability to start calling out for David just minutes before he comes home.  I'm not joking. He knows!  So having him come home just to leave quickly was hard on Ruger....and Mommy having to deal with it!  But David needed to go to this funeral.  To remember where he came from and how it made him a part of who he is today.  And the older boys needed their Dad to spend time with them (especially Brigham, I think.  He has really been pushing not camping since his week long Scout Camp this summer).

Levi ended up puking on Saturday, which I felt terrible about because he had been staying in a tent with other boys the night before.  It just didn't cross my mind that the sickness might still be cycling through our family.  I really thought we were done.  But as always, the Lord taught me through all of this.

First, I have amazingly good older boys.  They were so good to me when I was sick.  When it first hit me, it hit me hard.  Like I could hardly keep my eyes open, hard.  But Hyrum watched Ruger while I cleaned up puke and showered.  Levi and Brigham watched Ruger separately so that I could sleep.  And I know that the Lord was helping in this area.  If you know me, you know that there are some things I can't let go of and our kids being alone when they are young is one of them.  I should know that they will be fine but my mind will not let me stop thinking and worrying about it.  So normally, I would never be able to sleep while Ruger is up and about in the house with only his brothers around.  But the Lord reminded me again, after waking up, that my boys can handle more things than I allow my mind to accept.

Another thing about the boys that I want to add, without going into to much detail because its personal, was another confirmation on just how good these boys are.  They start school tomorrow so David gave them Father's Blessings last night.  Both he and I were taught, through the Spirit, just how special and valiant they all were in the pre-existence.

Secondly, I wanted to share something I learned while David and the older boys were camping.  I watched this video where a man by the name of Maurice Harker was teaching the importance of knowing what is right with us.  There is no way I can do justice to what he said but I will try to paraphrase as best as I can.

First, what really stuck out to me was that I need to change my way of thinking when I get down on myself for messing up again.  Or for not doing things that I know I should be doing.  But to start think about what is right about me.  Not what is wrong.  Satan has had thousands of years to figure out what will harm us the most and Maurice is convinced that Satan has figured out how to get in our heads, so to speak.   He said that Satan thinks something to the effect of, "I'm going to create a physiological concentration camp and I'm going to grab these would be great and noble ones and I'm going to remind them over and over and over again that they are too broken to be a great and noble one."  Wow.  I believe that is truth right there.

Second, I learned that I am a threat to Satan.  David and the boys are certainly a threat to Satan.  They are such good men and boys yet there are times in our lives when it just seems to be one thing after another that is beating us down.  Maurice spoke about how if you were to take all of Lucifer's followers and evenly divide them out you would have so and so number of evil spirits around us at all times.  But say you were a leader in a great army.  Would you evenly divide your soldiers or would you put a few on the weak ones and many more on the strong ones?  Again, paraphrasing but he said, "That is how much of a threat you are to the dark side.  So if this has been really hard for you its because you have scared a 7,000 year old military physiological genius.  You are intimidating that guy!"

So my conclusion?  Last week might have sucked but it taught me great lessons.  As my friends in the South would say, "Thank you, Jesus!"

Just a few random things on our phones

 I had a minor procedure done yesterday.  As always, David took wonderful care of me.  He made sure that the house was clean before he had to go back to work so that I wouldn't be tempted to get up and do things around the house while I was healing.  Helen came up as well and is staying with us.  She is helping with Ruger while I rest.  I can't express how grateful I am for that as well.  I would never be able to fully rest knowing that our very active toddler was out and about getting into stuff.

 All this resting has given me time to go through my pictures on my phone.

 Levi and Brigham needed to do a 10 mile bike ride using a map and compass for Boy Scouts.  We decided to turn it into a family outing on a trail in Riverdale/Ogden.  It had rained just before we made it out there, which made for it to be a little humid (yuck!) but it sure was beautiful.  As we were ending the hike (David and I hiked it while the boys rode) we could hear what sounded like tree frogs.  I don't know if there is actually tree frogs here in Utah but it was a wonderful sound to hear either way.  Between the trees, humidity, and sounds David and I were both reminded of Oklahoma.

 David and I hiked 5 miles while the boys rode in front of us and would come back and circle around us. They would also go off on little side trails that had man made bike jumps right next to the paved trails.  With all of that, they may have actually rode more than 10 miles.

 Ruger "helps" Daddy in the yard a lot.  He took this adorable picture of Ruger with a zucchini that they found hidden under a large leaf.

 I can't remember why but a few weeks ago I wanted to reward Levi for something.  He decided he wanted pop.  On the way home from the store I found him buckling up his pop!

Through laughter I told him to take my phone and take a picture of him keeping his pop "safe" during our trip home.  He then told me that he had to "Click it or ticket."  Just saving me money!

 Then Brigham decided that he was going to take a selfie while I was distracted with driving.

And we'll just end on an adorably cute picture of Ruger.  

Hyrum is 9!

Hyrum celebrated his birthday a day early since it landed on Sunday this year.

 Friends came over to have cake and open presents before we left for Sky Trampoline.

 Hyrum looks like a spider monkey here as he bounced from the bottom trampoline to a wall one.

 Normally I would have made these boys take another picture to get a better one but Hyrum ended up getting elbowed in the mouth right after this was taken so, yeah, this was the last picture taken of the night.

So what do I say about this boy, Hyrum, of mine.  He's still as considerate of others as last year around this time.  He's still tiny for his age.  He still wants to be tucked in at night.  He still loves cats.  He's growing his hair out now.  That's really the only thing I can think of that has changed.  The first picture has his hair curly but that is only because he wanted to use this blue gel stuff for his birthday party.  You can't really tell it's the color blue but he really wanted it that color because its his favorite color.  But also (and probably more so) because he loves watching a YouTube personality called DanTDM.  Dan usually has his hair colored and yes, it is grown out on the top as well.  It's kinda cute watching Hyrum go through this phase where he is trying to look like someone that he likes so much.  
Update:

Hyrum got this in the mail from Nanny and Poppy today (08/10/16).  He loves it!