First Day of Kindergarten

The following conversation occurred after snapping 132 photos of Collin before he left for his first day of kindergarten this afternoon.

We were sitting on the front porch waiting for school to start when Collin asked me, "Mom, what's your favorite thing to do?" I said, "Play with you." He smiled and then said, "Oh, I would have said it was taking pictures."

I tried to explain why moms like to take a lot of pictures on the first day of kindergarten. The day you send your baby out into the world is a big day. It's hard to let go. But it's also a very happy and special day that you want to always remember.

When I picked him up, Collin said he had a great first day of school. He was smiling and excited and happy and full of things to tell me. He's such a good, happy kid. I love him and am very proud of him always.

The only disappointment of the day came on my account. I assumed schools here served lunch to the kindergarten. (They did where I just came from in Oregon.) It turns out Utah schools don't.

Silly me packed my child some lunch and gave him some milk money. When I picked him up, I asked him if the hot lunch looked better than his cold lunch. He then told me that all they served was a cookie, and no milk.

I realized then that he had been served a snack but not a lunch. His lunch was still in his backpack. My poor child was starving. I felt like the worst mother ever. But it didn't seem to put a damper on his day. Tomorrow will be even better, I guess. He gets to go to school AND eat lunch! (Sigh.)

Luke of course was wishing he could go to school too. He put on his new Thomas the Train "pack-pack" and wanted to be in the pictures too. So cute. Then the boys had a flower fight that ended with them picking flowers to put in my hair. I love boys.

Owen Is Sitting

Temple Dedication

Today regular Sunday meetings throughout the Salt Lake Valley were canceled so that we could all view (via satellite at our meeting houses) the dedication of the newly built Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple. It lasted two hours and included talks given by general authorities of the church, a virtual tour of the temple, hymns and a dedicatory prayer. It was a very special opportunity for me.

After the meeting I took my children to see the temple grounds and watch the sunset. (It only took us 15 minutes to get there, as opposed to the 3 1/2 hours it used to take us to get to a temple!) We snapped this photo of the beautiful new temple. Interestingly, I learned today that there are now 130 temples operating throughout the world.

A couple of weeks ago, I also took my children to the temple open house. They were able to go inside and see the beautiful rooms. This is a rare opportunity as well, since after the temple dedication today only adults (issued a special temple recommend from their bishop) can enter this holy place. I hope their little brains can remember some of what they saw, and hold on to that memory until they are of age to worship there themselves.

I feel very fortunate to live so close to a temple now. I am very grateful for the blessings the temple has provided me and my family. I know our family is eternal. And since my husband and I have been apart, I have thought about how heaven truly wouldn't be heaven without him by my side. I am grateful for our eternal marriage, and grateful to have a husband who loves and serves his family. I miss you, babe. I'm sending you love from me and the kids...We hope you can come home soon.

Daybreak

Thanks to an old friend of mine we found a place that made me and my boys a little less homesick. Wendi lives near a man-made lake in the middle of a housing community called Daybreak. (It's really like a mini city.) The kids were in heaven digging in the dirt, wading in up to their necks, and peeing in the water and off the dock. Just like old times. Even Owen liked the water.

Collin and Wendi's little boy Will are the same age and have become fast friends. We hang out once or twice a week now. And every time we get home Collin asks me how many more days until he sees his friend Will again. Then he continues to ask me almost every day until the anticipated day arrives, and then it starts all over again.

I'm so glad he's found a friend already...and I'm so glad that it gives me an excuse to hang out with Wendi again. We met in college, well in Europe actually, on a study abroad. She has been a close friend ever since. Even though I haven't seen her much in the last four years (that's how long I lived in Oregon), when we got together it felt like no time had passed at all. She is an amazing mother, a loyal friend and full of good ideas. She is just fun to be around. I feel lucky to count her as a friend.

Cecret Lake (Mud Pies & Wildflowers)

Today was a great day. I connected with my old friend Haylie. (We were senior class officers together in high school and college roommates at the University of Utah.) She has four kids now, including a set of two-year-old twin boys! It was so fun to meet them all. We took the kids up Little Cottonwood Canyon to do some hiking. We followed a 3/4 mi. trail to Cecret Lake, which was a little steep for the kids but very beautiful.

There were several streams for the kids to play in along the way. Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere you looked. That was my favorite part. (See photos of the Indian Paintbrush above.) But what my boys enjoyed most was the mud, of course. As soon as we got to the lake they were instantly dirty from head to toe. Next time I'll bring some empty pie tins and let them make mud pies. Today we settled for mud cookies which we baked on the rocks.

On the way down we saw a moose grazing...in the distance, thankfully. And we got caught in a rain storm, which was a perfect way to end the adventure. I could tell Haylie is an amazing mother. For one thing, she packed one twin on her back and carried the other in her arms for more than half the distance...and at the same time comforted her girls about the rain and thunder. It really was amazing to watch. You go girl! I hope to see more of you now that I'm here!

Timpanogos Cave

We arrived in Utah safe and sound last week. I finally have my computer out of the box and the Internet hooked up, which means I can blog again. Yeah! The first thing I wanted to do in Utah with my kids was take them hiking. Merritt and I both have missed hiking in the mountains. So we took the kids to Timpanogos to see the caves.

These caves are a place I had gone to several times as a child. I remember how amazing and otherworldly they seemed to me then, and I wanted to show Collin. We climbed over 1,000 vertical feet in 1.5 miles which was a real challenge for the kids. But they did great. The caves were every bit as cool as I remember them being.





The words stalagtite and stalagmite are now in Collin's vocabulary. Collin said his favorite part was seeing the "heart" of Timpanogos (see photo above), which is a stalagtite as tall as me and three feet wide that weighs 4,000 pounds. It is pretty impressive.

I think my favorite part was the panoramic views of the valley floor from the top of the mountain...and seeing this beautiful bird which I found out later is called a Stellar's Jay. (I could see myself getting into bird watching.)

Luke was a little weary of the cave, especially because he hadn't yet finished his peanut butter sandwich and didn't understand why he couldn't take it into the cave. He started to cry before the tour even began. He kept shouting, "This is scary!" I knew I had to think of something quick. I told him we were going to see where Thomas the Train lived. Sure enough he stopped crying.

Through every tunnel we expectantly looked for Thomas. Thankfully by the end he wasn't disappointed that Thomas wasn't home. He decided he liked the cave. Every new site he came upon he would shout, "Wow! This is awesome!" I was proud of myself for coming up with a small fib to save the day. And we all got another stamp in our National Parks Passports.

As fun as the day was, I will say I do miss my home in Oregon terribly. I'm still crying in fact. But I enjoy looking out my bedroom window and seeing mountains again, especially as the sun sets and turns them pink. I never grow tired of seeing that.