..Toy Story for Tanner..

My nephew Tanner just had his 2nd birthday and he loves Toy Story.  So here's his Toy Story cake.  All the figures are 100 edible fondant hand painted with food coloring.  It turned out so cute!  

(At least I thought so.) 

..Back to School..

At last! Back to school.  This is my favorite time of year. At least, for another 6 months or so until I'm tired of getting up early and making the trek to school twice a day.  Then summer becomes my favorite! (But only for a few days and then I loose all hope of sanity for the following 3 months.)

This year both the boys started school.  I have to admit, I thought I still had another year before Ryland started school and it tugged at my heart strings just a little.  I'm loving the quiet time though!

Ronnie is in 2nd grade.  Holy smokes! When did he grow up and who gave him permission? He loves math and writing, and recess of course.

Ryland started a special Early Childhood Development Preschool to help with his speech delay.  We were a little concerned with how he would handle the separation, but he surprised us with how well he did.  He goes twice a week for 3 hours.  In fact, he loves school so much he threw a monster fit the first day we didn't drop him off too.

..Birthday Boy!..

Ryland's 3rd birthday was August 1.  (I know, I'm late.)

 Not really interested in anything but his "Tommy" train.  He would open his gifts enough to find out they weren't more trains, then it would be back to "Tommy".

 I'm afraid my poor kids get the shaft in the cake department.  I never put much effort into them.  

Maybe if they paid! (Wink, Wink)

 We lit the candles and started singing and... Wait! Where's Ryland?

 Blowing out his candles...

 ...with a little help from Uncle Stephen.  Ryland doesn't quite seem to have the lungs for blowing candles yet.

He couldn't even be bothered to put "Tommy" down long enough to eat cake.  In fact, everyone else had already devoured cake and ice cream long before he even came over.  He was too busy playing!

All in all he had a great birthday with lots of trains and cars. And "Tommy" 1 and "Tommy" 2 are permanent companions now.  He doesn't go anywhere without them.

..Where Have We Been?..

It's been quite awhile since my last post.  Some of that is because I haven't been motivated to post, but most of that is because we have been busy, busy, busy enjoying our summer.  What have we been up too?

Nelson spent the last 3 months in the "great" state of Washington on a job that felt like it would never end.  We saw  him for a total of 7 days during that 3 months.  Once when we flew him home to go camping with us for Memorial Day, and once when he drove down to Utah while we were there so he and I could celebrate our...

...9th Anniversary!  Wow, where did the time go?  Our 10th is staring us in the face and I can hardly believe it.  I don't feel old enough to be celebrating 9 whole years of marriage.  Don't get me wrong, there have definitly been moments when it has felt like an eternity, but as cliche as it is to say, I am more in love today than I was the day we wed.

As you  may have guessed, the boys and I made the trek to Utah in June.  On the drive out we had Candice and Stephen with us, but the drive home was solo.  I was really afraid it would be a nightmare trip, but to the credit of my boys, it wasn't too bad, and they even did it without a DVD player. While in Utah we...

...Played with cousins! (And aunts and uncles!)

...Visited Kennecott Copper Mine.

  ...Panned for gold, rode the mini train, and rode a pony at the This is the Place Monument.

...Went to the Eccles Park Dinosaur Museum.

Once we got home, we jumped back into life by...

...Getting 5 pigs! Welcoming 3 goat kids, 2 boys: Ace and Atom, and a girl: Abigail.  The addtions bring our farm count to 1 cat, 2 dogs, 5 pigs, 6 goats, 20 chickens (and an occasional fox).  It's a full house around here.

...Keeping up with our garden.  I got a little crazy and planted 25 tomato plants, among other things.  So we have been canning tomatos like crazy!

...Swimming and getting tan!

...Getting glasses for Ronnie.  Mostly for school and reading, but I couldn't believe how excited he was. He is growing by leaps and bounds and is very excited to be BAPTIZED this December.

...Teaching Ryland how to talk.  He is in speech thereapy and making notable progress.  He gets to start a special pre-school this year, so we're hoping that will help more.  He still has absolutely no interest in potty training though.  He spends quite a bit of time in time-out, as most 2 year olds do.  This particular time, he just went ahead and took his nap while he was at it.

...And baking cakes.  I had 3 wedding cakes scheculed 3 Saturdays in a row.  CRAZY! but fun.  And it put a little extra cash in my pocket, which is always nice.

I am also staying busy as a housekeeper for my sister-in-law, on top of trying to keep my own house clean,

 which is no easy task with 2 live tornadoes living in it.

Nelson got home last night at about 10:00pm.  Finally!!!!!!

 And last but certainly not least, today is Ryland's 3rd Birthday. 

The rest of our summer will consist of spending as much time with Nelson as possible before he leaves for Hazard, Kentucky and preparing for school which starts in 2 weeks.

..To Be A Mother..

This week has been an enlightening one.  And a rather emotional one.   I learned a great lesson from Stephenie Nielson.  This amazing woman continues to inspire me, I could only hope to be half the woman she is.

This week she opened a new perspective for me.

My life is a privilege!


Therefore...

My experiences are a privilege.

My trials are a privilege. (Yes, I said trials!  What would we ever learn if we never had trials? How would we ever grow?)

My blessings are most surely a privilege.

And on this occasion where we celebrate the privilege of motherhood, my children are a privilege.

What a different and better perspective I have for my life and the direction I would like to go now.


....


Unfortunately, today I am too sick to care about anything!

Perspective will officially begin tomorrow. (fingers crossed)


...


In the meantime, a very public Thank You to my own mother, who has blessed my life tremendously and for whom I am most grateful.  I don't know where I would be without her.  Everything that she is, I could only hope to become.  I hope she knows how honored I am to call her Mother.
Thank You for choosing to be my mother.

Thank You to the many other remarkable women who have influenced my life for good.  There truly are  more than I could ever fully give credit too.  How blessed I have been in my life to be surrounded by such greatness.  I have big shoes to fill!

..Mastering the Monkey Bars..

It's very exciting when your kids get old enough to start learning certain things.  Like riding bikes, reading, CHORES, and simple little childhood pastimes like the monkey bars.  Ronnie has been quite pleased with himself once again as he has mastered the monkey bars. (He even brags about his blisters.)  We are so proud of his desire to learn and be good at things.  He really is such a good kid!