Milestones

The Charter school and preschool started this week, so 4 of the girls are back in school. This afternoon as they were gone I was so enjoying the quiet that I hardly knew what to do with my time. I always get a bit choked up the first day of school, even the 9th time around. It's one of those markers of time passing, and a reminder that life won't always be the same as it is right now, for better or for worse. And even on the hard days I know there will come a day when I'll miss all the chaos at least a little bit. Anyway, the girls were pretty excited to get back in class. Anya has good friends in her preschool class, and it's right here in the neighborhood, so it's really convenient for me. Sierra has all of her favorite friends in her class this year, and an awesome teacher, Mrs. Brooks. Emma seems to like her teacher, Mrs. Swanson, so far and she hasn't had homework yet, so that has eased her transition. Lexi is in the middle school, so she gets a locker and changes classes and everything. Next week she starts at the Treasure Valley Math and Science Center, which is a regional program for more advanced math and science classes, which will be a great experience for her. Christa starts next week as well, continuing at the Math and Science Center and then at Riverglen JHS for the rest of the day. I'll have an official Junior High student-Yikes!   

Other recent milestones:  Paisley's 3rd tooth broke through, and #4 should be there any day. She is crawling all over the place and sitting herself up really well, eating baby food, and will not hold still for diaper changes.  Anya has mastered keeping herself dry at night and earned a Toucan Webkinz for her efforts.  Sierra lost another bottom tooth, that makes 6 baby teeth gone.   Emma had her first stitches this very evening.  She cut the bottom of her foot on the lid from a can that was in a garbage bag that was waiting by the door to go out to the garbage can.  She stepped on the corner of the bag just wrong and the lid sliced right into her poor foot.  She screamed and cried, but we just laid her down on the rug in the foyer and Ryan stitched her up right there.  Many thanks to my dear neighbor, Tina who happened to have come up to get something from our house right before it happened, and who took the three younger girls down the street to play for a few minutes while we took care of Emma.  

Twin Falls Temple

On Thursday afternoon we all piled in the suburban and headed over to Twin Falls to catch the temple open house. It is such a great opportunity for the girls to be in the temple and feel the Spirit there. Anya said, "Does the Holy Ghost live in the temple?" I was impressed that she would recognize that feeling and make that connection herself. It's a beautiful building and in many ways reminds me of the St. Paul temple, which was built when we were living in Minnesota and we were involved in the open house and dedication of that building. I was sure to point out the Bride's dressing room to the girls and remind them that when they are married, the temple is where they want to be. It's neat to see how they tie in the location with the building--the syringa throughout the glass, the mural of south central Idaho landmarks, and the waterfalls used in the landscaping. Next week we will be able to take some of the girls to the dedication broadcast.

Joshua Bell

Yesterday we (Kelli, Ryan, Christa, Lexi, Paisley and my sister Cindy) took a quick trip over to Sun Valley for the final concert of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony featuring one of the world's most amazing violinists, Joshua Bell. We were so fortunate to end up seated in the 5th row with a fantastic view. Of course he sounds incredible. It was also mesmerizing to watch him play, completely absorbed in the music. After the concert, he was signing autographs, so we were able to shake his hand and he signed CDs for the girls. He seemed like such a genuinely nice person, just a regular sort of guy who just happens to play the violin better than almost anyone else on earth. Very memorable experience.
Links to check out: www.svsummersymphony.org and www. joshuabell.com

Meet Kit

Anya is currently obsessed with Kit Kittredge, the American Girl. I think it started with a mini Kit doll that a friend had. Anya was at her house and played with it about 4 months ago. She has talked about Kit ever since. One day she went around the house calling all the girls to a family meeting in the front room. When everyone was there, Anya said, "Now, let's have a family talk. We need to talk about American Girls. I really love Kit . . . ." When the Kit movie came out, of course we went to see it with all the girls, which just added fuel to the fire. We tried to get her interested in one of the other dolls--there's a cute one named Elizabeth Cole (Elizabeth is Anya's middle name so it would have been perfect), but she doesn't like Elizabeth, only Kit. The only thing she wants for her birthday next month is a Kit doll. A couple of weeks ago she decided she wanted her hair cut and every day she asked, "When can I get my hair cut like Kit's?" So I acquiesced on that point, too. I thought Ryan was going to cry when she came home, but it's cute.

Welcome back to TV

After not having TV for about 2 years, we decided that we wanted to be able to watch the Olympics, and various other programming that Ryan misses. There were two unsuccessful attempts at installation, but finally today they got it hooked up. My main stipulation with the re-installation was that we have a DVR so that we can see the shows we want without having to watch them right when they are airing. (I never was very good at recording shows and playing back with the old VCR method.) This way we can still keep rules like not having TV on school nights, but still watch some shows we want to see on the weekends, or after the kids are in bed. Also, I like the idea that we can fast forward through commercials. I hate it when we are watching a good program, or sports, or whatever, but then some trashy commercial comes on unexpectedly. The DVR seems pretty easy to use, so I think this will be a good solution. Yeah for the Olympics!

Camping

This weekend we went camping on Lake Cascade at Rainbow Point with some good friends, the Woodards. They rented a motorboat on Friday and the kids had a great time tubing and speeding around the lake. We did flood the engine at one point, and had to paddle back to shore, but that just made it all the more memorable. Saturday morning we woke up to thunder and lightening and rain, but it passed fairly quickly and we were able to eat breakfast and break camp without getting too wet, and then we went up to Tamarack Resort for a little hike, I had never been there before, and it really is a pretty setting. It will be an amazing resort if they can ever get the money to finish the planned construction. All of the girls are pretty happy campers, and even Paisley did well (until the car ride home, anyway.)

Family Togetherness

Last weekend we did a whirlwind trip to Pocatello to drop off my neice who had been visiting for the week, then down to Utah to see Grandma and Grandpa Cole, then my mom's family reunion in Morgan, then back to Pocatello, then over to Rupert for my sister's baby's blessing, then back to Boise. We really enjoyed having Alyssa here for a few days with the girls, and wish we could see her more often. Thanks for letting her come, Lori! The girls always enjoy a trip to Grandma Cole's house and love playing with all the dolls she keeps around. I love going out to Morgan to my Grandparent's place. In all the moving around my family did growing up, it was the one constant. I don't know many of my cousins very well--there are 76 grandchildren, and over 100 great-grandchildren now--so it was good to re-connect with some of them, as well as my aunts and uncles who were there. It was my grandpa Noyes' 88th birthday, and you never know how much longer he'll hang on. He's always so glad to see us and always reminds us that the gospel is true and that he loves us. It was good to be there on Sunday for Erin's baby's blessing. Jack sure is growing quickly. It's neat to see her as a mom. She's such a natural. I love being close enough to family that we can be involved in these events.