Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Ramblings

Today is Halloween.   We have already dressed up three times.  We dressed up once on Saturday to go to a little town trick or treat thing, then we dressed up yesterday because the town moved the day of trick or treating to yesterday, because it's raining all day today.  And then the kids dressed up today for school and their class parties.  I am so over dressing the kids up in their Halloween costumes.  They are, per usual, getting tons of candy that they will probably cry and whine about wanting over the next few weeks until I get frustrated and then pick all the good things out for myself and throw the rest away.  But I'm sure they'll cram as much down their throats as they possibly can before that happens :)

Anyway, a few things of late.  We have been super busy.  Having three kids in school and doing three sets of homework is kind of kicking my butt.  Sometimes I feel like maybe I should just homeschool, and I might even have more time and have to do less schoolwork than them being in actual school.  I was feeling so overwhelmed with life the other day already, and then I pulled out Cameron's folder and saw his homework packet for the week and basically started crying.  He has it the worst, and I'm torn between calling his teaching and being a cry baby about it or just sucking it up and helping him power through it.  Its exhausting. 

But anyway, on another exhausting but exciting note is that we FINALLY started building our house. So every spare minute that Brice has and then every spare minute that I have, we're out working on it.  Obviously it's more essential that Brice have the spare minutes than me.  But I'm trying to go out and help where I can, and also be there for moral support.  We're also really thankful that Uncle Troy has been out helping quite a bit.  We've had a lot of answered prayers so far when it comes to the house, some that I think we kind of are taking for granted, but when I stop to think about it, I see the help of the Lord in us getting it started and finding the time to do what we've done so far.  It's been a long time coming and it'll take a lot MORE time, so we're not done being tested on our patience. But I'm excited and grateful that it's actually been started!!  

The kids are of course staying busy with school and other fun things.  The boys are doing swimming again and Jace is doing archery this year, which he is pretty stoked about.  I'm not sure we'll put in the commitment that the archery team would like.  I'm not about all day tournaments that are towns away, but we'll participate in what we can.  Liv is doing a little dance class that she is super excited about.  And Leesie is just busy being the baby.  Perfecting her cuteness and her fit throwing. 

Anyway, these are some pictures from a few minutes when we had an afternoon of outside play time. I think maybe we had just dropped Jace off at archery and that's why he's not pictured? 











Saturday, October 13, 2018

Pumpkin patch


Pumpkin patch with these yahoos.  And Jace did not associate enough with us to even pause for a picture. Oh Jace.   Stop growing up.  


























Our Andy Pup


Our sweet Andy Pup passed away on Friday, October 5th, 2018.  Of course he'd been getting older for quite awhile.  Over the past six months he started losing weight and being a lot pickier about what he ate.  And then the last two weeks before he passed he really started to slow down.  I noticed he wasn't getting up to do the things he normally did, like greet us at the gate or see us off to school.  Then the last three days leading up to his death, he stopped wanting to eat all together and he stopped moving around.  His back legs got really swollen and he could barely take any steps. It was time for us to say goodbye to him. 

I don't think I had any idea it would be so painful.  It was heart wrenching to see him losing the ability to do the things that once brought him joy.  And it was even more heart wrenching to have to decide that he needed to be let go.  I came to the conclusion much quicker than Brice did, and I think it was a tender mercy that in a matter of two days he went from me worrying constantly about him and praying and trying to get Brice to realize that he was getting pretty sick, to him being so visually sick that Brice was able to see how much he was suffering.  I knew the Lord was helping us to both come to the conclusion that our poor old pup needed some rest and peace. 

We both cried together, and we cried with the kids.  

Seeing our empty yard was difficult at first, but it's slowly getting easier.  Now we can talk about our silly pup with a little smile, instead of tear filled eyes.  We loved our Andy so much.  He was just the best dog ever.  I remember how much of a buddy he was to me when we were living in Utah and Brice was working away in Vernal, and then when he was building that house down in Mount Pleasant.  I was alone with Jace so much, but I always had my pup with me.  He helped me feel safe in a dark and scary house, and he kept me company during the lonely days.  

Oh goodness, I've started to bawl again, so I will just leave these last pictures that we took with our pup. Even when he felt terrible, he still tolerated the kids showering him with love.  Oh how we love him! (Annalise loves him too, though she was pretty interested in those sling shots, er I mean, those telescopes, haha)








This picture kind of breaks my heart.  He looks so tired.  But still so content to just be with us.  Silly ole pup. 

Jace and NHS


Sweet Jace was inducted in to the elementary National Honor Society.  The little ceremony was somewhat lacking in presentation and organization.  BUT my little boy sure did look handsome.  The most handsome one there.  He pretended to be embarrassed about me snapping pictures with my big camera, but I think he secretly liked it.  So proud of this big 10 year old!