First Day of School

Yesterday was Britton's first day of First Grade. He did great! I could tell how nervous he was, so it made me even more proud that he did so well. There are a couple of kids from his Primary class in his class, so that is good.

When I picked Britton up after school, he wasn't much for chatting about the day, but he did say it was good and that his teacher is nice. Then he told me that he couldn't find his lunch in his backpack, so he "bought" lunch, but he only ate the cookie. So, he asked me if he could have a picnic on the grass right then to eat his lunch. I felt so bad. His lunch was the only thing in his backpack, but there are 3 different sections and he only checked 2 of them. I did tell him where it was, but I didn't make him practice getting it out or anything. Of course, he is too shy to ask his teacher for help. Poor kid. Then after eating a bit, he started dancing around. I asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom and he said yes. Then I found out that he didn't go all day at school. Or drink any water. So, hopefully today he'll be a bit more at ease. At least enough to drink and go to the bathroom. Jon and Mijoung brought him over a new backpack last night with an attachable lunch box, so he'll be able to find his lunch today. :)

After school, I told him he could decide what he wanted to do to celebrate his special day. He decided he wanted to go buy a Bionicle and a new dress for Haley. I thought it was so cute that he wanted Haley to get something to to celebrate. What a nice brother.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I still am amazed by how much busier we are here than we ever were in China. And I worked full-time in China! It's just crazy how when you have family and friends nearby, there is always something to do--every second of the day. It's a good busy though.

So, here's a bit of what we have been up to this week.

Sunday--The Tanner's came with us to the cabin. It was so pretty up there and so much cooler than the valley. I love the mountains. And I love the Tanners. I'm trying to pretend that it wasn't the last time I will be hanging out with them for a while, but really, it was. (They leave on Monday to go back to China and part of me is having a really hard time that we are not going with them.)

Monday--We brought Jonas home with us from the cabin so that he could sleepover. He and Britton played all day long. Patricia and her kids came down to stay at my mom's for a few days, so we brought Hyrum over to sleepover too. The three boys really enjoyed each other and I "let" them stay up way too late.

Tuesday--We met up with Melanie at Thanksgiving point for "$2 dollar Tuesday" and quickly realized that the rest of the western U.S. was also there. It was CRAZY! There were moms and kids everywhere. The lines were outside, wrapping around the buildings at every attraction. We passed on the Dinosaur Museum and the Farm, but decided to brave the crowds at the gardens. We didn't last long, probably only an hour. It's just not worth it when there are people EVERYWHERE!

Wednesday--We went to Chuck E. Cheese with the Kammerman's and Mijoung and Chloie. It wasn't crowded at all and we stayed for quite a while. The kids had a blast. After that, I went to the Young Women's swimming party. Then, we went to the Olive Garden for Mckenna's 9th birthday then over to their house for cake and puppy-playing. (They have I think 6 puppies that are so cute!)

Thursday--that's today. We haven't gone anywhere not even the store or the park. It's been great. I need days like these every once in a while. (I won't mention that we've been watching a lot of TV and eating a lot of cookies all day because that just sounds bad.)

In other news...
*We've been Tivo-ing all the Olympics and LOVE watching them.

*Our business is almost official--Kemp Construction will be up and running in no time.

*I've managed to get an infection in my left eye now. I don't know if my eyes will ever be normal again.

*I finally got frames for the artwork I bought in China and I can't wait to get it hung on the wall. My house is almost complete!

*We are going to be having a Chinese girl live with us for a bit while she goes to BYU. I'm excited.

Well, I better get back to watching TV and eating cookies. :)

Wish Me Luck

Tomorrow night I'm playing in my first ever volleyball tournament with Jason. It's a coed doubles tournament that goes all night long. I'm so excited. I think it will be tons of fun, even if we lose every game :)

Olympics

The Olympics are starting and it reminded me that I never did post my pictures from our Beijing trip. Wow, that was a while ago. So, here are a few from the the Olympic Village that was still under construction at the time. I'm sure everyone will get many views of these amazing buildings while watching the Olympics in the next few weeks. The architecture really is incredible.

Wanted: An 8 or 9 Year Old Girl

I wish I could adopt an 8 or 9 year old girl.

My mother-in-law (who lives in our basement) is watching my niece Mckenna and my nephew Joshua for the next few days. Yesterday Mckenna played with and entertained my kids all day long. I got so much done. It was great! And they were all completely happy and content. And I didn't have to run check on them every 5 minutes or so while they were playing outside. (I'm a bit of a paranoid mom.) They didn't watch TV or play video games at all either. Plus Britton was acting way more mature than usual. So many benefits.

So, if anyone knows of a little girl for sale or loan, let me know. :)

Britton's Prize

Britton finally finished his first reading chart so he earned $10. So, we went to the store today so he could pick out a prize.

And what would Britton pick out? The Extreme Bug Vac, of course!


He has had so much fun with it today finding bugs. He'll definitely be able to slurp up some great creatures with it. He and his cousin Mckenna already found a green shield bug and a baby earwig. Every time they find something they run in all excited and then we look it up on the internet. It's been a really fun day.

Last night Haley walked up to me and said, "I'm so glad that I have my favorite mom."
Then she gave me a huge hug.
She can be so cute sometimes. I'm glad I have my favorite little girl, too.

On My Mind

There are a number of things that are consuming my thoughts as of late.

First, I can't stop thinking about Britton starting first grade. I hardly even thought much at all about him starting kindergarten because we had so many other things going on that it just kind of snuck up on us. Today I registered him for school and it starts in less than 2 weeks. I keep wondering if he is nervous, if he is ready, how he's going to do, if he'll make friends, if he'll be good for his teacher, and all the other things a mom can think up to worry about. Even though he went to school last year, it was so different in China, so it feels like he is just barely starting--that I'm just barely sending him out into the world on his own. And I really don't know if I've prepared him well enough. I'm not so worried about academics as behavior. He has never been super good with people telling him what to do. So, it will be interesting to see. He seems to be struggling a bit at home lately and I wonder if he's anxious or nervous about school. He's been having major breakdowns and tantrums over what seems to me to be minor things. His reactions to things are what make me worried about him. Maybe it's just a phase. Or maybe he is stressed about all the changes in his life. Maybe he just needs more attention or love. Probably it's a mixture of all of it. I'm sure more attention and love can't hurt no matter what the underlying problem is. I just hope I can give him what he needs. Sometimes it seems that I do things that are so wrong for his personality.
And maybe I'm worrying over nothing. He'll probably adjust to school just fine. He hasn't expressed any concerns at all about it. In fact, he's only shown excitement. So, I should probably stop worrying or I might put fears into him that aren't already there.
On a funny side note, the other day I was reading something about fears so I asked Britton if there was anything that he was afraid of. He thought for a minute and then said yes. So, I asked him what it was and he said talking trees. I just about laughed out loud. I totally wasn't expecting that one. But, then he said he knew that there weren't really talking trees so he wasn't really afraid of them, but maybe he would be afraid of wolves and foxes. It was really cute.

Okay I ended up writing way more about Britton than I intended, so maybe that's about the only thing consuming my thoughts lately. So, we'll leave it at that.

Sunday Afternoon

After church, we were all just lounging around watching TV and doing nothing when Jason said, "Do you guys want to go to the cabin?" I wasn't particularly thrilled with the idea, but the reaction from the kids made me change my mind. So, we packed up and went for a nice drive up to the cabin. It turned out to be such a great idea because it was a beautiful day and we all had so much more fun than sitting around at home. We got to be out in the fresh air, play some card games, and take some pictures. Jason even got a quick nap in. We also drove his dad's 4 wheeler up there so that we can use it next time we are there. It'll be fun to be able to explore the mountain on it. I really love being up there.

Disco! Our new truck






Taken by Haley
Taken by Britton

Sleepover

Friday night, we took Hyrum home with us to have a sleepover. He and Britton play so well together. They just disappear into their own little world. They are content for hours and hours and probably days and days. The day before we babysat them, Britton asked if he could call Hyrum on the phone. I dialed for him and then he was off talking for over an hour! It was so cute to listen to little snippets of their conversation. He called him at least 5 other times throughout the day after the long conversation. They were making lists and planning out what they were going to do the next day. Anyway, all day long on Friday, they played, just the two of them. When it came time to leave, they were both really sad, so we just took Hyrum with us. They were so excited. They continued their games the whole ride home and then late into the night and then picked it up in the morning. I'm so glad that they get along so well. They were creating their own Bionicles and speaking Pooka (their made-up language) and just talking and joking all day. It's so fun to see them enjoying each other and having so much fun. Hyrum with the Bionicle they invented named Toahockey

A close up of the Bionicle
Getting ready to sleep

Cousin Fun!

On Friday, I got to watch all of Patricia's kids while she and Aaron were at Youth Conference. So, I had her 5 plus my 2. I took Mijoung and Chloie with me so I would have some adult back-up and just so it would be more fun. Then, Biz was watching Dylan and Destry all day, so she brought them over along with Ethan in the afternoon. It was such a fun cousin party! We had all the grandkids together for most of the day. What fun for them! And they were all so good and happy just playing together. I played two basketball games against John, Reed, and Anna. The 3 of them against me. It was really fun. They won both times, but I still gave them a run for their money. :) They are getting quite good. We mostly just stayed at home all day, but we did make it to the park for lunch. That seems to be a must whenever I am visiting Kearns. And I did have to make a Frosty run after losing the 2nd basketball game.

Here are a few pictures from the day. Anna reading to Lizzie, Chloie, and Haley
Haley sleeping after a fun-filled day
Reed
Britton
Anna and Chloie with the boys in the background

John

I don't have any pictures from when Biz and the boys were there. It would have been nice to have at least one with all 11 of them.

Park City--Wednesday July 30, 2008

We went up to Park City on Wednesday to play with the Tanner's at their condo. It was really fun to get to hang out with them again. We have missed them a lot since we've been home. We went up to Park City resort. The boys did the bungee trampoline thing then we did the alpine slide. We didn't do the rollercoaster or the zipline but they both looked like so much fun. Maybe next time.