Mucho Informacion!

I know from the title you might think I speak Spanish, but surprisingly, I don't. It is just a warning that this is a very long blog containing a lot of information about our summer. Read at your own risk.

My boy went to school ALL day! I can't believe I have a first grader! It is absolutely nuts. Jake gets on the bus at 8:19 and is dropped off at 3:44. He is gone all day long. He was pretty tired and hungry when he got home yesterday, but other than that I think he did really well. It is so hard as a Mom to just put your little boy on the bus then trust that he is okay and everything is taken care of for the rest of the day. I really felt like following the bus in the morning and following him into school. I didn't, but I was tempted.

So, Jake is in first grade, Emma will be starting her second year of preschool, and Peter is over 3 months old! It is just surreal. Don't you love this picture. It just really shows their personalities. Jake is reluctantly getting his picture taken and Emma is posing.

With all the changes I have decided to try and organize my life. Nate can testify to the fact that although I have the best of intentions, I never seem to get everything organized and running the way I want. Like I will bring all the laundry into the laundry room with the intention of doing all the laundry in one day, fold it, and put it away. Yeah, so I am really lucky if more than one load gets done per day. I just forget. I don't know what compartment of my brain holds the "turn the laundry over" card, but it just doesn't click. So, I am basically doing laundry every day all day. It is nuts. My sister, Natalie, posted once about how her clothes never make it to the closet and how her hair stuff is all over the bathroom counter instead of put away. Well, I think we have a missing link in our brains because I am the same way. Right now as I look around the room no kidding there are 3 pairs of my shoes just in the family room. How they got there I don't know. I don't know where the hiccup in my brain happens, but I know it is there. The point of all this is that I am going to try to get on top of my life, including putting my shoes away. So, when I have a beautifully clean house, all the bills paid, caught up on the current geneology project, sewing projects and photos, I will take a picture so you can all see how far I have come. Just don't hold your breath.

Since my last blog we have gone to a Christensen family reunion. It was held up Hobble Creek Canyon at Spring Haven Lodge. I really enjoyed spending the time with that family. They are some of the best people you could ever meet. They are just really nice, regular (a positive thing) people. I just always feel so good when I have spent time around them. My kids had an absolute blast playing with all the cousins. I swear I hardly saw them except meals and bedtime.

Also, my brother Bill and his wife and daughter have been here for the summer. They have spent the last 2 years in Boston, so it has been a ton of fun to see them so often. Their daughter, Kenslee, is 1 1/2 and she just loves Emma. It is so cute. Every time she is at my Mom's she takes my Mom the phone and says "Emma". I just love it! This is why I have been pressuring my siblings to have kids. It is so fun to see cousins together.

My sister Natalie has been on the east coast all summer, but she got to come visit for a little bit. She lives in St. George when they are out here anyway, so this was the most I have seen her in a couple of years. She came out because my Grandma McGuire passed away. It was kind of bitter sweet because she had suffered a stroke 10 years ago and has never regained the ability to speak, write, maybe read I don't even know. I think her mortal body was becoming kind of a prison to her. Also, Grandpa passed away about seven years ago, so I imagine there was a great reunion on the other side with him. It is strange because the last time I saw her before she died I took Peter to see her. For some reason I handed him to her to hold. This was not a logical thing to do because she is basically paralized on the right side and can't even hold her own body up, but I just handed her my 4 1/2 lb. baby. She was so happy. We got some really sweet pictures that I will always treasure.