Update

It seems like life has flown by since school started at the end of August. I haven't taken many pictures and so I'm having a hard time remembering everything. So this is my attempt at a September and Family update. Our school schedule is in full force and while I like the routine, I miss the flexibility of summer. The kids are up by 7:00 and I drive the girls to school at 7:45. Then we come home and clean up the morning and either go to Life Time for me to teach, which I do 3 days a week or try to get some errands done. Then Justin goes to school at 11:45 and Mia goes to school at 12:30 Tuesday through Thursday. This leaves me with three afternoons a week where I have some time to myself. I had anxiety over getting totally bored during this time, but I've found myself cramming a ridiculous amount of stuff into this time. I volunteer at the school on Thursdays and I'm hoping on Wednesdays to make it down to CorePower so that I can get some yoga in for myself. I find myself not getting enough yoga in now that I'm teaching 4 classes a week. I did get to go to the Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park with Laurie. It was amazing. After 7 hours of yoga I was completely exhausted, but it was so fun to learn from Baron Baptiste, Sean Corne, and Desiree Rumbaugh. I am going to go every year. Estes Park is beautiful in the Fall. I also signed up to run the Boston Marathon in April. I don't have to start training until December, but I'm already finding myself dreading the long long runs. Hans and I are excited to take the family to the East Coast and spend some time there in the Spring.

Hans and I also were able to go to Austin, Texas for the BYU football game. Hans' parents were nice enough to fly out here to watch the kids for us for the weekend. The kids had an amazing time. Grandma showers them with gifts and attention. While in Austin we stayed with the Mabeys and visited with the Pullmans and the Browns. We ate at Rudi's and went waterskiing on Lake Austin. It was amazingly fun. Hans was able to golf and I went shopping at the outlets. We are debating a move to Austin. It's a difficult decision. We love Colorado and we are happy here, but there is more opportunity for Hans in Austin. Austin is also sea level with lots of lakes, which makes more sense for a boat purchase. This is a big decision and I'm notoriously indecisive. The night before we left for Austin Hans bought a truck. He loves it. We are now trying to sell the Honda Civic, which was my college car. I will miss it.

The kids are doing great. They are busy with their activities, but they handle it all so well. I am so grateful to have them and for their reminders to me to be more joyful.

Random Pictures

Katelyn got to dress up for Constitution day at school. This is what she and Ashley came up with since we don't have much Colonial dress around our house. She loved having her hair in really tight curls. She recited the Declaration of Independence, which she has memorized and did some activities that related to the Constitution. I love that they have these fun half-day fridays monthly.

Justin is really really happy to have his hair long enough again to do his mohawk. He was SO mad at me when I buzzed it off and now that his hair needs cutting again he is begging me to take him to Life Time to have it cut so I don't buzz it off again. He is also working hard on mastering the yo-yo.

Ashley at the piano. She works diligently at it. I love hearing her play. She has the World's greatest piano teacher.

Mia is explaining to me what this picture says. It was something to the effect of me having poop on my head. She's a lovely thing.

Katelyn loves crossword puzzles. She also loves making her own crossword puzzles with themes. This one was all words having to do with Church.

All 4 dressed up and ready for Church. I love this bunch.

Mia Starts Pre-School

Mia started Pre-school in September. She goes to Miss Colleen's with two friends from church and she loves it. She loves that she gets to take her pink, sparkly backpack with a snack in it and show and tell on Thursdays. She loves that when she goes to school in Madi's car she gets to watch a movie. But most of all she loves Miss Colleen. She is young to be going to pre-K, but since she only missed the deadline by a week I decided to put her in. She likes the extra time there. She goes Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12:30-3.

Mia turns 4 next Saturday. She is busily planning her Little Mermaid Birthday party and trying to guess what is in the box I wrapped for her. We went to Party City yesterday and bought everything Little Mermaid for her party. I'm getting sad that my days of little mermaid and pink frilly things are coming to an end and so I may be overcompensating with Mia and her party.

Things about Mia - She is very aware of fashion and how she looks. Out of principle she doesn't wear pants. Leggings are questionable. She has a very clear picture of how she should look and worries that if she doesn't look the way she should that people will make fun of her. She won't take cheetos to school for a snack since Miss Colleen called a boy with cheetos a cheeto-head. She's embarrassed about many things, but also has a lot of confidence. She likes to run the show with her friends and can be quite the leader (is this a nice way of saying she's bossy?). She loves make-up, especially lip gloss and eye shadow. She loves polly pocket barbies and plays for hours with them. She is a home body and prefers to be at home with me then with friends. She makes us all laugh. She still you tubes 'how to apply make-up' videos and can spend a long time watching them if she's being sneaky. She knows all the words to a few of Taylor Swift's songs and I love to hear her sing them.

I love Mia!!!

Family Pictures

I LOVE OUR PICTURES! Check out www.treasuredphotosbyjoyana.com. She is Amazing.

Mia and I

So happy to have Mia with me at home still. She is my buddy. We plan on swimming a lot together while the kids are at school.

School Started!

School started on Thursday. It is bittersweet for me. I'm never ready for school to start and for summer to end. I love the flexibility of summer and having the kids around all day. School is too long. I'm excited for them to go and learn and be with friends, but there is so much I hate about school that I always feel anxious about them starting. I feel optimistic that this year will be a great one.

The kids! 9, 7, 5, and 3.

I love the kindergarten schedule. He's not gone long enough for me to miss him. I love the space of 3 hours 4 times a week. It's perfect. I'd happily keep this schedule for all years of school.

Justin idolizes his dad. He's had a hard time earning a date, but he finally got one for tomorrow night to test out a boat we are thinking of buying.

Justin got new shorts, pants, and three shirts. Not sure how I thought one pair of shorts could possibly be enough.

So so glad these girls have each other. I loved watching them walk into school holding hands.

I will miss Ashley immensely. She is such a calming influence in our home and Justin and Mia idolize her.

Ashley loves her dad. She earned a date and chose to go rock climbing with cookies at King Soopers after. They had a great time. Ashley just made eagles transition at gymnastics meaning she gets to go 3 hours a week now. She was really excited.

Ashley got new shorts, pants, shoes, headband, lunchbox, and a couple polos. She is excited for school this year. Her class is great and her best friend Kaylee is in her class.

I will miss Katelyn. She is so helpful with Justin and Mia. She makes obstacle courses, disney world rides, and plays games with them. She is one creative, amazing gal.

Million dollar smile!

Katelyn loves her dad. She earned a date for talking to her gym coach Miss Katie and for being moved up to a level 4! Go Katelyn. She gets to compete next fall. Hans took her to see the Smurfs.

All ready for her first day. She got a new headband, backpack, shoes, lunchbox and red shirt. The rest of her stuff still works. In fact, this skort she has on she's worn since kindergarten. She is so cute and she was so excited to start 2nd grade.

Katelyn and Miss Scarborough on drop of school supply day. Katelyn was able to drop off 16 hershey bars so she'd have treats on hand in case there was a party with no gluten-free options. She is thrilled.

Ashley with Mrs. Rogers. Ashley is very excited about her class. She is with Kaylee again, which is so so so great. The class is a great mix of kids. I am really happy with this 4th grade set-up for Ashley. I already got a call from Mrs. Rogers on Friday saying that Ashley tested into advanced math. All that mom school made a difference! I'm proud of her!

We celebrated the first day of school with a silly string fight and yo yogurt.

Justin Starts Kindergarten

Justin started Kindergarten on Wednesday. I got to go with him for his first day of school. It was fun to spend the time with just him. He has a great teacher - Mrs. Ladd. She is amazing. I love her already. She has done a great job easing a lot of Justin's fears in just one short day. On this day with me he did a craft and then played on the playground. Thursday was his first day of school without me. He goes 3 1/2 hours 4 days a week. He has been sad that all his friends are going to either all day kindergarten or in the morning. He honestly doesn't know what to do with himself without constant friends. I'm sure he will figure it out! He is so cute and I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that he is old enough to go to school. I will miss this little boy.

His class of 16 kids.

This is his self portrait. He made himself with a mohawk. He's still mad at me for buzzing his hair. He misses his mohawk. He wrote that he loves motorcycles and that in school he wants to learn more about motorcycles.

The Pool

Handsome boy.

She is a fish in the water. And she loves this swimsuit. She wears it out, to the pool, and to bed. It was a good 7$ buy.

We bought these tubes in Disney World and they've been tons of fun.

Katelyn likes to do her gymnastics in the pool. It's impressive.

I love these goggled people.


We spent a lot of time at the pool, as usual, this summer. I love the Wolf Ranch pool. It's quiet, it's fenced in, the water is warm, and the hot showers provide just as much entertainment as the pool. All the kids are great swimmers. Ashley did another year of swim team and is a great lap swimmer. The other three kids did a session of swim lessons and enjoyed them. Mia is an amazing swimmer. Justin was brave enough to put his head under the water this year, which is an accomplishment for him. He loves floating around the pool in a tube or swimming laps with his arm floaties on. He also spent a good amount of time driving his remote controlled boat around the pool while Ashley was doing swim team. I love being at the pool because it was great social interaction for the kids as well as for me. These pictures are from right before school started and also the only the day the kids actually played in the splash park next to the pool.