Kindergarten Firsts and Lasts

First day of Kindergarten picture with Mom

Last day of Kindergarten picture with Mom

First Day of school

Last Day of school




It's official, he's a graduate and is mooving on up. I know some may think it's lame to make a fuss about a Kindergarten graduation, but it's a big milestone (in my book) so it's been fussed about and documented!!

Graduation Day


Mrs. Brown


His buddy Logan


I think he's ready for first grade, but am I ready for him to be gone from me each day for 6+ hours? When I asked him what he was most excited for coming up in the first grade, he said, "two recesses." Such a man already: straight up and to the point.



Congrats baby!

Kindergarten (and your Batman backpack) is now behind you and so many exciting new things lay ahead!

Wasn't going to post this...

But here it goes.

Last week I took Leda and Chase (Spencer was at K) to the pool with my friend Camille and her 3 year old daughter, Payton. It was supposed to have been a warm day, but it turned overcast on us, so in an effort to make it a more enjoyable experience for all, we hung out at the jacuzzi (aka "hot pool"). This meant that Camille and I moved the poolside lounge chairs closer to the hot pool so we could be closer to the children.

Leda and Chase both own arm floaties, but because they were just hanging out on the steps of the spa and my kids never venture far out, I thought to myself, "Oh whatever, I'll let them go without them today."

Ya, you see where this is going (big sigh) and some of you already know what happened.

About 45 minutes into our play date, the children started walking back and forth between the pool behind us and the spa in front of us. I thought I was doing a decent job of watching my children and talking to Camille at the same time. Leda was still on the steps of the hot pool and I'd turn and take inventory of the kids quite often. They weren't IN the pool mind you, they were just kinda going back and forth with their buckets and pool toys.

So Camille and I were talking and snacking when behind us we hear Payton in her little three year old voice say, "Are you okay?" to which we both responded of course by turning around. It was then that I saw that my my Chase had fallen into the pool (how had I not heard the splash??) and was bobbing up and down, struggling (and failing miserably) to keep his head above water. His yellow bucket was next to him in the water.

My heart stopped.

I jumped up, and dove into the shallow end (my clothing on) so to get myself across the pool as quickly as I could to get to him. Camille and I estimated that the entire awful experience probably was only about 7 seconds long...but it was frightening to say the least. When I got to Chase and pulled him up above water(he had sunk under completely) he took one big gasping breath, gave me a bear hug and said to me with no tears, "That was scary Mommy!"

My heart stopped again.

He was just fine. But I couldn't stop shaking for a long while. For days after this I just couldn't stop all the "what ifs?" that would creep into my head each time my eyes closed:

What if Payton hadn't said what she said, when she said it?

What if I had waited another minute before turning around to "take inventory" of my children?

What if I hadn't gotten to him in time?

What if I'd turned to see him floating face down in the water?

What if I'd had to use CPR? Even though I'm certified and trained, would I have remembered?

Ugh. It's still killing me...all these what ifs?.

So, I wasn't going to blog about this experience for obvious reasons, but since it still haunts me, I thought I'd put this out there in an effort to help me get over it and to remind us all that we can never be too careful. I am a good Mom, I know I am, but accidents happen when we are being careless. And being careless happens to the best of us at times.

With summer approaching, I know that we as mothers can get busy, get a little too ahead of ourselves at times or just think in the moment, "Oh, my kid will be just fine, this is okay"...but you just never know.

Please be careful with your children in the water this summer!

I've SO learned my lesson. I relive this lesson each time I close my eyes late at night. Hopefully by typing this all out it can be the end of my little nightmare.

I am so grateful that this experience ended with Chase being just fine. I'm so grateful that precious three year old Payton had the thought to say, "Are you okay?" to her friend who needed help, so in that moment I could respond very quickly to a very dangerous situation. So grateful.

Whew. I'm done reliving this. And so to end on a very happy note: Here is picture of my precious Chase and his gorgeous green eyes.

I'm a lucky mom, right?

Trust me, I know.

Peppa-oni

Never mind the fact that it's 8am and I'm feeding my child pepperoni (I have my reasons)...but check out how good Chase is talking! For a while we were concerned, but he's really developing quite a vocabulary and talking up a storm.

I get the biggest kick out of his new word "peppa-ONI" and oh, of course the love he has for his Momma (ahh)---listen for it!

My brothers wedding

I wish I hadn't handed my camera over to Aaron...well, I actually didn't...sigh...it's a long story (I'm in the wrong) and the bottom line is that I didn't capture many pictures of Rob and Blythe. And I also failed to get any pictures with my cousins and Aunt from Calfornia who traveled a long way to come. Sigh.

Here are the snapshots of the special day!

Blythe and most her neices (some were missing here). Blythe's Mom Robin made ALL these dresses!

Rob with his nephews (Robin made all these bowties and cumberbuns too!)



My Hall family cousins with my Grandma Joy Hall. Last generation, this side of family was mainly all girls (3 boys) but this generation it's flipped to boys! The women in this picture combined have born 13 children and only 2 are girls!


Another cousin shot (on the far right is Sarah, the newest Hall! She married my cousin Robert just a week earlier)


Me, my Mom and my sister



Leda called this dress her "Belle" dress because it was yellow. She was strutting her stuff all day long.



Mount Timpanogos Temple


They had a ring ceremony after the temple, on each side are all of their neices and nephews


Had to get a shot of each of my children and what they were doing during the ceremony


Spencer was leaning up against the piano with his leg kicked back. It was funny to us.

This is me with my Grandma Leda's sister Phyllis. She met my Leda here for the first time in this picture. Hugging Phyllis made me miss my Grandma so much all over again. Sigh.


The only cake shot I got


I just loved this one of my Dad shooting the breeze with all his cousins. It was so fun to see all of our Utah family.

And at the end of the night I asked someone to snap a shot of me and Aaron (you know, for proof that we were there together) and he did this. I liked it ;)


The happy couple on their way out the door to their Alaskan cruise! I was only a little jealous ;)

Today I miss...

my nephew Gabe.



I wanna squeeze the pudding out of him and eat his cheeks!

Good thing he's coming to visit in a few weeks...but Carrie may have to fight me to take him back home.

Darn Utah.

Uncle Rob and Aunt Blythe's house

Rob and Blythe are renting this cute little place outside of Provo and the kids had a BALL running around the backyard. You know, seeing as how we don't know what backyards are here in Cali (or at least ones that we can afford)...it was extra exciting for our children!



Leda calls these "wishies" and I love these next three shots:





My little nephew Gabe. I could eat him up!


Our friend Jesus came to see us, he was so much fun. My kids would not leave him alone...or Jesus wouldn't leave them alone...I'm not sure which ;)


Brother in laws chilling


A cute place for a cute couple...just wish it was a bit closer!

Blythe's bridal shower

Day one (or rather, event one?) from our trip to Utah.

The first night we were there, my mom, sister and I attended Blythe's bridal shower. It was a lot of fun and we were happy we made it after getting lost on I-15 for 30 minutes (don't ask). Blythe's family is so warm and inviting.

It was a cooking themed shower. Rob and Blythe both love to cook...so each gift had something to do with the kitchen.

How adorable is this apron?




The girls (left to right: my sister Carrie, Blythe, me and my Mom)


(and fyi: the only reason I'm taller than Blythe here is cause I'm wearing 3" wedges...Blythe is a whopping 5'10" of beauty! She was wearing flats here)

Giveaway!

Not mine (I have nothing of worth to give away, lol) but my friend Lori at CiCi studio is doing a giveaway!

Check out her blog HERE.


Lori is uber talented and building a super chic business online...check her stuff out! And pretty please, if you enter because of this here post, please mention my name so I can get a point or two? I kinda really wanna win this! ;) lol

Fathers and Sons campout--May 2009

This outing happened a few weeks go, but better documented late than never, right?

This was Aaron and Spencer's first father and son campout since Spencer was a 2.5 year old! The past few years Aaron has always been traveling on business around these Priesthood commemoration trips...so this year they were especially excited to be able to go.

Oh and I tried to convince Aaron to take our 2.5 year old son Chase (he's a boy and a son after all, right?) and so I gently reminded Aaron that Chase was Spencer's exact age at his first overnight trip...but then Aaron gently reminded me that even though they may be the same sex, Chase and Spencer are two very different children and that because of this, Chase would not be going until he was a year older. Point well made. I joked that I wouldn't want to be trapped in a tent with Chase either at this age. lol

I have to give Aaron props for taking pictures at all, but he failed to get a picture of the two of them together...or even of himself at all. Ah well, I'm grateful for these few shots that I have and even more grateful for the great time my boys had!

(click on picture to enlarge) isn't their little rock semi-circle in front of their tent so cute and clever? I got a kick out of it.



Yep, that's the ocean right there behind the tents. It's hard roughing it in Southern California, aint it?




My sweet boy has the best smile...it's just that you'll never be able to see it because whenever a camera is on him, this is the result we get. Always. Sigh ;)