Nolan's First Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe my Nolan is starting Kindergarten! I feel like time is slipping through my fingers and I know I can't do anything to stop it. Life is crazy right now, but try so hard to enjoy the good moments, really enjoy them as much as I can because I know - I know - these are the sweetest, simplest days that I'll miss. 

Anyway, Nolan is super excited, plus a little nervous he said. I think he's just not really sure what to expect. Covid hasn't helped in that department. I know he'll do just fine. He's such a good, respectful boy. And luckily his friend Lily from the ward is in his class so he'll have at least one friend.

Last night we tapped into our German heritage and gave Nolan a schultute. He loved it and I feel like it was a really fun way to get him excited for school.

 

Waiting on his dot to go into the classroom. He's number 15. When it was his turn to go inside he said, "Bye mommy!" pretty loudly. Justin had to remind him to say, "bye daddy." haha. I'm not mad about it. Mom needs some love around here.

Oh sweet Branson. I didn't cry at all until I saw his crocodile tears! 

I was filming Nolan going into the classroom and when I turned the camera on Branson I could tell he was upset. He told Justin he was going to miss Nolan and started quietly crying. It just about broke my heart! I know they fight, but they sure love each other.

Nolan is attending Granite Elementary School and his teacher is Mrs. Genesi, AM Kindergarten.

Provo Rec Center

We weren't sure we'd be able to take the boys to the Provo Rec Center this summer because of Covid, but luckily it was open! So I asked Pam if she could watch Caden while I took the older boys for one last summer hoorah.

We had such a good time together! The indoor pool especially was practically empty which was awesome and the boys were so well behaved. We just had a wonderful time and I'm so glad we went.

Nolan's favorite is the lazy river. He would have stayed in there the whole time if I'd have let him! He was acting out movie scenes the whole time haha. Love that kid!

They are both so funny, but especially Nolan. He absolutely LOVED going down the big outdoor slides the first time we went and this time he was terrified and refused to go on them. I finally talked Branson into going with me though. I got nervous as we went down though because I forgot how fast they were and worried it was too fast or scary for B or that I couldn't keep a good hold on him. He seemed to like it though and we went 3 times!

We had pizza for lunch and then treated them to some dip n dots ice cream!

I am so glad I got to spend this special time with my big boys. I love them so much! 💙

Hike with Friends to Gloria Falls

As a little last hoorah before school started we decided to take the kids up Little Cottonwood Canyon for a hike. We did a 2 miler to Gloria Falls and it was crazy, but awesome haha. Seriously though, the kids were great and we really didn't have any problems. I love getting my boys out hiking, I just wish we did it more often.

Also, I love these ladies (Andrea, Meghan, Tasha (who I went to school with in LV), and Liz). They are all friends from the 49th ward, back in our single days :) They are all women I respect and love being around!

Not all are pictured, but we had 5 moms and 14 kids. Each mom has 3 kids, but I didn't bring Caden which proved very helpful because Liz needed help carrying her little baby.

We made it! Beautiful falls!

My favorite part of this hike was how everyone helped each other. I took this picture and I was holding Trevyn (Liz's baby), Meghan Shelby is holding Ember's hand (Liz's little girl), and Liz is holding Branson's hand.

The boys did so well on the 2 mile hike. I didn't hear them complain once! The only almost crying was when Nolan stepped in mud with his Star Wars shoes, but I assured him they could be cleaned and all was well.

Caden - 8 months

 I've said it at least 10 times already - I can't believe Caden is 8 months old! All of the sudden it feels like he's just so...big! Just now a picture of Branson at the same age, wearing a shirt Caden often wears came up on our photo frame and I turned to Justin and told him that I remember that moment like it was yesterday! Now B is almost 4 and we have another kid that same age!

Anyway, Caden has really grown this last month or two and learned so many new things! Here's what he's been up to:

• Right at about 8 months he started sitting up by himself. GAME CHANGER. I love when they can finally sit up and you can just set them down to let them play.
• He responds to his name. This is always a fun one for me. I don't know why. I guess it's just fun to see a baby figure out that when we string certain sounds together we're calling for him. I hope he likes his name 💙.
• He's a pretty fast army crawler, but still hasn't figured out how to crawl with his tummy off the floor. 
• To fall asleep we put him in his bed and put his magical black minky coutour blanket over his legs and a binky in his mouth. Most nights he grabs the blanket and pulls it up to his face, then turns over and goes to sleep. It's pretty adorable.

• He's really getting into baby food lately. He eats a whole jar pretty fast and gets a little miffed if you don't get the spoon to his mouth quick enough. It's pretty cute how he gets so excited when the bite gets close. He starts kicking his legs and opening his mouth nice and wide.
• The big boys and dad went camping this weekend so I thought it was probably a good opportunity to start sleep training Caden (you know, once his softy dad was out of the way haha). Up until now he'd sleep from about 7:30 or 8 to midnight when we'd wake him up and feed him and then he'd sleep until about 7am. If we didn't do the midnight feeding he'd often wake up anywhere between 2 and 5am crying. Anyway, he cried for about 5 min the first two nights, but went back to sleep and slept straight through the third night!
• He's still the sweetest little guy and is such an incredible light in our family. He adores his older brothers and they adore him (side note: for some reason Branson usually shows his love by climbing on top of Caden or squeezing his thighs or cheeks just a liiiittttle too tight haha). I love how snuggly he is. And daddy can always, always get a big smile which melts his heart.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  His brothers LOVE feeding him! Especially Branson, but I've even asked Nolan to feed him (unsupervised 👀) so I could get something done.
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  Often if he's fussy and we can't figure out why we'll just stick him outside and he's happy! He doesn't even mind sitting directly on the grass (I know lots of babies don't like that).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Oh naked Branson feeding little brother.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Caden's bedtime necessities: black minky blanket, binky, and the green dino.