Enjoy!
FAMILY: We had a great
time in August – we got to see a lot of family & have a lot of fun! On the
4th, we spent most of the day unpacking boxes and Jason worked with
a guy & his mini excavator to clear some sagebrush. That was hot, dirty,
draining work, but our side and backyard look MUCH better! McKinley got to stay
with Grandma Devenish from the 7th to the 10th and they
had a lot of fun going to the fair, going swimming, playing with cousins, and
grandma tried to teach McKinley how to crochet. While they were gone, Ireland & Kezia had
fun with mom – going to the park, having dance parties, and going shopping. We
met the Devenishs in Cove Fort on the 10th & the kids had fun
doing the Cove Fort tour. The weekend of the 11th was adult stake
conference & Hannah & Hailey watched our kids & the Bealers while
we went to the adult session. The main session was on Sunday & the girls
did really well. After we got back we had some fun visitors – the Warrens (our
friends from Herriman) had been in St. George & stopped for lunch and a
visit on their way home. It was great to catch up & McKinley was SO excited
to see her friend Lizzy! J The 13th was our special Family Home
Evening where we talked about school & blessings & Jason gave all the
girls a blessing. On the 14th, McKinley & Ireland went to the
dentist & we’re so happy to say that they are cavity-free!! That evening
Jason went to back-to-school night with McKinley at South Elementary. McKinley started
1st grade with Mrs. Robb on August 16th! Also that
morning, mom went with Ireland to meet her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Ekker
& do her assessment. We had our annual Potts family retreat on August 17th-21st.
It was hot there, but we spent a LOT of time swimming!! We also had fun hiking
to Delicate Arch (wow! What a hike!), playing games, visiting, doing crafts, watching
movies, and MORE swimming! The condos were really nice and we all had a great
time. Jason wanted to take the scenic route home & while it was MUCH longer
(3hours!) than he estimated, it was beautiful to drive past so many national
parks & forests. We came back from Moab with some colds, but thankfully
they didn’t last long. The Simons went to Las Vegas & stopped by to see us
on the way back – the 26th. We had some good lunch & cookies
& it was fun to show them our new home & play with their cute kids. Mom
& Dad went to the dentist on the 27th & we wish we has as
good of a report as the kids. Jason has 3 cavities & Heidi has 2 teeth with
a little decay that they want to take care of L Ireland started Kindergarten on
the 28th & she was SO excited to ride the bus with her sister!
Now it’s just mom & Kezia in the mornings – quite a change! Also at the end
of the month, the Checketts moved to Minnesota L We are sad, but glad we got to spend time with them in Moab & hope
they come visit LOTS!! There has been a LOT of rain this month here in Cedar.
Almost every afternoon the clouds roll in & we get thunder & lightning
& a rainstorm. We’ve had fun watching the rain from the deck or playing in
it in the front yard J Our other big news this month is that we sold one of
our Enoch lots. HOORAY! Miracle!
JASON: Jason’s boss has headed to another
fire, so he’s got a busy workload again, but not too busy to spend time with
family & take some time off for Moab & Labor Day. They got news that
they are getting a new Forest Supervisor from the Nevada BLM next month, so he’s
looking forward to seeing what changes she might bring. Jason got called this
month to be a Priest Quorum advisor/scout leader and he’s already started going
to activities on Tuesdays. He’s looking forward to getting to know the boys and
the leaders. Jason has been working with Ireland at nights – helping her to
learn her sight words and read her BOB books. Such a good daddy!
HEIDI:
Heidi is still very pregnant. Just over 2 more months to go. She’s feeling
pretty good overall, but her hips are really starting to bother her at night.
She still tries to get a couple-mile run in a couple times a week & a walk
or two. The baby is really active at night – right before she goes to bed. He
also seems to really like sweets J Heidi got called to be the teacher
in McKinley’s class & is excited to get to know all McKinley’s friends. She’s
team-teaching with her friend Elise, so it should be fun J Heidi is trying to be wise about her
time with just Kezia in the mornings. She gets stuff done, but likes to just
relax & play with her Kezia while she’s still the baby of the family J She read some good books this month –
Matched & Crossed, by Alie Condie, and The Wednesday Letters. She also
completed McKinley’s birthday book. Yay!
McKINLEY:
-McKinley had a great time having
some special time with Grandma Devenish this month. Grandma took her to the
fair & tried to teach her how to crochet. She also took her swimming &
McKinley got to play with her Reed cousins in Richfield. Grandma also took her
shopping & got some really cute dresses & swim suits.
-McKinley is really liking Mrs. Robb’s
1st grade class so far. She’s even had a girl from her class call
her for a play-date – Alyssa. She likes having lunch at school (and mom’s
notes) and she likes her 3 recesses, though she says she doesn’t play much. She
says she gets hot & likes to sit in the shade. So far McKinley’s homework
has just been to write her ABCs. Everyone gets to bring something from home
when it’s their day for that letter. She has the letter O and gets to be the
leader on her birthday next month. She’s VERY excited!
-McKinley has also had lots of
play-dates with our neighbor down the street, Jenny Dowse. Jenny is 9 years
old, but is about McKinley’s height & they seem to have lots of fun
together. Jenny has a pool in her backyard, so McKinley got to go swimming over
there for a while one afternoon.
-McKinley is loving school, but
grappling with the reality of growing up. After a few days of school, one
evening it was time to get ready for bed & lay out clothes for the next
day. McKinley realized she hadn’t had any screen time that day & had a
major meltdown. She said 1st grade was too hard and she doesn’t have
time for playing and friends and screen time and all she ever does is go to
school and come home & do chores and eat and she never gets to do anything
fun anymore. She decided that night that she was done with school and she wasn’t
going to go any more and no one could make her. Thankfully by the next morning
she has some better perspective, but she really is realizing there’s not enough
hours in the day to do all the things she wants to.
-One Sunday while the rest of the
family took naps, McKinley was bored & decided to get the box of crayons
out. She got a blank piece of paper & wrote down the colors of each crayon.
It was filled front & back with names like “midnight blue” and “slate gray”
-When we are trying to get out the
door, Mom will often chant “L-E-T-S G-O! let’s go, let’s go!” (and old cheer).
One day we were trying to leave & McKinley yelled “L-E-G-S T-O!”
-When McKinley went to the dentist
this month, she got a fun surprise. The dental assistant that worked on her
teeth turned out to be Kaden’s mom. Kaden was a boy she had a crush on in Mrs.
Jones Kindergarten class. Kaden’s mom said she knew McKinley because Kaden
would talk about her & say there was a girl that talked to him & chased
him at recess J McKinley got Kaden’s number for a play date J
-After McKinley went to
back-to-school night with dad, she got to go to McDonald’s for her date that
she earned with her points. They had ice cream & a great time!
-McKinley has had a REALLY hard time
sleeping this month. With school starting & having earlier bedtimes, she struggles
with getting to sleep. Some nights she’s up almost to 11 & complains that
she just CAN’T go to sleep. Mom & dad try & help her to say prayers,
count her blessings, write in her journal, read a book, or other quiet activities,
but she still seems to struggle.
-McKinley had a LOT of fun in Moab.
She got to have sleepovers with Michael & go swimming to her heart’s
content. The Delicate Arch hike was hard, but she didn’t give up & she had
a good attitude the whole time. GREAT job McKinley!
IRELAND:
-Ireland has
had a really hard time this month using her WORDS instead of her HANDS or even
TEETH. She has pushed & kicked & she lost the privilege of getting to
stay with Grandma Devenish with McKinley. One day mom was just exasperated
& asked “Ireland – what do I have to do to help you remember to use your
WORDS instead of your HANDS?” Ireland thought for a minute & said “Ummm… I
know!! Maybe you could give me candy!!”
-One day mom was trying to get Ireland to clean up her room. She was supposed
to put the books away & mom looked to find Ireland reading them instead of
putting them away. Mom said “Ireland – just put the books away – don’t read
them!” Ireland replied “But I have to check to make sure all the pages are
there!”
-Ireland did great at the dentist again – no cavities!
-Kezia smashed a spider one morning & Ireland yelled “Kezia’s our HERO! She
smashed the spider!”
-Ireland has been really cute with her notes lately. She likes to write on the
little heart post-it notes. She will write “I love you Jason” & give it to
daddy or “I love you Heidi” and put it on mom’s shirt. She’s also been doing
lots of drawings with sun & grass & 2 stick figures holding hands. One
day she also put lots of random letters & lines & at the end she wrote
THE END. She told mom all about the story she wrote. It was so cute J
-Ireland has been SO excited to start Kindergarten this month – especially since
McKinley started 2 weeks earlier than she did. Every night she would ask, in
the morning I go to Kindergarten, right?
-Mrs. Ekker said she did really well
on her assessment & is ALL ready for Kindergarten. Just in the past month,
Ireland has REALLY progressed in learning sights words & reading. She knows
about 30 sight words now & can read about 8 BOB books all by herself. GREAT
JOB Ireland!
-Ireland has been having a hard time with mean faces lately. If someone takes
something away or she’s upset at her sisters, she will get in their faces &
scrunch up her face & yell or growl at them. We are working with her &
she has gotten some cayenne pepper this month L
-Ireland LOVES to ride the bus. Mom picked her up on her first day of school so
she could get some pictures & Ireland was so mad that she didn’t get to
ride the bus home.
-Ireland is LOVING her new school clothes – especially her sparkly shoes. She
has not gone to school one day without sparkly shoes one. She will just look
down at her feet as she’s walking & smile J
-Ireland is loving Kindergarten. She learned the tortoise & the hare story
& they made their own tortoises. They are learning color songs & it’s
so cute to hear her sing her R-E-D red song. She says that she sits on the
letter E for Elephant on the alphabet rug.
KEZIA
-Mom wishes she had a recorded to
record Kezia’s sayings. She is just too cute these days and says the funniest
things. Mom can’t even capture a part of it.
-Kezia walked in on a family member
in the restroom. Kezia asked if it was going to be stinky & the person said
“yes.” Then Kezia said “Ok – then I’m going to plug my ears”
-One day Kezia said “Jesus is goin’
to be mad to Ireland because she’s pinchin’ me!”
-When mom was washing Kezia’s hair one day, Kezia said “it’s in my eyes!” Mom
said “what’s in your eyes?” She said “The air conditioner!”
-Mom was in the other room & she heard this song in her sweet 2-year-old's voice:
"Mary had a little knife, little knife, little knife..." sure enough,
mom went in there & she had this sharp knife, trying to cut a piece of
fruit. Glad she warned mom even if it was the creepiest thing she’s ever heard!!
-Kezia loves to lift up her shirt
& try to stick out her tummy & say “look mom! My tummy is big like
yours!”
-Kezia is apparently unafraid of
smashing spiders lately. Not sure if it’s a good or bad thing!
-Lately Kezia will cover her ears
with her hands when she doesn’t want to hear something. If her sisters are mad
at her, she covers her ears. If she knows she will get in trouble, she will cover
her ears. Mom caught her coloring on the tile with marker & she just put
her hands over her ears.
-One day Kezia came to mom & said
“I tooted!” mom said “well, what do you say?” Kezia: “WOW!!” Mom (trying to
keep a straight face): “No – we say excuse me!” Kezia: “Well, dad says Wow!”
(yes… yes, he does.)
-Kezia was on mom’s lap one day &
said “Mom your baby is trying to get out! He’s trying to make a door so he can
get out!”
-Kezia has been a bit sad about her
sister’s leaving. She will often ask where they are. She was sad, too, because
they were getting all these new things for school, so mom bought her a few new
things so she wouldn’t feel too left out J
-Kezia is still having some
accidents, but overall she’s doing great and we are so proud that she wears her
big girl panties!!
I feel like I've been neglecting this pregnancy. With all the other girls, I was pretty good about writing to my unborn child every few weeks or so in my journal. I think I've written maybe 3 times with this one :( I also haven't taken hardly any pictures of my baby bump. On Sunday, I finally gave McKinley the camera & asked her to take a picture.
