Father's Day turned out pretty small. My brothers were no-shows for their various reasons and so it was just us, my parents, Mandy and Zealand.

The kids had a blast outside. Zealand seems to love being here and he loves his cousins. They're crazy about him.

 After eating as much as we could and STILL having enough to feed an army, we took some pictures to remember the occasion.

My dad is in the middle of #5 of 6 chemotherapy sessions. He is really looking forward to ending it and really anxious to be declared cancer-free. We hope and pray for that result as well. He's turning sixty next week and we'll be happily celebrating once again!

We begin with Dane. Very excited to be going into 4th grade. After two days of attending, he keeps talking about all the "opportunities" that come with 4th grade. It'll be interesting to see what he takes advantage of this year.

On the same day (July 26th), Bryce got to attend the Kindergarten open house. He loved doing work at all the stations there and meeting his teacher. He couldn't stop beaming and pretty much danced back to the car.I officially enrolled at SLCC, starting small with a required math class, online. One small step for me, heading to the education I've been putting off for so long. No one will be surprised that I'm going for an English degree and I'm really excited about this. The best part is seeing how proud Dane and Ella are of me. They keep mentioning it to other people. Perhaps it's just that it's a novelty to have Mommy go to school at the same time as them, but either way, they think it's cool.This whole school thing seems to be a theme around here as Cam continues to teach at the Univ of Phoenix. He seems to really enjoy it. Its something that probably neither of us could have foreseen as something in his future, but it's been a pleasant surprise.

Today was Ella's first day of school (we met briefly with her teacher yesterday), her first day of first grade. I was so sad after B and I dropped her off. It was quick as we had to rush home to catch a delivery. It didn't bother her that it was quick. She got in line by her cousin (another school surprise) and went right in. My she's grown up! She is so much more confident in who she is. She loves all the girly-girls she hangs out with at school.After the delivery of our kitchen cabinets, Bryce and I rushed back to the school to meet Dane's teacher.

Later, while everyone was at school, after he lamented that he didn't get to go, Bryce used his "squirt-gun syringe" (obtained after this accident) to make designs in water on the deck. He LOVED it!We also worked on his handwriting. I've let him get into so bad habits with his letter forming (though it seems to be a theme with all my children). He had his moments of frustration and elation.

Here comes Ella! Fresh off of her first day. Mommy is much relieved to see her happy face and to hear she had a very wonderful day.We have an assessment Bryce's teacher in the morning. Nothing like jumping right back into things.

Cam came up with a fun activity for Family Home Evening based on his current televisual obsession: Minute to Win It.

First we tried (with modest success) to thread penne pasta onto a spaghetti noodle, using only our teeth to hold the spaghetti.

Next, we were to place an Oreo cookie on our foreheads, while sitting in a chair, and manuever it down our faces into our mouths, using only our facial muscles and gravity. This was really hard and we have the embarrassing photos to prove it.

I got this photo in my email Saturday. Ella's school had a Daddy's Little Princess dance. They had so much fun. Ella was a crazy, giggly girl and had a ball meeting up with the entire female half of her class. She and Cam had special treats and got this professional photo taken.
Cam and Ella have always adored each other and I'm really glad they had this to do together.

As we got started on some fun Christmas stuff in the kitchen, Ella said it should have been Pink Day today (Wednesday) because "I like Pink Day to be on special days and I can tell that today is going to be a special day."

While Bryce and I got a new batch of caramel measured out, Dane and Ella worked together to make their first ginger bread dough.

Taking a break until I can help with the next stage...That night (or maybe it was the next? My days are blurring) we went to see the lights at Temple Square in downtown SLC. We haven't been here for years. Long enough for Bryce and Ella to not even remember or know about the place. Ella was very excited! (this vid is a subdued Ella while we were there)

Dane said the wider spread trees reminded him of Lehi's Vision of the Tree of Life. (another example below)

Lights everywhere!

I loved this feature on the reflective pond in the Main Street Plaza. After this we slipped over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Center and looked down on the Square from the 10th floor. The kids loved that.

It was just warm enough and it's always nice to not have to worry about slipping on ice. We went inside the North Visitors' Center.

The kids in the room with the Christus. They loved the depiction of the universe. Bryce was amazed by the size of the statue.

I was so happy to have a lovely time with no more than an occasional "When can we go home?" from Dane. I was a great taste of the Christmas spirit!

I suppose that sounds like a title for a post on blessings. Not really. Not exactly...

Cam and I rocked our costumes one more time at the Harry Potter event last night/early this morning.

Here we are with a fun group of kids that thought we were cool (if only for a moment) l to r Hagrid, Gilderoy Lockheart, Snape, Bellatrix, Harry Potter and Hermoine Granger.Now to the rewards...

Cam won really nice tickets to tonight's Jazz game. This is the third time he's won something in the last month. Time to play the Lotto, I guess. LOLMy reward?

I got to handle this lovely Woma Python. It was beautiful. I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to hold these amazing animals. I got to have it slither around my arms for around five minutes. What a treat!

This is why it's important to have fun, even when you're a 'grown-up.'

Hello.

I've been sick all week. Why does stuff like this happen? ie you begin a new goal, one that is really good for you and then it gets messed up? I'd been exercising. I was feeling more energy than I had in years and despite hate, hate, hating exercise I have LOVED that. Even my brain feels more alive!

Anyway, so despite hating exercise I got out there in the chilly cold before dawn and did it. I was just a few minutes under my when-I'm-not-sick goal so I was pleased with that.

I've gone back to writing poetry. I am so happy with it and have been quite prolific. (If you have a desire to check it out, click here) It feels like I have a piece of my soul back. In fact, I have entered three of my poems for the Segullah poetry contest. I haven't submitted writing for a contest since I was in Jr. High and was published in the good ole Spanish Fork Press, so this is a big deal for me personally.

I have been laughing a lot lately. Foolishly, I don't do this much. I take myself waaaay too seriously and my abdominal muscles suffer for it, as does my mental health. Thankfully, Cam and I are quite caught up in the sitcom Big Bang Theory. It's nerd heaven and I get all the jokes! We've been catching up on past seasons. Then the other night we watched Arsenic and Old Lace with Cary Grant and we were rolling. Hil-AR-ious!

I talked Cameron into doing the whole Harry Potter event at the District on Thursday. Oh yeah! (speaking of nerd heaven...) We'll be dressing up and doing all the fun stuff there is to do and we're doing it together. That's what's really awesome for me. Cam and I started reading Harry Potter books together (out loud and in British accents HA!) during the second year of our marriage. It's really been a fun thing to share.

My two favorite days of the week are Thursday and Sunday. The mix up of school schedules on Friday and lack of structure on Saturday really irritate me, but Thursday...Thursday is my least busy run-around day and it's just close enough to the end of the week to be blissfully appealing. (Anyone hear me on that?)

Sunday, I am happy to say, has become such a joy to me because of my calling. I love serving in the Primary and even to have people relying on my to do my job so that they can do theirs. Serving has brought me a lot of joy.

Babies seem to be everywhere! So happy about the arrival of sweet little Chloe (see below) and happy to hear about other friends that are expecting. There is a small tinge of baby-hunger, but honestly, when I look at what I have with my kids, I am so happy with them. I love the age that they are all at. I love seeing their progress, what they're learning, how the way they interact with me and each other changes. They are such a blessing and I am so pleased with them.

Oh yeah...a spent a few days as a blond this week. It's part of a very long, not-so-gripping drama of messing with my own hair color and having to bleach out the mistakes and so forth. Currently, I'm back to my normal light/medium brown and as content as a...whatever thing is truly content. Probably nothing getting a few gray hairs. I wouldn't be content in that state.

I'll have to ramble about the kiddies later, but here's an idea of where I am. Thanks for reading, if you got this far, or even if you just read the first stanza, er, paragraph...

I am so glad Halloween is over. I love that Cam wanted to dress up, but sometimes I get myself in too deep because it makes me happy to do things for him.

Cameron was Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series and I was Bellatrix LeStrange from the same. Bryce was Buzz Lightyear, Dane was a tiger again and Ella was a fairy of her own design. At least, Cam and I can wear our stuff to the final two Harry Potter films' midnight showings, right?Now that Halloween is over, what is next on your list?

I was in the mood to pull out a little Christmas last night. I KNOW, I know this is a crazy thing, but I have two huge trees and if I'm going to go to all that work, I'd like it to last a bit longer. So, one tree is out and assembled. I'm taking the decorating slowly, but just having it out makes me feel ahead of the game.
I'm singing at the funeral of a sweet lady on Thursday. She was my final great-great aunt, my great-grandmother's baby sister. She will definitely be missed. This puts practicing on my list.

I'm glad to have Thanksgiving figured out. My house. Cam's parents. The end. This I can handle. I'm pretty good at making that turkey. My secret.

Somewhere in all this, I'm excited to welcome my friend's new baby when she gets here. Yipee! Hopefully, Mom can hang in there?

Crafts I'm working on all include crocheting so far and that is relaxing. Hopefully, it can stay that way.

So, what's next for you?
Here's a little Z to finish up. He was Santa Claus for Halloween. The funny part is that he didn't even flinch when Aunt Bellatrix picked him up and he was making funny faces and cute dances for Uncle Snape all night.

I have a lot of pictures to post and thought a summary would be the best way to get them on here.

Bryce has loved preschool so far. Back on the 5th Cameron and I got to present his VIP (which happens in honor of the child's birthday). It was so fun to help our youngest child feel special by talking about him and telling his classmates the things he enjoys to do. He loved handing out a special treat to his preschool friends. When you are the VIP you also get to take the class book home. Bryce looked through it over and over again. It contains a profile on each student and has pictures of things they've done in class up to that time. He took pictures of the book with my camera.

The morning of the 9th we had a long photo session with my parents and siblings and families. I'm really excited to see them when they're done. The kids loved being with their cousins and crazy uncles. After the photos Cameron and Dane had to take off for Dane's soccer game.

Dane thoroughly enjoyed soccer again this year. He gets kind of goofy, not very focused, but the kid has fun!

After the soccer games, Dane had the very special opportunity to go to the BYU game with his dad. I painted the Y insignia on his cheeks and after than, Bryce and Ella wanted in on the face painting.

This is a butterfly...sort of. I think my skills are a bit rusty. Bryce just wanted two lightning bolts on his cheeks.Cam reported that Dane enjoyed the football game (it probably helped that they won), but it's still a bit long for him. He crashed on the way home. It was a long day. While they were at the game, Ella and Bryce and I went to Toy Story 3 at the dollar movie. I had an awesome time watching them watch and I cried again.

A week ago, Bryce and I took a trip to Gardener Village with Angie and Sophie. As Buzz Lightyear he was a CELEBRITY! Every little boy 2 and older were whispering excitely to their mothers as he passed. I told him that any time he heard someone say 'Buzz Lightyear' that he should wave. My son was his own parade. One mother even had her child shake hands with Bryce and got her son's photo with him. The kid was in awe.

Bryce ATE IT UP!

Sophie and Bryce helped their mommies with the Witch Scavenger Hunt that would yield a prize at the end of a 25 cent cookie.
Bryce took a bunch of odd pictures, but this one turned out all right.He insisted on this final one.This past week we watched our final soccer games of the season.

I think Bryce was relieved it was all over.

This week has been an excellent one spiritually for me. I feel so full of gratitude. I am generally more at ease and I'm definitely happier. It's wonderful to see your own efforts pay off and the blessings that come.

Speaking of blessings, yesterday Zealand came to visit. He brought my mom with him. He's at one of those stranger anxiety stages and doesn't much like us, but Ella began playing the piano for him and it really settled him down and he started to babble and crawl around. (He's 10 months now)

At the end, though, Cam wanted to hold him (he's been very wary of his uncle lately). You can see how nervous he is, but he didn't cry.

I hope your Halloween preparations go well. I need to get started on Cameron's. Lots to do!