I did it...

without even crying!! Hannah went to her first day of Kindergarten today. She loved it. Hannah had been so anxious all day to go. As soon as she woke up, she got on her new school clothes and kept asking when it was time to go and so I told her after lunch we would go to school. About 10:00 am she was ready for her lunch so we could eat it and be off to school. I held her off until 11:30. After lunch we went to her school, about 30 minutes early and we played on the playground. She has been so excited to start school and I have not once heard her say anything about being worried or scared... until on our way to school she said, "Mom, I think I am a little bit scared to go to school." I told her that it is ok to be a little bit scared, and that she had friends and a nice teacher to help her. She then said, "I am a little bit scared, but I still want to go." She did such a great job.
I was with her on the playground until the teacher came to get all the kids. All of the kids were lining up and walking into the classroom when Hannah looked at me with her big eyes and a look on her face that said, "mom, don't leave me." I just gave her a big smile and waved, which must have given her enough courage to turn around and go into the room. It was at that moment that I felt a little tear in the corner of my eye, but that was it. Just one little tear. I have come a long way since Kindergarten registration.

I am very excited for Hannah to be learning new things, and getting new friends, but there is a part of me that is sad. I loved having all of my kids home. I loved the freedom of not being tied down to any schedule, we could do anything we wanted, go anywhere with all of my kids, enjoy all of my kids at home, knowing where they were and that they were safe. I guess I am like a mother hen who likes all of her little chicks under her wings. Thinking about how I would miss having Hannah at home made me think a little about homeschooling her... but only a little. Hannah is ready to move on, and to learn, and begin to become her own little person, and I am excited about that. I know she will do great.


Hannah is in a class with two of her little friends, Gavin and Chelsea.


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Yellowstone, August 19th - 23rd

On August 19th we left to go to Island Park near Yellowstone for one last vacation before school started. We were able to go with all of the Proctor side of the family, and we had a great time. We had a great place to stay, (thanks Taniel) and there was so much to do there. Jake loved the fishing, and caught a few big ones. We went canoeing, floated down the river, went swimming, went to the show, The Secret Garden, and just enjoyed being around everyone and eating good food.



Heber, Hannah, and William canoeing with Martha and Jared.



Yellowstone was a lot of fun. Would you believe me if I were to say that we didn't see any Bison? Well, we didn't. We did see some Elk, and Canadian Geese, but that was all. We also saw Old Faithful...


Yellowstone Lake...
Jake's family has a tradition of stopping at Yellowstone lake and seeing who is the best rock skipper. I am not sure who won, probably Jared. Michelle got the prize for the most improved rock skipper. Me? I think I got the booby prize. The kids loved playing in the water and William tried really hard to skip rocks.





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Stay-cation

The week after the 24th we left our three kids in Nevada with my parents, and Jake and I had ourselves a little vacation. Jake took the week off and we did the things we have wanted to do together, but can't with kids.
We started out our week hiking to the top of Mount Timpanogos. Jake had done it once before, but I had never gone to the top. It was awesome. I love the mountains in Utah! It is amazing the beauty that we have in our backyard.

The wild flowers were incredible. They were everywhere.

This was at the very top. The view was amazing.



During the rest of the week we...
went and saw the movie "Up", went to the temple, went to see Casey and Clint in Ogden, hung out with friends, went for bike rides, went running together, had quiet meal times, slept in, went to temple square in Salt Lake City, and the Museum of Church History and Art, had dinner at the Garden on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, had desert night with my siblings with a little WII, had a group date with Jake's parents and siblings, ran the Highland Fling 5k, then went to the Highland parade,


hiked up to Timp caves,


played tennis, (or attempted to)


and went float tubing and fly fishing at Silver Lake. We went up at 5:30 in the morning and it was so quiet and peaceful. We were the only two there. While we were there, there was a deer that came down to the waters edge and stayed there almost the whole time we were there.

We had such a great time. It was nice having a week to spend with each other. We did miss our kids though. Our kids came back on Saturday, and it is nice to have them back.


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24th of July Weekend

We had a great little vacation to Nevada for the 24th of July. I love going out to Lund and enjoying everything there is to do. I love that the kids can run free and there are no busy roads or other worries that come with living in the city. I love the wide open spaces. I love being able to go running in the hills and through the fields and smell sage brush, manure, and fresh cut alfalfa, instead of car exhaust. I love sitting outside and watching thunderstorms roll in and enjoy the smell that it brings. The most remarkable sun sets and sun rises that I have ever seen have been over the desert mountains in Nevada. I love going down to the garden and watching the kids run through the corn, chasing each other and remembering what it was like when I was a kid playing hide and seek in the corn. That is just the beginning of my list...



Yummy!! Fresh peas from the garden.

On Thursday I was able to go to my 10 year high school reunion and it was great to see some of my friends I went to High School with. There were only seven of us there, but considering there were only 14 in my graduating class, it was a pretty good turn out. It was fun to catch up with everyone.

On Friday we played with cousins, I helped my mom with a few things, we played in the garden, and then after some yummy hamburgers we went up into the hills. The youth in the stake were doing a 27 mile pioneer trek that same weekend. My parents and Lacy and Ben were involved with that (My parents were the grandma and grandpa, and Lacy and Ben were a ma and pa) and they were camping a mile or so out of town at the Big Ledges. Me and some of my brothers and sisters went up and provided a little bluegrass music for them to dance a little Virginia Reel to. When we got back we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing a little Wii tennis and laughing at each other as we each tried all of the different Wii fit games.

On Saturday we went to the parade where Hannah and William were able to ride on my families float with cousins and my 104 year old Grandma. Then we went to the program. For the program all of my brothers and sisters decided to surprise my mom and all play together in our bluegrass band. (fiddle, guitar, bass fiddle, mandolin) It had been almost 10 or more years since we had all played together. My mom did such a great job teaching us music, and then after leaving home, we just never got together to play, not that my mom didn't try to get us together. It was fun playing together again, and Hannah also got to play a song on her fiddle. We then went to the town BBQ, and watergames for the kids, got a quick nap, and then headed for the rodeo. I have not yet convinced Jake that rodeo's are fun, but I had a good time. After that we had a cook out in my parents back yard and watched the town fireworks from our back yard.
I love the 24th weekend in Lund.

Here are a few pictures from the Lund parade so you can see just how awesome the parade in Lund is.


Grandma Hendrix... going on 105 in September.


William and Makenna on the tractor with Christiann.



Do you see the fire truck behind the little horse and cart? The parade is so good that everyone wants to see it twice. The parade goes up one side of the street and back down the other side.



On Sunday after church and lunch we left to come back to Utah, without our kids. Jake and I had a little staycation the week following the 24th, and that deserves a post of its own.

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