2018-2019 School Year

What a crazy school year this has been. Lots of fun fieldtrips and memories, but so much attitude and disrespect coming from Boy #2. It's been so bad that I've made the decision to try out the local public school next year. Boy #1 is excited to see friends. He has no idea what kind of structure he is in for. Boy #2 is already telling me he hates it. He says he knows he will get detention every day and he won't even care. Hum....it will be interesting to see how this works out. Regardless, most of the time I enjoy being their teacher and we have made some good progress this past year.

Hiking Adventure

Over the past year Brandon has really gotten into walking and hiking. Some weekends he goes and covers 8 miles or more. I love that it's made me more motivated to get up into the mountains that are so close to us. Last week I found an amazing hike in Draper that included walking across a suspension bridge. So, even though I am majorly afraid of heights we decided to go and enjoy. The boys always complain at the beginning of the hikes, and most of the time Luke complains the entire way.

 I loved seeing the wildflowers and the wild mushrooms. The path was wonderful because it was so well maintained. There were even a few mountain bikers going along it too.

Every time we stopped for a break we would see this amazing view. It was thrilling and a little bit scary too. It was the perfect day to go with fluffy white clouds all around.

On the way back down Luke was as happy as a clam. He was zooming down that mountainside even faster than Peter and I could go. It was thrilling to see him excited about taking charge and finding happiness in the outdoors. I am working on both of those things with him. 

An overdue update

I just looked back at the past several posts and all I've written about is cub scout stuff. Honestly, our life really has been all about scouts recently. For the past three years Peter has wanted to do all the required adventures plus all the extra adventures too. With the Wolf and Bear it wasn't so bad, but in Webelos there are a LOT more extra adventures and it's killing me off. I will be so relieved once he is done with scouts in December.

During the month of April we actually did some really enjoyable other things. For instance, we got to go on a field trip to McCoard's Garden Center in Provo. The boys tolerated the field trip, and I loved it. Going and seeing plants and flowers makes me so happy. After the field trip I wandered around for a little retail therapy. I love going to that store anyway, and they gave us a $10 off $10 coupon. I couldn't help myself. I bought a plant that thrives in rock gardens. It's called Parrot's Beak. Sounds like the perfect plant for a boy house. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it blooms.

The kids were also able to take home a plant of their own. They had the kids transplant the flowers into bigger pots. Luke was not thrilled with having to get his hands dirty. So, I did most of the work for him.

One week for our art class Luke and I painted rocks. I have been looking forward to this lesson all year long (I even purchased a special rock art book for the lesson). I had a blast picking the perfect design and rock for the art project. Luke was less then thrilled and spent maybe 30 seconds on his.  Luke told me that his is a Ender Dragon from Minecraft. I, on the other hand, took over an hour designing mine and then painting it. I really love how it turned out.

At the beginning of April I also decided to cut my hair. And by cut, I mean cut it ALL off. I had over 21" taken off. I was trying to hold out until I turned 40 (next February), but I started feeling so annoyed with my hair. It was too much to manage, especially when it was time to color it. This new style suits me much better and it's SO FAST to do. Five minutes with the blow dryer in the morning and I'm good to go. I have no intention of ever going back and I'm determined to keep it nicely trimmed every two months. So many people have stopped to sincerely tell me that it looks amazing. I really appreciate that. It was a bold move, and I'm so glad it turned out so well.

This month we also got a chance to go with our BFF's to This is the Place Heritage Park. We spent the bulk of a day up there wandering through the pioneer houses and doing crafts.

Brother Brigham; Brother Joseph

Luke got to ride a horse!!! He had no idea how to get on it. That part was hilarious.

Tons of animals to smell and touch. Neither one of the boys would touch any animal.

Eating snacks while waiting for the train.

The train is coming. 

Peter chose to make a arrowhead necklace.

Visiting the Native America area and seeing this type of house that they lived in.

Favorite part of the day - panning for gold.

These three cuties also loved panning for gold together.

Plowing the field.

Eating donuts outside the school house.

Playing checkers in the barbershop.

Visiting the print shop.

We had such a marvelous day with them and none of us wanted to go home. Good friends like this are hard to come by. I'm so glad we were able to get together. This field trip also reminded me of so many good memories I have of being a historic reenactor when I was a teenager. My friend, and her family, have signed up to be volunteers at this park for the next year. I'm thrilled for them. There is something special about reenacting the life of a Mormon pioneer.

Our annual picnic with Uncle Al Bob also happened on April 25th. It was a beautiful day for a picnic. Perfect weather and we were all so cozy (as proven with Peter being still in his pajamas). We loaded up a picnic basket and drove down to Payson. We stopped at Payson Market and bought our lunch food and then headed to visit with Uncle Alex. The time with him is always sacred time. I talk with the boys about his death, how I felt, and how I know I will see him again someday. Although I really wish he was still with us, I also appreciate having an angel brother. I know he helps me when my life becomes harder than I think I can handle. 

Peter also decided this month he wanted to start making a ninja costume. He still loves to dress up, but all his costumes are getting too small. So off to the fabric store we went to purchase a pattern and fabric. The first part of it was very easy and Peter really enjoyed doing the sewing. Step 2 of the costume is proving to be harder and I haven't made the time to pre-figure it out before I let Peter start sewing. Hopefully I'll make that a priority this next week. 

Other April adventures include: making hot cross buns (first time ever), last trip to the zoo as annual pass-holders, last day of our UVU PE class (I love that class so much), Peter making a terrarium, going on a field trip to the Tracy Aviary with our homeschool group, taking a trip to the Provo City Center temple to talk about how awesome temples are, attending a Red Balloon event and playing with Plus Plus toys there, and having the scouts come here to pass off their Cast Iron Chef requirement. It was a wonderful month with many delightful memories and experiences. While it seems like we did a whole lot of things, I also feel like we had a lot of dreadfully boring days too.

Scouts - Into the Wild

2. I was able to build a terrarium. My Mom helped me by getting me special rocks and stuff to put in the bottom. Then, I went to the garden shop and got some plants and fun fairy things to go inside of it.

April 19th

4. I learned about bird flyways. I had never heard of that word before. I found out that the closest flyway to my house is the Pacific one. The birds that use it are hummingbirds, geese, crows, sparrows, robins, and black birds. Sometimes I can see geese flying in a v pattern by my house and I think that is really a neat thing.

5. On our hike to the Payson Grotto I found a few different kinds of wild creatures. The first one was an insect. It was a butterfly. There were actually lots of butterflies zooming all over up there. Those insects live in a lot of different places, but I saw them in a forest.

I also got to go to a park in Provo. While were were there we saw this type of butterfly. I think it was out and about looking for food and just enjoying the nice weather. This area was a wetland, but also a bit of a forest, and a park.

We were also able to discover these small fish in the wetland area. They were so small that you had to look very closely to be able to see them. I think they were looking for food and doing what fish do all day long - which is swimming around. 

Another type of animals that we found here was actually a beetle. It flew onto my Mom's arm. I'm sure it didn't mean to. I wonder if it thought my Mom was food. It was strange to find a beetle in a wetland area, but they probably like to live in the trees and sticks that were nearby.

The last animal we saw is very common to this type of area. They were ducks. They were swimming on the pond and when they saw us they quickly came over. I think they were hoping we had bread to feed them. But, we didn't.

6. One of the animals that can be found in our area is the beaver. We are lucky because we have a river by our house. There is a beaver that lives in this river. It's really cool to have some this amazing animal living nearby. The beaver can live in Utah because we have a lot of streams that they can live in. We also have a lot of mountain areas so the beavers don't get very hot.

7a. We played a fun game called Into the Forest. It helped us to think about Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers. Producers - Plants like tomatoes and carrots. Consumers - Bear and Coyotes. Decomposers - Fungi and Earthworms.

7b. Humans have changed the balance of nature by cutting down trees.

7c We can protect the balance of nature by building birdhouses. 

9. I got to go with some of my friends to the Tracy Aviary. We were able to see a lot of birds there like swans, parrots, ducks, and even some flamingos.