Jake's WY Archery Buck

Gunnar's Question About Jake's Buck

So Jake got his Wyoming archery buck last week. He and Shane both got their deer and have all sorts of stories to tell. Such as: a bear taking out their camp last week, luckily during the day while they were out hunting, but they still ended up having to leave early because the bear ate all their food and destroyed all their stuff. I'll have Jake post the whole story later because I can't tell the story near as well as he can. I do want to post the videos of the first time the boys saw Jake's buck, it's priceless. Make sure when you're watching the second video that you watch Gunnar the whole time, it's hilarious!
Sorry the first video was taking waaaayyyy too long to upload, maybe I'll try again later.

Gunnar's First Day of Preschool!

I've decided to do Mother Goose Time Preschool with a group of moms in our ward for Gunnar. I did this also when Dalton was three. Today was Gunnar's first day. Alyson Hall is teaching for the first two weeks. Gunnar was pretty excited to wear his back pack and get to go to school like a big boy. It was nice to just have to walk Gunnar next door. I don't think he quite gets this concept yet because when I asked him how school was he said, "it wasn't school, I just went to Alyson's house!" Alyson said it went pretty good. When I went to pick Gunnar up they were all sitting quietly reading a story, such a night and day difference compared to Dalton's class when we did Mother Goose Time with them, they were a lot rowdier crowd! It's my turn to teach in November, I sure hope Ridge is sleeping through the night by then! Gunnar was so excited to show me his crafts that he made at school, one of the things I love about Mother Goose Time preschool is the kids get to make the cutest crafts!

Contentment

I felt really strongly that I needed to document these feelings before they went away and were forgotten. My parents came over and ate dinner with the boys and I since Jake is gone hunting. They stayed and helped put Dalton and Gunnar to bed to help me out since bed time is the worse part for me to do by myself. By the end of the day of taking care of three little boys by myself with no break, my patience is beyond shot by bedtime! After my parents left and my house was quiet I called my Grandma Dalton to wish her a happy 89th birthday. We ended up talking for close to an hour, her sharing memories with me, and me just soaking in her years of wisdom and experience. I would help jar her memory by telling her things that I remember about sleepovers at Grandma's, playing in their backyard when they would flood the lawn, Grandma Dalton size pancakes (miniature) that Jake and I now make for our boys, oatmeal with half & half poured on it (yum!), the 6 months I lived with Grandma before Jake and I got married, summer barbecues at Grandma and Grandpa's house with all the aunts and uncles and cousins, dropping by while in town and always feeling welcome and Grandma and Grandpa always so happy to see us and hear about what we've been up to, my senior cottillion dance stopping by in the limo and then hearing about Grandma getting to tell all her neighbors why a limo had parked in front of her house, Grandma taking us shopping for our birthdays and getting to ride the bus, seeing and hearing Grandma kneeling by her bed each night to say her prayers. I told my Grandma how much I admire her and what a great influence she's always had on me. My Grandma's first husband passed away quite young (early thirties) and left her with two small kids to raise (my aunt and uncle). She was a single mom for four years before she met my grandpa. She told my how she lived in the little house right behind my great-grandparents and how her mother (my great grandma) wouldn't think of her getting a baby sitter (those are Grandma's exact words) for her kids so she helped raise my aunt and uncle so my Grandma could go to work at the Defense Depot. That's where she met my Grandpa. I've inherited a lot of traits from Grandma and have always felt a special bond with her and she told me tonight that she feels the same. After I got off the phone with her I put Ridge to bed and then I sat outside on our new patio and enjoyed the cool night air. It was so nice to sit and relax and think of the blessings in my life. Smokie came and sat on my lap and I just sat and pet her and revelled in the beauty of the mountains, the beautiful clear sky and stars, the sound of a horse winnying down the street, and crickets chirping. It was such a nice feeling. I felt just perfectly content. I thought about how blessed I am to be alive and be able to enjoy this beautiful world and all of God's wonderful creations. I thought of how very blessed I am to have a wonderful husband and three beautiful boys who are growing and thriving. I thought of the blessing little Ridge is in our home and how he's starting to smile and giggle and get little chubby cheeks and hands and feet that I love to kiss! I'm loving just walking out our back door and gathering all the fresh produce I could ever need right from our garden. I love to walk past the cherry tomato plant and pop a tomato in my mouth. I'm really enjoying making yummy zucchinni treats and pureeing crook neck squash to disguise in different dinner dishes. I'm loving that my boys are actually eating their vegetables and liking them! They're loving going out and picking corn and tomatos for dinner. I really love this time of year. I had a neat little experience the other day. I was driving the boys and I to my family reunion, feeling a little bit sorry for myself that Jake wasn't coming with us because he was too busy getting ready to go hunting. The thought came to me that I could waste this time feeling sorry for myself or I could make the most of this precious extra time I get to spend with my boys by myself. It's all about the attitude! I just have to adjust mine every once in a while . . .