2 Weekends, 2 Parties, and 1 Spoiled but Grateful Mama

I feel like my life will hit a lull and we will just be doing the same stuff over and over, but I don't know stuff just keeps happening and I feel like I can never get it all blogged about. I wish I could. Imagine if I could blog about all the cool projects my kids do, how they play with their friends, how FHE goes, what we do for fun, how Gaupo's school is, what we do for Relief Society meetings, etc. I would have quite the blog, but I am guessing I wouldn't have much of a life, so you readers are stuck with highlights, or what I can manage to post in the time I take to sit down and write it.

These last couple weekends have been really fun. The weekend before last so Oct. 15th, our family got to go to Elitch Garden's with Aunt Kitt, Matthew, and Tabitha (Kitt's roommate). It was a lot of fun. The girls had a blast. They rode and rode and rode. They could not get enough of it. I on the other hand rode two rides and threw-up. So, Elitches-2 Katey-0. I did ride the Ferris Wheel later on and the little kid coaster. I also would have ridden Mind Eraser, but we ran out of time. It was a bummer, but I am sure we will go again sometime. Gaupo and I definitely want to take the girls when they are older and when the water park is open too. It was fun to spend more time with Kitt and Matthew although you can tell that Matthew has started school and they are not seeing each other everyday. Matthew has kind of a two track mind right now. It consists of school and Kitt. Kitt has more tracks than that, but the major track is Matthew. It is so fun to see them together. However, my favorite part by far is watching Kylee and Tia get such a thrill from the rides. They loved everything and rode every ride they could. They rode the kid coaster a solid 3 or 4 times and loved it every time. It was such a great trip. We got home about 11:00PM, but it was worth a fun family night together.

Me waiting for Elitch's to open.

Kylee

Tia

Gaupo, Tia, Kylee, Me, Kitt, Matthew

Matthew, Kitt, Kylee. We got really cold on top of the ferris wheel, so Kylee climbed in with Kitt.

And Tia climbed in with Tabitha.

This weekend was a first for me. I left Tia and Kylee home with Gaupo, while I went to UT. I drove out on Saturday with my parents. I read a book for about 6 hours of the trip. I didn't keep track of where we were, I didn't get interrupted to turn on music, have a snack, get asked are we there yet, or any other question associated with traveling with other people especially kids. It was really nice to just sit back and enjoy the ride. When we got to Kara and Seth's house it was fun to visit and help and not have to worry about my kids or Gaupo. It was great to be able to play with Ross. We built a tent and read books in it. It was so fun to have my life simplified and just be a sister, daughter, aunt, and cousin. Sometimes I worry that that sounds terrible, but you know I came home really late Sunday and saw my kids laying in there beds and realized how much I cared for and missed them. I climbed in bed with Gaupo and realized how much I missed his constant love and companionship. Yes, I got a break and it was so great, but I don't need a forever one because I love being a wife and mother, but I also can't deny how nice it was to have a break. 

One of my favorite things about the weekend in UT was visiting with my cousin Lisa. We are only about 4 months apart and we have always been pretty close. Well this weekend neither her nor I had kids on Sunday and so we were able to just visit and hang together and it was so refreshing. We could just talk and laugh like we use to it was fun. So, nice.

Me and Lisa as cute as ever.

Also this weekend, all my mom and all my sisters but Lindsay were able to go to Women's Conference together. That was really fun. We all got to sit together and enjoy delicious apple cinnamon doughnuts together. It has been 6 years since we have gone to a General Women's session together and the one we did get was the General Young Women's session. Anyway, it was fun I would have loved to just hang out more just us, but we needed to do other things. 

Kara, Klaire, Mom, Me, and Kitt

A few other random things I loved was staying up late talking. I am sure Matthew was a little amazed at how silly we can get and the memories we have that crack us up so much, but hey it's how we roll I guess it is a good thing to learn. I also loved watching Seth bless Levi. I am always so grateful to watch my brother's hold and use their Priesthood. It is such special blessing.  I love watching Seth be around his family and how much he feels loved when they come to things like this. It is really great. Also, getting to hold a sweet little baby boy this weekend was so great. I almost cried but I didn't. However, that little boy is so precious and him and his brother are going to have a blast. As you can tell it was a great weekend.

Me, Ross, Seth, Kara, Levi, Mom, Klaire, Dad, and Kitt

By the way, Tia and Kylee loved being home with Gaupo. They watched two movies in one day. They got pizza and special drinks for dinner. Plus Gaupo bought them M&M's and Sweedish Fish. They got to stay up a little late, and they got to ride in Daddy's car. Gaupo did their hair on Sunday and it looked really good for a guy that never, ever does hair. He took good care of them and they had a blast. On one facetime call I asked if I could leave again sometime and Gaupo said no, but Kylee said"Yes, the next time." So, we will see. Gaupo was a great sport to let me go, so we will try to stick around for a bit and support him in all he has going on here.

It has been fun to party the last couple weekend, but it will be nice to soak in some General Conference this weekend and be at home as a family.  I am so blessed for all the family I have.

Falling Into a Rhythm

As of last week, everything has officially started. For us that means the girls are in school and swim lessons, Gaupo is in school, I am watching Trent and Tori and working for my cousin Robert. So, now that everything has started we are kind of falling into a rhythm. It is really nice to have a rhythm, but I sometimes really miss the spontaneity of summer. Oh well, I need to quit moping about it, because it will come again and in the mean time I need to enjoy were we are at.

So, typically our day starts with me going running. I get home and pray with Gaupo. Then I get the girls ready for school while Gaupo gets ready for work. Then we gather on the couch for scripture study. We have been reading a whole page, but a couple week ago the lesson in Relief Society/Priesthood was on the scriptures and we decided we need to slow it down and explain to our kids what they were reading. I think the kid enjoy it more now and I know I do because I don't have to fight them as much. It seems to fit their abilities a little bit better. After scriptures is breakfast. Gaupo has been trying to join us for breakfast. He learned in a sleep class that he needs to have breakfast. He usually has to hurry a little so is done way before us, but it is fun to have him around for at least part of it. If I make something besides eggs he even eats what I make which is even more fun. Once breakfast is done it is off to school. I usually have the girls bike to school; although, this week Tia's back tire went flat, so they scootered to school. It is much fast and enjoyable to ride. Once at school we park our getting to school devices and head for the classrooms. If Tia has preschool I get her all signed in, but if not we stand by Kylee in line and walk her to the door. This is per Kylee request. She really could do it without us but since she doesn't through a fit when I let go of her hand at the door, I figure it's fine. If both kids are in school I do a variety of things, but when Kylee only has school Tia and I have to come home. Usually I let Tia decide if she is going to play at the park or head right home and which way we are going to go. We have a great time at the park, so I don't mind going for a bit. Whenever we head home though it is kind of a tough ride. Tia is a super biker though and so even though its rough she toughs it out and is doing great at it. Once home I usually let her watch a show while I take a shower and then we try to pass the time till we have to go get Kylee. We never do the same thing, so I can't really tell you what we do. Sometimes it's errands, sometimes it games. Other times we go to a friends house or play. We just do what we want. Then we go get Kylee. I usually park a ways away from the school and then we bike/scooter to the car and then drive the rest of the way. It works out nicely. We get home and settle just a bit and then Trent and Tori come. Then the kids play. We have lunch or go to our friends house. Then we do quiet time. Then the kiddos play more till snack time. Then play more until their mom comes and its time for dinner. Then if its a swim night we do swim if not then we kind of just enjoy us as a family.

I guess I still do plenty of spontaneous stuff it is just different. I spend a lot of time at my friend Bethany's house and that is really fun because the kids have other friends to play with there, and I get to play with my friend. I really do want to take the kids swimming, but haven't been able to since I got stiches. I got them out today, but still need to wait a bit for them to heal up right. I don't know that is kind of our life right now. I wish I could figure out a way to better monitor or supervise my kids play, but I can't because if I am around then they suddenly can't solve any problems on their own and it seems to break up the fun they have. So, if you have suggestions I am up for them.

It is nice to have a rhythm, and I love that my girls like school. I am finally learning what happens in Kindergarten from Kylee. She has been super talkative about it the last couple of day, and I LOVE it. She is even remember a few kids in her class names. She loves to tell me about the different center options she has and how she gets to choose and which one she did and the one she wants to do. She is really starting to feel at home in it I think and I am so glad. She has enjoyed school previous to this, but I just feel like it has really clicked for her recently and  it is actually something she looks forward to. 

Tia still doesn't give me a whole lot of info on preschool, but I love that her teacher tells us a little about it. I love that they have an app called seesaw where they post pictures of what they did at school so I can see her. I also love that she is picking up on the songs and things they do at school. When she starts singing songs from school, I know she is learning and loving it. 

For how much I feared this change in our life, I am loving it. I love the one-on-one time with Tia. I love watching Kylee totally get many of the concepts she is learning at school and that she seems more confident and willing to try new things. I am not the hugest fan of Gaupo's schooling yet, but guess what? If we pass everything, then only one more semester to go and we will be DONE!! That is the one good thing about it starting it is almost over. As for me and my work it goes well most day. Sometimes I worry that my kids get too much friend time and not enough family time. I worry that I don't have the patience that I should with all of them, but for the most part it goes really well. My work for Robert is good. I am getting better at it, so it is taking less time which is bad because I make less money but good because then my brain and eyes don't hurt so much. It is worth it to be more efficient. I really love living my life. We are perfect. Our life isn't perfect, but you know it is such a joy to be living it and I love that I feel that way about it.