Memorial Day

We had a wonderful Memorial Day!  We started yesterday by going to the Garden City Cemetery and showing the kiddos those that have come before us.  The cemetery looked so beautiful and I am glad that we did it.  

This morning we had some blueberry waffles and then headed to the park.  We played and walked down the boardwalk to the lake.  Then we went and looked at the parade of homes.  I have never been before and we figured if there was ever a year for us to go it was now since we are trying to build our home.  

The kids did really well and it was fun to see how space was used and other aspects of the homes.  

We came home, had some lunch and the kids all crashed for some naps.  After naps we played hard outside, playing in the water table, swinging, playing some baseball, going down the slide, and just running around!  It was a beautiful day!  

We had our Memorial Day dinner and Mark told us about his Grandpa and Grandma Webber.  I love being able to share these stories with our children.  It is so important to us that they know where they come from.  

What a beautiful day!

Preschool Graduation

This last Monday night, Jacob graduated from preschool!

Grandpa and Grandma Berning came up and we had a nice dinner before heading off to graduation.  Jacob adores his grandparents and was so happy to have them there!  

The graduation combined Jacob's morning class with the afternoon class and so there were about twenty kids total.  Teacher Jen put together such a wonderful program and I definitely laughed and got a little teary all in one.  

She had each of the kiddos stand and introduce themselves and say there favorite thing about preschool - snacks was the definite favorite!

Each of the kids also were able to give a "talent" during the program which ranged from facts about Batman to singing songs from Moana.  Jacob decided to sing the ABC song and he did a great job.  He told me afterwards that his favorite part was talking in the microphone!

Each of the kids were brought up and given an individual award as well as a diploma for graduating from preschool.  Jacob was given the best penmanship award!

I cannot tell you how proud I am of Jacob.  He loves to learn.  He constantly amazes me how quickly he picks up on things and enjoyed doing "homework" that came home from preschool and also doing a workbook that we had here at home.  He knows all of his letters and their sounds and is beginning to read words and learn how to sound things out.  He counts like a champ and is really good with patterns, colors, and shapes.  I hope he never loses that love for learning.  It makes me so happy to see it.  

I also cannot say enough good things about Jacob's Teacher Jen.  This preschool was exactly what Jacob needed this year.  It was structured so perfectly for him.  It was a great mix of academic and social skills.  And Jacob adores Teacher Jen.  The part that got me teary-eyed the most was afterward when we were getting a picture with Teacher Jen and Jacob told her he loved her and gave her a kiss.  It was so sweet.  She was so perfect for Jacob and really understood him and his needs.  I am so grateful for how much she has done to help Jacob this year.

The other kids in Jacob's class were all so sweet and it was so fun to watch them go up to one another and have them sign each other's graduation bears afterward.  

Jacob was on cloud nine the whole night.  We are so proud of him.  He has grown in so many ways this last year.  I am still holding on to wanting him to stay my little boy forever.  I am so proud of who he is becoming and (although I never want him to grow up) can't wait to see where he goes in life.  

We love you, Jacob. 

Marina

This last Sunday was beautiful.  We had stake conference at the beautiful Paris Tabernacle in the morning, so after afternoon naps (which we got to take because of early church - WOOT WOOT!) we decided to take a walk down to the marina.  

Seeing as this next weekend is Memorial Day, things around here are going to change quickly, so we knew this was going to be our best chance to just enjoy the surroundings without a crowd.  It was perfect and the kids had so much fun running around the docks - and Sarah totally freaking us out!  Luckily we all stayed out of the water and we had fun looking at the fish swimming below.  Although, I think the highlight was finding a frog on our walk there!

I am grateful for these simple moments in our family.  I am pretty much reminded daily of how tiring a lot of this stage of our life can be, with so many young kidlets, but it's also a really beautiful time too.  There is a whole lot of sweetness with these three beautiful children and we are so grateful that they are ours.  

Wedding

Mark and I took a road trip to my old stomping grounds in Oregon!

My parents took the kiddos for the weekend so Mark and I could go.  I picked up Mark from work Friday night and we started our trek.  We drove out to Caldwell, just west of Boise and called it a night.  We had a blast chatting and getting to spend some uninterrupted time with one another.  

Saturday morning we woke up early and continued our trek.  We stopped at Multnomah Falls on our way into Portland.  I have no recollection of ever going here before - I am sure I have but we had a great time.

It pretty much rained the entire day on Saturday!  Welcome to Oregon!  We then headed into Portland to go to the International Rose Test Garden.  Once we finally found a parking spot it really started pouring.  We laughed at everyone hiding under little outcroppings and braved the rain and massive hail.  

It was quite an adventure.  And I am sure the garden would have looked beautiful...if the roses were in bloom! Haha!

We still had a great time and were soaked through!  We then headed to the Portland Oregon Temple.  This temple will always have a special place in my heart.  It is the first temple I ever went into and I think it is just beautiful.

We ended the night by grabbing some dinner and catching a movie!

The next day we drove down to Salem!  I haven't been there in six years and it was the first time I've ever been back and had access to a car.  We first went over to Lauren's Dad's home for breakfast.  They have always been so kind and were so welcoming.  It was great to spend time with Lauren and Ricky and their family as well as Scott and Kristen and their family.  

After breakfast, I took Mark on the whole West Salem tour!  It was wonderful to go and look at the places where I have so many memories and walk around and linger as long as I wanted.  It was really important that Mark and I come up for the wedding but also because I don't think I will ever come back.  Obviously, you never know, but I can't think of why I would ever come back and so this kind of it for me.  It was so nice to show Mark so much of my childhood and he was such a good sport about all of it.  We then grabbed some lunch at Kwans (one of my family's favorite places to eat while we lived here!) and then got ready for the wedding. 

Leah lived a couple doors down from me growing up and we have been good friends ever since Kindergarten.  My childhood is littered with memories of us together and I have a large pile of letters we wrote to one another after I moved.  Leah is one of the kindest people you will ever meet.  She is truly beautiful from the inside - out.  I am so happy that she got a day all about her and Kurt and excited to see them start their life together.  It was a beautiful ceremony and I am so grateful that we were able to be there!

Monday we got up early and were on the road by 7!  I literally read hundreds of pages from Harry Potter and Steve Young's autobiography (I know - great combo huh?!) and we had a long, but great drive home.  We were able to stop in Burley and visit my Grandpa Moldenhauer's grave and finally pulled into our house by 9 that night.  

The kids had a blast handing out with my parents and their Aunt Melina and Aunt Megan!  Thank you so much for loving on our kiddos when we couldn't!

  

Solids

Last week this little man started solid foods!  You would have thought he'd been eating it his whole life!  Benjamin immediately took to it and is in LOVE with pears!

Idaho Falls Temple

Last Saturday we ventured back up to our old stomping grounds of IDAHO FALLS!

The Idaho Falls Temple was closed the entire time we lived in Idaho Falls but we were so excited to be apart of it when it opened again.  Sadly, we left before we could do any of that - but we still wanted to go and see the beauty of on of the Lord's temples here on earth.  

This was a L-O-N-G day but it had some beautiful moments.  Being in the temple with my family is about a special as it gets.  It was wonderful to be in there with Benjamin for the first time.  I hope the temple is a place where our children always yearn to be.  

The temple was beautiful - we all especially loved the murals in the instruction rooms.  They were beautiful.  We are thankful for temples.  

5 Months

I love this five month old boy so much.

Benjamin continues to grow!  He is 25 1/2 inches tall (44%), 15 pounds (27%), and has a head circumference of 42 cm (22%).  He is still in six month size clothes.  He drinks four 5-ounce bottles during the day and usually two 4-ounce bottles during the night.  He takes two naps, both about two hours, but will occasionally take a little catnap during the late afternoon too.   

Benjamin has grown up so much this last month.  I love this little guy.  He is so ready to give a big cheesy grin to everyone.  He is a social little man.  He loves to be around people and will still get a little fussy if he isn't getting all of the attention that he thinks he needs.  But he calms right down when you smile at him and hold his hand.  He loves to hold hands - and Jacob and Sarah love doing the holding!

His sleep has been rough.  This is definitely new territory for us.  Jacob and Sarah were both sleeping through the night between two and three months and Benjamin STILL isn't.  In fact, the last several weeks have gotten worse!  He slept better at 6 weeks than he does now.  He gets up several times a night and it's a bit exhausting.  We are hoping for improvement this month!

Benjamin is mobile now!  He is EVERYWHERE!  He can roll both directions and he just rolls and pivots everywhere he want to!  I can't believe how active he is already!

We love you, little man.

Surgery

Last week my Mom had surgery on an area around her eyes.  She had been having some spots appear around her eyes and she decided to get them removed.  They are usually caused by high cholesterol but my Mom's cholesterol is good so it's a bit of a mystery.  Either way, my Mom wanted them gone!

Gus and Darlene were so helpful and came up to watch Jacob and Sarah during the day while Mark was at work and I went down with Benjamin to help my Mom.  We went down the day before her surgery and got her all set up.  

The next morning we got up early and my Mom, Ben and I went down to the surgical center.  The surgery went perfect and we were heading home before we knew it!

Because of the location of the surgery my Mom had to keep ice packs on her eyes for three days to keep the swelling down.  It was pretty boring for her!  It was fun to spend some time with just Benjamin and my Mom though - even though it probably wasn't very fun for her!  I was so glad that I was hopefully able to help in even a small way and that I had a great team that helped me do that.  

Love you, Mom.  

Growing Up

Every month we take Jacob on a date.  Mark and I switch off and I really look forward to it.  We've done it for awhile now and will start it with the other kiddos as they get older.  We hope it will really show the kids that they are important and open the lines of communication with some one-on-one time - which I know will only be more and more important the older they get.  

A couple weeks ago I took Jacob on a date to the park.  We went down the slide a million times, played tether ball, ran around chasing each other and went on a walk down the boardwalk to the lake.  It was perfect.  

It also made me a little sad.  I've been a little sad about Jacob recently.  The reality of him going to kindergarten is hitting me HARD.  It feels like the end of a chapter in our family.  Jacob will start to spend more time away from home and it just makes me sad.  It is the beginning of formal school for our family.  We will be in that stage for a L-O-N-G time and I am just not sure if I am ready to say goodbye to this stage.  

I love my Jacob.  I love that he still will grab for my hand and walk with me.  I know those days are probably numbered.  As much as I sometimes yearn for the days when he will just play on his own and not depend so heavily on me to "entertain" him - I also know that these days are precious where he wants to spend time with me.  

Growing up is just making me a little sad.  I can't believe he will be five next month!  I am proud of who Jacob is becoming.  I hope I can always be the Mom that he needs.  So stay little for a little longer little man.  I love you.