Spending time with Dad

Last Friday was Dave's last day of teaching full-time at Independence High School. From what I gather, it wasn't the easiest day for Dave. It is hard to say good-bye after you've worked somewhere for seven years! He enjoyed his time there and will miss everyone I'm sure. He has this week off from teaching before starting summer school up next week. That is only for three hours a day for two weeks though so that is nice. While he is off this week we are taking full advantage of having him around! With our upcoming move we have a lot of things to do around the house to get it ready, but we've also tried to squeeze in some fun as well.

In honor of Memorial Day, last Sunday we drove up to Dave's hometown of Dayton, Idaho. We wanted to put flowers on his grandma's grave. We've been bad and have never done that before. I think this was our first time visiting her grave as well since she passed in 2003. It was nice to be there and to have Miles with us. He would've LOVED his Great Grandma Kent! It wasn't the best weather that day, but we braved the cold, rain, and wind and visited Grandma.

Miles putting flowers on the grave

Posing for a picture

After visiting the cemetery we stopped by Dave's dad's to say hello. We don't get to see Grandpa Kent as often as we would like so it was nice we got to spend some time with him that day. I completely forgot to take pictures as well. Shoot! We had a nice visit and were glad that we could tell him in person about our upcoming move back to Kansas.

After the visit we tried to go up Dayton Canyon to find Dave's brother and his family who were up there camping. The weather had been so bad though that the roads were completely muddy. I chickened out and made Dave turn around. I didn't think getting stuck in the mud sounded all that fun. So, we headed back home.

We've spent the last couple of days doing "chores" around the house. Dave has been busy putting in a new screen window, tinting Miles' bedroom window so it isn't so blooming hot in there every afternoon/evening, putting a new faucet in our half-bath, etc. We had been doing so much work around here and not as much fun as we would've liked, so yesterday when Miles woke up from his nap we decided to go have a little fun!

We decided to check out the new Trafalga in Lehi. It is like a miniature amusement park with rides for the kids, video games, bowling, laser tag, etc. We figured Miles would love it and, of course, he did! He got to ride on an airplane ride several times, he and I rode on the go-carts once, we all rode on the bumper boats a few times, and he rode on a pirate ship ride. I was a little hesitant to let him ride on the airplane and pirate ship all by himself, but he was such a big boy and did great. He sat there like he was supposed to and enjoyed every minute of it!

Tomorrow our plan is to go to Seven Peaks. It is a water park here in Provo. Should be lots of fun! The "Pass of all Passes" is fantastic! You buy the pass and then get in to several different attractions for free. Gotta love it!

Apparently he was tired by this point

 

So sad to leave

Such a cute boy

The cutest thing happened tonight while I was putting Miles to bed. I don't ever want to forget it so I figured documenting it on our blog is the best way to remember it.

I had just put Miles' PJs on and was getting him down off the changing table when he wrapped his arms around my neck real tight and said, "Mommy, I'm soooo proud of you!" I chuckled a little and then he started to laugh too. It was a GREAT moment!

I'm not sure what I did to make him so proud of me, but boy am I glad he is! It is so fun to hear him repeat things that he has heard before. Sometimes I wonder where he gets these things!

New Adventure

The last few weeks have been kind of a whirlwind of events for our little family. It is no secret that I've desired to move back to Kansas essentially ever since Miles arrived in our family, but also a little bit before that as well. When Dave graduated from BYU a couple of years ago, my campaign for moving back went in to high gear. It never quite worked out though. Last winter we decided that Dave's chances of getting a teaching position in Kansas would probably increase if he was actually certified to teach in Kansas so he filled out all of the required paperwork and sent in all of the documents the State of Kansas requested. He started applying to positions all over the state sometime around February. A couple of months went by and he finally received word from Kansas that he was certified to teach secondary Biology. Here in Utah he can teach a couple of other subjects as well as Biology, but oh well. Dave sent out tons and tons of resumes and filled out tons and tons of applications with absolutely NO word from anyone...until a few weeks ago.

Going back in my story just a little bit...when Miles and I returned from our spring trip to Kansas, as we were driving through Grand Junction, Colorado I had this overwhelming feeling that maybe if Kansas did not work out for our little family, that maybe we needed to consider Colorado again. We both loved our eight months of living there and have desired to move back if the right opportunity presented itself. I voiced my feelings to Dave and he started looking into that option as well. A couple of weeks later two positions opened up at one of their high schools (Fruita Monument) and Dave immediately applied. It didn't take long before he got an email from the principal asking if they could set up an interview. He, of course, agreed and began waiting to hear back from them to schedule the interview.

In the interim, Dave got a call from a Catholic high school in Wichita, KS (Kapaun Mt. Carmel). He hadn't even applied for a position there, but the principal found his resume on a teaching job search website and decided to pursue him. An interview via Skype was set up fairly quickly. Dave thought the interview went well and started to get a little excited about that possibility. A few days later he finally received word back from Fruita about an interview date and time.

About a week ago Dave was offered the job at Kapaun and asked if he could have a few days to make his decision. Last Friday we drove to Grand Junction, CO for that interview. We drove down and back all in one day and were all exhausted when we got home, but we did manage to squeeze in a little fun while in the area (sorry Richards we didn't let you know we were coming...it was such a fast trip).

Here are some pictures from our quick trip to the Colorado National Monument.

"Where is the sky, Miles?" Our trick to get pictures of his face

Dave got a good one!

It is so pretty there

He loves to throw rocks

Exploring

 

Another good one caught by Dave

Looking for tunnels

Wildlife! The first time we've seen something besides deer up there!

We then spent the majority of the weekend listing out the pros and cons of Fruita versus Kapaun although at that moment we didn't know if Fruita was really even an option since no job had been offered yet.

Dave's deadline to let Kapaun know was Monday afternoon and Fruita was supposed to let Dave know their decision by Monday morning. Dave called me mid-morning Monday and had decided that he wanted to take the Kapaun position no matter what and I supported his decision although I was a little excited about the possibility of returning to Colorado. He never heard back from Fruita.

So...we are moving to KANSAS!!! It all feels a little surreal still. We've got a crazy couple of months ahead of us and I'm not looking forward to packing up our house with the help of a two-year-old! Dave has to report sometime during the first full week of August so our plan is to move the end of July/beginning of August. Dave's teaching summer school at his current high school and is doing an internship at BYU for six weeks this summer so we can't leave until he is done with all of that. We also need to figure out what to do with our townhouse since we currently owe more than what they are selling for. Argh! It'll all work out I'm sure.

Kansas, here we come! Hope you are ready for us!

Misc. happenings

Dave and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary last Friday. On one hand I really can't believe it has been 12 years already (time flies when you are having fun, right?), but on the other hand our wedding seems like such a long time ago. We both are different people now and have come a long way together. We've had some really tough trials in our marriage, but together we've made it through every single one of them. Our trials have made us who we are today and have gotten us to where we are now!

I'm eternally grateful for Dave and the man that he is. He really is my perfect soul mate. I'm not the easiest person to get along with and Dave has figured out how to deal with me for 12 years now. He has definitely earned a gold star in Heaven. He was a surprise answer to my prayers way back then and I'm continually amazed at how much my Father in Heaven loves me and it is evident just by Him giving me Dave!

So to celebrate this occasion Dave had our trusty babysitter, Alice, come over for the evening so we could have a date night. We went out to eat at the Olive Garden, made a quick run to Costco, went and saw The Lucky One (Dave even still watches cheesy chick flicks with me!), and then wandered around Target for a while before returning home. 

12 beautiful roses

Dave got a new bike from me for our anniversary (he has wanted one for a while), but he had to take it back because it wasn't put together very well. Poor Dave!

We had a wonderful evening together, but it really didn't end there. Saturday Dave was off work so he pretty much took care of Miles all day and gave me a much needed break so that I could do something that I enjoy...creating things!

I was inspired by a fellow blogger (www.queandbrittany.blogspot.com) to make Miles a tie for church. To buy a toddler tie in a store is usually very expensive. She told me how much fabric I needed and recommended a store where I could purchase the pattern. I decided to turn to Pinterest (my new best friend) to see what I could find on there as far as a pattern was concerned. I found a very simple pattern that could be downloaded for free and a blog (www.imsharingthewealth.blogspot.com) that described the step-by-step process on how to make them. It is such an easy project and the ties turn out so cute! My first tie was a learning process of course, but I cranked out the second tie in like 30 minutes or less. I'm excited to pick up more fabric so I can keep making cute ties for Miles!

Turtles and a crazy dinosaur

He wore his turtle tie to church on Sunday

Sundays are a little stressful at our house because church is right at Miles' nap time. We are slowly figuring out a schedule so that miles can still get his much needed nap and that we can go to as much church as possible. It usually involves one of us going to church alone for the first hour and the other one bringing Miles to church when he wakes up. Since it was Mother's Day, Dave suggested I go to the first hour alone. 

Mother's Day has always been a hard day for me and going to church that day was never a pleasant experience, but it is getting easier. Having Miles helps a lot because I am a mother now, but when women talk about their experiences of carrying their babies for nine months in the womb, etc. I still get uncomfortable because I'll probably never know what that feels like, but it doesn't mean that I don't know what it feels like to be a mom!

Church was nice and uplifting. Our church always gives the women a present and this year we got Forget-Me-Nots. I'm excited to plant it and watch it grow! Miles also made a gift for me in his nursery class. This is my first hand-made gift from Miles. It made me sooooo happy!!! I look forward to many wonderful hand-made gifts from him in the future!

Dave also helped Miles out in the gift department and got me an eReader as well for Mother's Day. I've already downloaded a few books from our library and look forward to reading them!

Isn't it so cute???

Dave told me the hot pad had a Happy Mother's Day tag on it as well, but apparently Miles thought it was trash so he ripped it off and threw it away. That is my Miles!

And while I'm on the subject of Miles...he has accomplished another milestone! I haven't wanted to say anything yet because I didn't want to jinx it, but he is now sleeping in a twin bed! We were so nervous and so worried that transitioning him from his crib to a big boy bed would be a nightmare. We figured he would take full advantage of his new freedom and not go to bed as easy at night and I even thought maybe I wouldn't even get him to take naps anymore. But we were wrong, dead wrong! 

Miles treats his bed as if it was his crib. He doesn't ever try to get out of it after we put him to bed and in the morning and after naps he patiently waits on his bed until we come in the room before getting down. It is absolutely amazing! He has been doing this now for a little over a week. We had a daybed in storage that my grandparents gave us a long time ago so we put that up for him and bought a mesh railing thing to go on the one exposed side so that he wouldn't roll out of bed. It essentially is a big crib with something on all four sides, but he could get out of it very easily if he wanted.

I think he is enjoying having more sleeping space. He really was too tall for his crib. He asked for his crib a couple of times in the beginning but that was it. Dave took his crib down on Saturday and Miles did just fine with that.

My little man is growing up!

Fun times together

Last weekend was a perfect weekend in my book. Dave had the entire weekend off and the weather was beautiful. We spent Saturday morning getting our weekend "chores" done, but once little man woke up from his nap we were off and running to do fun things together as a family. I was in the mood for a nice hike. Our favorite place to go up in the mountains is still closed for the season, so instead we went up to Rock Canyon. We've only been there one other time and it was to take pictures for our adoption profile a couple of years ago. 

We all had a really good time. Dave and I realized how out of shape we are while Miles enjoyed tasting all of the rocks! I kid you not...this kid LOVES to still put everything in his mouth. I thought he'd outgrow that phase by now??? I guess not. We also ran into our neighbor, Wes, while hiking around up there. It was too funny because there are lots of different trail options to take and we picked the exact same options that Wes did. How ironic. We chatted with him for a bit and then headed back home for supper.

Eating rocks

Climbing rocks

After our bellies were full we decided to drive up to look out point (I don't really know the official name of the place) so we could show Miles the valley that we live in. Miles isn't a fan of heights and so he was a little hesitant, but I think he enjoyed seeing everything from that perspective. We had hoped to be there to see the sun set behind the mountains, but we were just a tad bit late. It was really getting chilly too so we didn't stay long.

It was nice just spending time together enjoying the beautiful scenery that we have all around us. We definitely need to do more of that!