Sydney @ 4 Years Old

Sweet Sydney,

You are 4. You LOVE being 4. You have wanted to be 4 for months. This year you were so excited to have a birthday. It even got you in trouble at school a little bit.

We asked what you wanted to do - you wanted to go miniature golfing. You also wanted ice cream. We hit Skyline Golf course right at 10 am. The day was gorgeous - which in itself is a birthday surprise.

We also got lucky and did go-carting - which you loved.

We went to eat at Panera Bread - then you got to pick your own ice cream at Cold Stone. We opened our presents - one in the morning, one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. We do this so you get surprises all day. We took a great nap and then we started trick or treating at 5:30 pm. You LOVED trick or treating! You did not want to stop and we went on for almost 2 hours.

I am so excited for you to be 4. You love school, you love to learn and read. you love being read to and especially when you get to "read" along with me.

You are very curious and you love to talk about school. Whenever it's nap time or bedtime you ask "talk to me about school" and you love to tell me over and over again about your day. You are especially loving the things you are learning at church. You are loving learning about Jesus and Temples.

You love being outside - you love to run, jump, to play in the leaves. You love jumping in the trampoline and love to be with friends. Sydney you have a very kind heart - you feel so deeply for your friends. You feel deeply when I am sad or I am angry. You are also so much more loving - you love being held, kissed. You still love your blankie.

You love playing with your sister - the big thing right now is the puppy play and mommies and daddies. You love riding your bike. You LOVE your daddy - but with all the fun games he plays - who wouldn't.

You are doing so much better at cleaning up and you understand more about taking responsibility and being good steward's over our possessions. You look more and more like your Abuelita every day and you have a very special relationship with your Grandma Gerber.

Sydney, thank you for being part of our family. Thank you for loving me despite my weaknesses. Thank you for loving your sister and daddy.

Happy 4th birthday - you are already telling me how you can't wait to be 5 :)

Love,
Mommy

Cold day

We had two cold and rainy days last week. The kind where you stay inside and wear sweaters. I don't know how we ended up in the laundry room but there we were sitting. London and I were playing Oh Mary mack Mack Mack. Sydney had my phone and took 300 photos. Here are the best ones. London loves it when we do this hand game even though she just puts her little hands up.   

We cleaned and I purged some old stuff. Man it feels great to have a simple life. My work is going well. I feel like I have really come down with a good system. Thanks to getting up at 530 with Tyson I feel like I Sam actually able to relax in the afternoon and enjoy my weekend. I am so grateful for my clients and my work. I feel so blessed to do what I do. 

Thursday

We played with two small boxes. We ride our bikes. We also had a special lunch date with Jeanea. She is our speech therepist and we adore her. We celebrated Sydney's birthday plus London being potty trained. 

Dancing With Daddy

Every morning we have a dance party. Tyson twirls each girl around. The girls love to dress up in their fanciest dresses for this awesome event. How lucky are my girls to have Tyson as a dad. He cares, he loves and he disciplines when needed. I still believe one of my greatest blessings is to have Tyson as a partner and father for my girls. 

Last night I was SOOO tired - like be in bed by 8 pm tired. Tyson helped the girls get to bed, but the girls were extra naughty. They got out all our Q-tips, they messed up all our toys in their rooms and they even dumped my contacts down the drain. Tyson was so frustrated. It's amazing how one moment you can be totally in love with your kids - and the next they are driving you crazy. 

Still, God knows that kids will be kids and he sends them to us to teach us to let go of the little things and to just get up and dance. I love my girls. They are so funny and keep us on our toes. 

Here's to dancing like noone is watching. 

Fun photos

P

So far ...

October is here - which is funny because we swore we would be in the house by now. 

Tyson is 80% done with the hardwood floor. It's been such a long journey, but the savings of 6k to have it installed is worth it. 

After flooring we are doing tile in two small places, then the floor moulding. Then done. At this point I would say we will be in the next month - but I would play it safe and say it would be by January 1st. I can't believe it! We have been working on this house for 7 months. 

On happy news, we got new neighbors and We. Love. Them. The Blakely family is darling and in our ward - what are the odds. It makes me so happy. We prayed and fasted for them to come into our lives and here they are!

The girls have been doing great. School is good. We went to a pumpkin farm this week. We went right at 12 noon and avoided the crowds. It was really really great. 

Seminary and church are going well too. I won't lie - being in primary is tough for me. I feel like I get nothing out of church but sweaty clothes. Sydney is worse and worse when she sees me. We have our big program in 2 weeks. I feel like I am paying into the system. We have so many wonderful teachers who really give up their Sunday for my kids - this is my way to helping.

Photos From School

Gerber Visit

Debbie and Gaylan came to visit us Sept., 28th - Oct., 3rd. We had a great time. Gaylan did his traditional candy hunt - the girls loved it. Sydney specially was loving Debbie and wanted to be with her the entire time!

Gaylan is amazing. Him and Tyson were able to crank out about 70% of our hardwood floors. It was  no easy feat. They worked pretty much every day. They got so much done, but still so much to do. We wish he could stay another week :) 

We took Thursday morning off to go to the museum and eat at HuHot. Debbie and I spent a lot of time playing with the girls, going to the park and working while they were at school. I also got SUPER brave and did a 3 day potty training with London. I can't say it was a huge success but we are sticking with our decision to keep her potty training. She had a lot of success the first two days but then has seemed to slipping back. Well keep fighting the good fight.

Saturday, Sydney spent the entire day with Sis. Murphy. They went on a bus ride and ran errands. Sydney had such a blast! After Sis. Murphy watched the girls while Tyson and I went to grab a bite to eat. It had been a long week and I was SOOO tired but it was still good to connect with Tyson. We went to Red Robin and shared a hamburger. 

Conference was good, we tried to relax but with the girls screaming, keeping an eye on London with potty training - it wasn't the most spiritual enviroment. Still we made the most of it. Sunday after conference we had dinner and dessert with  Meghann and Shea Cheney. We sure do love them! The girls played happily upstairs and outside. We had root beer floats for dessert. After we walked back to our house. It's nice that they live so close! We love walking there. I hope we do that lots more when we finally move into our house.