This week and a half has been a whirlwind of activities we are squeezing in before school starts.  Our ward has an annual overnight campout with an unlimited supply of corn.  We have never gone before because of Belen.  Last week she was in WY with her grandparents, so we went and had a fun time.  The kids ate marshmallows ad screamed and ran around.  The little ones ate corn on the cob for the first time ever and that was a hilarious thing to watch.  :-)

Zeke and Stan are now up with Grandparents and we will pick them up this weekend.

Belen has her very last horse riding lesson today for the summer and I will try to grab a few pictures to post.

I cut my own hair and the littles.  Here is a photo of Stan right before I cut.

 I'll post another one of the after as well.

Mine is just back to my old normal.  It was getting unwieldy.  It has never been that long.  In fact, there was even enough to donate.  Here is what I was looking like before the cut:

And here is the hair after:

We have been running to and fro to run errands, but hopefully it will mostly be done by the end of this week. School starts on Tuesday and we will have 2 needing to be ready for it.  I finally got Zeke's schedule ironed out (I think).  It is really nice that we have the opportunity to dual enroll here in Utah, but one of the problems with it is that since not many utilize it, nobody is really sure how the implementation works.  I think we have it though.  We'll find out if the truancy officer shows up at our door a few weeks into school.  ;-)

Sitting in a Special Ed Law Conference last week, 2 IEPs this week and a support night for families with disabilities has got my head swimming in disability advocacy right now.  Usually it isn't this intense.  Hoping that Belen has a better year this year.

Well, those are the exciting bits.  Excited to organize again for school.  I get to do it twice: once in September and again in January since our "official school year follows the calendar, but we regroup when all the other kids leave.  Omi has sent the fun packages to help us get ready and we have all sniffed the crayolas.  :-)

With my parents in China for the next few years and my in-laws in Casper for the foreseeable future, I decided to dust of the old bloggy-blog and start recording some happenings.

I do not apologize for misspellings or weirdly worded sentences, you will just have to deal with it.  :-)

Belen has just left me to go spend the week with her grandparents in Wyoming and I am on the verge of falling apart and a panic attack.  She has only been away from me overnight for the first time when my now 2 year old was born.  She has never been more than an hour out of my grasp and I am not handling this well.  I forget for a while and then I remember and my heart starts beating.  I am trying to be mindful of the fear, mindful of my physical reactions to the fear and know the normality that my daughter really wants to be like other kids her age and spend some time with her grandparents.

I hope I can handle it. I hope she chews her food.  I hope my mother-in-law (who is an extremely capable mother of 9) can keep her safe.

But if not,

I know that things will be okay.

I have been going through lots of grief work the last month.  Anticipatory grief (like always), but also expectations needing another shift.  I have allowed myself to make plans for her future that I had not allowed in years' past and I am not sure that is a bad thing.  I just don't know if my heart is ready for her future.

Zeke has been having tons of fun on scout campouts.  He had high adventure this week and rapeled down a 50 foot cliff.  His leaders was so impressed that he was so visibly afraid and did it anyway.  I could see definite comparisons to my own youth and I am happy with the way he was able to deal with his fear, when I couldn't at that age.

Abe went to Bryce Canyon last week and had lots of fun.  And Lu and Stan  spent a week with their cousins in Orem and had a blast.  They went to bed too late and played video games and whined and laughed and loved it.  I am glad they have the option to visit family and learn about other homes.

My sweet baby is 2.  She loves to sing "Frozen" songs and wears her siblings shoes all over the house.  This means that even if someone were to put away their shoes, there is no guarantee they will ever find them again.  She is also wearing unders most of the time now.  She loves it.

this is the first year in several that I have not had obligations on World Breastfeeding Week.  It has been nice.  Although, I don't anticipate it happening again in a very long time.

I am so glad to have the temple back, I can hardly stand it.  The open house is going right now and will be dedicated at the end of September.  We have our tickets for Belen's birthday and I am so antsy to be able to go back on a regular basis.  I know I have taken it for granted having a temple so close for most of my life, but getting away with 6 children is *hard*.  I know our ancestors are also itching to have us find them.  There are new ones posted every few months on family search, it is so exciting.  If you would like to see the inside of the Ogden Temple and would like a friend to go with you, let me know.  I will be there!

 This is Belen who was so saddened that every single one of her siblings in public school had achieved the much-sought-after award of Student of the month.  During "summer school" we had Belen be our Student of the Month.  She loved her cup and pencil more than the work it took to put it together.  :-)

 We had our biannual Hardman Family Reunion and Belen was pretending to operate the boat.  She loved every bit of that time and so did we.  :-)

More reunion pics.  The girls loved being dragged around by the rope on any number of floaty things.