Kindergarten

 

I unexpectedly started crying after I drove away from the elementary school. Thankfully I thought before-hand to laminate a picture of our family to put in the front pouch of her backpack. Apparently that gracious idea was a tad more for my weird, conceded self than for her... because she loved her first day and had a blast.

Toothless and Six

See? There's proof. Once upon a time about 5 1/2 years ago I had a chubby daughter. And she was the sweetest. And you would never recognize her now because she is basically only 1 foot shorter than me and weighs a whopping 42 pounds. But she still has that beautiful dirty blonde hair and those striking blue eyes, and she is still the sweetest.

 

So now I need to get over that she's not that perfect baby anymore who never cries or has a messy face and who is always content with whatever the situation brought upon. Now she is 6. She is going into AM Kindergarten in exactly one week from today and will be the tallest, most confident, and smartest kid in class. I just know it. I mean, forget learning letters and sounds--she can read. And she can do real addition and subtraction problems. In her head.

And she's friendly and compassionate and will be nice to everyone. So naturally I'm proud- but also sad at the same time. That sweet baby girl of mine will be riding that huge bus without seat belts without me. I mean, really. What if someone tells her that those dust particles you see in the window when the sun is shining is not real fairy pixie dust and that a tiny fairy did not just flutter by without anyone noticing?

I will find that kid and punch him. (just kidding. And sorry for assuming it will be a boy. A dumb boy.)



 

I've let her live in this magical fairytale full of music and dancing and rainbows and toys that come to life when you're not looking for six years. I mean, just yesterday she colored a picture with her markers of a "rainbow fairy store that sells Birthday supplies."

Happy 6th Birthday, sweet Lillie Josephine. Our family loves and needs you.

10-Day Hiatus

I found out that Fall Semester at BYU-I doesn't even start until September 18th. But still. The thought of starting another semester, even if it's still a month away makes me want to throw up. Really. Actual vomit.

There have been moments here and there when I start to get extreme anxiety about not doing my homework. Then I remember that I don't have any homework. And then my heart relaxes and happiness returns to my core.

That being said, we just returned home from a long, tiresome, blissful "vacation." Because I have had about 5 days off between semesters the last 2 years and because Dustin started up a small business and seriously could NOT take off work for more than four hours at a time, we haven't seen the Pacific Northwest for 2 1/2 years. It still felt like home crossing over the 205 bridge and even though everything has changed... nothing has changed at the same time.

We left our house on Friday, August 2nd and headed straight to Bear Lake (Baby Bear Lake, as Jack calls it) where we spent Friday-Sunday at the Miller immediate Family Reunion. We ate delicious food, swam, played on the boats and jet ski's, and talked and talked about nothing and everything.

We got to my parent's house on Sunday at 11pm and spent the next four days picking blackberries and making 12 pints of blackberry jam, celebrating 3 Birthdays, school-clothes shopping in Portland, eating at Burgerville (multiple times), playing at some parks, going to the beach (eating at Mo's), spending 6 hours at OMSI, spending time on NW 23rd with my long-lost bestie's, and Dustin even got in a couple of long bike rides at sea level elevation.

My sister, Rachel, got married on Friday up at the Alderbrook Resort, South Puget Sound area. The wedding was beautiful and the weather was perfect. It was a good learning opportunity to teach our children (*ahem, ourselves) about what to do when you see 4 forks and 3 knives and 2 spoons in front of you. There were so many courses I can't even remember some of them. But we loved the clams, muscles, tri-tip steak, roasted vegetables, gnocchi, and all the drink we could handle. Lillie's favorite part was the dance floor where she earned herself two blisters! That is how fun it was.

We stayed at a large fancy lake house for Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday we drove to Seattle only to find that the 405 was closed which made I5 INSANE. We spent the afternoon at the American Girl Place (not as cool as LA, but still incredible for any doll-lover) and after my mom took the kids back via ferry, Dustin and I enjoyed our long-awaited 7th Anniversary date at the Mariner's Hall of Fame game where Ken Griffey Jr. was inaugurated as the seventh member. All of the Hall-of-Famers were there including Randy Johnson, Jay Beuner, etc, and we were in heaven during the ceremony before the game began. Besides the lady in front of me slithering straight sauerkraut into her mouth for about 10 minutes, it was awesome.

After our never-ending drive home via I-90 (15 1/2 hours), we were surprised to find we had both gained weight, but not really surprised at the same time. Thankfully we found out that the majority of that was water weight (if you had only seen how swollen my feet and ankles were. They had rolls. Actual rolls.) but it's still motivation enough to start buying Yoplait Light and fat free milk for a while. The next time I hop on the scale at the Doctor's office is going to be a doozie, my friends.

 The funniest smile I think she's ever made.

 

 

 

 

The end.

120 Blessings

Last Spring semester of 2012 Women's Choir sang at graduation. I wasn't super thrilled to find out how I was going to spend that Friday night after finals and jury's. Being in the I-Center was much different than I had anticipated, though. I was so inspired by seeing all of the students accomplish this humongous goal that I wanted more than anything to be in their place, even though I was completely burnt out from the last 3 semesters and was contemplating taking a long break. I decided then that I would be there in those seats in one year. The last year was so hard. It wasn't even just school, it was everything. Even after a successful day, I would still feel upset that there wasn't enough time for me to do everything I wanted or needed to. We were looking for houses, were juggling several callings each, Dustin started up his company, and after so much heartache, we were contemplating on putting in our papers to adopt a baby with LDS social services. Then throw in full-time school.

But it wasn't until today that I realized I received more than I expected from all of those long, tearful prayers. I finished school with honors, our children are healthy and smart, we have a beautiful home with a beautiful yard, Dustin's company is doing exceptionally well (and he even got a fancy company truck last month!), and I'm 6 months pregnant with our new baby. Sometimes it takes a leap of faith. Sometimes you take minute and just look around and realize that you must have done something right to have received so much.

I got a tad emotional when my name was read and the Dean of Arts, Brother Brower (one of my favorite teachers) shook my hand and said, "I'm really proud of you, Erika. You've worked so hard."

I'm really going to miss this building! Especially the Snow Café.

 

 

I was so thankful for my family who came to support me and for those who encouraged me all along the way. I appreciated and loved reading through the nice messages that were written in the cards. While being a student was very difficult, it would have been impossible without help from my close family and friends who I love.

 

Now on to the next chapter...

 

Recital Recap

The recital went so well! I was happy with how I sounded and was extremely glad to even get through my French Ouvre ton Coeur song without any major mishaps! Allison played excellent and Lillie sang so sweet in the song I arranged. It was so nice to have so much support there from family and friends and the reception was beautiful and elegant. Thanks to my Mom and sister and Mother-in-law, we had homemade creampuffs, chocolate dipped strawberries, and sparkling cider. Julie even brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers for the centerpiece. What a perfect way to close this chapter!