Into the swing of things...

I just realized that I wrote about my anxiety on the first day of school, then left everybody (all 4 or so people who read this blog) hanging.  :)
After the inital couple of weeks of feeling a little lost, I have settled into a new routine that keeps me plenty busy.  I go to bible studies two mornings a week and then use those afternoons to help at the boys school - one teacher one day and the other teacher the next.  It also means that I get to eat lunch with each kid once a week which is fun too.  The other three days of the week are reserved for cleaning house, grocery shopping, errands, etc., and I tell you, my house have never been this clean consistently.  It's pretty awesome.
All in all, we are doing very well.  The boys love school and have great teachers.  I am so blessed to be able to stay home so I can help with their school parties/events/field trips, help their teachers with copies and other random time consuming things, and then have time to make a home for my family.  Life is good. :)

First Day of School

Our first day of school pics - Hudson was so excited about his ninja lunchbox, he wanted it in the pictures. :)

Today is a turning point in our household.  Reed started 4th grade and Hudson started Kindergarten. I remember vividly leaving the school last year holding Hudson's hand and saying to Brian "Next year we'll leave by ourselves."  I just couldn't wrap my mind around the idea.  People have been asking me if I will handle it okay and I've been saying "Oh, I'll do fine!"  Hudson has been so excited to go and talks about it constantly with joy in his voice, so I thought that it would be so much easier.  I went to work out early this morning and then on the way home I got a sweet text from a friend and it made me tear up.  I got the boys up, fed them french toast and got them ready and as Hudson walked in front of me down the hallway to the car with his backpack that looked huge on him, I felt another twinge.  On the way into the school...

We went in and we saw Grace and had to get a picture.

I helped Hudson find his table.  He was so excited.  Meanwhile, Reed was over with Brian and said "I want to go sit down, tell Mom I said bye."  Hudson walked out with his class and I gave him a kiss and told him to have a great day.  Then I went to go find Reed at his table and he was already headed down the hallway to his class.  That's when I lost it and the tears came.  We left - Brian to work and me to the store to pick up a few things.   It was not fun to go into the store all by myself - my stomach just HURT.  I came home and tried to keep busy.  I made our traditional first day of school treat.

It was finally time to pick them up.  They both had smiles on their faces, loved their teachers and had a great day.   We had to have a celebratory Sonic drink.

 It is a relief to have all my chicks back in my nest.  I think tomorrow will be a much better day. :)

Days Seven & Eight

On Wednesday (day seven) we drove most of the day. Brian and I decided to go about 8 hours so the boys could have some downtime this evening at the hotel tonight. We left Rock Springs, WY and headed towards Raton, NM.  This monument is a little outside of Laramie and Brian remembered it from when he lived there. It's a tree that is growing out of a rock. Way back when a railroad was running through there and it was a teeny tree, the train engineers would throw some water on it when they stopped there.  You can enlarge the picture to read about it.

One of the boys presents they opened were 'Sippin Specs'.  You put one end in your mouth and the other in your drink and it was like one big straw. So funny!

Of course, what was the first thing we did when we got to the hotel? Yep. 

We got a 'family suite' and they again have their own bed which they are very excited about. We wanted to order pizza and have a hotel room pizza party like we did on one of our last nights last year.  However, the Pizza Hut in Raton closes at 9:00. 😳 So we ran to Sonic and brought it back to the room. The boys had a little table in their room and they sat and ate by the TV.

We got up this morning and started the last 10 hour leg home. We stopped halfway in Amarillo to see Cadillac Ranch.

Of course we had to leave our mark. 

The red blob on the right is Hudson's. check out the pose on this kid.

To commemorate our road trip...

We decided to stop for lunch too. The Big Texan is the place where you get the free 72 oz. steak if you eat it in an hour. It's a super kitschy place, but the boys enjoyed it. 

Their kids meals came in a cowboy hat that they could keep... 

And Hudson did. :)

The shooting gallery...

And a couple of other photo ops...

We made it home about 11:00.  We had an absolutely awesome trip and made a ton of memories.  I'm a blessed lady to have such a great family. 

Day Six

Today we headed back to Yellowstone to finish up the last few activities we had planned.  We took a short drive along Firehole Canyon Drive and saw (surprise!) another beautiful waterfall.

Then on the way to the next thing, we saw yet another bison by the road.  I told the boys they hit the bison jackpot on this trip.

We stopped at another geyser basin where the Great Prismatic Geyser is.  We couldn't hardly see it because of all the steam, but still had to get some pictures of some of the geysers.

Here is where Hudson had his first meltdown of the day.  He had a rough day for some reason.  Anytime anybody said anything to him in a teasing way, he started to pout.  We just decided to go on about our business.  :)

He didn't want to be in the next picture, so here's (my about to be 4th grader - yikes!) Reed...

Hudson found his happy place and was cooperative again- they can be so cute, right!?!?

Next we stopped at the Fountain Paint Pots.  First we saw the mud pots- one of the boys' favorites.

Watching one of the little geysers erupt...

Me and my boys

The temp was rising, so they zipped off their pants legs and Hudson said "This is so fun!" :)

We took a drive along Firehole Lake Drive and came upon a geyser pool right beside the road.  This is the closest we have ever gotten to one, so you could really see down in it.  It was pretty cool.

Old Faithful was next.  It was a great way to wrap up our visit to the park. We had a few minutes before the next eruption, so we checked out the visitors center and then went outside to find a place to sit.  The boys have genuine smiles in this picture because little did I know, as I was telling them to smile, a park ranger was making bunny ears behind my head.  They thought it was hilarious. 

After the eruption, we ate lunch in the Old Faithful Inn.

After lunch as we were walking to our car, Hudson had another emotional breakdown.  So I told him I would take a picture.

Then Brian grabbed the camera, put it right up to his face and we got this:

We died laughing when we saw how this picture came out- it's one of our favorites of the day.  :).

We left Yellowstone and headed back south toward home.  We still have a couple of days of driving, but we have had the best time.  We saw everything we wanted to see and have made some fun memories.  

Day Five

We had another full day today. I'm tired, so there will be a lot of pictures and not many words. :)  The boys and I ate breakfast at Running Bear Pancake House (yum), came back to the room to pick up Brian and the headed to the park.  We all wore shorts today which was much more pleasant. :). Our first stop was Gibbon Falls.  It was beautiful.

After this we attempted to go to the Artist Paintpots, but there was literally not one parking spot left, so we headed on to the next thing.  We stopped at Sheepeater's cliff which was pretty cool.

Rustic Falls

The hoodoos (these formed when travertine deposits slid down the hillside and broke into pieces)

Beautiful view!

Beautiful boys in front of the Mammoth Hot Springs

Souvenir hats :)

The smoke from a fire burning on the opposite side of the park from yesterday

Undine Falls

Tower Falls (I really like waterfalls) :)

Reed was pretty tired

As it started to get later, the wildlife came out.  We stopped because a bunch of people were stopped and out of their cars, so we knew it was an animal of some sort... it was a huge elk. (One thing I have noticed is that people do NOT have a healthy respect for these animals- they get way to close!)

A zoomed in picture of the elk :)

Then as we were driving along, there was another traffic jam.  This time it was a bison by the road.

He walked up on the road and started down asphalt.  This is when we jumped in our car.

He walked right by the window! :)

We moved on and came upon ANOTHER traffic jam.. It's time there were 11 elk out in the meadow grazing!  I couldn't even get them all in one frame.

The sunset on our way out...

The sunset in West Yellowstone.

We had another great day- now it's off to bed!