ch-ch-ch changes

My Mom often said, if there's one thing you can always count on, it's change.  Well the seasons are a changing, our address is changing, Garrett's employer has changed as well as his age, and I am officially entering a new stage of motherhood!!

I now have an elementary school student!  Rylynn is so me and it is so fun for me to see her entering this new stage of her life but it's also sad.  We are both such worry worts but then we bring our A game when it's time!  The two weeks leading up to first grade starting, Rylynn was really nervous about school and kept asking me questions and every time we talked about it she got anxious.  Then the day before school started it was like my confident Rylynn kicked into gear and she was super excited and all her fears were gone.   

She was really excited at back to school night to see her very own desk and to see lots of friends that were going to be in her class.  I think there were only two kids in the whole class that she didn't already know.  

Rylynn got a really sweet blessing from her Daddy the night before school started and it was so perfect for her.  I walked her in on the first day and she was so excited and ready to go.  I however was so sad to think of her eating lunch in a cafeteria without me.  I don't know why but the whole lunch thing hit me the hardest.  I always dreaded the day Rylynn started first grade because it is the beginning of the end to me.  Once the first kid starts into real school it seems like the rest of the years just fly together.  Carter of course was so mad that he didn't get to eat lunch at school but I told him that Rylynn had eaten lunch with me almost every single day for the past 6 1/2 years and he had to pay his dues!  I am not ready to let him go and honestly I still can't believe that Rylynn is gone all day at school. Im so happy that she loves her class and her teacher.  She is loving her school too and can't wait till we move so she can walk or ride her bike to school.

Garrett had a great birthday this year.  We went out to lunch to the brazillian grill and stuffed ourselves full of meat.  Now that is my husband's idea of a great meal!  Then we had a family birthday dinner a couple days later complete with blueberry cheesecake.  Then to be extra spoiled he got to fly to TX for the weekend and go to the BYU football game with my brother.  This year brings on a new job with a great firm downtown.  He is very excited to have a new challenge and experience.  It is funny how the Lord takes us on paths we didn't think we would travel.  Garrett's firm taught him so much about how to be a good attorney and about his strengths and weaknesses.  He got more experience in 2 years there than most attorneys get in 7 at a firm and it definitely opened up doors at this new job.  

After a painful week of waiting and watching his sister go off to school, it was finally time for Carter to start Pre-K with Miss Teri!!  Carter has been waiting for this moment for two years and he was so excited when it finally came!  The only downer for him was that he doesn't get to take his awesome lunch box to school like Rylynn but that will come soon enough.  My sweet Carter boy is so funny.  This picture shows his shy and tentative nature when it comes to new things, but that little smirk also shows that he's secretly really excited too.  He really is growing up.  Sometimes I still think of him as my little man, but now he is the same age as Rylynn was when we moved here.  I can't believe that!  He also got a really sweet blessing before school started and we were totally amazed at how still and reverent he was during the whole thing.  It was pretty long and he listened so well to the whole thing.  I am so thankful for the priesthood in my home and the peace and comfort it brings to me and my kids.  

Lastly, we are moving into a house in two weeks and get to move out of this apartment much sooner than planned!  I am so happy I don't have to look out of that window every single day and picture my baby down at the bottom anymore.  The apartment manager let us out of our lease and the house became available in a perfect way and at the perfect time.  I am so humbled every single time I see the Lord's hand in my life and I am so thankful that he always provides for me and my little family.  So for once in my life I can say in all honesty: "bring on the changes!!"