Utah

We've been in Utah for my brother's wedding. I don't have many wedding pictures because I was running around after the kiddos. I think my brother Tyson probably ended up with the best pictures. Anyway, driving home I had to snap some pictures of the leaves. I am not sure New England has anything on Provo Canyon.
They are a little blurry because I was in the car...

Technically Math's post...

So this is technically from Math. He picked all the trees he wanted pictures of and showed me how he wanted them posted ;) These are about a week old so we have even more color now!



This is the river we walk by almost everyday.


Matthew's favorite tree on our walk.

Math turns 5...

It is hard to believe but Math is now 5. He loves kindergarten and learning to read. We had a combined party with his little friend Abe whose birthday is only 3 days different from Math's.

Dropping Hints...

Soon there will be tons of blogs from all over the Northern US filled with pictures of leaves. I took these pictures a little while ago. We have a few trees that have turned and we have a lot of trees with branches that have turned. Our nights are getting down into the 40's now so I expect it won't be long until the whole world is yellow, orange and red. How about this amazing trail we get to take our walks on everyday and I didn't even post a picture of the beautiful river that runs between all these trees!

Finally something to argue about...

It is good to have college football back. After about 2 years of marriage John and I ran out of really big things to fight about. About the time Math was born we completely ran out of things to argue about. In fact, about a month ago while we were out walking John was complaining that we haven't had a fight in years. He said we'll end up like all the General Authorities who can't ever remember fighting in their marriage....Enter college football! Of course, there is no dissension when it comes to the Cougars or Longhorns but it is just nice to have something to debate again. John says OU still has a shot at the National Championship. I say very unlikely. John wants a playoff and I don't think that is the answer (if there was a playoff then I would lose all my debate and arguing skills). Is FSU too fast for us? Is TCU too fast? Can we really run through Missouri, Baylor, A&M, OSU and OU? Florida overrated? Ah...the possibilities are endless so here's to great debates, pizza, seven layer dip and hot dogs!!

Two weeks in and looking good...BYU 54, Tulane 3 and Texas 41, Wyoming 10!

Booster Seats

A bunch of new booster seat laws went into effect this Sept although many states already had laws. Texas was one of these states which is why I got an update but then I realized that I had not ever checked Colorado laws. I had seen the promotions in Utah about their new booster seat laws so I knew the age there was 8 years old. Texas's new age is now 8 years too. Colorado is 6 years old but they also have a height requirement with it. Seth really wants to sit in a booster seat but he isn't 3 yet and here in CO (from my understanding) it is illegal to put a child into a booster seat until they are 40 lbs. Almost all booster seats require a child to at least 3 years old before it is safe to use them with a seatbelt so it isn't like the CO law is that far off. Seth isn't quite heavy enough and I am not about to move him because it is so much more dangerous. Also, it really is better to wait till they are 4 (I am not sure we'll make it another year ;) Of course, when I say booster seat I am talking about a seat that only uses the seat belt. There are boosters with a 5 point harness that are safe for children under 4. I don't know what the Texas law is about when you are allowed to move a child to a booster seat. Utah's law requires the the child meet all the height and weight and age requirements before you can legally move them to a booster seat. This means that the child will have to be 3 and at least 38 inches tall. Our older booster seats require a weight of at least 35 lbs but I have seen new ones that only require 30 lbs. Seth isn't 3 so he can't legally ride in a booster seat in any state in the US but it is hard to convince him to stay in his carseat. When Josh was a baby we turned him forward facing right around 13 months because he just couldn't take it any longer. With the other boys it was easier to keep them backwards because they had brothers to interact with when they were still backwards. I try to keep them rear facing longer because it is so much safer but we usually don't make it more than a couple of months past 12 months. Now what to do with Seth? And what to do with Hyrum? He is legal here but when we drive to and through other states he is not. I have a backless booster for him but he is resistant to it :)
Also...why is it so confusing? States really need to do a better job letting people know the carseat and booster laws!! Hmmmm....

Final score: BYU 14, OU 13....

Really people...need I say more!!! YEAH BABY!!

Shout out to Scott, Eldon and Dan who were "righteous" enough to go. By the look of it, they were the only BYU fans there!

If you need permission...

I know people think I am crazy but we declared Christmas music season open tonight! Bedtime songs were Silver Bells and Winter Wonderland and Silent Night. Although we sing Christmas songs all year round, Aug 31st is our official start when John can't roll his eyes because we play it in the car and listen to it a lot at home. Four months isn't really overkill for Christmas...I mean it is Christmas right :)

Shoe Fun

It is delightful that Chaco has finally started making real shoes just in time for my move to colder weather. They have a lot of different ones now. I really like a lot of different sport sandals like Keen and Merrell and Teva, etc but the Chaco sandals have always just been amazing for me. They fit my feet so I was happy to find the Chaco Jane on a closeout at the end of summer for an amazing price (because they really are too expensive). They are more sporty but I am hoping that when my feet swell they will pass for Church so I have something comfortable to wear. What do you think?

Also, I have been reading Born to Run, which is mostly about this tribe in Mexico that run huge races on rocky terrain barefoot. Obviously the book is a little more extensive than that but I haven't finished it yet...anyway, part of my running problem has always been that my feet go numb and when I had metatarsalgia about a year after Seth was born the pain was excruciating so it is interesting to see what other people do. John is obsessed with going barefoot. He says he is preparing for the second coming when we all have to walk to Missouri and since human kind has fallen there will be no shoes. He wants his feet to be ready. I had read about these "shoes" (Vibram Fivefinger) and, of course, thought of John. I saw my cousin got a pair the other day and is suppose to post a review sometime. Has anyone else used them? I wonder if they are like going barefoot and really that amazing. They are definitely amazingly ugly!

School Sum Up

This is more of a "grandparent" sort of entry and I really mean that so you might want to consider skipping it...a quick sum up of our first week of school.
Joshua - in the first 5 days of school Joshua received 3 letters home telling us what respectful, hard worker he was (this, of course, is wonderful but Josh does have a tendency to let it go to his head). His standardized tests scores came this week and he is considered Advanced in every subject. This is not a big surprise although I think he has some personal weaknesses they definitely aren't in school so far ;)
Hyrum - his reading improved over summer but he is still struggling with speech related delays :) Both his teacher and student-teacher said he was the sweetest, most kind student they had in the class and proclaimed him a delight to teach (HA...we'll give this a few more weeks). Joshua's 3rd grade teacher is now working with the 2nd graders and also went on about how polite and generous both boys are.
Math - managed to get lost once but I went into the school and found him. He had gone to the wrong place instead of coming out to be picked up. He was a little nervous and proclaimed that his "teacher had left him," not that he had gone the wrong way :) He is delighted that he got to get a library book and homework. He wants to be just like Josh and Hy.
Seth - has spent the last few mornings playing with all the toys he is usually forbidden by his brothers to play with.

On a side note...Holly, Josh's 3rd grade teacher, has always scared me. She even scares John. She is direct and intimidating and scary but after a year with Josh and now working with Hy, she apparently loves us. Last night she came up and gave me a big hug and told me how excited she was that we were having another boy. My due date is her birthday and she was sad we couldn't name it after her but when I told her our top name right now she got tears in her eyes and said that her great-grandfather, grandfather, father, brother and nephew had all been named that. She said if we use that name then she will feel like a little part of her is with us. Hmmm...no pressure. I just wish I could describe how frightened I used to be of her :) Life is funny...

Yesterday when I was picking up Math from school my neighbor and I met a woman who also had 4 boys!! I was so excited because that meant there was someone else at the school who had almost as many kids as me. I didn't think that was possible here. Anyway, afterwards I was talking to my neighbor and telling her how I thought that lady was crazy for having four kids 7 and under (her oldest was 7). I was like..."her house must be crazy and she must be so busy and why would you ever want to do that." Then my friend looked at me and said, "You had 4 boys who were 6 and under and now you are going to have 5 who are 9 and under." That is when it hit me that I am crazy :) It sounds so insane when you think about other people who have 5 kids. There are so many things in life like that. You look at other people and think how on earth can they do that or how can they handle that challenge and then you find yourself right in the middle of something very similar. It is that feeling when you think to yourself, "How did I get here? Wasn't I just in college like yesterday?" HA...funny...
Related to this topic, sort of...Boulder is crazy. If you saw the descriptions for the prenatal classes and how the hospitals work here you would think to yourself, "I am glad I live in a nice conservative place like Austin, TX." Life is relative...what if the poor Amish had to move to Salt Lake. They would probably think they landed in one of the most liberal towns in America. :)