insta-Q3

{8.15.24}

This summer, ya’ll! I can’t believe how fast it flew by. We crammed it full of swimming, cousins, trips, ranch days, more cousins, lake days, more cousins, and more swimming. We decided we needed one more week of summer and we are going to take it! But I’m also so excited for the things we have planned for this next homeschool year. I think it might be our very best yet!

{8.15.24}

We love our annual NOT Back to School party. Pool and donuts with as many of our homeschooling friends as possible.

This celebration reminds me that we are intentionally choosing this path because of the many opportunities it gives us, especially the joy of spending more time together. It also reminds me that we are part of a beautiful, brave, creative community of amazing people that are learning and growing with us. Pool+sun+donuts+people I love= the best way to start a new school year.

{8.31.24}

Back to School: Lucy
Kindergarten
I can hardly believe my baby is ready for Kindergarten but I have zero bittersweet feelings about it. I am 100% excited about this new stage with my girl. Lucy is excited to learn to read and I am excited for our first homeschool year without a baby/toddler. Walking around the block with Lucy at lunchtime and knowing I will be the one to make the accommodations to set her up for educational success is bringing me so much joy. We have so many fun things planned and I can’t wait for us to do it together. Lucy is sweet, spicy, tender, and confident. This is my favorite kindergarten year ever!

{8.31.24}

Back to School: Caleb
2nd Grade
Caleb is most excited for his Thursday Co-op but it’s probably tied with starting piano lessons with his favorite @robosteff. He loves listening to audiobooks and is also loving our family study hour. Caleb is energetic, so smart, and often gets sucked into his own imagination because it’s so vivid and exciting there. I love this sweet, fun boy.

{8.31.24}

Back to School: Austin
4th Grade
We love Utah History around this house and we are so excited for this upcoming year with our Utah History group + field trips. (4th grade might be my favorite elementary grade.) Austin is also starting a Makerspace class at Thanksgiving Point and a Thursday co-op. Austin is kind, hard-working, and enthusiastic. I love spending my days with this boy.

{8.17.24}

Back to School: Lydia
7th Grade (Middle School!)
She really wanted to study Algebra and Writing this year, so those are her main core focuses. She’s starting a new middle school coop which is going to be awesome. She will also be taking a musical theater class from Hale Center Theater Orem and can’t wait to perform at The Ruth! I’m so proud of this beautiful, funny, creative and thoughtful girl.

{8.18.24}

We had the BEST back to school week and several times I stopped with gratitude and unbelief that this is actually my life. That I get to spend my days with these incredible, beautiful children- and that we get to go on this educational journey together. They are smart, kind, and good. We are learning about so many amazing things and exploring so many cool places.

I am posting about our homeschool journey this year at @a.homeschooling.heart - I’ve been hesitant to let people follow there because I don’t want people silently judging our educational choice or feeling like I’m judging theirs. However we have some fun things on our horizon that I’m excited to share. If you’re interested, you’re welcome to join us there.

{8.29.24}

We celebrated my Grandma Zuriel’s 91st birthday this weekend! So grateful for her and happy we got to see her on this fun day. @zurielknowles

{8.31.24}

Our stake is amazing, and one of the highlights is our annual Women’s Camp- a Friday and Saturday spent in the mountains with the wonderful women of the Thanksgiving Stake. Not many things are more exhilarating than waking up with your daughter at 5 am to go on a sunrise hike with a group of 70 women. I’m grateful for good friends to experience this with and grateful that Lydia also has good friends to experience this with. I was blessed by this weekend and I know Lydia was, too.

{9.1.24}

My parents are retiring to Wyoming just like they’ve always planned. It’s exciting and I’ve been amazed at how quickly the house has shifted from feeling like my grandparents house to feeling like “HOME”. We are planning to spend a significant amount of time there helping to get things in order and I’ve been working to get my kids outfitted with the correct Wyoming attire. This week we showed up in plaid flannel work shirts, jeans and cowboy boots. These boots are bringing me an immense amount of joy! I’m so glad my kids will get to add these life experiences to their childhood.

{9.8.24}

I already posted about this in my stories, but I figured it deserved a spot in my feed.

My parents moved from their home in Morgan this weekend after living there for almost 20 years. I haven’t always liked Morgan but I have come to love this home and treasure the gift that it has been to my family and my children. I am leaving this valley with gratitude for the things I have learned and the safe haven it has been for my family.

Also, grateful for the people that this town brought into my life (@haylidickey and @natakaye, I’m looking at you!)

{9.19.24}

Happy 37 years to me! (And thank goodness for Caleb being born the year I turned 30 so that someone can help me keep track of my age).

We celebrated with one of my favorite plays “Arsenic and Old Lace” at my very favorite theater with some of my favorite people.

My thirties have been my favorite decade by far- I’m feeling like if I could pause time at any place in my life it would be right here. Right now. But I know it doesn’t work like that- so I will just enjoy this moment right now and hope to create a life full of amazing years.

{9.22.24}

We hiked to the Mt Raymond Summit yesterday and it was amazing.
-7.5 miles
-3,028 elevation gain
-1 moose family

The start of this hike is so steep (and so is the end) and I was so tired. But we made it and I’m so proud of us. We are confident that hiking a difficult hike together must be a psychology-approved relationship builder because it’s awesome to accomplish something so hard together. (Especially considering we almost turned back 30 minutes in when we encountered a bull moose on the trail!)

The middle pictures with the peak behind us were taken halfway through the hike and I am pointing to the summit that we ended the hike at. It really was incredible!

{9.26.24}

I just hit my 50th book this year, as recorded on Goodreads. (Mostly audiobooks).

Some of these books include:
- Die With Zero (Fascinating)
- Turn of the Key (Terrifying)
- Search for the Wild Claveringi (Bizzarre, but one of my favorite reads of the year because of how hard I had a search for it after reading a small reference to it in Sound of a Wild Snail)
-Skyward Series (Brandon Sanderson, so fun)

50 books was my goal for the year. From here:
-I still have 3 books from the @everydayreading booklist.
-My sweet friend @a_connected_home gave me this new book today, (I loved the Alchamist).
- @readintorebecca just influenced me to download the book series by @juliechristiansonauthor (one is free today!) and they look like a great series to sit down and relax with. (That’s what I told my kids I wanted for my birthday.)
-I have at least 8 Christmas books that have been on hold on Libby all year and I’m counting down the days to my holiday reading.