August Adventures with four kids!

August was a wonderful month, especially as we fell even more in love with Cambria. She has brought such a remarkable spirit to our home. She is the epitome of sweetness. We took her in to the pediatric cardiologist to look at her heart condition. He said she looks good and that he feels the two holes in the ventricle walls will close off on their own. In her first three weeks, she had to have an echocardiogram, an echogram, a chest X-ray, and about six visits to the doctor’s office. Our faith has been strengthened through these experiences, knowing there are others who have much more serious situations. We will know more in September. Cambria struggled a bit early on with her feeding and gaining weight, but thanks to Elizabeth’s patience, determination, and love, she is starting to gain weight. She sleeps well—almost too well. We often have had to wake her up to eat!

Stockton has adjusted well and loves to help where he can. The big change for him was being sans his sisters while they are at school. I personally think he loves the one-on-one time with Elizabeth. He continues to pick up new tricks, phrases, and abilities. Unfortunately, potty training is not one of those yet.

Tayah is simply loving kindergarten. Like Kadence, she is in an English/Spanish dual-immersion class. She is enjoying it. Her teacher is Mrs. Rodriguez, who is a wonderful teacher. Tayah is making good friends, is superb with her reading, is practicing her writing skills, and makes the most of recess. She still manages to fit in a tantrum or two each day, just to keep her parents on their toes. She adores Cambria, too.

Kadence made a seamless transition to all-day school. Her teachers are Mrs. Diaz and Mrs. Westover. She alternates starting with Spanish and with English each week. Kadence is such a sweetie and sometimes can be very shy and quiet. I think she is gradually improving with this. She enjoys math, Spanish, reading, art, music, and PE. She also feels very grown up eating lunch at school now.

Someone tell our kids to stop growing up…please!

Elizabeth continues to amaze me. She is a masterful mother and not only takes care of all the necessary needs, but still finds time to help the girls with homework, do little activities and crafts with the kids, watch neighbors’ kids, and has resumed her Primary teaching.

David manages to keep busy with work, church, and family. I attended a conference at Utah State University Central campus (Price, UT), as well as BYU’s annual University Conference. I was in charge of our stake’s yearly Heber Valley Girls Camp service assignment. I took a few days off as I was in jeopardy of losing them.

 Other highlights:

·         We took in the annual Cougar Kickoff where the kids ran with the cross country team, kicked goals past the women’s soccer players, high fived some football giants, and took photos with the cheerleaders. Go Cougars!

·         We enjoyed a few dinners out, with Winger’s being Cambria’s first experience.

·         David successfully made it through Education Week again. It is a vastly different experience for those who “live” on campus than for those who visit.

·         President Monson’s birthday celebration was a perfect tribute to our dear prophet.

·         We had a family dinner at Darrell and Tanya’s church.

·         Pear picking at Grandpa and Grandma’s is always a treat.

·         We loved having Elizabeth’s parents at our place the last week of August (leading up to Cambria’s blessing). They were a tremendous help with the children and just having fun with us. We also had Elizabeth’s brother and his wife bring our niece to BYU, so they stayed with us for a few days.

Life is such a blessing. We are grateful for everything we have!