From the Heart: Life Has Happened

It always amazes me how much time passes in between my blog posts. As I looked at my previous post I realized that I have not blogged since my sweet-little-student, Kelsey, passed away. Life has happened. It's been hard, rewarding, fun and full of love. My heart is happy.

Life has happened since January. Skipping to June, I sent my 5th graders off to the Middle School (thank God) and summer began. I kicked off my summer with running two half marathons and crossing the finish line to be greeted by my biggest fans, Chad and Will. I'm a lucky girl. I have the best husband and little boy that I could ever ask for.

The remainder of the summer we spent on the road. We started off with a trip to the cabin in Idaho for The Fourth. This has been a tradition of ours since Chad and I were dating. We hope to continue the tradition with our family. Our next trip was to Eugene where Will and I spent time with my grandparents and the Siglers. We were home for a day and then headed to Prosser to be with my parents for the weekend. Will loves playing in the sprinklers and picking through the garden with Granny and Papa. The following week we were back in Idaho for a continued tradition of camping on the river property. This year we had a great crowd and Will had his first float down the river. He loved it! On the road again the next weekend, we headed south to Mt. Rainier where we camped and hiked with my parents. It is official that Will loves to camp because he had an absolute blast getting dirty, exploring and just being a boy. The following weekend we were back in northern Idaho for a wedding at spent some time camping with the Madsens and Foys up at the Bear Paw. Those that get to experience the Bear Paw truly are a part of something special. This was our quickest trip to Idaho which made for a lot of driving and patience on all our parts. Will was a trooper. The final weekend of our travels for the summer was, you guessed it, back to Idaho to the cabin. It is always fun to be at the cabin when everyone is there. We were able to spend time with the Siglers and Randles which was a lot of fun. There are so many high-lights from this trip...Finishing a phase on the play house, jet skiing, swimming, boating, a salmon bake and just good quality time together. Life has definitely happened this summer...and a lot of miles were put on my poor, little car.

We are slowly starting to get back into the swing of things for the fall. I'm back to work next week and Will is going to be back in daycare full time. I am going to be teaching 3rd this year, which makes me nervous and excited...maybe anxious...as I have never taught this grade before so everything is going to be new. With a new principal, new team, new grade and new curriculum I shouldn't be too overwhelmed, right? (Pray for me, please).

So, here's to a fun summer and a fresh start to the fall. And a few cute pics of my boys.