The Pollard Place: August 2019

I can't believe that summer is almost over! I feel like we missed it, but I guess that happens when you're moving and unpacking and adjusting to real life again haha. The weather is hot here, but not humid so we are all so thankful for that. Moving into the house is going well and we are making progress. By the end of the month we even cleaned out the storage unit that we have been using since we moved from Seattle, so that is great! But now we feel like we are drowning in stuff and we want to get rid of everything haha.

Orem has a ton of really fun little activities for kids in the summer, and we went to one called the Teddy Bear Clinic. It was awesome and the kids loved it! It was at the hospital and the kids got to take their stuffed animals through the hospital and see different things that the hospital does to take care of the patients. This way if they ever have to go it won't seem as scary. Henry's favorite part was the surgery he got to do on his horse and Della's favorite part was the cape she got to wear haha.

Surgery

Cape

Life flight helicopter

August 10 was the Porter Family Reunion! It was fun as always. This year they had tents set up to remember our ancestors and the kids got to do a fun activity at each station. Then we all went swimming at Uncle John's house!

A big highlight of the day was the pie eating contest haha. Henry absolutely demolished the competition. I've never seen anything like that haha. Then we all got a turn!

At Beckie's tent we dressed up and took pictures, just like she liked to do!

I love summer because there are so many fun things to do outside! Jessica and I have been going mountain biking, Rusty has gone mountain biking with some friends, the kids and I met with Sophia and Chelsea and their families at a park in Lehi, and Chelsea and I did a hike to Donut Falls. This is such a beautiful place!

Camouflaging like trees

Lunch break!

We also met up with Rick, Desi, Kandi and Desi and went to Bridal Veil Falls and then drove Alpine Loop. We love doing that drive any time we can, and we were all too excited to share it with the Parkers now that they have moved here!

One hot day I took the kids swimming at the Provo Rec Center outdoor pool. They had an absolute blast! They just love it there so much. Hopefully we get to go one more time before they close over Labor Day. Henry was so sweet and held Della's hand on the toy. One time a boy cut in front of Della on the slide so she didn't follow Henry and he came running over to me yelling, "A boy took my baby's turn! She didn't get to go! I'm going to go get my baby right now!" I watched him climb up and then tell everyone that his baby got to go after him haha. I love how protective he is of her and I hope that never fades.

The Bartons met us up at Vivian Park to cook tin foil dinners and eat s'mores one summer night! This is one of the best parts of summer to me, and I hope that my kids grow up with wonderful memories of summer nights.

Feeding the ducks! It was a big hit for all involved until Della stepped in duck poop and it got on her toes. Then it was no longer fun.

Rusty's birthday was a lot of fun! He wanted to keep it a low key day, so we went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant where he had to wear a giant sombrero, then after work we had cake and presents and then went up the canyon to go fishing. Rusty had been bummed for a while that he wasn't able to help Henry catch a fish, and Henry caught one within a few minutes of having his line in the water! Rusty caught two and I caught two! It was great! But it was also really sad because two of the fish swallowed the hooks so far down that they weren't looking like they would survive, and one that I caught somehow got the hook in his eye. I am not cut out for the brutal sport of fishing.

We started doing a Forest School with some friends at the end of this month. Every Thursday we go up to South Fork Park and spent some time outside in nature. I bring a book and a little activity for all of the kids to do, and it is a blast!

Adeline had her first dentist appointment! I couldn't get over how tiny she looked in that giant chair. She did great and got to watch Little Baby Bum so she was pretty happy. When the hygienist would ask her to do something she would just ignore her so she could hear the show haha.

The Scera theater by our house does some outdoor plays! Last month Rusty and I went to Peter Pan on a date because I got free tickets, and this month we decided to go to Beauty and the Beast as a family with my parents. It was so fun and we were much better prepared with blankets and pillows and snacks this time. And the acting and singing was significantly better than the last play! This one was really awesome!

We were lucky to spend lots of time with family this month. It is so wonderful being so close to everyone. We are always excited about having visitors come! And, apparently, we are always excited about reading books with our visitors haha.

This month Rusty and I started a cool arrangement with our friends the Chamberlands where we rotate babysitting. Rusty and I got to go out on a date and Rusty planned it all on his own. We went and played a virtual reality game that was so fun and then we went and hit a bucket of balls at the driving range. I was literally on the ground I was laughing so hard. That was awesome haha.

When we watched Scarlett the next week, we helped the kids make "Worry Monsters". You write your worries down and then feed them to the monsters and then they go away. We used tissue boxes, but I was short one so we emptied all the tissues out and had a snowball fight haha. Henry's worries cracked me up, all except for him being afraid and Della getting taken. That broke my heart. But here are his other worries:

A unicorn breaks into our house
Scared to go in my room alone
Della gets taken in a car and she never comes back
The TV won't work. The unicorn stuck a hole in it.
Jackson Storm wins every race and Lightning McQueen never wins.
Daddy legs and mommy legs that are poisonous and bite.
A spider in our cups.
Bailey will get eaten by a dragon.
Dragons and monsters in my room.
A could that is a big spider and is alive.

We got to see the Staples before they left to move to California! We don't get to see them very often, but it is always nice to catch up with them when we can. And this time we got to meet Luke and they got to meet Adeline. Things are very different than when we all met in college haha!

One Saturday we went out for a quick trip to Morgan to relax, regroup and get some space to think about some big changes. Rusty is rethinking his career path and that has been really difficult for him, and I have been having some health issues with anxiety and panic attacks which is really difficult for me. We all needed some time just to breathe. While we were out there we looked at a few houses to buy but we cannot afford anything that we want haha. Butj the kids loved riding the horse! Della did not want to get off.

I have been organizing toys and getting the kids' rooms cleaned up. This makes it so we actually rotate through the toys better which I love! One day we had too much fun with the dress up clothes. :) When I got out of the shower, Henry knocked on the door and said he had a surprise to show me. This is what I saw hahaha.

I can't believe that this year I am the mom posting first day of school pictures on Facebook and Instagram. But Henry started preschool on August 27 and could not be happier about it. Grandma and Papa took him back to school shopping and got him some clothes and a cool backpack that he loves. We started a new tradition called School Year's Eve, where we have a party the night before school starts. It was a blast and I love that we are doing this! We have a school bus cake, a fashion show of their new school clothes, play games, talk about the new school year, and eat a favorite dinner. Then on the first day we had school pancakes with apples and cinnamon, took pictures, and did a little interview after his first day. I love traditions and I hope that my kids have fond memories of the traditions that I do with them!

The Natural History Museum in Salt Lake had a free day, so we drove up and met my parents for lunch at City Creek Mall and then went to the museum! Henry loved all of the dinosaurs that he got to see.

Her hair is in a pony tail!! Ahh!

Henry's Highlights:

I was sad that I had hooked that fish in the eye, and he told me "Hey, look over there. They have a camp fire. Just look at that and it will melt your sad away."
He lets Rusty and I choose which pull up he will wear each night.

Caught first fish!
Started preschool
Ride a two wheeler

Adeline's Adventures

Wore a dress to bed for pajamas
Started finally saying actual color words instead of just blue
Insists that she has brown skin and carries her brown barbie around all of the time.
Sings "Let it Go, no no no (snow snow snow)" all of the time
Loves the book Fancy Nancy
Her hair is finally getting long enough I can do some braids!!! Hooray!!