Fair

This summer Emily took a couple of sewing classes. She made lots of fun stuff. One of the classes she made this darling quilt. We entered the things she made in the county fair a couple of weeks ago and she got lots of blue ribbons and $25. She was excited and used the money to buy Macie a leash. It was a fun event that I think we will plan on doing each year.

I was so proud of her and how this quilt turned out. It was not an easy project. She did such a great job.

All the things she made.

I entered this picture of Hayley and received a blue ribbon and some money. Now I wish I would have entered more things. I guess I will have to wait until next year.

Tyler spent a lot of time this summer figuring out how to do web pages. He made this one for his history fair project last spring and is now wanting to make a web design business. He is so smart and we are so proud of how he can learn anything by just working hard at it. I look forward to seeing all the incredible things he will accomplish in his life. He truly is an amazing kid and I feel so lucky that I get to be his mom.

Park

Since Hayley has to wait a few weeks before starting Kindergarten we have spent a couple of mornings going to the park. One day to play on the playground and the next day at the splash pad. Both days we saw little yellow butterflies...a tender mercy for me. I haven't had as many "Wyatt moments" this summer. There just haven't been very many butterflies and I have missed that so much. So it was refreshing to have them surround us at the park both days. It reminded me of the first summer after Wyatt died. We saw so many of them.


I have missed him so much lately. I should be watching a 2 year old squeal with delight while sliding down a slide or while playing at the splash pad. My arms ache and that void is so there. Especially as Hayley will be starting Kindergarten and going to school everyday. I should have an almost 3 year old at home with me. It's hard! But I am looking forward to those few hours a day where I can get all the many things done that I need to and then I can have my afternoons with Hayley. I think next year will be harder for me when she is gone all day long. I'm grateful for music...it will help with the quietness. I knew this time would come someday but it's coming way sooner than I thought. I would do anything in this world to have a toddler in my life....to have Wyatt to love and to hold. Why does this life have to be so hard?


Here are a few pictures I took at the park. Hayley truly is my "sunshine". I don't know what I would have done without her and Tyler and Emily and Derek the past 2 1/2 years.



Macie came with us to the park and enjoyed running around with Hayley and eating the bark...seriously??? I can't believe we have a dog.

I do love those sad puppy dog eyes.

Splash pad

Can you tell she loves water??? It's a good thing since our summers are HOT.

First day of school

I didn't get around to posting the first day of school pictures. Our kids have been in school for over 2 weeks now...crazy if you want my opinion. Hayley has to wait until the first of September for kindergarten to start but she did get to meet her teacher so she dressed up like it was her first day.

Our big middle school student. How could I possibly have a kid in middle school?


Emily is enjoying 5th grade at her Charter school. Besides all the core learning she will receive she is getting to do Ballet, Violin and Computers. She loves it!

Hayley can hardly wait until she gets to go to kindergarten in a couple of weeks. She especially can't wait to go to school with her older sister. It's about killing her that she has to wait so long. But for me I'm cherishing these last few weeks with just me and her. We have been spending time doing some of the things we didn't get around to doing this summer.

Photo shoot

I did my first photo shoot that wasn't one of my kids a few weeks ago. Some good friends of ours wanted some pictures taken of their daughter to give to her boyfriend that was moving. She loves to dance and he loves baseball. It was fun. I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing so it made it so much easier to have someone so photogenic and natural in front of the camera. Here are just a few of the zillion pictures I took. I'm toying with the idea of naming my photography WLL(Wyatt Lewis Larsen) Photography...what do you think?

Sunflowers

Whenever we go on a trip up north to see family we always have to make a lot of stops for Derek's work. I've learned to take my camera with me for those stops because there is always something beautiful to capture. This time it was some sunflowers off the side of the road. What a bright and cheery flower. I love noticing the details in flowers and how each type of flower is so unique. Love the beauties of this earth.

Whenever I see sunflowers they remind me of a semester in college when we as roommates decided to have a sunflower theme decor. One of my roommates moms made us each sunflower aprons. We had purchased sunflower hot pads, silk sunflowers and a bunch of other sunflower stuff. Our apartment was definitely sunflowery and cheery. We even picked sunflowers from the side of the road and made bouquets with them to put on the table. I don't think I can ever look at a sunflower and not remember those days with some awesome and fun roommates. It puts a smile on my face to remember those days and how even back then I enjoyed decorating. These sunflowers would have totally fit in with our decor.

Summer "fun" sunflowers.

One of the first "fun activities" we did this summer was to plant some sunflower seeds. These big sunflowers are now blooming and we are getting to enjoy them in our yard. It was fun for the kids to see what can come out of a small seed...a beautiful huge flower. In fact Emily was quite surprised when I reminded her that this is what we had planted on the first day of summer vacation. She was shocked to see how tall they had gotten and how pretty the flowers were.

Silly putty

My new favorite way to entertain my 5 year old who is so anxious for Kindergarten but has to wait a couple more weeks. You can get the recipe here. I love it more than play dough because it isn't as messy. She has had lots of fun today playing and experimenting with it. It's super easy to make. 2 thumbs up for me and for Hayley.

Healing Hearts Walk

The healing hearts walk is coming up soon. It's going to be on September 11th. I'm beyond grateful for this group and the amazing people I've met from it. I truly don't know where I would be today without the support and love I've received from this group. Last year we were able to go to the walk and it was amazing. If you live in the Utah County area this is a great organization to support. Click here for the link to pre-register. Pre-registration ends this week sometime so if you are planning on going this is the time to do it. Each year they have an angel ceremony where they remember and honor those angels in the group. Wyatt will be remembered and butterflies will be released. It will be a wonderful event. These are some of the pictures from last year.

Wyatt's poster.

Butterfly release.