Back to School Night

Tonight is back to school night.  I'm really excited, and so are the kids.  As much as I love the freedom of summer, the freedom of summer kills me.  I never can get on top of my life when I have 5 kids at home all day long, and the days go so late in the summer.  I love it when it starts to get dark earlier, and I can get the kids in bed and clean up my house.  I love the structure.  I will, however, miss the ability to just leave the house and go to the pool, or the park, or grandma's house.  It's been a wonderful summer, my best yet I think.

I am really looking forward to THIS school year though, and I'll tell you why.  I think this will go down in history as my best school year ever.  That is tough to do, because last year was so incredibly awesome.  But this year I feel like my children are divided to have their own designated time with me each day.  Isaac is in 3rd grade, and will be gone all day.  He will come home at 3:45 and we will have our time together to do homework, reading, talk about the day.  Dawson is in Kindergarten and will come home at 12:30 to do homework, reading, and lunch with me.  Henry and G. are going to preschool on alternating days, so on their day off, they will have the morning with just Walker and I.  Henry is going to Sports Academy with some of his best friends, and G. is going to joy school with his neighborhood friends.  And of course since Walker is a baby, he gets my attention whenever he wants it.....little stinker.

I think this will be a magical year, despite the fact that I'm not ready to "lose" another child to every day school.  I keep telling Dawson that I am keeping him home, that I'll call the school and tell them that he's dead, and then he can stay with me all day.  His dimples pop out and he tells me no way.  But in reality he is SO ready for school, his brain is desperate for progression, and I am not qualified at all to give it to him.  So off he goes to Kindergarten.

9 months.... Sort of

Walker had his nine month appointment yesterday. He is actually almost 10 months now. He is a munchkin. He was very cute and social with the doctor, and didn't cry once I picked him up from his shot. Phew.

At 9 months Walker got his first tooth, followed by the second a week later. He crawls into the kitchen and pulls himself up to stand against the barstools. He hasn't fallen down the stairs yet, but was once found on the third step down. He sleeps 12 hours and through the night most nights. He loves all food and loves nursing too although he is quite distracted. He is completely obsessed with me, and arches his back when anyone else tries to hold him. I can never walk past Walker if he is playing because he will start screaming for me.

8/15

Yesterday was Trisha's wedding in Salt Lake. It was a beautiful day, but Walker thought it was miserable, so he made sure we knew how he felt. He is officially in that stage where he needs a crib to roll over onto his tummy and sleep. He finally crashed in his Daddy's arms while we walked around. But he is cute enough that we still love him. :)

Brigham city temple open house

The tour was amazing. It was given by Elder William Walker who is the general authority over temples. It was amazing. He told us about all the special paintings, and how the peach blossom is used throughout the temple. Even on the lights, carpet, windows, it's beautiful. I fell in love with the temple and can't wait to go as a patron. Elder Walker was so sweet and invited the kids to sit by him and ride the elevator with him. What a wonderful man, and an inspirational day.

Dodged the bullet (sappy post)

This post just wraps up what has been on my heart......pretty much always. 

I don't usually watch tv.  We only have an antennae to get channels, let's be honest, we have 5 kids and no time to watch tv anyway, but really it isn't our thing.  But I watched the Olympics a bit with my little family.  It was awesome.  Did you see the commercial about dodging the bullet? 

Anyway, I don't have any funny stories like that, but some recent conversations with people and experiences have made me realize how blessed I am to be married to the great Dave Low.  I can't help it if I chose well in my spouse, can you blame me?  He is just so fantastic, and I am so lucky with how incredibly he treats me.  We have so much fun together, and getting along comes so naturally to us.  While I didn't have any crazy exes like the commercial, I can see that I definitely dodged a bullet in not marrying any of them.  I sit on our bed, in our beautiful house that we love, with 5 children that I'm crazy about, and my loving husband calling me from his dream job to plan that we will leave at 3:00 to go tour the Brigham City temple, and I can't help but feel like my life is perfect.  It isn't perfect, we have plenty of things that aren't perfect, but all the important stuff is just perfect.  I'm really happy, and really blessed.  I wish I could explain this better, but I know God has helped my life to be right where I would be happiest.

Example- Yesterday my husband had meetings for his church calling (YM president) almost all the day long.  Seriously.almost.all.day.  We only saw him for a few hours.  In those few hours, I made him take care of all the kids so I could have a break and he did it!  He dressed 5 boys for church and got them there on time while I was at my church meeting, and he put 4 of them to bed.  Putting them to bed means brushing teeth, reading scriptures, praying, and getting out the cattle prod to chase them to their beds (j/k on the last part).

Another Example- I mentioned that I wanted to buy a bunkbed for Henry and G. to put downstairs.  This was at 9:30 at night.  He immediately started researching and told me to buy the bunk bed on Monday.  He is so supportive of me, I love it.

Another Example- He arranged the temple tour for today to be with a General Authority so that we could get the VIP tour (with help from his sister who has the connections) and has been researching our options for a fun dinner afterward in Brigham City.  Can you see why this guy is so loveable.

A funny story- We were at a training for work recently and we sat by some women that knew Dave long before I knew him.  They were teasing saying that I had been really good for him.  I replied that he is the BEST husband.  Their eyes went wide and they were so surprised that I would say that of my own accord.  I guess not everyone has such things to say about their spouse.  :)  But it's so true.

This is 6 years old, but the main thing that changed is my hair color.  :)

I just can't get enough of this guy!

In addition to all these wonderful things, this guy has dimples, black hair, and the most incredible blue eyes ever.  He is gentle and kind, generous, and full of the Spirit of the Lord.  I LOVE YOU DAVE!

Rome

What I have to say about Rome is that you will never comprehend Rome without experiencing it.  I think you could probably see pictures of the Statue of Liberty and have a pretty good understanding of what it's like, but you can never comprehend all of Rome without walking the streets.  Every corner there is another church, with marble statues, with 100 rock arches, with great detail and symbolism (I'm guessing on the symbolism, I didn't know what I was seeing).  And it's all SO OLD.  And of course, there is ancient Rome as well.  And that is practically older than time.  It's just really hard to comprehend.  But SO cool to see.

Our original flight from SLC left at 7:00 am on Saturday.  We of course had our layover in Detroit, and then our flight to Rome was 9.5 hours I think, we showed up Sunday morning.  Walker and Isaac did great on the flight, Isaac didn't sleep much, but he had fun watching movies.  Walker slept through both of the flights, so he enjoyed them.  We stayed in the Marriott Boscolo hotel, it was amazing.  It was very close to the Spanish steps, so that was the first thing we saw.  We did a little triangle the first day seeing the Spanish steps, the Pantheon, and the Trevi fountain, and somehow it seems like we did it again later with Kate.  We did take a nap, since we missed Saturday night entirely.  

The second day we walked the entire city of Rome in one day.  For those who know what this means, we started at our hotel, went to Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiori, Vatican City, Trastevre, the wedding cake, Circus Maximus, the Forum, the Colluseum, up to the church where the Moses statue is, and back to our hotel.  About 10 miles.  Isaac was a champ.  He was doing better than we were.  He didn't complain at all, and he was soaking up knowledge and experience the whole time.  We never regretted taking him.  Walker of course was loving every second.  We noticed that the only time he cried in all of Rome was in the Sistine Chapel.  That is one of the only places that you are supposed to be quiet.  We got out of there pretty quickly!  

At the top of the Spanish steps

This is one to click on.  This is the Pantheon.  It was one of my favorite places.  It has a lovely square that we ate dinner in.  You can see Isaac in his blue sweatshirt with his arms wrapped around the pillar.  That pillar is solid rock.  Now you tell me how they cut those solid rock pillars that are 100 feet tall, and so wide?  And where did the rock come from?  And then how did they transport them?  And then how did they stand them up straight like that without a crane?  That is kind of just how Rome is.  A lot of awe at how they could even do that.  

I think this is one of the fountains in the Piazza Navona

Campo di Fiori.   A big, Italian farmers market.  I wanted to bring it home with me....the whole market.

Walking the streets of Rome.  I wore flip flops and Dave wore crocs.  BAD DECISION.  Every road is made of rock, you need supportive sneakers in this city.

Just one of those random place on some random corner.  Amazing.

I'm thinking that this is inside the Pantheon 

The last thing we saw that day was the Moses statue.  We made it there 5 minutes before it closed.  Of course, Dave was teaching us the whole way.  He emphasized the importance of Moses, and told Isaac stories while we stood here.  I married well. 

Just a different angle of the picture above it. 

This is Isaac's favorite picture.  We ate gelato about 5 times a day, NO JOKE.  Every time we started to get tired or dragging, Dave stopped and bought us a gelato.  My favorite flavor was Nutella, followed by Tiramasu.  YUM!  We just handed them our Monopoly money (Euros).  I think we were led through the cities by sugar highs, but it was worth every lick.  Again, I LOVED Dave for keeping me well fed.  Ahhhh, everything about this trip was so wonderful. 

I keep waiting for my kids to be sick of holding Walker, but they never are.  They love him so much.  Isaac begged to hold Walker all the time.   

Blackmail 

We LOVED the Colosseum.   To see such an amazing structure built in ancient times, STILL STANDING, and then to think about all the crazy things they did inside there.  The floor is gone, so the underground is exposed.  You can see where they kept the prisoners and the animals.  So cool.  Just remarkable.

This is one of the great stories of our trip.  Dave had a list of places he wanted to see, but this one was very high on the list.  Right after the wedding cake (the parliament building) you should round the corner and see the Mamertime prison.  This was the only prison at the time.  So they say that it is where Peter and Paul were kept.  We rounded the corner from the wedding cake and couldn't find it.  Dave is asking people and nobody knows what he is talking about.  Isaac and I sat down for probably 20 minutes while Dave tried to figure out where it was.  We were about to give up, and so we walked away, but I could tell Dave was still bothered by it.  We stopped here and were looking at these ruins from the old forum (ancient rome) and Dave said he prayed.  Out of the blue, he looks up and sees what I could not see.  Now, Dave doesn't have very good vision.  So it was quite remarkable that he could even see this.  But he looked across here and saw the word "Mamertime" on that gray building across the way.  The one behind the green car.  I really felt like it was an answer to his prayer, he wanted so desperately to visit this sacred building, and God led us to it.  It was so amazing.  They cut stairs into the cell, at the time there was only a hole that they dropped the prisoners into.  So you actually climb down into the cell, and you can see how the light came through the hole so that Paul could write his letters.  It was one of our favorite parts of our trip to Rome.

Walker learned how to eat on this trip.  He of course loved gelato, but enjoyed eating tomatoes, pizza,  and anything else we had.  He yells if he doesn't get to try what we're eating.

Isaac on a bus 

Bocca della Verita which means the mouth of truth.  You put your hand in and it will bite it off if you tell a lie.  

The "wedding cake" in the background

We took one bus in Rome.  We waited for SO long for this stupid bus, public transportation is not that great in Rome.   

St Peter's Basillica at the Vatican.  Look at all the different colors of stone.  It's quite amazing.  Very beautiful.  I enjoyed the grandeur and beauty of this building, but I didn't like the Sistine Chapel as much.  It was very small, and painted on every inch, very dark in lighting and in color.  It was very different in contrast to our temples which are white and full of light.   Isaac really was hoping to give a Book of Mormon to the Pope, but we just couldn't find an opportunity to do so.  ;)

Approaching Vatican City 

They sell fruit cups on the street all over and Isaac loved them.  We have made lots of fruit salad cups since we came home, I didn't realize my kids like it so much.

This castle is right by Vatican city, but it was closed. 

A beautiful Roman bridge

Walker loved everything about this trip.  Not only did he get to be carried around everywhere we went, but he got to sleep in our bed.  Dream come true for him.

Make a wish as you throw your coin over your shoulder into the Trevi fountain

Lunch at the Pantheon square 

lunch at Pantheon 

This was the only Anguria gelato I ever saw, but it was really good, and I didn't even know at the time that Anguria is watermelon.  Was happy to spend some time with Kate in Rome!

Neptune?  Isaac learned a bit about the Gods, so he tried to identify who they are.

At the bottom of the Spanish steps 

A fountain at the bottom of the Spanish steps.  All of the fountains in Rome come from natural springs.  So they are clean water and can be drank from.  I couldn't bring myself to do it, but people were filling their water bottles in the fountains.  Someone told us that the closer the fountain was to a church, the cleaner it was?  I don't know how credible that was.

 Circus Maximus, where they held the Olympics

and below, the Camp di Fiori, one giant Italian farmers market.  I wanted to take the entire market home with me.

Dream Trip

 Our trip to Europe seems like a dream now.  It was so incredible.  I spent so much time in disbelief that we were actually walking the streets of Europe.  Our children were absolutely perfect.  It was weird actually.  But don't think that it lasted, they haven't been perfect at home.  Walker slept both flights to Europe pretty much from take off to landing.  And really never cried while we were there.  Isaac was polite and patient and tough through lots of walking and hardly any sleep.  It was amazing.  I guess I'll post one city at a time.

Before I do that I should add that this trip was a wonderful gift from many family members.  My mom used her Skymiles and her Marriott points for us so we could go.  Dave's parents and Jesse and Brooke watched our kids at home for us and it was wonderful to not worry about them.  And our wonderful Biada family took care of us in Lover, Italy, and taught us about the true living of my Italian ancestry.

This trip was kind of charmed.  Things just worked out beautifully.  The first thing that happened was we walked on the plane and the pilot took Isaac back to sit in the cockpit.  He got the special "gold" wings and got to push buttons and learn about how the plane works.

Since we got 5 Skymiles tickets for the minimum number of miles, our flights had layovers in both directions.  So we flew from Salt Lake to Detroit, and had a 6 hour layover there.  Ew.  Dave googled "What to do in the Detroit airport"  He found out that for $15 you can use the Westin hotel's amenities. (which is part of the airport, it has a store front and you walk in to an oasis.)  It just so happened that no one else was using the pool or hot tub while we were there, so we had a private pool and hot tub, marble showers, and even the gym.  We swam, layed on lounge chairs, ran on treadmills, and at the end, I showered, blow dried my hair, and we were off to Rome.  It was like a spa treatment before the long flight, it was glorious.  We walked out of our quiet oasis into the hustle and bustle of the Detroit airport.  As I said, the flight was fantastic, they gave us the front seats in all our flights so we could put Walker in their bassinet (pictured later), and that gave us additional legroom.  Beautiful.