A Long Overdue Update

It’s been an eventful last few months for us and I’m way overdue for an update here.

Jarl studied for and passed the Professional Engineering exam in April. We are so proud of him for doing it and appreciate all the preparation and stress that went into accomplishing this huge milestone. He ran the Salt Lake City half marathon in April and took us down to BYU’s spring football practice to celebrate his birthday. He also fulfilled a life-long dream of being a cowboy and riding in the Pony Express Reride. He loved all the time spent riding beforehand to prepare and then running on Misty his whole route during the 150th Anniversary Reride out in Callao. Now he just wishes he could afford (and have the time) to own horses and ride all the time.

Jacob and Makayla loved attending school this year and were sad to have the school year end. But now they love summer vacation and all the playing that accompanies it. It’s been fun to have more time to play with the kids. We’re all participating in the library’s summer reading program. We enjoyed our trip to Callao, participating in the Adoption Exchange 5k, and cheering on the Bees at one of their games. The kids and I have been to Discovery Gateway, the farm and museum at Thanksgiving Point, and the park and otherwise enjoy just playing at home. Jarl and the kids loved having a water fight in the backyard one hot evening.

Jacob almost knocked out two of his teeth the last day of school when he ran into another kid while playing tag in his classroom. The teeth haven’t come out yet much to my surprise but they are down lower and pushed back a bit so every time I see them I’m reminded of it. He loves being able to read and can’t wait for first grade when he’ll get to have three recesses and each lunch at school.

We just bought a new real bike for Makayla to replace her Dora tricycle and she loves it. She looks for every opportunity to go out and ride it and tells me multiple times a day that it’s time to go outside so she can ride. She was having a hard time letting Kaley get enough sleep so Kaley and her crib were moved into Jacob’s room and now everyone is doing better. She loved attending the Princess Festival with Kaley and her cousin Ashlyn in Lindon.

Kaley loves being a little girl and insists on climbing up and down the stairs on her feet instead of crawling. She’s also a climber and loves standing on the kitchen chairs (or table) to be a part of whatever Jacob and Makayla are doing and to be able to see what’s going on better. She’s learning new words weekly now and has a current vocabulary of about 20 words. She’ll be old enough to attend nursery in two weeks which is a constant reminder to Jarl and I that she’s a little girl now and no longer a baby.