Trip to Downtown SLC

Since we were checking temples off our list, Jaaromy suggested we go to Temple Square and make it official.  We've obviously been there many times, but we didn't have a nice group picture and plus, it's just a fun activity.

 When we got there I noticed the moon in between the temple spires.  I only had my phone and so I tried out the zoom.  Yeah, it's a little pixel-y.

Brigham always wants to go in the North Visitor's Center first.  He loves the cool space mural.  So do I.  We walked around temple square a little bit more after that.  I love looking at the temple model in the South Visitor's Center.  It's just so cool.

We had decided to make dinner part of our outing so we ate at the City Creek food court.  Even though it's noisy and a little chaotic, the boys like it because they can eat at McDonald's and Jaaromy and I can eat at Chang Chun.  It's win-win.

Then we walked back over to the plaza for our temple picture.  I didn't bring my camera.  I can't remember if I forgot it or I just didn't want to have to carry it around.  Either way, I decided to test my phone to see if I could take some decent pictures.

 I really like these pink flowers.  The pink is so bright it almost hurts my eyes.

 It was harder to focus on the right thing with my phone, but I think it did okay.

 Here's our group photo for the passport.

 The plan was to photoshop Jaaromy in later but, with the sun being where it was, it was too hard to get the lighting to match.  Plus, apparently we forgot to remember where he was standing so the angle is different too. Oh well.

 I'm really happy with how this one turned out too.  I like it a lot.

 This is always a fun shot.

 The boys always get a kick out of it.

 I'm really happy with how these turned out.  Even though the sun is behind the temple, the light is reflected on to it from all the buildings and such which gives it a really neat glow.  I did touch them up a little though.

 It probably would have been better to have been right in front of it, but there were people there.  Plus, I think the angle makes it look cooler.

 This one was kind of hard, but as is often the case, the first one was the best.

Not sure why, but I really like this one.  You can see Nathaniel just behind the light post too.  I think that makes it better.

It was a fun outing, I love going to Temple Square.

Starting School

The beginning of school was a little different for us this year.  I decided to continue homeschooling Jonathan this year and I also decided to enroll Nathaniel in an online charter school.  Regular school just wasn't working for him and it was time to consider other options.  Once we had decided that's what we were going to do and settled on our choice, I was excited to see how it would go, but it was also a little nerve-wracking because Nathaniel and I didn't know what to expect.  He was a little nervous about it and even wondered about just going to regular school because at least he knew what that was like.  It's hard going into the unknown.  I told him that he would most likely be able to keep playing in Granite Youth and that made him feel better because at least one thing would be familiar.

The first week of school finally came and we were able to see just how our new schedule and new set up was going to work out.

It was Brigham's turn first.  I was worried about his adjustment to waking up early and going to school after a long awesome summer but I did my best to prepare him and he did okay.

Unfortunately, there was a mistake in the transportation schedule and they had him on a bus to Whittier instead of his new school.  So, I had to take him myself for a few days until they worked it out.  At least I got to see him off at the school.  We were a little late though which actually worked out great, most of the other parents dropping off their kids were gone and his class was still outside having just got off their buses.

Nathaniel's online school started on Tuesday but he had his first day of Seminary on Monday.  I'm excited for him to take Seminary and it seems to be a positive experience for him.  Now that the stress of daily school is gone, the few things that require social interaction like Seminary, Granite Youth, and Young Mens aren't so draining for him.

 He started his classes on Tuesday and they seem to be going well.  It took some getting used to but I think we're getting the hang of it.

 Jonathan lucked out because I waited too long to order the new curriculum for this year and it hadn't arrived yet.  I did have the math curriculum, however, and we got started on that.

It ended up taking a whole week to get it and so he mostly got to just hang out.  Lucky!

Now that we're well into the school year I can say that it's been extremely challenging but worth it, I think.  They still have other activities that keep them busy.  I was able to have Jonathan take Band at Brigham's school which has been so fun for him.  He's still in speech at our own elementary and sees a private speech therapist.  My days are definitely packed, but I'm happy with how it's going for them.