Preschool

As of the first of November, Emily is a pre-school teacher. Emily didn’t know if she would like teaching pre-school, but so far it has been great. It took a week or so to figure out the level the students were on so she could best teach them, but now the classes are working out wonderfully. The other benefits to teaching pre-school verses at an elementary are that there is no administrator coming in from time to time to evaluate teaching and there is no pressure/obligation to have the students at a specific level by a pre-determined date. It is all good, teach whatever curriculum is most desirable at whatever pace. Currently students have learned letters a, e, & m (for monster—the theme of the pre-school). Numbers 0, 1, & 2 as well as some sight words have also been learned. All of the colors have been reviewed and some basic shapes have been a focus in the first few weeks.

The pre-school was finished about half an hour before the back to school night. Travis has been working hard to get the room completed. The last week of October saw a lot of late nights, sometimes until two or three in the morning. It was fun to see the room go from a big open space to a finished product and Travis learned a lot of good skills along the way. However, now the construction is done, Travis is glad to be back to the regular routine and is not likely to quit his day job to go into construction. Overall the room looks really good. There are some spots where the mudding and taping was mediocre at best, but the average observer who wasn’t looking for seams in the sheetrock probably wouldn’t notice a thing. It is funny how critical you become of your own work.

We are glad to have an area downstairs that is finished and thankful that Emily is able to teach pre-school.

Kate 2 Months

This beautiful girl is now 2 months! We love having her in our family. Kate is such a sweetheart!

Kate is becoming a much more enjoyable baby. Not that she hasn’t been good so far, but she now responds to stimuli and is starting to smile/coo. It is a fun time to have a baby. She turned two months old last week.

We believe Kate may have some lactose issues and we have switched her over to a soy-based milk. We are still not sure, but initial results seem to show improvement. She is having some constipation issues still, but hopefully that will work itself out. It’s a little sad to see the red, teary-eyed face of a pushing baby.

Wyatt is still loving his baby sister, which is a blessing. He has done really well with the changes which have occurred, from getting a new bed to spending less one-on-one time with us to losing his toys/car seat to a new baby. He often starts his morning asking where baby Kate is and finishes the evening wanting to give his sister a kiss/hug goodnight.

Wyatt's Naps

Wyatt has recently been attempting to not take naps. Right now, he is in the stage where he generally needs a nap but, can get by without one. This last week he has really put up a fight at nap time. That means we have found him crashed in random spots about the house (couch, mom and dad's bed). We are not ready for nap time to be done with so hopefully this is just a stage.

 

Halloween

As soon as the Halloween stores opened up Travis and Wyatt have been visiting them at least twice a week. Travis is excited that Wyatt loves Halloween so much. Travis likes all the scary decorations and Wyatt mostly loves the costumes. However, both boys enjoy looking at the scary decorations together.

For Halloween, Travis helped out at the Haunted House that sponsors his high school. Emily's family came up to hang out with grandkids/niece/nephew and attend the haunted house. Grandma and Grandpa Wright took Wyatt trick or treating. Wyatt was dress up as a dragon, though he sometimes referred to himself as a dinosaur.

Bug Bite

On Saturday, October 10th we had a barbeque with some families on our street. Everyone had a good time and we stayed out late. The next morning Wyatt woke up with a swollen ear. It wasn't much of a concern until we noticed it was getting bigger as the day went on. We took him to the emergency room and found out it was a bug bit. We believe it was a mosquito bit from being outside for so long. Wyatt took some Benadryl and the swelling was completely gone in a few days.

Wyatt vs Kate

Emily ran across these two pictures and was surprised to see how similar Wyatt and Kate look. Wyatt's picture was taken by Mindee when he was a few weeks old. Kate's picture was taken when she was a month old. They are pretty darn cute.

Big Brother

(Emily was attempting to take picture of Kate on the chest. Once done Wyatt wanted a turn like Kate!)

Merlin the big 50

 

On 9-10-15 Emily's dad, Merlin, turned 50. To celebrate the family spent an entire Saturday throwing a black birthday bash for him. In the morning everyone met at the Hill Air force Base Airplane Museum, where Merlin enjoyed being the tour guide. For lunch everyone grabbed a bit from Pizza Pie Café, pizza is one of Merlin's favorite foods. As a birthday present Travis and Emily gave Merlin money to spend at Smith and Edwards. The family spent hours there exploring the junk and treasures hidden in the piles.
To end the night everyone stopped at Travis and Emily's home for dinner and games. The house was decorate with black and had an old mans theme. The family played games Merlin enjoyed as a child and eat lasagna. Fun was had by all!

Kate 9-10-15

Baby Kate 38 Weeks

Bath Time

 

Wyatt loves bath time, especially with bubbles! Bedtime is a bitter sweet part of the day. Overall, it is nice once he is in bed.

Potty-Training

Wyatt has shown some interest in potty-training for a while. He would randomly run to the bathroom and pretend to go pee, he would help us flush the toilet, he would ask to sit on the toilet, and last week he even peed in the toilet. We have been trying to hold out until after the baby, but decided Wyatt was telling us it was time. So we had a potty-party. All three of us stayed in the main living area of the house for a few days, had lots of liquids and juicy snacks, and put Wyatt on the toilet too many times to count. Wyatt also loved playing with all his new birthday presents and may have watched too many videos on the iPad while sitting on the toilet. After three intense days of potty-training Wyatt seems to have it. He still has occasional accidents and we have to remind him go potty every hour or so, but he doesn’t always hate it.

Happy 2nd Birthday Wyatt!

Wyatt turned two this week. He was quite excited for his birthday and would tell us he was now two and that it was Wyatt’s birthday. He kept singing “Happy Birthday to Wyatt” as well. We didn’t do anything big, just cake and ice cream…and lots of presents. You can see all of the presents he got in the picture. Travis had a bundt cake with a train on top for his second birthday, so we did the same thing for Wyatt (even using the same bundt pan from 27 years earlier). The trains on top of the cake may have been Wyatt’s favorite present, even though they weren’t really intended as one of the presents. Funny what kids do—you give them nice presents and they are more interested in the box it came in. Overall he loved his day and didn’t want it to end.

 

Missionary Family Night

For family night a few weeks ago we talked about missionaries. After the lesson Wyatt took

Vegetables over to grandma and papa. He was dressed like a missionary, knocked on their door, and told grandma about church clothes, Jesus, baptism, and temples. So cute!!!

Lets Hear it for the Boys!

Ana 13 Weeks

We have now had Ana for 5 weeks. We have discovered that puppies are hard to love! Ana is a lot like Wyatt in the fact that training her is like raising two toddlers at the same time. Wyatt loves having a puppy around. He tries to play with her and laughs at her everyday. Travis and I started puppy training classes a few weeks ago. They are tricky, but its nice to have some positive behaviors to work on with her. She has made many improvements and is very social.

Hogle Zoo Zoorassic Park

Fun times visiting the zoo with grandma and grandpa Wright. This summer the zoo has dinosaurs visiting. It was fun to see the animals and dinosaurs throughout the park. Wyatt seem to enjoy himself, but was afraid of some of the dinosaurs. He had a hard time distinguishing the difference between the real animals and the dinosaurs.

Watch Mommy and Daddy!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Garage

Travis has been working hard building shelves in the garage. He did some research and examined the neighbors shelves, then bought all the materials. He did a great job and only got hurt once (dropped a board on his toes). The garage looks tons better! Thanks Trav!!!

Daddy's little helper!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

On July, 18th our family had the privilege to see Jamie and Derek in the Syracuse City summer play Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Jamie and Derek did an awesome job. Jamie even had the chance to help choreography some of the dances. Emily even got to watch a couple of her 2nd grade students in the play.

Wyatt loves music and dancing so we decided to take him to the first act. He loved it! He would dance randomly with the music, clap and cheer after an act, laugh with the crowd, and look for the dogs that would come on stage. His favorite thing was looking for Jamie and Derek. When they left the stage he would ask where they went and for more Jamie and Derek.

Dino Museum

Travis was able to get two free admission tickets to visit Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museum. Some of Emily's family came to town and wanted to spend a Saturday at Thanksgiving Point so Travis, Emily, and Wyatt decide to tag along for part of the day. Wyatt has had an obsession with dinosaurs for awhile now and he enjoyed every moment. He could identify a lot of the dinosaurs, his favorite were Tyrannosaurus Rex and triceratops. He also had fun digging in the sand for bones.

 

 

Travis was quite impressed with the fossils. Emily found an Allosaurus which was discovered the Utah state fossil the year she was born. Below are some more of the things we saw at the museum.

 

 

Baby Kate 31 Weeks

Emily has been in her third trimester and is starting to feel even more uncomfortable. Her back has been achy for awhile and her sternum still hurts from the crash. Travis and Emily were relieved to hear that baby girl is still looking strong on healthy on her first ultrasound since the car accident.  Overall, all the pregnancy is still going well and everyone is excited to meet baby girl.

Syracuse Farmer's Market

Travis decide to take the family to the farmers market in town. It was not anything big, but it was nice to get out of the house. Wyatt had a blast at one booth with farm animals. He loved feeding the goats and sheep, but his favorite was chasing the ducks around while he tried to catch one of them. It was fun to watch and everyone was impressed how well he did with the animals. The family did get to go home and enjoy some fresh corn and peaches with their dinner.

Wyatt Time

In the past few weeks, Emily has been spending a lot of time on the phone talking to car insurance companies. She has almost completed the process with both her company and the driver of the other vehicles company. However, Wyatt has been watching way to much TV and asks for our attention. Emily decide to make sure to devote some time each day doing something new with Wyatt. She found a fun website called Hands On As We Grow. Wyatt has loved the time together and is discovering new things everyday!

4th of July

We did not do much for the 4th of July. Emily had her car crash the day before and did not get home until after midnight. She was also sore from the whiplash and airbags. We still had a fun time hanging out around the house. Travis went all out and order a new swimming pool for Wyatt a week or two before. We had just received it in the mail so Travis and Wyatt decided to use it. They had a blast!

Car Crash/ New Car

On July 3rd, Emily was driving home heading West on Antelope in or new 2009 Camry. As she approached Walmart someone pulled out of the parking lot right in front of her trying to turn East onto Antelope. Emily hit the other car going 45 mph. It was Emily's first crash and she was worried about the baby (29 weeks along) because the airbags deployed. Travis and Wyatt had to come pick Emily up because the car had to be towed away. Wyatt had the time of his life looking at the fire truck, meeting the policemen/firemen, and going inside the ambulance.

After leaving the scene Emily's parents stopped by on their way up to Idaho. Travis and Emily decided to go to the hospital to have the baby monitored. Emily's blood tests showed no fetus cells, meaning the baby was not hurt. They hospital still wanted to monitor the baby for 6 hours so Emily ended up staying until midnight.

The 2009 Camry was a total loss and the other driver's insurance ended up paying for the total. Travis and Emily went to Merlin's cousin to help buy another Camry. Travis and Emily picked out a 2010 blue Camry. However, while driving home the Camry stopped funny a few times and the radio turned off on its own. We decide to take it back and got a 2011 Camry. The 2011 looks just like the old 2009 Camry except it is newer, with only 43000 miles, new engine design, tinted windows, chrome exhaust pipe, and new tires/rims.

RiverBirch Cabin 2015

Father's Day and Anniversary

Happy Father's Day Travis! For father's day Travis was able to spend a lot of time with family. Friday and Saturday we were all able to go up to Grandma and Papa Ashcroft's cabin. Sunday we attended a BBQ at Grandma Wright's house. The gift he received from Wyatt and Emily was a Real Salt Lake soccer jersey.                                             Happy 6 year Anniversary! This year was Emily's year to plan and surprised Travis with dinner at Applebee's and a Real Salt Lake soccer game. That way he could test out his new father's day gift. Travis enjoyed himself and was excited he got to go on a date with no planning involved.

 

 

Cousins

Wyatt had a fun weekend with the surprise visit from Mindee and her kids. The kids always have a blast together. On Friday, we all went swimming at the Fun Center. Wyatt loves to swim and wore himself right out. He fell asleep in his car seat before we could pull out of the parking lot. On Saturday, we went to the Syracuse Heritage Day's parade. The kids scored a bunch of candy. We saw a fire truck, horses, missionaries, people jumping on trampolines, and heard lots of music. Wyatt had no problem getting his grove on. Since it was over 100 degrees we all went back to Grandma and Papa's house to swim in the pool and slip and slide.

Puppy Tatyana "Ana"

 

We brought home our puppy last Monday! She is very cute and fun to have around, but lots of work. Wyatt and Ana like each other well enough and both have some learning on how to behave and play with each other. Ana is 8 weeks old, she is a lab and golden retriever mix, and will most likely be a house dog. She loves to be around people and loves to cuddle. We can not wait until the potty training stage is over.

Baby Animal Farm Days

Puppy Shopping

Last weekend Leslie and Derrell, Emily's sister and brother in law, took us puppy shopping. We have been creating a list of basic things we thought our new puppy would need. The list was longer than expected, but we are now set for the puppy to come home. Leslie's was a huge help sharing her special discount she received as an employee and giving us tips on products.

 

Athletic Gear

Wyatt and Travis got on their sweet clothes to play some sports. Travis was actually making a funny/satirical video for his school, which is why he is dressed so silly. Wyatt loved the head/wrist bands and wore them for most of the day.

Jensen Park

This week we decided to feed ducks and have a picnic as a family. Wyatt loved feeding the ducks. He also enjoyed following the small streams near the pond. It is a quiet and relaxing place to spend time together.

Spackman Reunion

Quinn, Travis' little brother, is leaving on his mission next week, so the family got together for one last weekend together.  They played a lot of games, from Disney Pictionary to basketball to board games to life-size Hungry Hungry Hippos.  That was a fun one where people were on scooters, had laundry baskets, and tried to gather balloons from the center of the gym.

Pictures were also taken during the reunion, which is a mandatory thing to do when the family gathers together.  Quinn also gave his farewell talk and we had a couple of extended family get togethers for the long weekend.