Life Changes for Caleb

Caleb really wanted to receive his endowment before leaving for BYU, which left 2 days to make that happen due to the timing of his birthday and his flight. With the help of our local church leadership, Caleb received the Melchizedek priesthood and his endowment on his birthday. He prepared well, and it was a special experience.

We celebrated his birthday the next day by eating dinner at Benihana.

I flew up with Caleb to drop him off at BYU, which meant I had to do a lot of adulting. 😆

We figured things out together. He is just going for a semester and then going on a mission. We submitted his mission papers right before he left. I was a little nervous to see whether Caleb would sink or swim as he would be all alone at school figuring everything out and trying to make new friends. He is staying in Helaman Halls and doesn't know his roommate. After getting him all moved in, including a few trips to some stores, we walked the campus. A kind friend from my ward has a house in Provo and let us eat dinner with them as well as letting me sleep there two nights.

 

I met up with my good friend, Kim, for lunch at Costa Vida after the temple.

The rest of the afternoon, we walked Caleb's schedule and made sure he felt all settled. I flew home Thursday morning while he started Freshman Orientation. I left a big piece of my heart behind!

One of the final things Caleb had to do submit his mission papers is have his wisdom teeth removed. No funny videos. He was very coherent after waking up from the anesthesia.

After he was all healed up a few weeks later, one side of his mouth started to get puffy again. He had a rare infection that required lancing, draining, and antibiotics.

A week after arriving at BYU, Caleb received his mission call! He opened it on his own as soon as it arrived on September 2nd. We scheduled that he would read it and share the news that night with us, but the rest of my family and his Aunt Marilyn jumped on the zoom call as well. He is going to the Dominican Republic, Spanish speaking. Home MTC starts January 26th and Mexico MTC on February 5th. We are thrilled for him!

Bryson's First Trip to the Temple

Bryson had been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time, but when he realized it was an 8am appointment time with an early start in order to drop Austin off at my mom's house, he was no longer thrilled about the experience. It wasn't as spirit-filled as we hoped because of his attitude, but hopefully it was still an indelible impression for good. We were able to go with cousins as well.

The next week, Bryson and I were able to see Les Miserables together--his first musical theater experience! He loved it.

 (Bryson sporting his current orthodontia--huge hooks to hold his nightly headgear in place. He only has one front tooth as we patiently wait for his other teeth to come in after having extra teeth pulled from his gums. If they don't come in on their own, he will need to have another surgery to put chains on the teeth and pull them in place.)

Happenings

A few weeks ago, Caleb went to the doctor for his 4-year-old check-up. His doctor visit at 3 years old didn't go so well, so I was pleasantly surprised this time around. He was a little jittery and nervous, but he did great as the nurse took his blood pressure, temperature, etc. He had a vision and hearing screening done as well, which was kind of fun. The amazing part was that he didn't even cry during his shots. On shot number two he said "ow," but that was it! To carry on the tradition from last year, his doctor's visit was followed by a snow cone.

As I mentioned in the last post, our lives are busier now due to preschool. Caleb is a great student and is very eager to please. He loves having all these friends come over regularly as well! (I have a total of 8 students including him.)

Here's Carter on the first day of Caleb's preschool. He wants to be a big kid and just tag along.

When I'm not teaching preschool, we're spending more time on the potty seat. We've had a few random successes, but we'll keep practicing. He's such a big boy!

And as mentioned in the last post, church is keeping me busy always, but I love working in the Primary with the children. We did a Primary temple trip yesterday and had a tour around the temple. A temple worker also came and spoke to us. Overall it went well. We were surprised by a little rain as we walked around, but definitely grateful as we're in a drought right now.

(Carter's grumpy face...we had to wake him up early from a nap in order to attend.)

Family

Christmas is so much more fun with all the family around. Clayton and his wife, Kara, just flew in to spend Christmas here, which means we'll have all my family home for Christmas. My grandma is visiting as well. We'll have our big get-together Christmas Eve with all our fun traditions (white elephant, chimes, acting out the Nativity story now that there are some kids, present exchanges, food and games). Can't wait!

Here are the latest family pictures taken by Matt's dad:

And my handsome boys. Caleb is so excited for Santa this year!

Special Experience

On Wednesday, May 20, for the first time ever, my entire family was able to be in the temple together since my youngest sister, Lindsey, is preparing for a mission. Words cannot describe how special it was to be able to share in this experience. I hope that we all always strive to remain worthy to enter so we can continue to share in the wonderful blessing of attending the temple together.