The Tangrens

Derek has been traveling for work nearly every other week since July. We were calling it the summer tour but it has extended into fall. We've had some pretty interesting adventures when he's been across the country.

While Daddy's away the boys will

burn thier fingers ( on the lawn mower while mom is putting away the grass clippings )

almost burn down the house ( by throwing their toys on top of lamps with hot light bulbs a blaze)

make a mess

Yes it's exactly what you think it is. It was everywhere.

We did have our adventures but for the most part we did alright. We just hope we're traveling with him next year on his summer tour.

And then some on the steps for a close up. I love that my boys are snuggling closer and that Noah isn't pawing Hyrum away in pictures anymore

Then the time came to get Hyrum to school. Derek was home for vacation still so he walked side by side with him as I snapped pictures frantically.

We got down the stairs to the preschool room

and Hyrum went immediately to play with play doh.

We hung back to take pictures and take it all in. Hyrum looked up at one point and said

Mom, are you going to leave?

Yeah, but we're just going to be here for a little while longer

Then leave!

Well that pretty much settled it. We turned and walked back up the stairs as another parent assured us it was better than having him cling to our legs. I'm sure we'll experience that sometime down the road with another child. As we walked out the door Noah burst into tears.

He kicked and screamed and cried pointing towards the preschool.

He was being left behind and he knew it. He cried all the way home and for probably 20 minutes after we got home. I only got him to settle down by giving him fishy crackers and letting him use Hyrum's Star Wars bowl and Star Wars spoon. Hopefully this gets better for Noah.

Three hours dragged on while we waited for the time to go pick Hyrum up and we were waiting at the top of the stairs when he made his way up.

There are two Hyrum's in his class...only in Utah...so he is known by his full name. That's not a bad thing. Maybe that will mean he'll learn to write his full name and not just his first.

It's a good thing that we carpool with the girl that was in Hyrum's Mommy preschool last year. When we asked Hyrum what he did he just said "I can't remember" but when we asked Sadie she gave us an entire run down of the day. Ahh the differences between girls and boys. Now if only we could fit all three of them in our compact car without having to bang booster seats together when we close the doors and get into personal space for an awkward amount of time to buckle up seat belts.

We saw this as the last weekend that we'd have total freedom of when we did our vacationing before we became like the rest of the cattle making their plans around the school schedule. Not that we don't already arrange our plans around a much less flexible work schedule, although technically he can take time off any time but in reality it's not the case.

We started our festivities on Saturday going for a hike on the Grotto trail.

Derek had taken Hyrum and Noah with him to YM the Wed before and they had hiked this trail. Hyrum LOVED it so we decided to do it again.

This time we had snacks and we stopped very frequently to have them. But we also took pictures on our stops too

Along the way there were these fun bridges across run off dry river beds and little streams. I was nervous about Hyrum crossing them but he crossed them like a champ.

Then we got to the Grotto. It was beautiful.

And fun

On Monday we got out of town and went to Park City. It was low key and unhurried. Just what we needed. We did a lot of swimming, and both boys had time of floating without us touching them...but of course they both had swim devices on. We'll get there someday.

A little shopping ( we were just down the street from the outlet mall and I have some baby showers coming up) and one big Alpine slide. I only got pictures of them taking off onto the lifts to get to the top of the slide. Derek got some video on the way down but the file is too big to put on the blog.

We also had fun in the hotel. We checked out every last chair in the lobby and found a gaming room we'd not found before. Derek also gave the boys a little more freedom than they have at home.

Maybe a little too much freedom

There you have it. Perhaps not as flashy as other's Labor day activities but it was just right for us. Hyrum wanted to move into the hotel and live there forever.

The theme for primary this year is " I know the scriptures are true" and when I did sharing time in the beginning of January I challenged the children to read their scriptures every week. If they read or were read to during the week that they write their names on slips of paper and we'd make it into a chain and see how long we could make the chain in a month. I wasn't sure how much participation we'd get but was encouraged to see a bunch of little slips filled with names the next week.

On the third week of January Derek came in to give the bishopric message and said that he'd heard of this challenge and wanted to encourage them on in this goal He said that if they got the chain the length of the hall that they'd be able to cut his tie and that he'd wear it that way the rest of the day.

The next week the amount of children reading and writing their names on slips exploded!! For weeks and months they filled out their slips looking forward to the week when Bro Tangren would come back to primary. In the halls children would see him and ask each other if they'd read. Some times they would try to write slips for every day that they read. We had to insist that they only write one slip per week and make stars for every day that they read. Can't blame them for trying.

Then July came and they announced that they would be calling a new bishop meaning that the former bishopric would be disbanded. They were a month out from completing their goal and we didn't know if they'd get to cut any ties. Derek was determined that regardless he would have a cut tie.

As "luck" would have it Derek was called back into the bishopric. I thought it would be a fun way for the kids to connect with the new bishopric to have the new councilor be involved with it as well. The day he was called I mentioned the challenge which he was aware of having three kids in primary.

Today was the day. I'd gone to church last night before and hung the chain up around the room to create a festive atmosphere. It was fun to see their faces as they entered the primary room and realized that today was the day.

You can imagine their further surprise and excitement when they found that they were cutting TWO ties.

There had been some debate on who would cut the tie and how we'd decide who would do it. We'd toyed with a raffle of names put in a jar of those who'd read during a given week but I never put out a jar. Then there was talk of having the former bishop cut the ties but he didn't seem to excited about the prospect. Instead we had the bishopric members walk along the chain with their eyes closed and pick a link. That person would cut the ties.

Here's how it went in Junior primary ( ages 3-7 )

I didn't anticipate the scissors not cutting the tie well. But we eventually got it done. (Sorry about the shakiness I was so nervous and excited.)

It went a little faster in Senior primary (ages 8-11)

After the ties were cut a new challenge was issued. To make the chain that reached the bishops office by the end of the year ( half the time and a little longer) and if they did it they could cut the BISHOP'S tie.

These men have endeared themselves to these kids. They were such good sports but I think they had a great time too though.

And true to his word Derek wore his cut tie all day long. Even to a missionary farewell and a stake priesthood meeting. He got a lot of questions and got a chance to tell everyone what the children were doing in primary. Can't wait for the next tie cutting day. I really think they will do it.