Allison's blog

Julianne and Lorelei completed their first season of Track and Field during June and July. They had a great time and did so well learning about this sport and competing in several track meets. Julianne even got a handful of ribbons for being in the top 6 for long jump and the 4 x 100M relay. She was naturally good at the long jump and learned more about proper technique. She loved running in the relays and tended to like longer distances like the 400 M rather than short sprints.

Oraleigh turned five months old on Independence day. She celebrated by going to her first 4th of July parade. She was pretty fixated on the colorful floats and loud bands. Oraleigh has become so much fun this past month.

In September 2015 Julianne had a conversation with Stephen in which she told him that she understood that she was a sinner and that she could only be forgiven of this sin by faith in Jesus Christ. She understood that He was killed for her sin on the cross and that He rose again defeating death forever. We have been talking to her, studying the Bible with her, and answering questions that she has since then and we truly believe that she has given her life to follow Jesus.

The 2015-2016 school year went by so quickly. Julianne completed third grade, Lorelei completed kindergarten, and Morgan completed three year old preschool. Nolan and Oraleigh were along for the ride were so flexible. They joined us for Bible time, Calendar time, and for our Morning Meeting, in which we read each read aloud for each student. After Morning Meeting I settled Oraleigh down for her nap, the boys in their room to play, and started doing school work with Lorelei.

Lorelei and Morgan participated in soccer this spring. Stephen coached Morgan’s team (The Seattle Sounders) and Lorelei was the only girl on a kindergarten team (The Salt Lake Real) that played at a different location. Sadly, most of their games were at the exact same time so Stephen only saw Lorelei play once and I only saw Morgan play once. Morgan had a good attitude about playing and enjoyed meeting new friends, although he was not particularly engaged in the game.

At the end of May we began the long trek out east which had several stops. Here is what we did during our 16 day trip:

We've taken a picture of each of the kids when they were 3-4 months old in this yellow outfit. Can you tell who's who?

This month Oraleigh has developed quite a bit more personality. She still smiles a lot, laughs, and makes other sounds, but in the past two weeks she has started screaming. She screams when she’s happy, when she’s mad, when she’s sad, and just anytime she needs to hear her voice. Her scream is quite ear piercing and can give one a headache if listening to it for a long time. I think she feels like she needs to make as much noise as her siblings in order to fit in. Oraleigh has found her hands this month and has figured out how to get them in her mouth to chew on them.

Our sweet Oraleigh is three months old and has made the change from newborn to just “baby”. She continues to be a very happy baby and smiles and even laughs quite often. She has learned how to gurgle, blow spit bubbles, and roll over (back to stomach and stomach to back). Since about two and a half months she has been desperately trying to roll over and finally the day after she turned three months old she succeeded. Now this is all she wants to do – during the day, at night, during naps, in her car seat, in the bouncy seat, while she’s getting her diaper changed.

Papa and Gigi came for a visit at the beginning of April and got to meet Oraleigh for the first time. She was excited to meet them and gave them many big smiles. While Papa and Gigi were here we went on a hike to Lower Bells Canyon, grilled out, did some home projects, played with lots of Legoes, and did a fire pit one night. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their time with their grandparents and we were happy to spend time with them too.