The new man of the house

This weekend has been one of very high highs, and very low lows.

The roller coaster started off going up on Friday - Garrett's 9th birthday! We spent the day coddling and loving on him and singing to him all day long. Following our birthday tradition, he got to pick out everything we ate for that day, he got to say all the prayers for the day, and got to choose the activity for the family to go out and do. And following typical Garrett standards, we had bacon for breakfast (with eggs and pancakes), bacon for lunch (in the BLT soup he loves), and had we eaten at home, it probably would have been another dish that involved bacon as well! We decided to open presents after breakfast since we were anticipating a busy day with packing for daddy's imminent move. He absolutely loved all his gifts! Last week when we asked him what sort of things he would be interested in getting for his birthday, his list included a Hex Bug, swim fins, a puppet, or a unicycle. (Yeah, he's really diverse in his interests!!) I was lucky enough to find some swim fins AND a marionette at the fundraiser yard sale we just had last week, so I picked those up there for his birthday and he was in heaven with both of them!

Granny bought him the beloved Nano Hex Bug, and it has been a hit with all the little boys - Owen has decided he wants one for his birthday, too... but wither green or orange so they won't get mixed up with Garrett's blue one!

And since a unicycle was the most difficult one to figure out, we opted instead to get him some Lego's since he's really into them. Daddy picked out a set specifically so that while he was building airplanes in Washington, Garrett could be building a plane in Utah - we thought it would take a while to build, but after and hour and half of playing, it was finished! Oh well, now while Dad is building, Garrett can be playing!

After breakfast, presents, and clean up, Garrett wanted to go to the skate park and run around and then play at a park across the street. The kids loved running up and down the half pikes and acting silly, then we headed to the stream across the street for some water play.

Emmy amused himself really well throwing any and all rocks he found into the water.

Then Dad and the kids found an injured Love Dove. She had been attacked by either a cat or a snake and her right wing was very heavily damaged. A quick little science lesson ensued before we took it to the police station across the parking lot where the officer there was going to "take care of her" for us. Only Tig understood his meaning of "take care" and she was quite upset about it and really wanted to bring it back home and nurse it back to health. Sometimes it's tough being a big kid and understanding more than you want to.

Once we got back home, we made the BLT soup and the Blondie Garrett wanted for his cake. Such yummy food made everyone happy.

They may look boring with no frosting or anything, but that's how he wanted them...and they were oh, so yummy! He chose blondies so Owen could enjoy them - his favorite cake would have been a butter chocolate with chocolate frosting, but since Owen couldn't eat it, he picked his next favorite thing.

Then Daddy had to go to work and we went to a home school camp out for dinner. It started raining as soon as we got up there, and two hours later when we were soaking wet, freezing cold, full of yummy foods, heading home, and happy to have played with our friends, the rain stopped! I didn't get the chance to snap any pictures in the rain, but the kids all had a grand time in the mud and rain!

Everything put together made for a wonderful and very memorable birthday for my nine-year-old Little Man that I love so much. And he deserves a special day dedicated to him - he is such a wonderful person and I sure do love being around him every day!

Then Saturday brought us one day nearer to Daddy leaving, so we wanted to spend some more fun time with him before he was gone. We went to a Primary activity in the morning after our deep house cleaning, then to the grand opening of a new park near our town that has a great play ground area and a fun water feature. They had brought in a tank and a fire engine and a train caboose for the kids to climb on and were giving free pony rides and other rides and free food and games... tons of things to get the word out about their grand opening.

The boys loved climbing all over the tank and fire engine, but Tig was content to look once, and then waited with me while the boys got their fill of buttons and gadgets and high tech machinery.

I love this one of Owen on the tank.Daddy and Emmy checked out the gauges on the fire truck while the bigger kids took turns sitting inside the rig. Then the time finally came when we let the kids loose at the water fountain feature. We hadn't brought towels or swim clothes, but for the older three, that didn't matter!Owen tried watching one of the jets coming out of the ground and found out that that probably wasn't that great of an idea.So he resorted to trying to catch the streams instead.After half an hour or so, the older three were drenched to the bone, but smiling ear to ear. Emmy had patiently sat all the fun out by being held in Daddy's arms and just enjoying being held by his buddy and watching his kids having fun in the water. We took three soggy kids and one sleepy baby home and took a mandatory nap time! After nap time, Dad had to head back to work for one last time, and we were left home alone again for a while. And that brings us pretty much to today. We woke up, got ready, and went to church as a family for the last time for four months. I couldn't handle going to Relief Society and having to talk to everyone who asked about Scott leaving...it seemed like I was having to relive the conversation to everyone who made eye contact with me, and my eyes just kept filling up with tears. So I hung out with Emmy in nursery since he is still trying to get the hang of being there with people he doesn't know.

After church we had a yummy lunch of waterfall beef, brown rice, and fried green tomatoes (all foods Scott won't be able to get for another 4 months) and then took the kids to a local school park to play some Frisbee and to play on the playground for an hour. That hour sped by way too quickly...our laughter subsided and we headed home towards the inevitable.

At home, Scott finished his last minute packing and then gave each of us a father's blessing. Each child was given an area they were to work on for the next four months - Owen: to develop a deeper friendship with his older brother and sister, Garrett: to not get too bogged down by school - to see it as a game and to beat it, and Teagan: to step up and be a great helper to me and to beat any challenge that came her way.

Then we did pictures on the front porch amid tears and smiles.

And then he was gone...just like any other afternoon when he would be heading off to work, only this time he won't be back.I know we can handle the separation, we're tough enough. And I have seen Heavenly Father's hand blessing us all along the path that has brought us here, so I know we are doing what we need to be doing right now. But it doesn't take the ache away completely... or will it make the next couple of days any easier as the kids realize how fully and completely gone he really is - it was just sad talk before, but now we've hopped feet first into reality.

And that was the very low of our roller coaster ride this weekend - we started the weekend out high, and ended it out low; but our weekend has finally ended and now we get to start settling in to life sans-Daddy.