My son, the next Al Roker?

The following conversation happened Monday morning on the {VERY LONG} drive to Harrison's school:

Me:  What a pretty day we are going to have!

Harrison:  It is going to rain.

Me: No, I don't think so.  Those clouds are pretty, happy clouds, not rain clouds - unfortunately. {I love rain!}

Harrison:  Those clouds are rain clouds.  It is going to rain.

Me:  We'll see.

Soon after I dropped him off at school and went on my way.  I stayed indoors the entire day.  We had friends over for a birthday party and then my visiting teacher stopped by.  Then it was time to pick Harrison up.

As soon as I got on the road, I noticed something.  A giant, black wall of clouds due south of me.  Harrison's school is due south of us,  many, many miles away.  Then it started to rain.  The further south I got, the rain drops grew in size.  It felt like hail was pelting the car.  I couldn't see in front of me for a while.  I admit it, I was scared.

Thankfully I arrived to the school unscathed.  It was pouring and windy.  My dad, the principal, and his teachers kept the kids inside the front hall.  My dad and his teachers would run out to the parents' cars, ask which kids belonged to each cars, ran back inside and got the appropriate kids  - covered with an umbrella - to the appropriate cars.  By the time I got there, my poor dad was soaked.  It was quite a site.

After Harrison was heralded into the car he immediately said, "I told you it was going to rain."

Yes, Harrison, yes you did.   

Back to School

Harrison started school last week.  First grade!  He has is going to Quartz Hill Elementary School and Mrs. Morris is his teacher.  His principal is Mr. Hallock, but Harrison calls him Pappy!  That's right, Harrison is going to my Dad's school.  

I really wanted Harrison to go to this school, for many reasons, not just because of my Dad.  For one thing, the hours are better - 8:53am - 3:40pm.  It is also brand new with brand new technology, equipment, etc.  All of the teachers are superb.  At Harrison's previous school it was hit and miss. I would talk to parents and they would say: "Whatever you do, don't get Ms. fill in the blank for this grade or Mrs. fill in the blank for this one and on and on".  Also the student pick-up/drop-off was a mess.  I could go on forever.  Bottom line, it wasn't a good fit for me as a parent and more importantly, it wasn't a good fit for Harrison as a student.  Admitedly the best part is that my Dad is there to keep an eye on him.  It is nice to see him every day when I drop off/pick up Harrison.   Plus he plays kickball with the kids every lunch recess, so Harrison can play with his Pappy everyday if he wants to!  

There is a downside, it is a 30 minute drive.  That means I am in the car 2 hours a day.  

But not for long.   

Our tentative move-in-date is September 29.  After September 29 it will take 4 minutes to get to school.  That's 16 minutes in the car a day for me.  I can't wait!

I am excited to be moving back to Gilbert.  We are still not too far from our family and friends in Mesa - about 20-25 minutes - so I am not too sad about leaving the area.  

Happy Birthday Harrison!

{Please forgive this post, I am writing this for posterity's sake!!  Read if you wish!}

I can not believe that my boy is 6 today!  How did this happen?  Where did the time go?  It is true what they say, they grow up so fast.  Six years ago today I was laying all alone in a hospital bed as Harrison went into surgery a few floors above me.  Todd was right by his side, until he was forced to leave and they whisked Harrison into the OR.  Thanks to my labor lasting all night long, our family, who were at the hospital for the duration, were all exhausted and I sent them home to sleep.  So I layed there just praying that everything would work out the way we had been praying for it to the previous four months.  

Harrison had gastroschisis - his intestines protruded through a small hole in his abdomen wall.  The surgeons had to put them back in - if they weren't too damaged by the amniotic fluid.  I can't remember what would have happened if they had been too damaged.  I think that they would have had to cut the damaged part off and try to reattach the intestines.  Luckily, they were not in too bad of shape.  Luckily, Harrison was big enough that his intestines fit into his body the first try.  Luckily, he recovered very well.  Luckily, we took him home 12 days later- this almost never happens.  I really don't know if luck had anything to do with it at all, I give all credit to the Lord.

One of the things I will never forget was that Todd and my brother, Gavin, were able to give Harrison a blessing right before surgery.  Gavin had just returned from his Spanish speaking mission three days prior.  He couldn't remember the words to the blessing in English, so he did it in Spanish!  I also remember how respectful the hospital staff was to our religion.  I had him at St. Joseph's and they offered to have a Priest come by and give Harrison a blessing.  They were quite surprised when I told them that my husband has the Priesthood and was going to give our baby a blessing himself.  I then had to explain a little bit about our religion because that made them pretty curious.  Harrison had me doing missionary work the minute he was born!

This past year Harrison has experienced a lot!  He went to kindergarten, learned to read, learned to tie his shoes,  improved his swimming abilities, and basically grew up the way a 5 year old should!  I am excited for another year!  Harrison, you are pretty terrific.

Going Private...again!

OK - so I will be going private by the end of next week.  Please leave me a comment or an email to let me know if you would like to be invited to see the blog:

jenny_sundevil{at}hotmail{dot}com

Thanks!

God Bless America

Have a great Fourth of July!

I'm Back

I couldn't stay away when I realized that my Mom's favorite sister - Hi, Aunt Joyce - frequents the blog.  Joyce lives all the way in South Carolina and I haven't seen her since I got married, over 8 years ago.  It makes me sad that we don't see my Mom's family often and since blogging is a way of communicating and connecting, then I am going to keep blogging!  I just need to be disciplined and not stay on the computer for hours just browsing after I post on my blog!!!!!

Here is a sampling of what I have been up to lately.  Enjoy!

This picture of the "Smith boys" was taken right before Tyson left on his mission.  It was a blistering hot August day, and standing outside taking pictures in the afternoon was sheer torture, but I am glad we endured!  This quote is particularly pertinent for two of these brothers.  Trevor, Todd does love you!  We hope you love him!

Harrison was the master mind of this picture!  He told me exactly what to add and where to put it.  He has loved trains since forever and he has recently become obsessed with the American Flag - we have a patriot in our midst!  This was taken last year, on the Heber Valley Railroad, in Heber City, Utah.

What can I say about this?  Alyssa is sassy!!  The tongue sticking out was purely her, it was so not coaxed.

Goodbye!

I thought I would let my readers {all four of you :)} know that I am taking a blog posting break for the time being. Don't worry we are all OK, I just don't have the time to publish posts that I consider worthwhile right now.  

If anything "news worthy" happens in our little family, I will for sure get my blog on!