Re: Steppin' Up

What fun letters Blaine, and Mom, and Jane and Kristi! Sorry I haven't written or responded much but I assure you I'm enjoying every word. I'll get out an update here soon but wanted to at least thank all of you for taking the time. 

Love ya,

Nick

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 6, 2016, at 8:18 PM, Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:

It looks like there aren't any YMCA buildings there in Utah but they have a few outreach programs for kids in schools - which is great! 

Jane the YMCA is basically a community center/recreation center. I use it as a gym mostly, they have childcare for the kids and group fitness classes and machines. They also have all sorts of classes... Like today I went to a toddler music and movement class with Tess, and tomorrow we will have a mommy and me yoga class 😁. They have a preschool Spanish class and preschool cooking classes. They have pools, a playground, a computer lab, a youth interactive room ( with ping pong, Etc). They also offer sports teams - Gwen is signed up for volleyball and the younger kids for soccer. It's really everything the song says it is ;) 

What I really love about though is the broad spectrum of people who enjoy it. I see tons of senior citizens at ours doing water aerobics and walking the track. They offer a sliding scale membership fee too, meaning if you don't make a lot of money you don't have to pay a big membership fee. They employ lots of people with disabilities and they just brighten my day. I really have never felt such a sense of community. It's a really great organization and I'm glad it gets to be a part of my day. 

I hope they gain traction in Utah and get some actual buildings so they can offer their full spectrum of programs, it's great! 

On Sep 6, 2016, at 7:46 PM, Blaine Bassett <blainebbassett@gmail.com> wrote:

That's fun. I had no idea that Utah had YMCAs and, like Kristi said we have always wondered why. It doesn't look like there are a lot of them or that they are quite as prevalent as they are here, but what a great organization. Like Kristi said, you really do feel a sense of community with people of all ages and races and creeds and backgrounds there that I haven't really felt anywhere else I have been (especially at more expensive or more typical gyms). Like you said, they are great! J Thanks for the response. We missed you on the holiday too, but it was fun to get the text and see you had a lot of fun just like we did.

 

From: bret bassett [mailto:bretbassett@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2016 12:36 AM
To: Blaine Bassett <blainebbassett@gmail.com>; Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com>
Cc: Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com>; bwbassetts@googlegroups.com; BAWB <bret.bassett2.bawb@blogger.com>
Subject: Re: Steppin' Up

 

Thanks kris. What a fun way to finish up my labor day reading your sweet letter. I am so happy to hear how much you are enjoying the kids schedule. I lnow it makes life a bit busier, but if it can also make life a bit less chaotic thats a good thing.

Happy to hear that the name bassett has risen to the top of the boxtop charts. I feel strangely proud.

Your hilton sound so amazing that perhaps we should make that our next bawb family vacation. Hmmmm.

Finally, we do have ymca's in utah. Check out the ymca in utah website - ymcautah.org. They are great.

Thanks again for keeping us current. We love it so much. We missed you on our holiday. Glad you had fun.

On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 8:23 PM Blaine Bassett <blainebbassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for the response, Jane, and I wanted to respond to your great update you wrote to the bark. It was so fun hearing about what's going on and to hear it in your own words. I had heard that you guys were moving but I didn't really understand the whole situation. It was great to read the whole update in the bark. Btw, I try to keep up on the bark but I somehow nearly missed that one and am so glad I caught it. If you (and everyone reading this) could do us a favor and at least copy the bwbassetts group anytime you write a bark letter, I would really appreciate it. I see the benefit of wanting to hit two birds with one stone and have no problem "counting" a bark letter as a BAWB letter, but sometimes I miss bark letters and I would hate to miss any update from any of you.  I always devour every word of everything written to bwbassetts. 

 

Also, Kris, I thanked you in person but I will add my public thanks to Janey's for your fun update. What a great thing to do on a Sunday evening, writing a letter to the family. Thanks for helping everyone keep up with us and for recording it for our own purposes. I love your writing style and you always think to record things that I wouldn't think to write about, so it makes a great combination for us to switch off who writes. Great letter!

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 5, 2016, at 5:23 PM, Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Loved this update! You guys are the greatest. Glad the school kids are getting settles into their routine and liking it. Glad you are liking your routine. I'm embarrassed to say I've heard of YMCA's but I don't know what they are??!!! 

 What if you took down the crib and got a big kid bed for Tess (with something on the side). Maybe the change would help her forget about your bed. Or if nothing else you could snuggle on her bed and leave her when she's asleep. 

Thanks for writing!

On Sunday, September 4, 2016, Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Family!

 

Another Sunday night! The weeks are flying by. I am thinking about marching in place while I write this letter because Blaine and I are having a fitbit competition today --- Sunday is the only day of the week that I have any sort of realistic chance of even coming close to his steps per day, ha ha :) We ordered Bentley a fitbit for his birthday (from good ol' Ryan Archibald who gets a verizon discount), and I decided to snag one too. It's been fun. I think the most fascinating thing is seeing how I sleep each night (hint: not very well!). 

 

The kids made it through another week of school. I enjoyed being able to go to the elementary  kids' Back to School night and to meet their teachers. Ivy seems more excited about school this year than ever, and Bentley seems kind of "meh" about the whole thing. Oh mom, you will be excited one of our kids FINALLY won the boxtop drawing! I wish it could have been Bentley ( he has cared so much about it for so long), but it was our sweet little Ivy Jane. She was also very excited, and I'm excited for her, but it was a little like salt in the wound for Bentley to have her win ;)

 

Gwen is doing well in middle school. She rides the bus each morning, and then her friend's mom brings her home each day (woot, I win!). Her bus leaves at 7:48 and she gets home at about 4 (it would be closer to 4:30 if she took the bus!). She seems happy with all of her teachers and she gets to sit with her group of friends from Clayton each day at lunch. She was being awfully critical of the lunches I was packing for her, so she is now on her own in that department. Overall she is seeming more mature and more grateful for the things we do for her. I think she is enjoying the "bump" up in status and being a middle schooler. She has even had a few opportunities to babysit for a friend of mine and earn some money. Crazy that she is getting to be that age. For as hard of a time as she has with her siblings, she is an excellent babysitter and my friend raves about how fun she is to play with her kids and keep them engaged the whole time. 

 

Blaine has been really busy with work. Seems like ALG is kind of a feast or famine work environment, and this month is feast, which is really nice financially though a little rough emotionally. Blaine has been working Baker Bott type hours and is constantly reminded how grateful he is that he does not work at Baker Botts any more :) The good thing with ALG though is that he is appreciated by his employers and we know to just endure the long hard hours because not every month is like that and we are grateful for the work. 

 

We were able to get away this weekend and use our last free night at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop (about half an hour away). Such a fun place for a family get away. We left right after school on Friday, and arrived just after 5PM. It looked a little stormy so we didn't go to the waterpark, but enjoyed the many other activities around instead. They had an indoor table shuffleboard thing, an inflatable gaga ball pit (has gaga ball made it to Utah? I think it is just a Texas thing maybe, but all of the elementary schools have gaga ball pits, and on this trip I finally learned how to play - I think- it's a little like dodgeball but you can only hit the ball with your hands and...yeah, we will have to teach it to you). It was fun because I don't think most people knew what it was so when our family started playing lots of people stopped by to watch and ask questions. We then enjoyed Smores by the firepit and the outdoor movie (which was relocated to indoors), Zootopia, classic. 

 

Then we enjoyed a very peaceful and comfortable night sleep sleeping three to a queen bed. Oh man. We definitely do not fit in one normal size hotel room anymore, ha ha. Even though it was one of the nicer hotel rooms we have ever been in, there's just no good way to fit six people on two beds, especially when five of those people are quite large, and one is tiny but a sleep ninja who likes to kick and push and pull and tumble around in her sleep. Oh well, it was just for one night ;) 

 

We had to check out at 9 the next morning but spent the entire day at the resort enjoying the facilities. It really is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. I was telling Blaine we should just go stay there for a week instead of Mexico, it's a lot closer! Ha ha. We had a great time at the waterpark, participating in the family olympics (where I was the weakest link because apparently I can't shoot a water gun to save my life!), playing on a giant inflatable basketball court, and so on. We were all exhausted by the end of the day and stopped for pizza on our way home. 

 

I am really enjoying my days with Tess. We have a nice little routine going. After we drop the kids at school we go directly to the YMCA (can anyone explain to me why Utah doesn't have YMCAs? They are fantastic and amazing and they would thrive in Utah, it's weird to me, does the church not support them or something? It's such a wholesome community building place, I love it there!). Tess goes and plays while I get to work out for an hour and a half. Then we usually stop and do some errands, come home for naps, then she wakes up just in time to go pick up the kids. Then homework, snacks, dinner and bed. It's simple, but I love it. I really love just having so much one on one time with Tess. 

 

I think have the kids at two different schools and on two different schedules has actually been really good for us. I like that I have an hour after school with the elementary kids that I can kind of get them settled and hear about their days before Gwen walks in and then when she comes home I can give her my full attention for a while to hear what she is willing to share about her days. The last few years when I would pick up all three of them from school and they were already fighting and all talking over eachother until I just wanted to lock myself in my room...was not my favorite. I feel like this is more manageable. Bentley and Ivy and I are working on our system so they don't have to all clobber over each other for my attention ( The person who sits in the front seat on the way home gets to talk first but the person in the back seat gets to get the mail from the mailbox, and then once we are home and unpacked the person who had been sitting in the back gets to talk about their day. There is still a fair amount of chaos, but we are working on it!). 

 

Tess doesn't sleep in her bed anymore. That was the major sacrifice of our Utah trip I guess. When we left for Utah she was happily sleeping in her own bed, going down for nighttime and naps with minimal effort from me. Somehow in the course of our trip we created a monster though. Now getting her to sleep is quite the process. And she WILL NOT sleep except for in our bed. Right between Blaine and I. I love that girl but man, sure wish she would sleep in her bed. She can be dead asleep in our bed but if we pick her up to move her to her bed her eyes shoot open and she screams, without hesitation "SNUGGLE MOM!" and will cry the loudest, ear piercing, heart wrenching cry until I snuggle her back to sleep. You may just think I am a pushover, but I assure you, left to her own devices she would scream ceaselessly through the night. Since we have three school aged kids who need their sleep, I usually have to just cave and sleep with her. It's the worst. I hate it, but I am somewhat at a loss of what to do. 

 

Well, that's about it from Texas. Still hot as blazes.  Miss you guys!

 

Love,

BKGBIT  

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Re: Steppin' Up

It looks like there aren't any YMCA buildings there in Utah but they have a few outreach programs for kids in schools - which is great! 

Jane the YMCA is basically a community center/recreation center. I use it as a gym mostly, they have childcare for the kids and group fitness classes and machines. They also have all sorts of classes... Like today I went to a toddler music and movement class with Tess, and tomorrow we will have a mommy and me yoga class 😁. They have a preschool Spanish class and preschool cooking classes. They have pools, a playground, a computer lab, a youth interactive room ( with ping pong, Etc). They also offer sports teams - Gwen is signed up for volleyball and the younger kids for soccer. It's really everything the song says it is ;) 

What I really love about though is the broad spectrum of people who enjoy it. I see tons of senior citizens at ours doing water aerobics and walking the track. They offer a sliding scale membership fee too, meaning if you don't make a lot of money you don't have to pay a big membership fee. They employ lots of people with disabilities and they just brighten my day. I really have never felt such a sense of community. It's a really great organization and I'm glad it gets to be a part of my day. 

I hope they gain traction in Utah and get some actual buildings so they can offer their full spectrum of programs, it's great! 

On Sep 6, 2016, at 7:46 PM, Blaine Bassett <blainebbassett@gmail.com> wrote:

That's fun. I had no idea that Utah had YMCAs and, like Kristi said we have always wondered why. It doesn't look like there are a lot of them or that they are quite as prevalent as they are here, but what a great organization. Like Kristi said, you really do feel a sense of community with people of all ages and races and creeds and backgrounds there that I haven't really felt anywhere else I have been (especially at more expensive or more typical gyms). Like you said, they are great! J Thanks for the response. We missed you on the holiday too, but it was fun to get the text and see you had a lot of fun just like we did.

 

From: bret bassett [mailto:bretbassett@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2016 12:36 AM
To: Blaine Bassett <blainebbassett@gmail.com>; Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com>
Cc: Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com>; bwbassetts@googlegroups.com; BAWB <bret.bassett2.bawb@blogger.com>
Subject: Re: Steppin' Up

 

Thanks kris. What a fun way to finish up my labor day reading your sweet letter. I am so happy to hear how much you are enjoying the kids schedule. I lnow it makes life a bit busier, but if it can also make life a bit less chaotic thats a good thing.

Happy to hear that the name bassett has risen to the top of the boxtop charts. I feel strangely proud.

Your hilton sound so amazing that perhaps we should make that our next bawb family vacation. Hmmmm.

Finally, we do have ymca's in utah. Check out the ymca in utah website - ymcautah.org. They are great.

Thanks again for keeping us current. We love it so much. We missed you on our holiday. Glad you had fun.

On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 8:23 PM Blaine Bassett <blainebbassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for the response, Jane, and I wanted to respond to your great update you wrote to the bark. It was so fun hearing about what's going on and to hear it in your own words. I had heard that you guys were moving but I didn't really understand the whole situation. It was great to read the whole update in the bark. Btw, I try to keep up on the bark but I somehow nearly missed that one and am so glad I caught it. If you (and everyone reading this) could do us a favor and at least copy the bwbassetts group anytime you write a bark letter, I would really appreciate it. I see the benefit of wanting to hit two birds with one stone and have no problem "counting" a bark letter as a BAWB letter, but sometimes I miss bark letters and I would hate to miss any update from any of you.  I always devour every word of everything written to bwbassetts. 

 

Also, Kris, I thanked you in person but I will add my public thanks to Janey's for your fun update. What a great thing to do on a Sunday evening, writing a letter to the family. Thanks for helping everyone keep up with us and for recording it for our own purposes. I love your writing style and you always think to record things that I wouldn't think to write about, so it makes a great combination for us to switch off who writes. Great letter!

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 5, 2016, at 5:23 PM, Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Loved this update! You guys are the greatest. Glad the school kids are getting settles into their routine and liking it. Glad you are liking your routine. I'm embarrassed to say I've heard of YMCA's but I don't know what they are??!!! 

 What if you took down the crib and got a big kid bed for Tess (with something on the side). Maybe the change would help her forget about your bed. Or if nothing else you could snuggle on her bed and leave her when she's asleep. 

Thanks for writing!

On Sunday, September 4, 2016, Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Family!

 

Another Sunday night! The weeks are flying by. I am thinking about marching in place while I write this letter because Blaine and I are having a fitbit competition today --- Sunday is the only day of the week that I have any sort of realistic chance of even coming close to his steps per day, ha ha :) We ordered Bentley a fitbit for his birthday (from good ol' Ryan Archibald who gets a verizon discount), and I decided to snag one too. It's been fun. I think the most fascinating thing is seeing how I sleep each night (hint: not very well!). 

 

The kids made it through another week of school. I enjoyed being able to go to the elementary  kids' Back to School night and to meet their teachers. Ivy seems more excited about school this year than ever, and Bentley seems kind of "meh" about the whole thing. Oh mom, you will be excited one of our kids FINALLY won the boxtop drawing! I wish it could have been Bentley ( he has cared so much about it for so long), but it was our sweet little Ivy Jane. She was also very excited, and I'm excited for her, but it was a little like salt in the wound for Bentley to have her win ;)

 

Gwen is doing well in middle school. She rides the bus each morning, and then her friend's mom brings her home each day (woot, I win!). Her bus leaves at 7:48 and she gets home at about 4 (it would be closer to 4:30 if she took the bus!). She seems happy with all of her teachers and she gets to sit with her group of friends from Clayton each day at lunch. She was being awfully critical of the lunches I was packing for her, so she is now on her own in that department. Overall she is seeming more mature and more grateful for the things we do for her. I think she is enjoying the "bump" up in status and being a middle schooler. She has even had a few opportunities to babysit for a friend of mine and earn some money. Crazy that she is getting to be that age. For as hard of a time as she has with her siblings, she is an excellent babysitter and my friend raves about how fun she is to play with her kids and keep them engaged the whole time. 

 

Blaine has been really busy with work. Seems like ALG is kind of a feast or famine work environment, and this month is feast, which is really nice financially though a little rough emotionally. Blaine has been working Baker Bott type hours and is constantly reminded how grateful he is that he does not work at Baker Botts any more :) The good thing with ALG though is that he is appreciated by his employers and we know to just endure the long hard hours because not every month is like that and we are grateful for the work. 

 

We were able to get away this weekend and use our last free night at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop (about half an hour away). Such a fun place for a family get away. We left right after school on Friday, and arrived just after 5PM. It looked a little stormy so we didn't go to the waterpark, but enjoyed the many other activities around instead. They had an indoor table shuffleboard thing, an inflatable gaga ball pit (has gaga ball made it to Utah? I think it is just a Texas thing maybe, but all of the elementary schools have gaga ball pits, and on this trip I finally learned how to play - I think- it's a little like dodgeball but you can only hit the ball with your hands and...yeah, we will have to teach it to you). It was fun because I don't think most people knew what it was so when our family started playing lots of people stopped by to watch and ask questions. We then enjoyed Smores by the firepit and the outdoor movie (which was relocated to indoors), Zootopia, classic. 

 

Then we enjoyed a very peaceful and comfortable night sleep sleeping three to a queen bed. Oh man. We definitely do not fit in one normal size hotel room anymore, ha ha. Even though it was one of the nicer hotel rooms we have ever been in, there's just no good way to fit six people on two beds, especially when five of those people are quite large, and one is tiny but a sleep ninja who likes to kick and push and pull and tumble around in her sleep. Oh well, it was just for one night ;) 

 

We had to check out at 9 the next morning but spent the entire day at the resort enjoying the facilities. It really is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. I was telling Blaine we should just go stay there for a week instead of Mexico, it's a lot closer! Ha ha. We had a great time at the waterpark, participating in the family olympics (where I was the weakest link because apparently I can't shoot a water gun to save my life!), playing on a giant inflatable basketball court, and so on. We were all exhausted by the end of the day and stopped for pizza on our way home. 

 

I am really enjoying my days with Tess. We have a nice little routine going. After we drop the kids at school we go directly to the YMCA (can anyone explain to me why Utah doesn't have YMCAs? They are fantastic and amazing and they would thrive in Utah, it's weird to me, does the church not support them or something? It's such a wholesome community building place, I love it there!). Tess goes and plays while I get to work out for an hour and a half. Then we usually stop and do some errands, come home for naps, then she wakes up just in time to go pick up the kids. Then homework, snacks, dinner and bed. It's simple, but I love it. I really love just having so much one on one time with Tess. 

 

I think have the kids at two different schools and on two different schedules has actually been really good for us. I like that I have an hour after school with the elementary kids that I can kind of get them settled and hear about their days before Gwen walks in and then when she comes home I can give her my full attention for a while to hear what she is willing to share about her days. The last few years when I would pick up all three of them from school and they were already fighting and all talking over eachother until I just wanted to lock myself in my room...was not my favorite. I feel like this is more manageable. Bentley and Ivy and I are working on our system so they don't have to all clobber over each other for my attention ( The person who sits in the front seat on the way home gets to talk first but the person in the back seat gets to get the mail from the mailbox, and then once we are home and unpacked the person who had been sitting in the back gets to talk about their day. There is still a fair amount of chaos, but we are working on it!). 

 

Tess doesn't sleep in her bed anymore. That was the major sacrifice of our Utah trip I guess. When we left for Utah she was happily sleeping in her own bed, going down for nighttime and naps with minimal effort from me. Somehow in the course of our trip we created a monster though. Now getting her to sleep is quite the process. And she WILL NOT sleep except for in our bed. Right between Blaine and I. I love that girl but man, sure wish she would sleep in her bed. She can be dead asleep in our bed but if we pick her up to move her to her bed her eyes shoot open and she screams, without hesitation "SNUGGLE MOM!" and will cry the loudest, ear piercing, heart wrenching cry until I snuggle her back to sleep. You may just think I am a pushover, but I assure you, left to her own devices she would scream ceaselessly through the night. Since we have three school aged kids who need their sleep, I usually have to just cave and sleep with her. It's the worst. I hate it, but I am somewhat at a loss of what to do. 

 

Well, that's about it from Texas. Still hot as blazes.  Miss you guys!

 

Love,

BKGBIT  

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RE: Steppin' Up

That's fun. I had no idea that Utah had YMCAs and, like Kristi said we have always wondered why. It doesn't look like there are a lot of them or that they are quite as prevalent as they are here, but what a great organization. Like Kristi said, you really do feel a sense of community with people of all ages and races and creeds and backgrounds there that I haven't really felt anywhere else I have been (especially at more expensive or more typical gyms). Like you said, they are great! J Thanks for the response. We missed you on the holiday too, but it was fun to get the text and see you had a lot of fun just like we did.

 

From: bret bassett [mailto:bretbassett@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2016 12:36 AM
To: Blaine Bassett <blainebbassett@gmail.com>; Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com>
Cc: Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com>; bwbassetts@googlegroups.com; BAWB <bret.bassett2.bawb@blogger.com>
Subject: Re: Steppin' Up

 

Thanks kris. What a fun way to finish up my labor day reading your sweet letter. I am so happy to hear how much you are enjoying the kids schedule. I lnow it makes life a bit busier, but if it can also make life a bit less chaotic thats a good thing.

Happy to hear that the name bassett has risen to the top of the boxtop charts. I feel strangely proud.

Your hilton sound so amazing that perhaps we should make that our next bawb family vacation. Hmmmm.

Finally, we do have ymca's in utah. Check out the ymca in utah website - ymcautah.org. They are great.

Thanks again for keeping us current. We love it so much. We missed you on our holiday. Glad you had fun.

On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 8:23 PM Blaine Bassett <blainebbassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for the response, Jane, and I wanted to respond to your great update you wrote to the bark. It was so fun hearing about what's going on and to hear it in your own words. I had heard that you guys were moving but I didn't really understand the whole situation. It was great to read the whole update in the bark. Btw, I try to keep up on the bark but I somehow nearly missed that one and am so glad I caught it. If you (and everyone reading this) could do us a favor and at least copy the bwbassetts group anytime you write a bark letter, I would really appreciate it. I see the benefit of wanting to hit two birds with one stone and have no problem "counting" a bark letter as a BAWB letter, but sometimes I miss bark letters and I would hate to miss any update from any of you.  I always devour every word of everything written to bwbassetts. 

 

Also, Kris, I thanked you in person but I will add my public thanks to Janey's for your fun update. What a great thing to do on a Sunday evening, writing a letter to the family. Thanks for helping everyone keep up with us and for recording it for our own purposes. I love your writing style and you always think to record things that I wouldn't think to write about, so it makes a great combination for us to switch off who writes. Great letter!

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 5, 2016, at 5:23 PM, Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Loved this update! You guys are the greatest. Glad the school kids are getting settles into their routine and liking it. Glad you are liking your routine. I'm embarrassed to say I've heard of YMCA's but I don't know what they are??!!! 

 What if you took down the crib and got a big kid bed for Tess (with something on the side). Maybe the change would help her forget about your bed. Or if nothing else you could snuggle on her bed and leave her when she's asleep. 

Thanks for writing!

On Sunday, September 4, 2016, Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Family!

 

Another Sunday night! The weeks are flying by. I am thinking about marching in place while I write this letter because Blaine and I are having a fitbit competition today --- Sunday is the only day of the week that I have any sort of realistic chance of even coming close to his steps per day, ha ha :) We ordered Bentley a fitbit for his birthday (from good ol' Ryan Archibald who gets a verizon discount), and I decided to snag one too. It's been fun. I think the most fascinating thing is seeing how I sleep each night (hint: not very well!). 

 

The kids made it through another week of school. I enjoyed being able to go to the elementary  kids' Back to School night and to meet their teachers. Ivy seems more excited about school this year than ever, and Bentley seems kind of "meh" about the whole thing. Oh mom, you will be excited one of our kids FINALLY won the boxtop drawing! I wish it could have been Bentley ( he has cared so much about it for so long), but it was our sweet little Ivy Jane. She was also very excited, and I'm excited for her, but it was a little like salt in the wound for Bentley to have her win ;)

 

Gwen is doing well in middle school. She rides the bus each morning, and then her friend's mom brings her home each day (woot, I win!). Her bus leaves at 7:48 and she gets home at about 4 (it would be closer to 4:30 if she took the bus!). She seems happy with all of her teachers and she gets to sit with her group of friends from Clayton each day at lunch. She was being awfully critical of the lunches I was packing for her, so she is now on her own in that department. Overall she is seeming more mature and more grateful for the things we do for her. I think she is enjoying the "bump" up in status and being a middle schooler. She has even had a few opportunities to babysit for a friend of mine and earn some money. Crazy that she is getting to be that age. For as hard of a time as she has with her siblings, she is an excellent babysitter and my friend raves about how fun she is to play with her kids and keep them engaged the whole time. 

 

Blaine has been really busy with work. Seems like ALG is kind of a feast or famine work environment, and this month is feast, which is really nice financially though a little rough emotionally. Blaine has been working Baker Bott type hours and is constantly reminded how grateful he is that he does not work at Baker Botts any more :) The good thing with ALG though is that he is appreciated by his employers and we know to just endure the long hard hours because not every month is like that and we are grateful for the work. 

 

We were able to get away this weekend and use our last free night at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop (about half an hour away). Such a fun place for a family get away. We left right after school on Friday, and arrived just after 5PM. It looked a little stormy so we didn't go to the waterpark, but enjoyed the many other activities around instead. They had an indoor table shuffleboard thing, an inflatable gaga ball pit (has gaga ball made it to Utah? I think it is just a Texas thing maybe, but all of the elementary schools have gaga ball pits, and on this trip I finally learned how to play - I think- it's a little like dodgeball but you can only hit the ball with your hands and...yeah, we will have to teach it to you). It was fun because I don't think most people knew what it was so when our family started playing lots of people stopped by to watch and ask questions. We then enjoyed Smores by the firepit and the outdoor movie (which was relocated to indoors), Zootopia, classic. 

 

Then we enjoyed a very peaceful and comfortable night sleep sleeping three to a queen bed. Oh man. We definitely do not fit in one normal size hotel room anymore, ha ha. Even though it was one of the nicer hotel rooms we have ever been in, there's just no good way to fit six people on two beds, especially when five of those people are quite large, and one is tiny but a sleep ninja who likes to kick and push and pull and tumble around in her sleep. Oh well, it was just for one night ;) 

 

We had to check out at 9 the next morning but spent the entire day at the resort enjoying the facilities. It really is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. I was telling Blaine we should just go stay there for a week instead of Mexico, it's a lot closer! Ha ha. We had a great time at the waterpark, participating in the family olympics (where I was the weakest link because apparently I can't shoot a water gun to save my life!), playing on a giant inflatable basketball court, and so on. We were all exhausted by the end of the day and stopped for pizza on our way home. 

 

I am really enjoying my days with Tess. We have a nice little routine going. After we drop the kids at school we go directly to the YMCA (can anyone explain to me why Utah doesn't have YMCAs? They are fantastic and amazing and they would thrive in Utah, it's weird to me, does the church not support them or something? It's such a wholesome community building place, I love it there!). Tess goes and plays while I get to work out for an hour and a half. Then we usually stop and do some errands, come home for naps, then she wakes up just in time to go pick up the kids. Then homework, snacks, dinner and bed. It's simple, but I love it. I really love just having so much one on one time with Tess. 

 

I think have the kids at two different schools and on two different schedules has actually been really good for us. I like that I have an hour after school with the elementary kids that I can kind of get them settled and hear about their days before Gwen walks in and then when she comes home I can give her my full attention for a while to hear what she is willing to share about her days. The last few years when I would pick up all three of them from school and they were already fighting and all talking over eachother until I just wanted to lock myself in my room...was not my favorite. I feel like this is more manageable. Bentley and Ivy and I are working on our system so they don't have to all clobber over each other for my attention ( The person who sits in the front seat on the way home gets to talk first but the person in the back seat gets to get the mail from the mailbox, and then once we are home and unpacked the person who had been sitting in the back gets to talk about their day. There is still a fair amount of chaos, but we are working on it!). 

 

Tess doesn't sleep in her bed anymore. That was the major sacrifice of our Utah trip I guess. When we left for Utah she was happily sleeping in her own bed, going down for nighttime and naps with minimal effort from me. Somehow in the course of our trip we created a monster though. Now getting her to sleep is quite the process. And she WILL NOT sleep except for in our bed. Right between Blaine and I. I love that girl but man, sure wish she would sleep in her bed. She can be dead asleep in our bed but if we pick her up to move her to her bed her eyes shoot open and she screams, without hesitation "SNUGGLE MOM!" and will cry the loudest, ear piercing, heart wrenching cry until I snuggle her back to sleep. You may just think I am a pushover, but I assure you, left to her own devices she would scream ceaselessly through the night. Since we have three school aged kids who need their sleep, I usually have to just cave and sleep with her. It's the worst. I hate it, but I am somewhat at a loss of what to do. 

 

Well, that's about it from Texas. Still hot as blazes.  Miss you guys!

 

Love,

BKGBIT  

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Re: Steppin' Up

Thanks kris. What a fun way to finish up my labor day reading your sweet letter. I am so happy to hear how much you are enjoying the kids schedule. I lnow it makes life a bit busier, but if it can also make life a bit less chaotic thats a good thing.

Happy to hear that the name bassett has risen to the top of the boxtop charts. I feel strangely proud.

Your hilton sound so amazing that perhaps we should make that our next bawb family vacation. Hmmmm.

Finally, we do have ymca's in utah. Check out the ymca in utah website - ymcautah.org. They are great.

Thanks again for keeping us current. We love it so much. We missed you on our holiday. Glad you had fun.

On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 8:23 PM Blaine Bassett <blainebbassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for the response, Jane, and I wanted to respond to your great update you wrote to the bark. It was so fun hearing about what's going on and to hear it in your own words. I had heard that you guys were moving but I didn't really understand the whole situation. It was great to read the whole update in the bark. Btw, I try to keep up on the bark but I somehow nearly missed that one and am so glad I caught it. If you (and everyone reading this) could do us a favor and at least copy the bwbassetts group anytime you write a bark letter, I would really appreciate it. I see the benefit of wanting to hit two birds with one stone and have no problem "counting" a bark letter as a BAWB letter, but sometimes I miss bark letters and I would hate to miss any update from any of you.  I always devour every word of everything written to bwbassetts. 

Also, Kris, I thanked you in person but I will add my public thanks to Janey's for your fun update. What a great thing to do on a Sunday evening, writing a letter to the family. Thanks for helping everyone keep up with us and for recording it for our own purposes. I love your writing style and you always think to record things that I wouldn't think to write about, so it makes a great combination for us to switch off who writes. Great letter!

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 5, 2016, at 5:23 PM, Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Loved this update! You guys are the greatest. Glad the school kids are getting settles into their routine and liking it. Glad you are liking your routine. I'm embarrassed to say I've heard of YMCA's but I don't know what they are??!!! 

 What if you took down the crib and got a big kid bed for Tess (with something on the side). Maybe the change would help her forget about your bed. Or if nothing else you could snuggle on her bed and leave her when she's asleep. 

Thanks for writing!

On Sunday, September 4, 2016, Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Family!

Another Sunday night! The weeks are flying by. I am thinking about marching in place while I write this letter because Blaine and I are having a fitbit competition today --- Sunday is the only day of the week that I have any sort of realistic chance of even coming close to his steps per day, ha ha :) We ordered Bentley a fitbit for his birthday (from good ol' Ryan Archibald who gets a verizon discount), and I decided to snag one too. It's been fun. I think the most fascinating thing is seeing how I sleep each night (hint: not very well!). 

The kids made it through another week of school. I enjoyed being able to go to the elementary  kids' Back to School night and to meet their teachers. Ivy seems more excited about school this year than ever, and Bentley seems kind of "meh" about the whole thing. Oh mom, you will be excited one of our kids FINALLY won the boxtop drawing! I wish it could have been Bentley ( he has cared so much about it for so long), but it was our sweet little Ivy Jane. She was also very excited, and I'm excited for her, but it was a little like salt in the wound for Bentley to have her win ;)

Gwen is doing well in middle school. She rides the bus each morning, and then her friend's mom brings her home each day (woot, I win!). Her bus leaves at 7:48 and she gets home at about 4 (it would be closer to 4:30 if she took the bus!). She seems happy with all of her teachers and she gets to sit with her group of friends from Clayton each day at lunch. She was being awfully critical of the lunches I was packing for her, so she is now on her own in that department. Overall she is seeming more mature and more grateful for the things we do for her. I think she is enjoying the "bump" up in status and being a middle schooler. She has even had a few opportunities to babysit for a friend of mine and earn some money. Crazy that she is getting to be that age. For as hard of a time as she has with her siblings, she is an excellent babysitter and my friend raves about how fun she is to play with her kids and keep them engaged the whole time. 

Blaine has been really busy with work. Seems like ALG is kind of a feast or famine work environment, and this month is feast, which is really nice financially though a little rough emotionally. Blaine has been working Baker Bott type hours and is constantly reminded how grateful he is that he does not work at Baker Botts any more :) The good thing with ALG though is that he is appreciated by his employers and we know to just endure the long hard hours because not every month is like that and we are grateful for the work. 

We were able to get away this weekend and use our last free night at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop (about half an hour away). Such a fun place for a family get away. We left right after school on Friday, and arrived just after 5PM. It looked a little stormy so we didn't go to the waterpark, but enjoyed the many other activities around instead. They had an indoor table shuffleboard thing, an inflatable gaga ball pit (has gaga ball made it to Utah? I think it is just a Texas thing maybe, but all of the elementary schools have gaga ball pits, and on this trip I finally learned how to play - I think- it's a little like dodgeball but you can only hit the ball with your hands and...yeah, we will have to teach it to you). It was fun because I don't think most people knew what it was so when our family started playing lots of people stopped by to watch and ask questions. We then enjoyed Smores by the firepit and the outdoor movie (which was relocated to indoors), Zootopia, classic. 

Then we enjoyed a very peaceful and comfortable night sleep sleeping three to a queen bed. Oh man. We definitely do not fit in one normal size hotel room anymore, ha ha. Even though it was one of the nicer hotel rooms we have ever been in, there's just no good way to fit six people on two beds, especially when five of those people are quite large, and one is tiny but a sleep ninja who likes to kick and push and pull and tumble around in her sleep. Oh well, it was just for one night ;) 

We had to check out at 9 the next morning but spent the entire day at the resort enjoying the facilities. It really is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. I was telling Blaine we should just go stay there for a week instead of Mexico, it's a lot closer! Ha ha. We had a great time at the waterpark, participating in the family olympics (where I was the weakest link because apparently I can't shoot a water gun to save my life!), playing on a giant inflatable basketball court, and so on. We were all exhausted by the end of the day and stopped for pizza on our way home. 

I am really enjoying my days with Tess. We have a nice little routine going. After we drop the kids at school we go directly to the YMCA (can anyone explain to me why Utah doesn't have YMCAs? They are fantastic and amazing and they would thrive in Utah, it's weird to me, does the church not support them or something? It's such a wholesome community building place, I love it there!). Tess goes and plays while I get to work out for an hour and a half. Then we usually stop and do some errands, come home for naps, then she wakes up just in time to go pick up the kids. Then homework, snacks, dinner and bed. It's simple, but I love it. I really love just having so much one on one time with Tess. 

I think have the kids at two different schools and on two different schedules has actually been really good for us. I like that I have an hour after school with the elementary kids that I can kind of get them settled and hear about their days before Gwen walks in and then when she comes home I can give her my full attention for a while to hear what she is willing to share about her days. The last few years when I would pick up all three of them from school and they were already fighting and all talking over eachother until I just wanted to lock myself in my room...was not my favorite. I feel like this is more manageable. Bentley and Ivy and I are working on our system so they don't have to all clobber over each other for my attention ( The person who sits in the front seat on the way home gets to talk first but the person in the back seat gets to get the mail from the mailbox, and then once we are home and unpacked the person who had been sitting in the back gets to talk about their day. There is still a fair amount of chaos, but we are working on it!). 

Tess doesn't sleep in her bed anymore. That was the major sacrifice of our Utah trip I guess. When we left for Utah she was happily sleeping in her own bed, going down for nighttime and naps with minimal effort from me. Somehow in the course of our trip we created a monster though. Now getting her to sleep is quite the process. And she WILL NOT sleep except for in our bed. Right between Blaine and I. I love that girl but man, sure wish she would sleep in her bed. She can be dead asleep in our bed but if we pick her up to move her to her bed her eyes shoot open and she screams, without hesitation "SNUGGLE MOM!" and will cry the loudest, ear piercing, heart wrenching cry until I snuggle her back to sleep. You may just think I am a pushover, but I assure you, left to her own devices she would scream ceaselessly through the night. Since we have three school aged kids who need their sleep, I usually have to just cave and sleep with her. It's the worst. I hate it, but I am somewhat at a loss of what to do. 

Well, that's about it from Texas. Still hot as blazes.  Miss you guys!

Love,

BKGBIT  

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Re: Steppin' Up

Thanks for the response, Jane, and I wanted to respond to your great update you wrote to the bark. It was so fun hearing about what's going on and to hear it in your own words. I had heard that you guys were moving but I didn't really understand the whole situation. It was great to read the whole update in the bark. Btw, I try to keep up on the bark but I somehow nearly missed that one and am so glad I caught it. If you (and everyone reading this) could do us a favor and at least copy the bwbassetts group anytime you write a bark letter, I would really appreciate it. I see the benefit of wanting to hit two birds with one stone and have no problem "counting" a bark letter as a BAWB letter, but sometimes I miss bark letters and I would hate to miss any update from any of you.  I always devour every word of everything written to bwbassetts. 

Also, Kris, I thanked you in person but I will add my public thanks to Janey's for your fun update. What a great thing to do on a Sunday evening, writing a letter to the family. Thanks for helping everyone keep up with us and for recording it for our own purposes. I love your writing style and you always think to record things that I wouldn't think to write about, so it makes a great combination for us to switch off who writes. Great letter!

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 5, 2016, at 5:23 PM, Janey Nielsen <janeybassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Loved this update! You guys are the greatest. Glad the school kids are getting settles into their routine and liking it. Glad you are liking your routine. I'm embarrassed to say I've heard of YMCA's but I don't know what they are??!!! 

 What if you took down the crib and got a big kid bed for Tess (with something on the side). Maybe the change would help her forget about your bed. Or if nothing else you could snuggle on her bed and leave her when she's asleep. 

Thanks for writing!

On Sunday, September 4, 2016, Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Family!

Another Sunday night! The weeks are flying by. I am thinking about marching in place while I write this letter because Blaine and I are having a fitbit competition today --- Sunday is the only day of the week that I have any sort of realistic chance of even coming close to his steps per day, ha ha :) We ordered Bentley a fitbit for his birthday (from good ol' Ryan Archibald who gets a verizon discount), and I decided to snag one too. It's been fun. I think the most fascinating thing is seeing how I sleep each night (hint: not very well!). 

The kids made it through another week of school. I enjoyed being able to go to the elementary  kids' Back to School night and to meet their teachers. Ivy seems more excited about school this year than ever, and Bentley seems kind of "meh" about the whole thing. Oh mom, you will be excited one of our kids FINALLY won the boxtop drawing! I wish it could have been Bentley ( he has cared so much about it for so long), but it was our sweet little Ivy Jane. She was also very excited, and I'm excited for her, but it was a little like salt in the wound for Bentley to have her win ;)

Gwen is doing well in middle school. She rides the bus each morning, and then her friend's mom brings her home each day (woot, I win!). Her bus leaves at 7:48 and she gets home at about 4 (it would be closer to 4:30 if she took the bus!). She seems happy with all of her teachers and she gets to sit with her group of friends from Clayton each day at lunch. She was being awfully critical of the lunches I was packing for her, so she is now on her own in that department. Overall she is seeming more mature and more grateful for the things we do for her. I think she is enjoying the "bump" up in status and being a middle schooler. She has even had a few opportunities to babysit for a friend of mine and earn some money. Crazy that she is getting to be that age. For as hard of a time as she has with her siblings, she is an excellent babysitter and my friend raves about how fun she is to play with her kids and keep them engaged the whole time. 

Blaine has been really busy with work. Seems like ALG is kind of a feast or famine work environment, and this month is feast, which is really nice financially though a little rough emotionally. Blaine has been working Baker Bott type hours and is constantly reminded how grateful he is that he does not work at Baker Botts any more :) The good thing with ALG though is that he is appreciated by his employers and we know to just endure the long hard hours because not every month is like that and we are grateful for the work. 

We were able to get away this weekend and use our last free night at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop (about half an hour away). Such a fun place for a family get away. We left right after school on Friday, and arrived just after 5PM. It looked a little stormy so we didn't go to the waterpark, but enjoyed the many other activities around instead. They had an indoor table shuffleboard thing, an inflatable gaga ball pit (has gaga ball made it to Utah? I think it is just a Texas thing maybe, but all of the elementary schools have gaga ball pits, and on this trip I finally learned how to play - I think- it's a little like dodgeball but you can only hit the ball with your hands and...yeah, we will have to teach it to you). It was fun because I don't think most people knew what it was so when our family started playing lots of people stopped by to watch and ask questions. We then enjoyed Smores by the firepit and the outdoor movie (which was relocated to indoors), Zootopia, classic. 

Then we enjoyed a very peaceful and comfortable night sleep sleeping three to a queen bed. Oh man. We definitely do not fit in one normal size hotel room anymore, ha ha. Even though it was one of the nicer hotel rooms we have ever been in, there's just no good way to fit six people on two beds, especially when five of those people are quite large, and one is tiny but a sleep ninja who likes to kick and push and pull and tumble around in her sleep. Oh well, it was just for one night ;) 

We had to check out at 9 the next morning but spent the entire day at the resort enjoying the facilities. It really is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. I was telling Blaine we should just go stay there for a week instead of Mexico, it's a lot closer! Ha ha. We had a great time at the waterpark, participating in the family olympics (where I was the weakest link because apparently I can't shoot a water gun to save my life!), playing on a giant inflatable basketball court, and so on. We were all exhausted by the end of the day and stopped for pizza on our way home. 

I am really enjoying my days with Tess. We have a nice little routine going. After we drop the kids at school we go directly to the YMCA (can anyone explain to me why Utah doesn't have YMCAs? They are fantastic and amazing and they would thrive in Utah, it's weird to me, does the church not support them or something? It's such a wholesome community building place, I love it there!). Tess goes and plays while I get to work out for an hour and a half. Then we usually stop and do some errands, come home for naps, then she wakes up just in time to go pick up the kids. Then homework, snacks, dinner and bed. It's simple, but I love it. I really love just having so much one on one time with Tess. 

I think have the kids at two different schools and on two different schedules has actually been really good for us. I like that I have an hour after school with the elementary kids that I can kind of get them settled and hear about their days before Gwen walks in and then when she comes home I can give her my full attention for a while to hear what she is willing to share about her days. The last few years when I would pick up all three of them from school and they were already fighting and all talking over eachother until I just wanted to lock myself in my room...was not my favorite. I feel like this is more manageable. Bentley and Ivy and I are working on our system so they don't have to all clobber over each other for my attention ( The person who sits in the front seat on the way home gets to talk first but the person in the back seat gets to get the mail from the mailbox, and then once we are home and unpacked the person who had been sitting in the back gets to talk about their day. There is still a fair amount of chaos, but we are working on it!). 

Tess doesn't sleep in her bed anymore. That was the major sacrifice of our Utah trip I guess. When we left for Utah she was happily sleeping in her own bed, going down for nighttime and naps with minimal effort from me. Somehow in the course of our trip we created a monster though. Now getting her to sleep is quite the process. And she WILL NOT sleep except for in our bed. Right between Blaine and I. I love that girl but man, sure wish she would sleep in her bed. She can be dead asleep in our bed but if we pick her up to move her to her bed her eyes shoot open and she screams, without hesitation "SNUGGLE MOM!" and will cry the loudest, ear piercing, heart wrenching cry until I snuggle her back to sleep. You may just think I am a pushover, but I assure you, left to her own devices she would scream ceaselessly through the night. Since we have three school aged kids who need their sleep, I usually have to just cave and sleep with her. It's the worst. I hate it, but I am somewhat at a loss of what to do. 

Well, that's about it from Texas. Still hot as blazes.  Miss you guys!

Love,

BKGBIT  

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Re: Steppin' Up

Loved this update! You guys are the greatest. Glad the school kids are getting settles into their routine and liking it. Glad you are liking your routine. I'm embarrassed to say I've heard of YMCA's but I don't know what they are??!!! 

 What if you took down the crib and got a big kid bed for Tess (with something on the side). Maybe the change would help her forget about your bed. Or if nothing else you could snuggle on her bed and leave her when she's asleep. 

Thanks for writing!

On Sunday, September 4, 2016, Kristi Bassett <kristi.bassett@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Family!

Another Sunday night! The weeks are flying by. I am thinking about marching in place while I write this letter because Blaine and I are having a fitbit competition today --- Sunday is the only day of the week that I have any sort of realistic chance of even coming close to his steps per day, ha ha :) We ordered Bentley a fitbit for his birthday (from good ol' Ryan Archibald who gets a verizon discount), and I decided to snag one too. It's been fun. I think the most fascinating thing is seeing how I sleep each night (hint: not very well!). 

The kids made it through another week of school. I enjoyed being able to go to the elementary  kids' Back to School night and to meet their teachers. Ivy seems more excited about school this year than ever, and Bentley seems kind of "meh" about the whole thing. Oh mom, you will be excited one of our kids FINALLY won the boxtop drawing! I wish it could have been Bentley ( he has cared so much about it for so long), but it was our sweet little Ivy Jane. She was also very excited, and I'm excited for her, but it was a little like salt in the wound for Bentley to have her win ;)

Gwen is doing well in middle school. She rides the bus each morning, and then her friend's mom brings her home each day (woot, I win!). Her bus leaves at 7:48 and she gets home at about 4 (it would be closer to 4:30 if she took the bus!). She seems happy with all of her teachers and she gets to sit with her group of friends from Clayton each day at lunch. She was being awfully critical of the lunches I was packing for her, so she is now on her own in that department. Overall she is seeming more mature and more grateful for the things we do for her. I think she is enjoying the "bump" up in status and being a middle schooler. She has even had a few opportunities to babysit for a friend of mine and earn some money. Crazy that she is getting to be that age. For as hard of a time as she has with her siblings, she is an excellent babysitter and my friend raves about how fun she is to play with her kids and keep them engaged the whole time. 

Blaine has been really busy with work. Seems like ALG is kind of a feast or famine work environment, and this month is feast, which is really nice financially though a little rough emotionally. Blaine has been working Baker Bott type hours and is constantly reminded how grateful he is that he does not work at Baker Botts any more :) The good thing with ALG though is that he is appreciated by his employers and we know to just endure the long hard hours because not every month is like that and we are grateful for the work. 

We were able to get away this weekend and use our last free night at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop (about half an hour away). Such a fun place for a family get away. We left right after school on Friday, and arrived just after 5PM. It looked a little stormy so we didn't go to the waterpark, but enjoyed the many other activities around instead. They had an indoor table shuffleboard thing, an inflatable gaga ball pit (has gaga ball made it to Utah? I think it is just a Texas thing maybe, but all of the elementary schools have gaga ball pits, and on this trip I finally learned how to play - I think- it's a little like dodgeball but you can only hit the ball with your hands and...yeah, we will have to teach it to you). It was fun because I don't think most people knew what it was so when our family started playing lots of people stopped by to watch and ask questions. We then enjoyed Smores by the firepit and the outdoor movie (which was relocated to indoors), Zootopia, classic. 

Then we enjoyed a very peaceful and comfortable night sleep sleeping three to a queen bed. Oh man. We definitely do not fit in one normal size hotel room anymore, ha ha. Even though it was one of the nicer hotel rooms we have ever been in, there's just no good way to fit six people on two beds, especially when five of those people are quite large, and one is tiny but a sleep ninja who likes to kick and push and pull and tumble around in her sleep. Oh well, it was just for one night ;) 

We had to check out at 9 the next morning but spent the entire day at the resort enjoying the facilities. It really is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. I was telling Blaine we should just go stay there for a week instead of Mexico, it's a lot closer! Ha ha. We had a great time at the waterpark, participating in the family olympics (where I was the weakest link because apparently I can't shoot a water gun to save my life!), playing on a giant inflatable basketball court, and so on. We were all exhausted by the end of the day and stopped for pizza on our way home. 

I am really enjoying my days with Tess. We have a nice little routine going. After we drop the kids at school we go directly to the YMCA (can anyone explain to me why Utah doesn't have YMCAs? They are fantastic and amazing and they would thrive in Utah, it's weird to me, does the church not support them or something? It's such a wholesome community building place, I love it there!). Tess goes and plays while I get to work out for an hour and a half. Then we usually stop and do some errands, come home for naps, then she wakes up just in time to go pick up the kids. Then homework, snacks, dinner and bed. It's simple, but I love it. I really love just having so much one on one time with Tess. 

I think have the kids at two different schools and on two different schedules has actually been really good for us. I like that I have an hour after school with the elementary kids that I can kind of get them settled and hear about their days before Gwen walks in and then when she comes home I can give her my full attention for a while to hear what she is willing to share about her days. The last few years when I would pick up all three of them from school and they were already fighting and all talking over eachother until I just wanted to lock myself in my room...was not my favorite. I feel like this is more manageable. Bentley and Ivy and I are working on our system so they don't have to all clobber over each other for my attention ( The person who sits in the front seat on the way home gets to talk first but the person in the back seat gets to get the mail from the mailbox, and then once we are home and unpacked the person who had been sitting in the back gets to talk about their day. There is still a fair amount of chaos, but we are working on it!). 

Tess doesn't sleep in her bed anymore. That was the major sacrifice of our Utah trip I guess. When we left for Utah she was happily sleeping in her own bed, going down for nighttime and naps with minimal effort from me. Somehow in the course of our trip we created a monster though. Now getting her to sleep is quite the process. And she WILL NOT sleep except for in our bed. Right between Blaine and I. I love that girl but man, sure wish she would sleep in her bed. She can be dead asleep in our bed but if we pick her up to move her to her bed her eyes shoot open and she screams, without hesitation "SNUGGLE MOM!" and will cry the loudest, ear piercing, heart wrenching cry until I snuggle her back to sleep. You may just think I am a pushover, but I assure you, left to her own devices she would scream ceaselessly through the night. Since we have three school aged kids who need their sleep, I usually have to just cave and sleep with her. It's the worst. I hate it, but I am somewhat at a loss of what to do. 

Well, that's about it from Texas. Still hot as blazes.  Miss you guys!

Love,

BKGBIT  

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Steppin' Up

Hello Family!

Another Sunday night! The weeks are flying by. I am thinking about marching in place while I write this letter because Blaine and I are having a fitbit competition today --- Sunday is the only day of the week that I have any sort of realistic chance of even coming close to his steps per day, ha ha :) We ordered Bentley a fitbit for his birthday (from good ol' Ryan Archibald who gets a verizon discount), and I decided to snag one too. It's been fun. I think the most fascinating thing is seeing how I sleep each night (hint: not very well!). 

The kids made it through another week of school. I enjoyed being able to go to the elementary  kids' Back to School night and to meet their teachers. Ivy seems more excited about school this year than ever, and Bentley seems kind of "meh" about the whole thing. Oh mom, you will be excited one of our kids FINALLY won the boxtop drawing! I wish it could have been Bentley ( he has cared so much about it for so long), but it was our sweet little Ivy Jane. She was also very excited, and I'm excited for her, but it was a little like salt in the wound for Bentley to have her win ;)

Gwen is doing well in middle school. She rides the bus each morning, and then her friend's mom brings her home each day (woot, I win!). Her bus leaves at 7:48 and she gets home at about 4 (it would be closer to 4:30 if she took the bus!). She seems happy with all of her teachers and she gets to sit with her group of friends from Clayton each day at lunch. She was being awfully critical of the lunches I was packing for her, so she is now on her own in that department. Overall she is seeming more mature and more grateful for the things we do for her. I think she is enjoying the "bump" up in status and being a middle schooler. She has even had a few opportunities to babysit for a friend of mine and earn some money. Crazy that she is getting to be that age. For as hard of a time as she has with her siblings, she is an excellent babysitter and my friend raves about how fun she is to play with her kids and keep them engaged the whole time. 

Blaine has been really busy with work. Seems like ALG is kind of a feast or famine work environment, and this month is feast, which is really nice financially though a little rough emotionally. Blaine has been working Baker Bott type hours and is constantly reminded how grateful he is that he does not work at Baker Botts any more :) The good thing with ALG though is that he is appreciated by his employers and we know to just endure the long hard hours because not every month is like that and we are grateful for the work. 

We were able to get away this weekend and use our last free night at the Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop (about half an hour away). Such a fun place for a family get away. We left right after school on Friday, and arrived just after 5PM. It looked a little stormy so we didn't go to the waterpark, but enjoyed the many other activities around instead. They had an indoor table shuffleboard thing, an inflatable gaga ball pit (has gaga ball made it to Utah? I think it is just a Texas thing maybe, but all of the elementary schools have gaga ball pits, and on this trip I finally learned how to play - I think- it's a little like dodgeball but you can only hit the ball with your hands and...yeah, we will have to teach it to you). It was fun because I don't think most people knew what it was so when our family started playing lots of people stopped by to watch and ask questions. We then enjoyed Smores by the firepit and the outdoor movie (which was relocated to indoors), Zootopia, classic. 

Then we enjoyed a very peaceful and comfortable night sleep sleeping three to a queen bed. Oh man. We definitely do not fit in one normal size hotel room anymore, ha ha. Even though it was one of the nicer hotel rooms we have ever been in, there's just no good way to fit six people on two beds, especially when five of those people are quite large, and one is tiny but a sleep ninja who likes to kick and push and pull and tumble around in her sleep. Oh well, it was just for one night ;) 

We had to check out at 9 the next morning but spent the entire day at the resort enjoying the facilities. It really is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. I was telling Blaine we should just go stay there for a week instead of Mexico, it's a lot closer! Ha ha. We had a great time at the waterpark, participating in the family olympics (where I was the weakest link because apparently I can't shoot a water gun to save my life!), playing on a giant inflatable basketball court, and so on. We were all exhausted by the end of the day and stopped for pizza on our way home. 

I am really enjoying my days with Tess. We have a nice little routine going. After we drop the kids at school we go directly to the YMCA (can anyone explain to me why Utah doesn't have YMCAs? They are fantastic and amazing and they would thrive in Utah, it's weird to me, does the church not support them or something? It's such a wholesome community building place, I love it there!). Tess goes and plays while I get to work out for an hour and a half. Then we usually stop and do some errands, come home for naps, then she wakes up just in time to go pick up the kids. Then homework, snacks, dinner and bed. It's simple, but I love it. I really love just having so much one on one time with Tess. 

I think have the kids at two different schools and on two different schedules has actually been really good for us. I like that I have an hour after school with the elementary kids that I can kind of get them settled and hear about their days before Gwen walks in and then when she comes home I can give her my full attention for a while to hear what she is willing to share about her days. The last few years when I would pick up all three of them from school and they were already fighting and all talking over eachother until I just wanted to lock myself in my room...was not my favorite. I feel like this is more manageable. Bentley and Ivy and I are working on our system so they don't have to all clobber over each other for my attention ( The person who sits in the front seat on the way home gets to talk first but the person in the back seat gets to get the mail from the mailbox, and then once we are home and unpacked the person who had been sitting in the back gets to talk about their day. There is still a fair amount of chaos, but we are working on it!). 

Tess doesn't sleep in her bed anymore. That was the major sacrifice of our Utah trip I guess. When we left for Utah she was happily sleeping in her own bed, going down for nighttime and naps with minimal effort from me. Somehow in the course of our trip we created a monster though. Now getting her to sleep is quite the process. And she WILL NOT sleep except for in our bed. Right between Blaine and I. I love that girl but man, sure wish she would sleep in her bed. She can be dead asleep in our bed but if we pick her up to move her to her bed her eyes shoot open and she screams, without hesitation "SNUGGLE MOM!" and will cry the loudest, ear piercing, heart wrenching cry until I snuggle her back to sleep. You may just think I am a pushover, but I assure you, left to her own devices she would scream ceaselessly through the night. Since we have three school aged kids who need their sleep, I usually have to just cave and sleep with her. It's the worst. I hate it, but I am somewhat at a loss of what to do. 

Well, that's about it from Texas. Still hot as blazes.  Miss you guys!

Love,

BKGBIT