Call Home!

My family has a newsletter "Call Home!" that we put out once a month (my maiden name is Call if you don't already know that). I will be posting my section under this title every month. It will usually be pretty long as I sort of recap everything, so if you're interested, read on. . .

I (along with the help of Dave’s mom) home schooled Mark this month. It has been fun and a little bit crazy, but also productive for both Mark and me. But, now (through Phil and Becca—whose nephew attends, and my neighbor—who teaches there) we’ve found a Montessori private school that Mark is excited to go to. We don’t know yet if he’ll be able to start immediately or if we’ll be waiting until Fall. We toured the school and it seems that everything is taught in a very “right brained” way. Mark is most excited about not having to wear shoes, getting to do his work on the floor (at his own pace), having a quiet lunch room, and getting to go on a field trip EVERY Friday. Needless to say, I’ve been very busy and going a little bit crazy trying to adjust to all the changes around here. Hopefully we’ll be able to settle back into some sort of routine soon.

Well, we’ve all had dental appointments where 3 of us (Mark, Kyra, and I) had to schedule again for fillings and crowns. What is up with our teeth?!! It was fun to have mom here for a few days after Reed was born, she and I got to go to the temple together. Speaking of--Rachel, Robert, and I just took all the kids through the Draper temple. The kids LOVED it! Darci thought all the lights were pretty, Mark loved the “heaven” room and the sealing room where “he will get married,” and Kyra liked seeing where we do baptisms for the dead—in a font on top of 12 huge oxen. It was a great experience and I’m really looking forward to attending the temple dedication with Mark in a couple weeks.

We’ve been taking advantage of the awesome weather this past week. I took the kids to the park on Tuesday and finished my book while they played (yes, my kids are old enough to do that now), Wednesday Rachel, Irene, and I took all the kids to the zoo, and yesterday Becca called everyone and we all met at the park for the afternoon. We missed Irene and kids and Frosty, but the rest of us “locals” were there to have fun together for a few hours.

Kyra and Emily had a little dance recital where they both volunteered to do solo’s. I was so surprised that Kyra jumped right up to perform without any reservations—she’s usually too shy and nervous to do things like that in front of other people. When Dave asked her if she was scared she said “No, my teacher told us to just pretend we were in class and that no one was watching, so I did that and it wasn’t even scary.” They were both adorable and did a great job!

Dave just got a third job (second being a jiu-jitsu teacher at the gym) with a security solutions company that provides training for the Special Forces teams from all branches of the military. He’s the high threat environment instructor who teaches them the hand to hand combat and ground fighting. Last week they told him he’s the highest rated instructor they’ve ever had. Now he is part of the required curriculum for their program.