First Day of School 2016

The 2016-2017 school year kicked off for us on September 6, 2016. Can I just say how much I love school starting after Labor Day?! It rocks!

Tucker is a second grader this year. He is in Mrs. Hamilton's class at Oakbrook Elementary. He is thrilled because his friends Nicholas and Ric are in his class. He has his first crush on a girl named Lexi. He's a super reader, speller, and a crack shot at math. He can hardly wait to get his "license" to learn cursive.

Kyan is a fourth grader this year. He is in Mr. Gorski's class at Oakbrook Elementary. He is stoked to be learning from his first male teacher. He loves that his friend Ava is in his class. He's also a super reader, a great speller (they are both going to put us in hock due to our $.25 per correctly spelled word deal), and loves science. He's also looking forward to expanding his education in Mandarin Chinese.

The bus stops right around the corner at the side entrance of the sub so it's a very short walk.

The school lets the parents come on the first day for the first twenty minutes or so and I was able to meet their teachers and snap a pic.

Tucker's friend Logan. They didn't end up in the same class this year (sad face) but his mom snapped this and sent it to me.

They usually get off the bus in the afternoon by themselves and told me I could only come on the first day.

Jaxon started his second year of preschool on September 12, 2016. His teachers are Mrs. Pennazoli and Mrs. Huey at Collins Elementary. He's excited to make new friends, learn more letters and numbers, and get ready for kindergarten. He looks forward to gym day and library day every week.

This is the face of a kid who cannot wait to hop on the bus with his brothers and spend all day at school next year. When I ask him sadly, "What am I going to do without you next year?" He calmly answers: "Watch Grey's Anatomy!"

I think he has me pegged.

Kyan's Baptism

Kyan Meril Hiatt chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 24, 2014. He was baptized and confirmed by his father, Kevin, in Williston, North Dakota. We are so very proud of his good decision and his great example to our family, especially his younger brothers!

Kevin and Kyan

Found an easy-peasy baptism program template on...where else?? Pinterest! It even had the lyrics to the two songs we would be singing. Score! I just changed the names and dates and boom: done.

We snapped a few family photos while we waited for our friends to show up. It took a few tries to get a perfect one, and even then I'm not sure we did, but I love them anyway!

See, I have a family of cheesers! At least we all look happy, right?

My fav photo of the night with my amazing mother!

Kyan was excited and nervous for the baptism.

After Kyan was baptized and confirmed, we had refreshments (of course!) By Kyan's request we had pumpkin bars, brownies that my good friend Emily Merkley made (she also brought cupcakes!), and milk or chocolate milk. He loved it and we didn't have many leftovers, so I guess they were good!

Kyan became very good friends with two brothers who live in our neighborhood. They are not members but happily accepted our invitation to the baptism. Kyan was absolutely thrilled to have them there! They moved back to Idaho a week and a half later, and we miss them a lot!

Austin, Kyan, and Cash

While we waited for Kyan and Kevin to dry off and change, I had our guests write some thoughts and feelings about baptism on cute cards for Kyan to always have and remember. I'm going to put them in a little book for him. Here are a few of my favorites:

From Wyatt LaPierre

From Tucker (Kyan's brother)

From Mercedes Nazer

From Haven Kohn

From Tess McBride

We took Grandma out for dinner at Hardee's after the baptism. I'm sure we were very over-dressed for dinner, but it sure was fun! 

Kyan has a very special relationship with my mom. I went back to school to be a certified nursing assistant three months after he was born, and then continued to nursing school while working as a CNA, and she was his primary caregiver while I was gone. He was so excited Grandma made it for the baptism. We didn't tell the boys she was coming, so when we pulled into the Minot airport to pick her up, they were very surprised, to say the least!

Kyan and my mom

We weren't able to have many family members make it to the baptism, but my mom flew into Minot a few days before and we were thrilled to have her there! We had so many wonderful dear friends come to support us and I can tell you, they are definitely our substitute family up here! Thanks to the Merkleys, the McBrides, the Nazers, the LaPierres, the Dinkelmans, the Coltons, the Kohns, the Niederhausers, the Wileys, Sis Mattson, and Bishop Packer for making this such a wonderful experience for Kyan and our family!

Soccer 2014

This was Kyan and Tucker's second year playing soccer and they just love it. They played every week for about six weeks and then had a big jamboree at the end. It was chilly more often than not but that didn't bother the boys too much. Jaxon is excited because he gets to play next fall. We are amassing quite a collection of soccer shirts, shin guards, and balls! As long as they love it, I will love being a "soccer mom."