The past few months

Here is a list of major highlights from the last few months.

April

• I finished student teaching.
• Sawyer started crawling (on my last day of student teaching which was a blessing because he is now into everything and requires vigilant supervision)
• I graduated from BYU! 
• My family came to visit (to pick Rachel up from college and to see me graduate)
• Sawyer got his first "big boy" haircut. He was so patient while he got it cut! 

Before the haircut 

May 

• I got a job. My mentor teacher decided to go back to school and get a PhD so I applied and got the position! I will be teaching 7th and 8th grade science at Mt. Nebo Junior High. I have mixed feelings. I love teaching and am looking forward to helping so many students, but I also want to be a stay at home mom for Sawyer. Through prayer and pondering, Sam and I both know that the right thing for our family right now is for me to teach. 
• Went camping with the Hotchkiss side of the family over Memorial day weekend. We had a great time. Sawyer loved it! He loves being outside and he also loved the tent. When ever we walked towards it he would start giggling in delight. 
• School finished for the summer, which means Sam gets off work at 4 in the afternoon instead of late at night. (One of the many reasons I love summer) 
• Reed got home from is mission in Washington DC on May 31st! We were able to be in Klamath Falls when he flew in! It was so great to see him! Reed got to meet Sawyer for the first time! 

June (so far) 

• We spend the first week in Oregon. It was great having all my siblings back together and spending time with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. 
• Sawyer turned ONE! I cannot believe how fast time has gone. More about is birthday in a separate post. 

Boat ride with the fam

Sawyer opening presents 

Spending some quality time with uncle Reed 

In Oregon, we discovered that Sawyer loves steering wheels 

Motorcycles are fun too

The last few months

Sierra 

The past few months have been crazy busy.  Student teaching is hard, but rewarding work. I am enjoying teaching more then I ever thought I would. It has been a challenge getting everything done for school, planning lessons, grading papers, completing my teacher work sample, and at the same time being a wife and mother.  Sam has been wonderful through the whole thing and has jumped right in doing things around the house that I just did not have time to do.  But I am on the downward slope. I finished my teacher work sample about a week ago and then it was spring break. I haven't had spring break in four years. It has been so nice to get caught up on things around the house and spending more time with Sawyer. We also got to go on a quick trip to Goblin Valley with Sam's side of the family. Last time we went to goblin valley, I was eight and half months pregnant. I have two more weeks of student teaching and then graduation! Yay! My family is coming for graduation and to pick up Rachel for the summer. I am looking forward to spending some time with them. And especially for them to see Sawyer! He has changed so much since they saw him at Christmas.

Sam

It has been competition season for Sam at the gym. So Sawyer and I had some weekends alone as he traveled out a town for a few meets. Luckily, Rachel was able to come stay with me for some of them. It was been so fun having her in Utah. The boys team have had a successful season, especially the level 5 boys.  They easily took first place at state. The second place team was fifteen points behind them! As always Sam is working long hours at the gym to support our family. He does the bus classes in the morning and does his manager duties and coaches the boys team in the afternoons and evenings. With his busy schedule he still makes time to help around the house and be a wonderful father for our sweet boy. Sawyer is one lucky kid to have Sam as his dad! And I am lucky to have him as my husband! I couldn't not have gotten through these last few months without him.

Sawyer 

I do not know how Sawyer does it, but he gets cuter and cuter all the time. He is 10 months old as of four days ago! I can't believe he will be a year old in two months!  He does not crawl, but he he gets around in his own unique way with a combination of rolling and scooting on his belly. It is really hard to explain... But his method of transportation allows him to get into plenty of mischief . He pulls himself to standing and can move along the couch. He has the cutest laugh and babbles all the time. We spend the majority of church in the foyer because he is just so loud and talkative. He loves to clap and click his tongue  He constantly brings us so much joy and happiness. I love coming home to him after school. He always gets a huge grin on his face and kicks is legs with excitement  When I have a hard day at school, he can instantly make a bad day become so much better. He is such a blessing in our lives.

 Crazy  hair!

Goblin Valley April 2013

Goblin Valley May 2012

7 months

Sawyer is seven months! He is just loving life. He is a curious little boy and wants to grab everything in sight. He has become very "talkative"  during the last few weeks. We spend a lot of time in the halls during church because he is just so loud! But it is so fun hearing all the silly noises that he makes. He absolutely loves playing peek-a -boo. He laughs and squeals with delight.  We love this little boy of ours! 

Christmas

We enjoyed the holidays spending time with family. We celebrated Christmas early with Sam's side of the family and then headed to Oregon to spend Christmas  with my side of the family. Sawyer got to experience his first plane ride. Everything went smoothly until the landing. He was busy sucking his thumb during take off and then he quickly fell asleep. Sawyer takes short naps so he didn't stay asleep for long. Then we played with toys and made silly faces to keep him entertained. He started to get bored and fussy, so daddy and Sawyer went on a trip to the bathroom for a change of scenery. Shortly after the seat belt night came back on indicating it was getting close to landing. I tried to get him to nurse to help him with his ears, but of course he refused. That boy has a mind of his own and only eats if he wants to. Then came the tears. To me is seemed like he was crying for FOREVER...but Sam says it was only five minutes. And of course there was a "helpful" lady across the aisle offering all kinds of advice...I know she meant well, but all it did was to help increase my stress level. Finally, he stopped crying and we landed shortly after.

We had a wonderful time with my side of the family. Sawyer was spoiled with attention 24/7. Between Grandparents, Great Grandparents, and his aunt and uncle he was always being entertained. Sam and I were able to just sit back and relax. 

Our week there went by way to fast even with our bonus days. We left Klamath Falls in plenty of time to make it to the airport in Medford...but unforeseen circumstances (a car accident blocking traffic) caused us to miss our flight.  Anyway, we got to stay for two extra days. The flight home went much better. Sawyer cooperated and drank some apple juice during landing, so no tears.
We had a wonderful holiday season and sad to see them come to an end.

Sawyer got a snowsuit for Christmas. He seemed to enjoy being pulled in the sled.

Rach got the three of us matching shirts :)

Six Months and the End of the Semester

        Sawyer is now six months! I cannot believe he is half a year old! He is doing a pretty good job at sitting up on his own. Sawyer is getting better and better at eating solids.  His favorites are apples and carrots. Sawyer loves, laptops, cell phones, my kindle....when ever he sees any electronics he wants to get his hands on it. He  has also become very ticklish. He just laughs and laughs. It is basically the cutest thing ever! I love being his mom!  

       Some updates about what is going on in my life besides being a mom for the cutest baby boy. I am officially done with my last class at BYU! All that is between me and graduation are two finals and student teaching  next semester.  I am getting more and more nervous to student teach. It is going to be a crazy next few months...but worth it in the end.  I am so excited to graduate in April, but I think I will kind of miss school and BYU. So many wonderful things have happened in my life because I chose to go to BYU almost five years ago. Graduation also means I have to get a  grown up job! Getting a job scares me much more then having a baby ever did. 

         Anyway, I am looking forward to having almost a month off just to spend with Sam and Sawyer. We  are looking forward to Christmas and spending time with family. 

 Here a few pictures from the last month.

He was playing on this blanket and somehow found his way to the laptop

Daddy and Sawyer's favorite trick 

Bath Time 

Getting ready for Christmas