Crazy happy 2019 so far

A few years ago, I was pretty disappointed with myself that I only blogged 20 times in that year.  I set myself a new low record this year- only four blog posts in all of 2019 so far!

hello, kaysville

  But as many people know, the leave of absence was well justified.  

The whole journey of going back to school has been a crazy experience.  A good one, but also a very stretching one.  Sometime maybe I will write all about how that worked for our family from my perspective, but for now I want to focus on doing an update on us all- but of course you know that means mainly the kids!  

Eli:

Eli is many things, but probably the most distinct thing about him at this age is that he is a talker.  Like a full 7 to 10-word sentence kind of talker.  There is no way I could count how many words he has at this point and the real advanced thing about him is how many clear sentences he puts together.  He may even surpass our girls and their early talking history because of this.  I have been keeping a running note on my phone of things that he says, but because I have been keeping it for more than 6 months, he is well beyond some of the things I have written down.  I literally cannot keep up with him!  Along with his extensive vocabulary has come a lot sass for a two-year-old too.  He gets very attitudinal with me sometimes- it is so naughty and so cute at the same time that I have very hard time keeping a straight face when I’m trying to be serious with him and tell him it’s not okay that he talks to me like that.  He fights with his sisters every day (mostly Hannah) but then turns around and will give them a smiling hug a minute later. 

Sometimes he is a mama’s boy but quite often he is all about Daddy.  They are two buddies and I am surprised how natural it is for them, even at this young age- the way they talk to each other, the way they play, the way Andrew disciplines him- it all just works between them somehow.

Elijah loves cars, trucks, dirt, and construction, but also can appreciate a nice game of dress-up.

My favorite thing in the world is to feel his little hands on my neck pulling me towards him, cheek to cheek for a kiss.  If I ask for a hug, he gives me one and as he’s pulling away, he says, “And.  A kiss.” And plants one on me.  That is my favorite.  That and him singing, “I chid a God and sent me here.  Early hoooome.  Payents tind and deeeer.  Yead me, dide the waaay I mus dooo to live him sodaaaay.”  Sometimes he just breaks out in song with this.  And it’s the happiest spiritual reminder for me that I’m raising little sons and daughters of God. 

There are so many other things about him that I can’t express because it would take 50 blog posts. Hopefully the pictures can express a lot of it.  He just has my heart and always will.
Get ready for a crazy amount of pictures for the rest of this post.  And so many of them need captions, but it is 1:45 am right now and I just cant)

Hannah:

Hannah is still our feisty girl but she seems to be slowly making her way to mellowing out of the terrible twos and threes into the more level-headed fours.  There is no end to her personality.  With other people she is very shy and sweet.  But once she gets home, she comes alive!  Complete with booty shaking and Lego Batman voice, fighting to the death for her favorite toys and expressing every feeling in her tiny body at all times and in all ways.  

Audrey:

Audrey was our first little kindergarten graduate this year!  She looks and seems so big and mature at home but when I see her with her class of fellow five-year-old’s I remember just how tiny and cute five really is- especially when I realize that she is one of the shortest in her class.  Audrey has a best friend named Jacob.  They just adore each other and it is the cutest little thing in the whole wide world.  She talks about him often and tells everyone about him.  The best thing about it all is that Jacob does the same thing!  Whenever his mom brings up how much he has been talking about Audrey, I’m just so elated for Audrey that she has found such a friend in her first year of school.  For both Audrey and Jacobs birthdays Lucinda (Jacob’s mom) and I have had to base our planning on what days each other was available.  Because there was no having a party without the best friend, they both made clear to us.

This was one of the few reasons we were sad to move.  But don’t worry…they are only 20 minutes away from each other!  Overall, she really had a fantastic first year of school!  

This Dobbins family as a whole has had quite a year so far.  Our biggest update, besides school graduations, is that…we bought ourselves a house!  Kaysville, Utah is the place we are now calling home and is the probably the place we will be staying the longest so far in our married life.  We are calling it the land of the white butterflies because we have already seen about a thousand of them and we’ve only lived here two months!  They really are everywhere and I love it.  This house has been our little miracle- the location of it, the price, the layout, and just the fact of it- and we are so grateful for every part of our journey that has led us here for the time being.  Our time in Bountiful/North Salt Lake is now a chapter in our story that we will always remember and cherish.  We went to a ward/neighborhood get-together in that area a week or so after we had moved and we were overwhelmed at how loved we felt there by all of these people we had spent only three years with.  The event was a going away party for three couples who had been in the ward/their houses for thirty, forty, and fifty years!  Yet we felt just as a part of it all as they did.  So many grandparents loving our kids, so many friends and mentors who we had developed our own relationships with.  It made me sad to go.  But it also inspired me and made me feel ready and determined to be a part of our new community and find and invest in those new relationships waiting for us here.  

The two months we've lived here have been eventful already.  We've had road trips, visitors, did some dog sitting with our good little buddy JoJo, had some birthdays and other activities, and we've started on our journey to friendships around here.  Everything is continuing along no matter where we are.  We are so grateful for all our blessings and we love our family and friends.  And we especially love pictures!  

Life is good.