Shulamith, Mathew, Swen, and Kennedy: August 2013

Once again I'm way behind on updating things about life, so I will just try to sum up summer so far the best I can!

Matt got the chance to go to Havasupi, near the Grand Canyon. He had an amazing time hiking and cliff jumping into bright blue waters.
My mom, Seth, Swen, and I all made a long trip up to Portland to visit my grandma. The car ride went surprisingly well. Seth took care of little Swen 80% of the time. The best day was going to the ocean and running in the waves. Swen loved the sand!
My grandma has the cleanest house in the entire world. It looks like nobody has ever lived there. While I was there, she told me every product she uses, how she cleans, and how often. I wrote it all down and am determined to make my house look like hers one day.
Swen is talking gibberish ALL the time. He gets books out and pretends to read them. It's just adorable.
Swen has a few real words: "uh-oh" "up" and his newest is "this" which he says while he points to everything he wants.
Swen can climb up onto everything. His newest trick is getting up onto the shelf behind our couch.
Matt just finished his summer semester of school. He only has one semester until graduation! YAY!!! I am exceptionally happy about this for a few reasons. First, he will be done with school and able to get a good-paying job. Second, we are really tired of paying money to that stupid school. My entire teaching bonus and all of our tax refund is completely gone to the University of Utah. We never liked having a savings account anyway. Third, and the most exciting, is that he will be home more!
We have sacrificed a lot so I can stay home with Swen, and after a year of not working, I am now working very part time (around 7-9 hours a week) at Macaroni Grill to help with finances and tuition. I guess this is a third reason I'm glad Matt's almost done. I am a wimp and don't like working at all. Even though it is just 2-3 days a week for just a few hours at the most, I feel like I'm missing out with Swen. He learns new things every day. He won't stay little for long, and I will be putting in two weeks' notice two weeks before Matt's graduation. :) The one good thing about working at Mac.Grill is sometimes I get to work with my little brother Isaiah, and I love that because he's busy and I don't see him too much.
I am so proud and excited for Matt to be finishing school! I think it is something he never thought would really happen. I always knew he would get it done, and I know that although it has been hard, it is totally worth it for him to get a degree! Education is so important.
With school and work, Matt is very busy, but he always makes time to play with Swen. He takes a bath with him every night he's not at work. Swen much prefers taking baths with Daddy over me just sitting outside the bath and cleaning him as fast as possible.
Swen loves playing with Kitty ALL the time. He laughs and laughs while chasing her around.
My mom and I were supposed to start training for a 5K. Which hasn't happened.... Maybe next week?
I've tried several new recipes. They all sucked. Matt's exact words were, "You should just stick with making what you know. Those always taste OK." Haha! Just OK is a great way to describe my food.
We left Swen for an entire night for the first time! He stayed with my parents and didn't miss me at all. My mom was so nice to get up with him over and over all night long. I was her worst sleeper as a baby, and now she is up with my horrible sleeping baby.
Swen still is a horrible sleeper. Matt has three weeks off before fall semester begins, and he has been taking over trying to get him to sleep, and I think it is working because if I'm not around, he doesn't think about nursing.
Swen has recently decided to be a vegetarian. I hope this phase ends soon.
Matt's mom has summer vacation, so Swen has been able to spend some more time over there! Here's what happened on one of his visits.