Ouren Updates Fall 2014

It's been a while since I've done an update, so I thought it was about time. Here's the latest on the Utah Ouren Clan.

Caleb: Caleb is enjoying the 5th grade. He's growing like a weed and his head already hits the top of his Mom's shoulders. It won't be long before he passes me completely in the height area, I'm afraid. He is loving playing football again and his team is currently looking to make the playoffs this year (only one win away!). He's enjoying being the big brother and has started asking for more chores at home and becoming a great helper around the house and occasionally with watching his siblings for very short periods of time. His biggest loves are still the NY Giants, doing math,  playing Xbox and Legos.  He's looking forward to his 11th birthday coming up next month.

Zaden: Zaden is doing great in the first grade. This year has been off to a much more positive start than last year. His behavior at school has improved a ton and he's a lot happier to be there. His reading is really starting to take off and he's enjoying learning about science. Mainly animal science seems to have hit a sweet-spot for him. He's a big tease in the house and is always the first one to agree to play girly things with his sister when she's lonely. He's got a very sweet heart when it comes to her, even if he doesn't always show it. His favorite things are Batman, playing superhero dress up and he's starting to take on a liking to the Dallas Cowboys like his mom (Hooray!).  He's looking most forward to starting swimming lessons back up in the next few weeks.

Zaric: First grade for Zaric is also off to a more positive start. We've got more things in place to help him and his teachers are saying he's moving along and improving his pace. His speech teacher is especially fond of his recent progress with her. His reading skills are finally starting to develop and like his big brother, he seems to have a liking toward math. He's very social and will talk to pretty much anyone these days. He's my little daredevil and likes to try new things. Lately he's even been trying new foods and liking them, which has been hard for him in the past. He's still my early riser and my morning cuddler, which as a Mom I secretly love. His favorite things are Spiderman, playing with his brothers and he's starting to take a liking to playing football with the kids at the park during Caleb's games and practices. He's also very excited to be starting swimming lessons back up.

Faith- Faith is 3 and every bit the little diva I always thought she would be. She enjoys shopping and everything girly. Babies, princesses and all things pink and purple are her go- to's. She's started to demand that she dresses herself and does most everything herself most of the time. She's even started offering opinions on her mom's clothes. She loves having little friends that she plays with during football practices and games, I'm unsure what we'll do when they are over. She also loves animals and visiting the real babies in our extended family. She's still jealous that the boys get to go to school and she doesn't yet, so we've had to recently purchase her a backpack to take to the babysitter's house  along with her lunchbox she got for her birthday.  She talks like a pro and is starting to have real conversations with us. She's recently asked us if she can start taking dancing lessons, so we'll be looking into those after the holiday craziness is over.  It's so fun to watch her grow and see the differences in raising boys and girls.

Mike: Mike is still working hard in his company and helping them to expand and grow. They've recently partnered with a 4th state and will completely acquire it in the long run which will most likely mean more travel and more personnel for him over the next few years. He finally got the time to get one game of golf in this year which he enjoyed and, as always, is extremely helpful with the kids and managing our busy lives. I'm very proud of the husband, father and man that he is and I love growing and changing with him as life continually changes for us.

Me: I'm still working part-time for SLCC. I'm currently dividing my time between the Taylorsville and the Jordan campuses and am loving the dichotomy between the two offices.  One is mellow and one is busy. It's a perfect balance within any given week. I still have Fridays off which provide for some time to run errands or do housework or just hang out with Faith while we wait for the boys to get out of school and we love it. Otherwise I'm mostly busy playing taxi and running kids around town to various sports and activities. I've  been trying to find more time to read and relax a bit which isn't always an easy thing for me since I like to keep moving, but it's also been nice at the same time. The thing I'm most looking forward to is the Dallas Cowboys game in December that Mike agreed to take me to as a quick little couple get-away. I'm seriously so excited!    

That's it in a nutshell. More fun coming up in the next few weeks.