First Day of School

The first day of school went well for all the kids. It was a little hectic, but what would the first morning be without chaos? This year, all three kids are in different schools and catch different buses at different times.

My 8th grader. He looks so much like his Dad, and recently got braces.

My 6th grader. She is growing up.

My 1st grader. She loves having lunch at school and having two recesses.

So now, it is just me and -K- at home. She seemed to miss her siblings the first day, but has since enjoyed the time alone with me. We're hoping for a great year!

Summer's last week

This past week was the last full week of summer vacation. I am sad to see it go. It has been a busy and fun summer. This week's happenings: Happy Birthday to my awesome hubby.  I won't tell you how old he is. :)  Anyway, I always try to fix what the birthday boy wants for dinner. Usually it is something with fish. Since I am allergic to fish, I don't cook it. Why cook something you can't eat, right? His request was fish vindaille. It is a mauritian dish. He said it turned out really good, and he and -N- (our other fish lover) ate it up. For his birthday cake, I thought I would try to make Trifle. Spalding served his mission in England and that was his favorite thing to eat there. It was yummy!

We canned more green beans and more pickled beets. We pulled the peas out of the garden, and are giving away a lot of zucchini!

We spent an afternoon swimming at the lake. I could have used a few more of those days this summer-soaking up the sun, playing in the water with the kids. It was great.

School registration was this week.  This year, we have 3 kids in 3 schools. We paid fees and bought school supplies. I think the kids are finally getting excited about going back to school.

 We also went to the Playmill theater and saw Footloose. I loved it! It was really fun. They did a great job of transitioning between scenes on their small stage.

Oh, one more thing. I got a new calling at church. I am now a Personal, Home, and Family Enrichment Leader. I guess I didn't go to Enrichment meetings often enough so now I get to help plan them. Any good ideas out there?

Visitors from Outer Space-oops-Out of State

-K- thought I said "outer space", when I said "out of state".

Over the last month we have had lots of friends and family visit. We love having everyone come visit us. Our first visitors were our friends, The Spotts, come from Colorado. The kids got along great, and it was like we had never moved away. We went swimming at the lake, and we went to the Drive In Theatre. I haven't stayed out that late for a long time. Only -K- fell asleep. We had a great time with them.

Our next visitors were the Schafers, from Canada. We haven't seen them for about 10 years. Spalding and Norm were good friends at BYUH. Again, a great visit. Their family has been travelling across Canada and the US for the past two months in their RV. Norm is in the travel business and was doing this trip to promote travel on a budget in Canada. They stopped for an evening, and talked us into camping a night with them. So we loaded up our tent trailer, and headed to Island Park the next day. We floated the North Fork together. It was a blast. All our kids got along really well. They swam together, and played lots of games around the campfire while we parents got to catch up.

Our last set of visitors was for a family reunion. My Mom's siblings all came. Aunts and Uncles, stayed in hotels, while my parents and sisters all stayed at our house. We had lots of fun visiting. Everyone came on Friday for BBQ dinner and Root Beer Floats. Saturday was a busy day filled with a climbing wall and a birthday party for my cousin, John. That night a few of us went to the Dance Festival. Sunday was breakfast and time to go home. My aunt Fay, and cousin Jolene stayed one more night. We cooked some Indian food for them, which they really liked. -L- was excited because her cousin got to stay the night at our house and sleep in the tent trailer with her in the yard.

Here are a few picts from the family reunion. We had a blast on the climbing wall.

Here I am on my way to the top. Yep, I made it and rang the buzzer! My younger sisters wouldn't let me show them up, so up they all climbed, too. Even my Mom, Aunts and Uncles took a try! -K- enjoyed playing at the playground with her cousins. These cousins are all within 4months of age. -E- smiles on her way up. My nieces show how strong they are! -N- climbed all four areas of the wall. -L- climbed up the wall at least 12 times. She was like a monkey! She also climbed up all the areas. High Fives all around for making it to the top! All the family who came to the reunion.