Growing Up

On Thursday of the first week of school I picked Kate up early and took her to get her wisdom teeth out.  She was a trooper.  They didn't put her all the way out and let her watch Tangled while they too out her teeth.  When she got home she devoured the container of refried beans I had picked up for her from the former Farm Boy's.  Then she went to sleep on the couch for several hours.  When she woke up she could remember fasting, Tangled, things from her teeth being pulled, but nothing about the beans.  She was so disappointed when she asked if she could eat them now, to learn that she had already gobbled them up.  Amazingly she worked at Kraves the next night!

Emily's baby hairs from her fever induced hair loss three year previous had finally grown to her chin so she was ready to chop all the hair to the same length.  All the ladies at the saloon where oohing and awwing or her amazing color.  She cut off a ton of hair and is now learning how to make her curls work with this cute short cut.

The kids met up with Grandma, Grandpa and the Wilfords to celebrate and send Abby off to BYUI.  They are all getting so big!

The crazy kitties are getting older too and we have to send daily photos to Mack so he doesn't miss them too much.

Mid September I got a call from the Middle School nurse that Lily had been hit in the head with a volleyball during PE.  A kid had been goofing around and kicked the ball, Lily had no warning and took a hard hit to the side of her face.  She was showing signs of concussion so I picked her up.  We iced and chilled that day.  She was lucky because Emily was home sick with a cold so they were happy to play games together.  

I had planned to be at the temple that day at the time the nurse called, but I had canceled in order to be home with Emmy - a tender mercy.

I sent Lily to school the next day because she seemed to be fine, but after 20 mins she went to the nurse again.  The screens had sent her headache and dizziness swirling again.  I picked her up and took her to the doctor to verify that, yes, she has a mild concussion.  At that point we were hungry and had to stop to get lunch - poor poor kid.  She accompanied me on errands for the afternoon and felt more like a spoiled kid, albeit on with a headache.

She spent the rest of the week home, avoiding screens, reading, and loud noises.  We sent her back to school Monday with some accommodations suggested by the doctor.  Hopefully she is on the mend. 

First Day of School 2024

Lily and Emily both had a half day of orientation on Monday since they are both going to new schools - so we took pics before they left.

Then Tuesday was the real first day! 

Emily as a Freshman.

Kate a Senior!

Lily in 6th Grade - No more Elementary School for the Eastons.

Love Love Love my three silly girls - so glad they have each other.

Sick in McCall is better than sick at home/ Last Days of Summer

Well our week in McCall arrived and I was sick with a cold, but I decided being sick in McCall was better than being sick at home so Emily, Lily and I headed up to McCall Monday morning.

We lazed around, doing puzzles, reading, watching Olympics, movies and enjoying the view.

Tuesday I was feeling a bit better so we went for a morning walk picking huckleberries and an evening exploration to North Beach to look for moose.  No luck but it was good to get outside.

Lily enjoyed the spray can of whipped cream the previous visitor had left behind.

Emily picked out the hardest puzzle of all time.  We spent hours on it and finally gave up and called it good the night before we left - it wasn't worth spending any more time on it.

Grandpa came up Wednesday and took us on a drive out to Cesash Meadows and Warren.  It was a long beautiful drive - we missed dinner in Ceshash by 7 minutes and arrived in Warren 7 minutes after their dinner closed but luckily they were very kind and still let us eat.  We were so hungry - all of us devoured our dinner.

We drove home the next afternoon so Lily could go to the open house at the Middle School and everyone could feel ready for school the next week.

While we were gone Mack sent us these fabulous kitty pictures.  He's gonna miss those little purr purr babies.

On Sunday the Myers Brough by Lily's prize for completing her reading challenge in 5th grade - a nice hard copy book of her choice and her own pan of goodies of her choice.  The mint brownies were so delicious - luckily she is good at sharing.

They also revealed the new sign in Mr. Myers room - The Easton' are dominating.

And then summer was over- off to bed!

Nemmers in Alaska

In mid August we sent Emmy off on her own to meet Beth's family in Anchorage for an Alaskan adventure.  And an adventure it was!  About an hour after Emmy's fight took off Beth called us to say her flight had been delayed...then a few hours later canceled completely...she wouldn't get there till Tuesday night and it was Sunday night.  (This was all due to the global IT outage caused by CrowdStrike earlier in the week.). Well Greg and his sisters all started calling and texting old friends to find someone to meet Emily at the airport at 1:30am in Anchorage.  We called Emily before she boarded the plane in Seattle.  She was super calm and seemed unfazed in spite of having no clue who would meet her in Alaska.  We told her we would text her once we figured it out.  

Miraculously, Greg's elementary school friend, Bill, was on a plane from Utah and landed two hours after Emmy.  So she waited for him then went back to his house and stayed the night.  The next morning Laurie's good friend, Shannon, picked her up and Emily played with Shannon for two days.

They went shopping, saw a huge chocolate fountain, went to the zoo, ice cream, and spent lots of time talking with Shannon and petting their dog.

Oh yeah, and she did some online homework- I think...Hope.

Then Beth and her family arrived and took her away to Denali where they went on a guided ranger walk, looked for animals but didn't see much, washed their hair in a freezing cold river, and enjoyed time together.

Then back to Anchorage where they met up with Shannon again as well as Brett, Laurie, Greg and Nani.

The next morning Nani, Greg, and Emily flew off to Nome in search of musk ox and adventure.

The helicopter ride exceeded expectations.  

It was especially cool to spot a moose from the air.

Back on land they spent a few days driving the three roads out of Nome to see all they could see.

Lots of old abandoned dredges.

The rental car got pretty dirty.

They found a baby spotted seal just posing for pictures.

And lots of musk ox, even babies.

And a caribou.

Abandoned vehicles in the middle of nowhere.

Emily also managed to roll her hair into the window.

Can't get enough fireweed and snowshoe hares.

This is the final check point of the Iditarod.

Old train to nowhere anyone?

Lots of moosies to make Emily happy.

Then they flew back to Anchorage for Beth and Ric's sealing.

The kids did baptisms in spite of Emily not having church clothes.  Emily loved her trip, time with Shannon, Piper, and all the animals.