School Days

Our transition to kindergarten went much smoother than I had anticipated. The kids are excited to go and come home happy - I find that as success!

I am volunteering once a week in their classroom (and am also a room mom - I help plan parties). I didn't realize how much I would love seeing them with their new found friends. I am learning more about their friends and actually seeing what they are doing in class. Already, I can tell this will be VERY important in years to come (to be pals with their friends).

I am developing a relationship with their teacher and even found out that one of my children had to be moved to a different table because of being "alittle too friendly". I would have never known that if I wasn't in the classroom.

I have our first parent/teacher conference tonight. I love seeing my kids excel and be excited about life!

Fall Feast

I haven't posted much about our garden this summer...well probably because I have spent a lot of time there (and not on the computer). We tried new fruits and vegetables this year and have been reaping a great harvest. We have had a cooler summer, but I am still trying to decide if it effected our crops.

Our freezer and shelves are full of strawberry jam (compliment of berries grown in our own yard), green beans, peas, broccoli (a new one for us!), green peppers, salsa, spaghetti sauce, carrots, pears (I bought these), raspberries (the kids seemed to polish those off before I could bring them in the house), and onions. We also had pumpkins (which we will harvest tomorrow) and lots of yellow squash and zucchini.

I am canning our last batch of spaghetti sauce tomorrow. I've been feeling like the little ant in the Ant and Grasshopper parable. Hopefully, we have enough stored in our basement to last a winter!

We had many nights of corn on the cob, green beans and watermelon - a family favorite!

Peachy swiping the raspberries - she is a sneaky one!
We also decided to grow a sunflower. The kids love to go stand by it to see how tall it had grown. Sure enough, it did produce sunflower seeds. Picking all those sunflower seeds out of the flower was a chore!

Nothingness....

It's 9:34 am and I am still in my pajamas (in fact, I'm still in bed). I've already taken a 45 minute nap. I've read lots of pages of my new book, watched the news, and am up-to-date on all my blog reading. I had Chocolate Island desert (from Bahama Breeze) for breakfast.

I'm in Las Vegas for 48 hours while Tim is at work convention and I have not a single child to care for. I'm not sure what to do with myself. But when I get home tonight, I will love my kidlets even more. I am married to the best guy who takes me on business trips.

(PS - I do have lots to blog about when I get home. Please stay tuned for all the newly painted rooms in my house, loads of harvested vegetables and canned goods, sewing projects, and kindergarten updates).

Rodeo

This past weekend, our church hosted its annual rodeo. Yep - you did read that correct - RODEO (as in cowboys, country music, and farm animals).

Friday night started with a hoedown. Square dancin', hay rides, dutch oven desserts, and most importantly cowboy boots and hats.

Saturday morning started with a 5k race and then onto the grand parade. All the kids 12 and under got to participate. Our kids were overjoyed to be riding their scooters for all the spectators.

A cowboy breakfast followed the parade, then onto the carnival. The big kids loved the endless supply of snowcones, cotton candy, and popcorn. Georgia loved the pony rides.

The day ended with mutton bustin', chicken chasin, and other traditional rodeo stuff. We were bone tired by the end of the day.

Field Trip Friday Finale

This summer, every Friday the kids and I went on a field trip (Field Trip Fridays). The kids bursted with excitement every Friday morning when I would tell them about our trip. One day we went to a new park and had a picnic, another we went to "This is The Place Park", another - swimming, another Lagoon Amusement Park, and so on.

Tim and I decided we needed to end the summer with a BANG! We went on our first family camping trip last Friday. Our poor kindergarten teacher heard about this field trip ALL day (we didn't tell them until we pick them up from school).

We headed up American Fork Canyon to Mutual Dell (only 30 minutes from home in case it turned into a disaster!!) with 2 other families. We set up camp, had a campfire dinner, then went on a snipe hunt. We taught the kids the "snipe call" (two claps and a who hoo) and told the kids that these little "animals" loved campers, crawling on tents and picnic tables.

Tim took the kids on a wild goose chase to catch these critters.

Tim and kids looking at the tent to see if they could spot a snipe

Finally, they caught their Oreo cookie - with pipe cleaner legs - with eyes - SNIPE.
Another highlight of the evening was the FIRE and eating smores!

Georgia thoroughly enjoyed being with the big kids and getting dirty!
Though it rained on us during breakfast, we survived with a smile (or a BYU touchdown for Abby) and will definitely do it again next year.

TOU/2 09

After a 9 years hiatus from running half marathons, I'm back in the game. My friend Heather and I trained for 12 weeks in preparation for this grand event. Grand it was. We almost missed the bus on the way to the starting line and while we were hoping up those school bus stairs, the fancy race guy told us to watch for bow-hunters while we ran down the canyon. I totally felt safe!

Running was fantastic until mile 10, then I was wishing I was at home in bed. All was well because we beat our 1:50 goal - 1:48 was our final time. Hooray for good weather and good I-pod playlists. I still have NO desire to run a full marathon.

TOU/2 09 was on our race medal - Top of Utah / 2 (like a half marathon) 09 (2009). Which race will be next?

A Few More School Pictures

We are very excited about toting around our 10 gallon back packs!

Abby

Annie

Carter