Fall is coming

Fall may not be my favorite season, but there are things about it that I enjoy about it. I enjoy the crisp you feel in the air (as long as I have a sweater), leaves changing colors, and the glorious food (apples, corn, pumpkin, cider, etc.)
Fall also means canning season. I'm no expert, but I feel more experienced when it comes to canning. My treasure so far has been green beans, peaches, and chili sauce. None of this would be possible without my sister in law Vanessa's wonderful help. She knows so much about canning and has let me invade her home to can this past month. Vanessa, Sarah, and I spent all day yesterday ignoring our kids ; ) and putting up yummy things.
Here is a sample of my doings

Kendal is enjoying preschool. She asks daily if it is a preschool day and when it is a preschool day she's very excited. She can't wait to go, and procrastinates leaving when I come to pick her up. Kendal is having fun at preschool and likes to tell us about what she did and all of the friends she gets to be with. Below is a sample of Kendal's preschool crafts. Going clockwise - learning about the color blue, self portrait, melted crayon art, blue bird collage, and a sensory page of smells.

Kendal is over the moon with how much time we get to spend with cousins lately. We've started getting the cousins together on Wednesdays. This past week Nicole brought the boys up and we had all eight little monkeys were around. We "invade" aunt Vanessa's house a lot, and are grateful she welcomes the chaos.  Kendal will be four in less than two months. She's excited for her birthday to come and even more excited for Halloween. I've jumped the gun and started Halloween costumes. Casey's Smee shirt is made, and the kids costumes are sewn but not dyed green yet. 
 Often times Peter falls asleep on our way home from dropping Kendal off at preschool. I put him down for a nap and usually get some cleaning done. Peter's sixth tooth is now out. Pete is a smiley little guy, but he also has his withdrawn moments when he's shy. He's enjoyed freedom in Vanessa's backyard that has a slide, a little, house, and plenty of kids to wander around after.

Casey had his second football game a couple of days ago. He played Declo last week. Grandma Darrington came up and watched the game with us. I think it was a little off to her to be sitting opposite her home team. It took a few times for Kendal to understand that Uncle Brett and Daddy both coach together and that's why they were both on the field. Having snacks helped the kids get through some of the game. But wiggles set in and Kendal and Peter were done being still on the benches. Skinny Kendal gave some 6th graders a peep show when her pants fell down while she was climbing the bars. (I just shake my head at this little girl sometimes) The football team lost to Declo and they also lost their game this week. Casey knows these boys need to work on a lot to be decent. Right now Casey and Brett are doing their best with what they've been given. I know Casey is doing a good job and I hope these boys can toughen up, get some game, and pull out a win for them sometime this season.
Happy Fall!

It's time

To the few who read this blog I thank you for your care and interest in my little family's doings. Casey and I feel it is time that we make this blog private. I post regularly, and put a lot of information about my family, so it's high time I make this happen.
If you're interested in keeping up with our happenings please leave your email in the comments, or message me on Facebook.

small trip home

It was my dad's birthday this past Thursday. After preschool the kids and I headed down to Logan. The kids love seeing family. We spent a lot of time playing outside and enjoyed being together. The kids gave my Dad 60 treats for his birthday with a few saying and pictures.
We drove by "our Temple" on Friday and went to a cool castle park. My brothers were busy on Thursday so we had our family dinner on Friday.
Saturday we enjoyed more outside time. The kids had a blast with the bikes and toys you ride on, and Pete loved being pulled/pushed around on the toys. we ended our visit with a hot dog roast. Probably the last of the year.  It was good to see family. I'm kicking myself for not taking my camera, so no pictures for this post.

School begins

Today was Casey's first day with students at Kimberly middle school, and Kendal started her first day of Preschool.
I remember when Preschool was no big deal, and many kids didn't even go before Kindergarten. Now it seems that everyone goes 2 + years to Preschool wondering if it's enough to jump start their kids. Thankfully we're part of a low key home done Preschool. Two days a week, not a big deal, but good times for Kendal. As you can tell from the picture above with her hand on the door Kendal wanted to get to preschool. 9 o'clock did not come fast enough for Kendal today, and when I went to get her she didn't want to leave. Kendal is in Preschool with three boys (one being her cousin David) and two other girls. She enjoyed her first day. She didn't go into detail about what she did, she played, did a picture, and ate a snack. (I know she did more and more details will come out sometime : )
Casey begins teaching his ancient world history classes today. He has four classes of eighth graders for history, a study hall hour, and another small class time for kids to read and catch up on school news / happenings. He started coaching 7th grade football last week. He doesn't feel like a football coach yet. He's got a lot to learn a to help the 7th grade defense and the 7th and 8th grade linemen. I know he'll do great this year both in teaching and in coaching.
I'm so proud of Casey and Kendal. Love you Both!!

Our labor day weekend

We started our weekend by trying to get to a session Friday at the Twin Falls Temple. However,  they were filled up; due to the new temple video and the fact that the temple is closed all of September. We ended up going and doing sealing's. I was bummed because I was really looking forward to doing a session. It's been over a year since we've been able to get to the temple and I was excited to see the new video. Sealing's were nice and at the very least I was getting a long over due date with Casey. (Thank you Sarah for watching the kids. We appreciated it more than you know.)
Friday night we went to Raft River. We started early Saturday morning and spent the majority of the day husking, cooking, cutting, and bagging corn to freeze. We put together a little over 150 bags of corn (aka the back of a small pick up truck full of corn cobs). It was a lot of work and my hands have paid the price since, but it was all worth it. It feels good to contribute to the families food storage. Vanessa taught me how to can a couple of weeks ago. I hope to can some more in the next month or so.
Friday night we had a party celebrating Hunter and Jaxson's second birthday. All 8 kids were there. Kendal loves being closer to family, and it was fun to spend the day with them.
We came home Saturday, and went to church Sunday. Our Relief Society lesson was on living within our means, and food storage type stuff. It fit so well with what I've been doing lately. I am now called to be the chorister for sacrament meeting. A little over my head, but I hope to do a decent job. No job for Casey yet, but I'm sure he's on their list.
We took it easy Monday by running a few errands in town. We checked out Winco (a version of Sam's club). We played in the park in the afternoon. And wrote Kendal's talk for next Sunday for FHE.

This picture was taken towards the end of corn and does not do our day justice.  Imagine the table loaded with corn along with the counter behind them and next to the sink, just chuck full of corn. So much corn.