We bought some dirt!

 This post starts off with a little lady and her bruise. Alice got hit by a plastic jump rope on the 3rd. Poor girl was pretty upset, and has had a shiner for a couple of weeks. She swelled up for a couple of days, but was a trooper despite it hurting. 

Kendal had a cross country meet in Buhl on the 5th. Casey got to join us since the girls ran second. They ran at the Golf course and it was a beautiful day! Despite going up a hill twice Kendal got a good time of 13:43 coming in 29th, and 7th for her team helping their overall score! 

Kendal's last meet was this past Tuesday (11th) in Gooding. At their golf course. It was a longer course with some hills and a ton of wind going at her. She came in with a time of 15:24 in 43rd place out of 108 girls. 

Alice had basketball practice on the 7th and her team had a scrimmage this Friday on the 14th. Alice picked up some skills during her time in basketball, and while she's still a bit flighty, she's five and had a great time playing and learning! 

Alice got to play on the drums during music this week and her teacher sent a picture of the kids. She's loving school and is always happy to go! I keep her busy in the afternoons with reading and other learning activities for her to grow with. 

Casey and I took Alice (Kendal had piano and homework; Peter just wanted to play with friends) last Saturday to the orchard to pick apples. I spent the afternoon making applesauce and Casey made some apple butter and sourdough bread for us to enjoy! 

Kendal had basketball try outs this past Monday and Wednesday. There was an observation day on Tuesday so I had to jet Kendal back from Gooding to make the last half an hour of basketball. (NOT FUN!) Kendal has worked hard the past couple of months taking time each Saturday to go out with Casey and work on her skills. She made the White team (B) for school and we can't wait to watch her this season! 

We got the go ahead to dig so this past week on the 11th (and the windiest day we've had all fall) Duane Loosli (yes, distantly related) started digging for us that morning! He had to take Wednesday off, but finished on Friday digging our foundation! Which was the same day (thanks to my Dad's pushy skills!) we closed on and bought our lot!! It's felt like Christmas all week and Casey and I are so excited to get our home going. ( Casey's even excited to pound in stakes for the foundation - his least favorite part of a foundation.) We even took the kids over Saturday morning and mapped out rooms and such just for fun. The weather has been so tame this fall I couldn't believe that day one of digging the winds were going crazy and picking up so much dirt - I felt bad Duane was stuck out in it. We can only hope and pray the weather stays fair for us to do cement and dry in our house.  (This dream has been an long time coming, with so many set backs, trials, and bumps in our road. The time it's taken to get to this point is pretty depressing when you think about it, but life isn't meant to be easy- we've learned that, our life has been full of waiting on the Lord's timing - we've learned that lesson ten fold. So with hope and a lot of work we get to move forward in this next chapter!)

David, Anica, and their boys came up to spend a couple of days with us! They came on Thursday. That afternoon Peter, Alice, and I joined them and went to Tubb's farm. (We thought Kendal had piano so she and Casey stayed back. They also had gone to the maze the night before with the youth in the ward.) The kids had so much fun doing all of the different activities. (Duck races, corn pit, big slides, seeing the animals, and finally the maze.) We were doing pretty well in the maze but realized we were short on time (Peter had an Activity Days night he really wanted to get back for) so David broke out the map and we made our way through getting punches and feeling lost, but having a good time nonetheless! Anica and David stayed for a while after we left to have more fun! 

Friday Morning Casey headed off to a day full of meetings while the kids and I had the day off of school. We joined David, Anica, and the boys at their hotel to swim for a bit. The kids had great morning swimming together! Casey and I had to close on our Lot at noon so we met up with David and crew at a park just down the street from Titlefact and the kids played while we gave over a large sum of monies for a lot of dirt! After a lunch at McDonald's we went to a few parade of homes houses. The kids were a bit buzzed and busy, but mostly did fine. I had to get paperwork turned into the city, and Alice off to basketball so Anica and David took Kendal and Peter with them for a bit. The kids played for a while till we ate, then we watched the boys for a little while so David and Anica could fit in a couple more parade of home houses. 

Saturday morning Kendal was at the church babysitting while the rest of us picked up potatoes from the high school and scoped out our lot. After lunch Casey and the kids went to the gym to work on basketball skills while I baked bread. Casey and I went on an "errand date" for a bit and we ended our evening watching star wars and having home made pizza! 

I've been jealous of my parent's fall leaf excursions so I made everyone pile in the car this afternoon and head up into the south hills to find some color! The first part of the canyon was burned a few years ago so It took a bit to get to see some gorgeous tree's. The kids gathered some leaves, and we went on the short hike to Ross Falls. The south hills don't hold a candle to the canyons I grew up with, but they sure put a smile on my face today! 

Ending Sep with a bang

 Kendal: Kendal had a check up for her feet / orthotics on the 19th. She's grown enough that they decided to size up and order new orthotics. She's happy she'll have a second pair (till she fully grows out of her current pair) and won't have to switch her orthotics between shoes everyday. (I'm grateful insurance is paying this thousands of dollars item off, because it's a lot!) Kendal has had a couple of cross country meets since I last posted. They had their home meet at Kimberly on the 22nd. Kendal came in 32nd with a time of 13:47. She had a side ache and didn't finish as strong as she would have liked, but did well. Their run took them around the softball fields, practice football field, and around the two soccer field areas in front of the middle school. That  same day Kendal got to miss school for a Sources of Strength training with her fellow classmates. (I say got to miss school like it was a fun thing, Kendal actually hated missing school and lamented about it for days.), Kendal's other meet was this past Thursday (29th) at Declo. She had full Grandparent support out to cheer her on for her meet! They made the Declo run longer so she ran nearly two miles with a time of 15:14. She came in just ahead of her usual middle of the pack with a place of 43. She was also fifth for her team which added to their overall team score. 

Pete didn't have a sport this fall so I don't have a lot to put in for him. He's liking school. He's such a helpful kid with his teachers and classmates. I am very proud of his attitude and kindness he shows others. He helps in the library and with Alice. He happily plays with friends after school and that makes him very happy these days! After being delayed a couple of months Peter finally had his 10 yr old well check. Peter is 4 ft 7 in. and 80 pounds. He's healthy and thriving, but mad about having to get a shot at the Dr's. 

Alice started basketball on the 23rd. She's a part of a four week clinic with other kindergarten kids and some first graders. For the first three weeks the kids work on skills and then they'll have a little scrimmage on the last week. Her first week she loved playing around with the kids, and, as a bonus, cousin James is on her team! She is doing well at following instructions and working on her little skills. She can't quite make the basket yet, but she's 5, no big deal! Alice loves school. Her favorite parts are her specials (Art, music, computers are her favorite with PE and library coming in next). She's still our smart cookie and is doing great with her reading. She's taken to making notes and letters that she loves to give others, she even wrote a little book yesterday about a Pegasus and her friend. 

We went out to spend the afternoon with Casey parents last Sunday. Terry, Sarah, and their crew were there as well. It was a nice afternoon; the kids got to play, and hang out. We headed home just before 7:30 and about a mile from Casey's parents house a dog came out of the ditch and my quick attempts to swerve away didn't work. They dog was casually walking and we ended up plowing into it. It went right under our car and I was in shock! Casey grabbed the wheel to keep me steady and we stopped just after. We pulled over and turned off the car because it was smoking in the front. I was internally freaking out, and panicking, the kids were upset, and we had to regroup for a min. We called Casey's parents and then assessed the damage. The dog (big black thing) had ruined the bumper, radiator, and tore off a lot of the undercarriage of the front of the car. A family passed us and saw the distress. They stopped to help, but since Casey's parents had been called they ended up dealing with the dog and then heading away. We ended up having Casey's uncles Todd and Scott come, along with a few cousins, to help push the car onto a trailer and take it back to Todd's house. My emotions are still unsettled as I write this. I feel horrible for everything that happened and so very grateful for the help we received. Kenny has lent us his car while ours is being fixed. I spent the first part of the week dealing with insurance agents, tow people (Kenny had to help with that as well and even had to crawl through the car to get to the driver's seat to put it in neutral and helped unload it so the tow guy could take it away), and repair people to get our car where it needed to be and started on repairs. Total repairs are just above $5,200 (thankfully we only pay $500 of that with our insurance deductible). With luck our car is estimated to be done around the 12th of October. I've felt horrible about this all week - just stuck in a funk about how we seem to be one step forward two steps back kind of mode in life. 

Changing modes. 

My parents got to come up this week! As I said they made it to Kendal's meet on Thursday and then came the rest of the way to spend a couple of days with us! Thursday night we went and checked out our lot and tried to see what the size might be. Friday, while we were at school, Dad made the rounds with businesses that will be helping us as we build our house. My parents joined Alice and I to watch the Homecoming parade on Friday after lunch. I took my mom in and we did some shopping at Barnes and Noble that afternoon. Peter played with friends and Kendal went to a young women's party for memorizing the young women theme. We had an easy going evening while Casey was off helping at the Homecoming game. Before conference on Saturday, Pete and my Dad went and tagged our lot so our excavation guy knows where to dig in the next week or so. We watched morning conference together Saturday morning. My parents treated us to a picnic lunch at the park before they headed home. We watched some more conference and the kids played a bit in the evening to get some energy out. Today we get to glean some more from our church leaders; filling our cups with the gospel truths and our heaven sent messages. 

Picture below is Casey's Advisory class in their spirit day gear! 

Roads and final things have been going in the last week or so. We should be able to close on our lot this week!! It seems too good to be true. We've waited so long for this (and then some. Just to get to this point has taken such a long long time.) We've had so many road blocks and set backs over the years, where we just can't get ahead, and seem to come up short. Its been a heavy trial that we didn't know if we'd ever see an endpoint to. . . I've already had tremendous guilt with the load I am causing for my Dad and David. I feel extremely grateful for their willingness and support for all of this (My Dad had been working hard setting things up for us these past few months) It makes my heart swell with gratitude and burst with guilt for all that they're doing and will be doing for us. I pray for a mild fall and winter, I pray for my Dad and David (plus Mom, and Anica) to be extra blessed as they sacrifice and help us in all of this. I don't deserve this, but on the same note I'm so grateful they're making this long awaited dream come true with us. 

extras just for smiles