Getting into our stride

 Kendal and Pete had a cross country meet on the 8th at Magic Mountain. Kendal came in 29th, and Peter 22nd place in their races. Kendal's time helped the girls team win that day! Both worked hard in their races and are so happy that the "hardest race" is done.

Friday (8th) evening Casey took Kendal and Pete to the football game. Kendal and Pete got to help take out a massive flag before the game started (it's the giant flag that flies on the Perine bridge for the 9/11 memorial). They had a blast doing that! Casey was up in the box for the game with his binoculars spotting players for the announcer. Kendal and Pete ran concessions and hung out with friends. Alice and I stayed home and watched a Disney princess movie, and a few Disney shorts. 

Saturday we got to work on our backyard. We borrowed a tiller from a friend and bought a lot of manure to cover the yard. We worked all day and got the seed down mid afternoon. We hoped our preparations help the seed take and flourish and the weather stays fine to let our grass take root before the cold comes. 

Saturday evening Casey had a fireside with Kendal and the other 14+ youth. A LDS, PGA golfer came to talk with the youth. Casey said he had a nice message and was neat to listen to. Afterwards Kendal headed off to a church dance in Twin. 

Alice gave a scripture in sharing time on Sunday. Casey helped her, but it was so hard to hear with a few sunbeams giving the world their gripes. Peter gave a talk in his sharing time about president Nelson who tuned 99 the day before. That evening Pete has an activity day fireside with his group, and Casey had missionary training at the church. 

We had the first full week of school this past week. The kids are well into their classes and doing well so far. I think I've finally got my head above water at work, but studying for my alternative license is proving to be a journey so far. 

We found out Casey's uncle Melvin passed away last week (he's been battling cancer for the better part of a year). Casey,  Alice, and I went to the funeral on Friday. We saw so much extended family. Casey had all but 3 cousins there and lots of family, neighbors, and community people be grew up with. They gave a wonderful tribute to Melvin. He influenced so many lives as a teacher and coach. Casey said that he's pretty much the next generation of his uncle, teaching and coaching girls b ball and track. We stayed for a luncheon and caught up with family. We probably would've stayed longer, but we had to rush back for kendal and Peter's meet in Twin. 

Kendal and Pete had a meet at the soccer complex in Twin. There were a lot of schools there that we don't normally compete against. Both races were about 40 min delayed. Kendal had a PR in her race! Pete was a bit off during his run, but he still had a decent time. 

 Kendal took 57th place out of 166 girls. 

Pete took 74th out of 213 boys. 

Saturday took the kids and I to Utah to celebrate Campbell's birthday and have a fun day with family! We went to Boondocks and got to spend the afternoon with the whole Loosle gang. We started out with mini golf. Next we went over to the bumper water boats.  The kids had a blast doing this and getting everyone else wet. After the water boats we went over to the race track. It was fun seeing everyone zip around the track with big smiles on their faces! We took a break inside to play lazer tag. They let us do two rounds and it was fun going around and shooting everyone. We went back outside for another round of bumper boats and the race track. I tried to maintain the lead with Elliott as my sidekick, but was eventually passed up by others. We ended with another round in the lazer arena, thoroughly beating another team! We ended our evening having a steak dinner at Andy's house and wishing Campbell a happy birthday! It was a quick one day trip, but a day full of family memories! 

Last but not least. . . Baby grass. We're loving watching it come in!! 

School's back. . . labor day weekend

 Did we pin Alice down and pull her tooth out before school started. Yes we did. Did she shriek and fight us, yes she did. Did the tooth come out very fast and pain free, yes and yes. 

We had our first day of school on the 22nd! The kids were ready and so excited to start their new school year. Casey's and my motto had been ready our not here we go! Cheers to 1st grade, 6th grade, 8th grade,  year 12 for Casey, and 1st yr for me as the librarian!

Kendal and Pete wanted to go to school "early" with dad (early meant 5 min before me) and I dropped Alice off with her pal Zadie to go to her first day of school. The kids had great first days of school. Kendal was non stop chatter after school that week telling us about her classes. Pete is liking middle school so far. Alice is less descriptive than her siblings with a positive "it's good"  when we ask her about school. 

We were all wiped from the first day of school. Alice fell asleep after she got home, the kids fell asleep well and Casey and I went to bed early as well. 

Our first week of school went by quickly. The kids had good days! Casey went back and got right into things as usual. I was scattered and felt behind all week at the middle school, then I had to leave my chaos and to do's at the middle school to go to Stricker, where thankfully I have my routine down. 

Friday night Pete was off to Kyler's birthday party for an outdoor movie in the dark, so I told Kendal she could have friends over for a movie night. Netta and Hope came over and the girls watched Ella Enchanted and then hung out for a bit. Alice got to watch Disney shows with mom and dad upstairs till bedtime. 

Saturday Casey and I finally went and picked out a lawn mower.  Casey's done a lot of research of brands and we've gone back and forth between gas and electric all the while as well. Ultimately we picked a Toro electric mower that was on a good deal. Casey charged it and mowed our patchy jungle that afternoon.  

The orchard we usually go to was sold and the new owner upped the prices so we ended up just picking up a box of peaches at a local farmers market stand. Most of our afternoon was dedicated to cutting and canning peaches.

I did what felt like a weeks worth of chores Saturday so I could have a clean and peaceful house on Sunday, and our Sunday truly was a good one. We took the kids down memory lane before church reading all of the kids sayings I wrote down when they were little. We went to church, and had an easy going afternoon and played tickets to ride. 

Monday threw us back into school. I had a week full of classes at the middle school. I'm still not on top of things at the school, but I'll get there. I signed up for ABCTE (school to get my alternative teaching license). The prospect of adding this to my plate feels like too much, but I don't have a choice. It is what it is. The kids are enjoying school so far, and Casey's getting into his groove. Casey picked up our tree Monday with Jade Sumsion. I planted our bushes Tuesday after school. They looked horrible since apparently didn't water them well, and Casey planted the tree Tuesday evening. It was so windy and he wasn't thrilled to do it (especially since it took four tries to find a spot that didn't interfere with sprinkler pipes). We picked a sunset maple and I'm so excited to watch our trees / bushes grow! Casey's looking forward to his retirement hobby of making maple syrup. ; )

(The wind was blowing so much dust into our faces Alice got the idea to wear her goggles!)

Casey helped plan the stake activity for the youth this week. They had a wrap up from FSY. Just a mini FSY night to remember what they learned this summer and include kids who didn't go to FSY. As Casey's dove into his stake calling and all that it entails and will be he's realizing he's in for a very busy few years ahead of him! 

I took Alice out of school a bit early Thursday so we could watch Kendal and Pete at their first cross country meet! They both did great! Kendal got a time of 13:44. Close to her personal best at a meet. She got 34th out of 94 girls! She actually got a new mile record this past week in practice! Peter got a time of 11:51! While he was 31st out of 107 boys,  he was the second 6th grade boy to cross the finish line! 

Alice learned about volcanoes this week and made a lava lamp! She was showing us her magic.

After an early morning cross country run, we headed to Logan last Friday for labor day weekend. We picked up lunch and took it out to Andy and David at the jobsite. They kept Pete to help out and then he was scooped up by Anica to play with the boys. We had an afternoon back with Grandma and Grandpa at the house. 

 

Saturday Kendal went for a drive with Grandpa in the morning. We were able to surprise my dad with a birthday lunch at Maddox! I put it together about a month ago and tried to get a much family as I could there. I loved the look he had seeing us all there! 

After lunch we joined Andy for the afternoon. We went boating at Willard Bay. Alice ended up going back to Logan with my parents and Kathrine. We started out well and got Kendal and Campbell out in the tube. They had a good ride, then we hit trouble with the rope going under the boat and getting stuck, then the boat drifted into weeds and the engine wouldn't start. Pete never got to go on the tube, but we had an adventure for sure. 

Sunday we went to sacrament meeting with my parents and then we visited Nana. I stayed longer with Nana while the rest went back to have lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon at my parents. We attempted dinner outside only to be driven inside by a crazy storm that blew through. 

Monday brought Campbell to us. Grandma and Grandpa treated us to bowling and arcade fun at the Fun Park. We grabbed lunch at Chick-fil-a and went back to the house. David took all of the boys to play at his house and I took the girls back to see Nana. We had dinner together before we headed home. We were grateful we got some wonderful family time and enjoyed celebrating my dad over the weekend. 

 

We're back to the grind of school and work. I had activity days yesterday. We talked about goals and made friendship bracelets. 

Star wars filter pictures.  . . Just for fun. 

I spy a muddy buddy