Zoo ~ Duces ~ Birthday

 I got to go with Caleb's scout den to the aquarium.  It is always a beautiful thing to spend time with him, in different environments and see the world, his way.

Nothing's better than a good ole' fashioned wrestle!

Happy 14th birthday, Kyle.

Kyle has VERY specific likes when it comes to his clothing.  He HATES jeans.  Ever since he was old enough to express his thoughts, he has told us of his disgust, at wearing them.  Imagine our surprise when he came out of his room wearing this.⬇

Any guesses, as to why he had a change of heart?  

Did any of you guess, a girl?  Yep!  It was for a girl's birthday party.

Fall break always means the Hogle Zoo.  For the first year, Josh wouldn't come with us.  It was hard for me to realize that this will soon be our "normal" family dynamic.  

Anyway, we still had a blast.  It's always a treat to see the animals so active, and to have such small crowds.

Here is a first, for Caleb.  He let me convince him to ride one of the animals, on the carousel.  He will only ride, if he can ride on the bench.  I got him on a cool animal, but he noticed it would move up and down.  I quickly moved him to one of the animals that stays stationary.  

His look says it all.

Speaking of firsts.....

Here is Blake's first drink from the beloved lion's mouth drinking fountain.  This fountain has been a staple at Hogle Zoo for generations and it can be pretty scary for the little ones to stick their head in.

First Day of School/September Random Stories

Blake was favoring his foot for a few days after jumping down the stairs.  Luckily, the x-ray came back with no broken bones.  I hope I never see the inside of the hospital, again.  (Like that's gonna happen!)

We only got pictures of the youngest 3, on their first day of school.  

Caleb  decided he wanted to strike a pose.

We thought that Blake would do well, in Preschool.  We were wrong.  Even though he was lonely and missed his siblings, he didn't enjoy being away from home.  We pulled him out and he is going to "Mom School", like the rest of the kids.

I got this picture, on my phone, one night.  Josh said, "You need to call the dentist."  

Uhhhhhhh

I guess he smashed it against a basketball hoop and part of his tooth went to dust.  Luckily the dentist found that the damage was small and easily repairable.  Luckily, insurance covered it, as well!

 

 These 2!  They warm my heart.

I started a part time job, to earn money for our Texas trip.  Here, Daddy and Blake are helping me pull up floor stickers.  My back was sore and they came to my rescue.  I have since quit.  I suffered and so did our family.  

My sister treated me to a weekend in Logan.  We went to Time Out for Women, ate delicious food, went shopping, and never stopped talking.  We tried to sit in the part of the arena where we wouldn't bother other ladies, but they kept sitting close to us. 

Caleb enjoyed his school carnival.  The face paint lasted until we got home.  

This 4 year old has so many people who love him.  Happy Birthday, Blake!

Caleb was having a hard time reading scriptures, in the morning.  I took him to see the eye doctor.  He did really well and we found that his eyes are great.  He was probably just frustrated with reading the hard words.

Blake woke up in the middle of the night and we couldn't tell what was upsetting him.  I put him back to bed and then heard rushing water.  I ran to our bathroom and walked into a pool of water.  I ran downstairs to see waterfalls coming from 3 vents and the light fixtures.  Jeff and I spent the next 3 hours, pulling water out the carpet with our carpet cleaner.  We finally went to bed, at 4 am.  The next day, we pulled up the carpet and had to spend 2 days drying it out.  It also made us finally figure out how to stop our toilet that was always running.  

Cross County Camp

I got to go to Cross Country Camp with Josh.  This is his favorite trip and raves about it, every summer.  As a senior, it was his last.  

I got to cook for and drive around 70+ high schoolers.  It was so fun to be around their energy and see what great kids Josh is associated with.  

His coach is incredibly nice but pushes them so hard.  Every time after their runs, they would spend over 30 minutes on strength exercises.

Here is Josh completing the "Wolverine" run.  It is over a mile straight up the mountain.  Man, those kids are incredible to try something like that.  I've heard rumors about kids barfing but I didn't get to see any, this year.

Here are all the seniors, after Wolverine.  My son is so lucky to have these friends.  

Here's another picture of the ab workouts. 

One of the days, they tube the river at Lava Hot Springs.  Josh might not be in this conglomerate of tubes, but it is a great picture showing what it was like.

Here they are at the Lava Hot Springs pool.  They set up the biggest "Washing Machine" line I've ever seen.  It was fun to see how high those 17 year old boys could toss a body, into the air.

That's Josh!

On one of the nights, they have the seniors take turns standing and sharing what Cross Country has meant to them and give the new kids advice.  

This team has meant the world to my son and they have kept him safe during his high school years.  I am so proud of him for running even when he's exhausted and knows he won't make varsity.  It has taught him a lot and I've enjoyed watching him race. 

I locked my keys in the SUV and had to call insurance.  (My insurance company hasn't dumped me, yet.  It's a miracle.)  While I waited for help, the cabin owner was sure he could use his engineering skills to open it.  He actually made a contraption that worked except our locking latch, turns the opposite way we thought.  

The last day, they have an ultimate Frisbee tournament.  Josh play Frisbee showcases his competitiveness and fight.  We always say that he would've been a great wrestler.  That kid is so persistent and strong!  

Here he is at the end of the final race.  I love the look on his face.  

Texas Part 4

I planned a deep sea fishing trip for my boys.  They have dreamed about going for years.  I always discouraged them because I thought it would be too costly.  Well, I did some internet research and found that it wasn't as expensive as I thought.  I found a 4 hour charter boat that would leave from Galveston for under $50 per person.  I had no desire to go so I asked my brother and brother-in-law to go with them.  Their two cousins wanted to go, as well.  Halfway through our trip I shared the secret with them.  They couldn't believe it.  

Everyone caught something but most of them had to be tossed back.  Bradley got to keep his bonnet head shark and one of the kids got to keep a trout.  

The boys have more pictures on their phones.  I say I'll download them to the computer, one day, but we all know that won't happen.  

Brad's little girl is so adorable.  She was so shy and it took her a while to warm up to Katie.  

Here we are eating our Shark and Trout tacos.  The kids were very adventurous and tried them.  I think only 1 or 2 liked them.  

Even Kyle tried them!  

!!!!!!

The last thing we did was take the kids to an indoor trampoline arena.  

Saying goodbye was rough.  Rough!  There were more than a couple of us, in tears.

We had a miracle, come along, for our drive home.  While in the process of looking at vans to buy, Katrine's neighbor sent a message around the ward.  They were needing someone to drive their van back to Utah and would pay the gas.  It was perfect timing.  We were able to postpone purchasing a vehicle until we were comfortably home. 

We stopped at Whataburger for lunch.  Caleb read the logo as Whatabooger.  

We pushed hard, the first day, and made it to Dalhart, TX.  

I had just finished one of the best books I've ever read, about Dalhart and the surrounding area.  It is titled, "The Worst Hard Time".  It is a true story compiled from first hand accounts of those that lived through the dust bowl.  I was able to spend the time driving, to teach my kids about what I had learned and about the experiences they had to go through.  It was so hard to see these peaceful, green farms and know that only 60 years ago, it was an enormous sand box of starvation and death.  

I would've loved to stop at this farm and see if anyone I knew from the book lived there.  The kids didn't like that idea so we pressed on to Colorado.  

We stopped in a small mountain town, in Colorado, for a picnic lunch and kept pressing on.  We made it home to Utah that night.  We were so happy to see our home but we will always have our great memories from Texas.

Texas Trip Part 3

Texas has a fantastic  store called Academy.  It is a discount store for sporting goods.  We took the opportunity to buy the kids' school shoes.  Then, we went to Ross and got some great school clothes.

I surprised my sister with a baby shower.  I worked with her husband and a close friend.  Here, we had a station where everyone could paint some wood blocks for the new baby boy to play with. 

We had a fun time visiting.  Josh stayed around for half of the shower.  It wasn't that big of a mystery, as to why.  A beautiful and sweet neighbor came to the shower with her mom.  We spent a lot of energy trying to convince Josh that she'd be happy to give him his number, if he would just ask for it.  He couldn't muster up the confidence but, a week after we left Texas, Katrine told her about Josh's nervousness and she was happy to give Josh her number. 

There were lots of blocks left over for the kids to paint.  They would work on their blocks every morning for 3 days.

We went to an Astros game with the Miners.  Our Uncle Brent was in town while he moved from the Bahamas to Arizona.  He and Grandma Carlson got to join us at the game.

That day, Kyle told me his strep throat, from a couple weeks ago, had returned.  So, on the way home from the game, we stopped at the ER.  It is the only place that would accept our Utah insurance.  It was a late night and we didn't get home until after midnight.  

Jason said he would leave the door open for us, when we got back.  However, it was locked.  We walked around the back and it was locked too.  I tried calling their phones but there was no response.  We were standing outside pondering our options when we thought we heard the door knob. We listened but didn't hear anything more.  I wriggled the door knob and it  wriggled back.  I whispered through the door that it was Kyle and me.  There was no response.  Was it the cat?  What was it?  The knob kept moving and finally the door opened.  Caleb appeared from behind the door.  What?  What was he doing downstairs in the middle of the night?  No complaining, from us.  We were happy to be in the house without having to bang on the door.  

We got to go to Top Golf.  It was pretty humid but we still had fun.

I'm so proud of this girl.  She had a hard time making contact with the ball and got quite frustrated.   After a while, she got teary and didn't want to play, anymore.  I tried to comfort her and explain how hard golf is and that she will improve.  After a few rounds, she got back in and kept trying.  What an example.  

Bedtime stories are heaven on earth when you have your cousins around you.  

I got to teach my sister and my sister-in-law how to can peaches and chicken.  The first canner we borrowed had a leaky seal so we had to scrounge up another.  Kitchen time with women will always be special.