My Athletes

Sam and Savannah are in full swing with team practices after school. Savannah's first tennis match is tomorrow. She may or not play - this is her first week participating in practice after her sprained ankle - but this is only the beginning of a full 6 weeks of matches so I'm sure she'll get her turn. Sam's first cross country meet is next Tuesday. He's pretty nervous about it, but after hearing about his 5 and 6 mile runs in the muggy heat complete with uphill sprints, I'd say a nice 3.1 mile race sounds pretty tame.

Participation in sports is new territory for us and the time commitment is pretty steep, but they like being part of a team and are anxious to put their practice to the test.

Go team!

Photo credits: Kevin Kilhoffer

The Power of Words

I've been thinking a lot about the power of words lately. When I found this video, I got a little teary at the end. It sure made me think about the way I choose to say things.



{I love their Scottish accents, too!}

Spencer is 14!

Happy Birthday to my Spencer! 

Fourteen is always exciting. For his birthday, Jeff bought Spencer a razor and taught him to shave. Plus Spencer is now old enough to go to church dances. His first one is this Saturday. Yes!

Spencer is a great kid who is our avid gardener, who is adjusting very well to high school, who still sneaks in a good book every chance he gets and who goes to bed when he's tired. (I wish that idea would catch on with some others around here!)

Love you, buddy! I hope 14 is your best year so far!!

My Alma Mater

Isn't this beautiful? This is the photo that greeted me as I pulled up BYU's homepage this morning. Awesome!

First Day of School

As much as I dread the end of summer break, the kids headed back to school this morning under some pretty favorable conditions. First of all, the three youngest are excited about their teachers! They are all happy with the classrooms they were put in which makes school a lot easier to face - for them and for me! Second, it actually feels like fall today. I think August 15th is too early to be heading back to school, but it sure helps when it's 52º in the morning and you need a jacket to make it to the bus stop. (That is unheard of at this time of year in my little corner of the world!)

Here are pictures of my crew as they headed out the door this morning. With various school starting times, the pictures are in the order in which they left the house.

Sadie, our third grader and big man on campus. This is her last year at her elementary school.

Sam (Senior) and Spencer (Freshman). The first day of high school is always daunting, but I think Spencer is in good hands!

Sterling (6th grade) and Soren (5th grade). We met their teachers last night and they are in for a great year!

Savannah (Junior) doesn't have an early bird class so she is the last one out the door.  You can barely see Savannah's crutches in this picture. Another couple days and she should be able to hobble around without them! :)

Within the next few weeks, I'm hoping to be volunteering each week in the younger three kids' classrooms. Until then, I'm hoping to get caught up on all the things that have been put on hold during our way-too-fast-summer!

We're hoping for a great year!

Holiday World

Once again, we headed to Holiday World as our last hurrah before school starts. I didn't take any pictures and I'll admit it was nice to not worry about the camera all day! So picture, if you can, all of us - minus Savannah who was home with a sprained ankle - wearing our new BYU football shirts (so much easier to keep track of everyone when we're dressed the same!) and grinning from ear to ear.

Here are the highlights:

• Sadie went on all three roller coasters - the Raven, the Legend and the Voyage -  with Sam, Spencer and Sterling. She is so brave!
• Perfect weather! The forecast was 83º and humid, but it never felt that warm and the humidity was gone after lunch. We were even cold at the water park!
• No lines!! We have decided to make Holiday World a tradition the week the kids go back to school. Indiana starts school before we do so that significantly decreases the park traffic. The longest line we waited in was for The Mammoth. We waited for 35-40 minutes and it was worth every minute of it. Awesome water coaster!! We ended up waiting about 30 minutes for the bumper cars because of technical difficulties, but everyone was a good sport about that, too. Most rides had no wait.
• The Wildebeest was SO COOL!! We worried that the line would be really long there, too, but we ended up waiting all of about 3 minutes, then finishing the ride and walking right back on. It may be my new favorite!
• The park closes earlier as the season winds down so this week it closed at 6:30. That may seem early, but we'd done everything we wanted to do by then and were ready to go!
• Holiday World is known for its free parking, free drinks (soda, water, lemonade, gatorade, etc.) and free sunscreen. These perks sure make planning a lot easier.  We didn't have to carry anything around with us. And they have the cleanest restrooms. Yay!

It was a great day! We are all exhausted and sore. Our van is in the shop so we took two cars which meant Jeff and I both had to drive the three hours there and back, but it was worth it and we are ready to face the school year!

Looking Forward to March

This just in from my brother...

A new little Martin is definitely something to look forward to! Yay!! 

Rhubarb Banana

What do you do when you pick some rhubarb from your garden and, after a couple of days, it curls up to look just like a banana? You laugh, show everyone your rhubarb banana, and then take a picture and post it on your blog because it makes you happy.

At least that's what I do.

Peach Perfect

We're home and our peach tree is dragging on the ground with beautiful fruit! Fresh peach slices? Check. Peach smoothies? Check. Peach jam? Coming right up!

Oh. Yum.

Snuggle Up

The running joke in our family is that no one wants to sleep by Soren because he hogs the bed. I don't know, what do you think?

In Soren's defense, twice he appeared by my bed in the middle of the night complaining that Spencer had rolled over to his side of the air mattress so Soren had no room to sleep. I think it's just their little mutual agreement. :)