Ryan celebrated his 10th birthday while we were there, and we had a little party for him. On our way home (going through Boise), we met Brandon and got to see his squad car -- Ryan even sat in the back seat and pretended he was in hand-cuffs. Sounds fun huh?
We returned the last day of July. School started August 13th, and we had a lot to do to get ready. Rachel has really enjoyed school and, after meeting with her teacher, the nurse, and several others about her medical situation, there haven't been to many problems. She gets on the bus each morning and Wyatt and Ty make sure she has her breakfast on her way to school. They know how to run the pump and take it on and off so the teachers don't have to feed her except for lunch.
Kids' grades are as follows: Wyatt - 10th; Ty - 7th; Ryan - 5th; Rachel - kindergarten. I miss them all and am still trying to get used to a quiet house during the day. -- But the activity and noise level from 5:30am to 7:30am and then from 3:30pm to 9:30pm makes up for the quiet of the afternoons! Why do I feel busier now than I ever have???
We re-arranged the rooms in our house to accommodate 10 seminary students (class is in the basement family room). Van is enjoying teaching seminary and it brings many blessings -- but it is definitely early (6:00-6:50am).
Ty is playing football for the first time and is chaffing from the tough practices, but really enjoyed the one game they've had so far. He is #9, a corner-back.
The garden is done and it was pretty good this year. We had an exceptionally cool and wet summer and the tomatoes didn't produce like we hoped, but the rest was good. I canned lots of beans, some tomatoes and zucchini jam, and Van put some corn in the freezer. The rest we ate for dinner each night and it helped with the grocery bill. I looked out the window at the dried up corn stalks and thought, "I could do some kind of cute fall decorations with them out in front of the house." Then I thought "it's to much work to mess with." I can hardly keep my front porch swept off.
Kids are growing up to fast and I try not to think about it to much or I'll cry. Life is good and we can't complain. Hopefully Van's union will get a good contract soon. We try not to watch the news to much -- our president is completely out of hand! Our dinner conversation topics range from the game played at PE and how gross the school lunch was, to the latest quote from some politician heard on the radio.
My big challenge this week is to plan my meals and stick to my plan -- sounds easy but it isn't! And MAYBE I'll get all my laundry folded and put away for just one day! And MAYBE I'll vacuum twice this week and the floor won't look as bad as it did last week when I vacuumed on Tuesday AND Thursday!
Van just came in and read my entry. He thinks this stuff is boring. Sorry. When I do the blog, just plan on reading boring stuff. He's better at being funny and interesting.
Well, it was great to see everyone at the reunion! We'll try not to let 3 months go by before our next post.
Pictures are out of order, but good enough to enjoy.
