Sunday September 9

This morning had a bit more run-around than the usual Sunday does....

Madi and Cassi both went to BYC at 10.

Then Porter and Cassi went to choir a little after 11.....had to wait for Cassi to get home.

Then the girls and I left for church at 12:25 to get some practice in before church started.

The Youth sang in Sacrament meeting today, with the leaders too.

We sang Peace in Christ.

It is hard to say what it sounded like, because I was up there singing too....but people said it was wonderful :)

Church went great.

I taught a lesson about how our words have power....they can be for the good or the bad, we choose.

We talked about quotes, and I shared one of my favorites.

Then I challenged the girls to SAY something every day this week that will lift someone up their mountain!

After church, I made some cupcakes.

At 6, I took all the beehives along with my advisor and Stacia to meet a new girl that will be moving into our ward.

She has been struggling with moving to a new school and not knowing anyone, so we wanted to give her some new friends so that when she starts coming to our ward (when her house is done) then she will already have friends :)

Dad invited Bubble over for dinner.....Eldon is gone again.

This is his last shift for the year.

Anyway, we enjoyed the late dinner with her.

While the big girls got stuff ready for school, the rest of us watched a little AFV and Porter and I worked on a puzzle we started yesterday.

I really do like puzzles :)

So does my boy, so that is fun for us to do it together!!!!!

Our late dinner threw our schedule off and we forgot to call Gramps :(

We will give you a call tomorrow!!!!!!

Saturday September 8

Today was chore day.....

We have been way out of our Saturday chore routine for quite a while and I am ready to get back on track!!!!!

Dad actually went in for a few hours of overtime today.

Madi went and took the ACT.

The three younger ones got their rooms cleaned a clothes put away.

I did laundry and helped the little ones with their rooms.

I also cleaned out the area back behind where the couch is, Madi's old old closet.

Lots of junk stuffed back there.

And I organized it into a game closet.

And I trimmed the dead stuff out of my hanging baskets and did some work outside.

Cassi started mowing, but the mower got clogged, so she will wait until Dad gets that fixed.

Cassi left about 4:45 to go bowling with a group of friends.

Madi went to her trek family reunion, they went jet skiing, but Madi sat and talked with Carley (who had surgery and couldn't get in the water)....

Porter helped me rip out the carpet in the basement.

I am really getting serious about taking the steps to get that ready downstairs to do art classes...…..Oh man, but I feel so scared about it!

But it has been a constant on my mind for years, I gotta give it a try.

The little ones and I watched the first half of the Boise game before I put them to bed.

Now I am gonna go and pick up Cassi and hopefully Madi isn't out too long....

Friday September 7

This morning, after getting the kids off to school, I took a tiny little bitty nap.

I was so tired!

But it was like 20 minutes....just what I needed.

Then I went running while Dad went to the gym.

Later on today we took the Terry's table out and cleaned it up.

Then we brought in the other table we have....it is a black one that the Morgan's gave us.

It will work great until I figure out what kind of table I want to have in the kitchen :)

Dad got working on our next project.

The deck roofing is only half painted.

Looking at it and figuring out what we need to do to get it painted, we decided we needed to trim out the seams to give it a better finished look.

I am really happy with it so far!

Porter had a singing practice after school, I guess his primary class is singing a part in the program coming up.

Then he had his first football game.

They didn't win, but it was a good game.

Port had awesome pulls and some great runs.

 In the end, the other team got more.....

Bummer, but I am excited about the team this year.

They work really well together.

We wish cannon was with the boys!!!!!

Things got messed up and he ended up on another team.

Dang!

Thursday September 6

This morning was kind of heaven!

I got the kids off to school and I cleaned the kitchen and my room, got clothes put away, I felt very accomplished.

But now, as I look around the kitchen, was there a purpose in me even cleaning?!?!?!?!?!

Once the kids come home, it is all a disaster!

Why oh why?!?!?!?

Anyway, Cassi had her first Rugby games tonight.

She played really well.

They had 4 games, 2 JV and 2 varsity.

She was awesome!

She's got real skill in the game.

And then in the last minute of the last game......she did something to her arm.

We think she just hyper extended her elbow, she should be fine.

She had a hard tine doing her homework after the games, so Madi helped her out.

It was very sweet.

Madi got asked to another dance tonight.....this time to Rocky Mountains homecoming :)

So that will be fun.

I don't remember if I wrote about it, but she got asked last night to Mountain Views homecoming.

Wednesday September 5

I probably say this too often, but today was a crazy packed day!!!!!

After getting the kids off to school, I drove some stuff to some different YW leaders to help out with the activity stuff I was planning.....delegating rocks!!!!!

Then I went to the school to help in the office for a bit.

I left right from there and picked Cassi up from the school to take her to see the dr.

All is good with her shoulder and he gave her the go-ahead to play rugby......and just in time since her first game is tomorrow!

On our way back from the appointment, w stopped by the airport to pick up Stacia.

She got back from Hawaii, taking Sydney to school there :)

We brought Stacia home, then I took Cassi home to have lunch and grab some stuff for her to wear for PE.....

Then SHE drove us back to the high school :)

She did a great job!

Then I went to the store to get bathroom essentials, shampoo, hair spray, and we also needed cheese!!!!!

Then I came back home, put the stuff away, and got to work on finishing up the final touches for the YW activity this evening.

A few days ago I signed up to make a pasta dish to take for Cassi's team pasta bake this evening after practice.

I knew it would be a busy day....but I also knew if I had a reason to cook, maybe my kids would actually get a good dinner :)

So I made an awesome Penne Alfredo with sun dried tomatoes and bacon, with sun dried tomatoes from my garden!!!!!!

Cassi said it was a big hit, and everyone here at home liked it too.

I took that to the school at6, picked up Sherrie and we headed to the church for set-up.

We got all done and the girls started arriving.

Madi wasn't home, neither was Cassi, but Jenni brought Elsie, Alex and Ayden to the activity.

Madi and Cassi came a little late.

We had a fun activity for the YW.

We did a Youth Battalion Boot camp.

We had 5 stations, one for each challenge given by the prophet in his last devotional.

Such a great devotional......you can find it by clicking on this:

YOUTH BATTALION DEVOTIONAL

So each station we had a fun activity for the girls....mine was keep on the covenant path.

I think it was a fun time for the girls, with lots of fun treats at the end.

And I hope they came away with a desire to join the Lord's Youth Battalion!

For real, listen to the broadcast if you haven't.

It is a good one!

Tuesday September 4

Went to the gym with Dad after the kids went off to school.

Then I got all ready and went to lunch for Sherrie's birthday.

After lunch I headed home and got to work on my part of our YW activity that we are doing tomorrow.....I am stressing a bit that we didn't have more time to work on it!

But I hope it all comes together!

Dad cut and did more pears for fruit leather.

He did some fun varieties with apple, strawberry, mango, grape, etc.

Madi worked after school, Cassi drove with Dad to play football for the powder puff game coming up.

The Terry kids hung out for a bit after school.

Elsie and Alex are the sweetest friends.

Alex is one of my most favorite people.....she is so kind and sweet, humble and helpful.

She is a great friend ❤

Laela and Porter are so cute together too!

I love watching them hang out and play together!

I am glad we got to have this time with them before they move into their new house this weekend.

Monday September 3 (add picture of Spencer and Port)

We got up and packed up.

Dad got one last post pulled out that we forgot on Saturday.

He got it up just in time for the guy to come pick up the lawn tractor thing.

Then we headed home.

It was a good, uneventful ride.

When we got home, we unpacked and then Cassi went to Rugby practice.

It is her first game on Thursday!

Pretty exciting!

The rest of the afternoon Brent spent taking the fridge apart and defrosting the ice that formed in our fridge fan :(

It is pretty cool that he can fix anything.

Makes me pretty proud ❤

A little note about the ice in the fridge fa.

We were saying, how in the heck does this big chunk of ice end up there inside the fan without us noticing it??????

And I thought, there is a church lesson there!

Little by little, we can let the bad creep in without knowing it, if we don't keep in check.

That ice started from just one little drop of water that froze, then another and another until it completely stopped the fridge fan, and the fridge was not able to function as it was supposed to.

Makes you think about the little things we do in our lives that may not be exactly the best choices......what could the long term consequences be????

We had dinner and kids worked on homework, playing etc.

Spencer came over one last time.

He brought a cool little 'Armies of Helaman' coin for Port to have.

Pretty cool :)

He was set apart on Sunday, so no hugs here...just handshakes!

It will be fun to keep up with how it goes for him.

Port is pretty excited.

He is at a good age where going on a mission means more than just someone going away for a long time.....

So he is excited to follow along.

Sunday September 2

Electricity is out, no internet. I promise I will blog later when power has been restored.

Saturday September 1

We made the drive to Utah today.

We got an early start, which was nice.

But it was hard to wake the kids up early on a Saturday!!!!!

The drive went pretty good.

We got to Emmy and got to work.

She already got a lot done on the fence removal.

She had all the chain part taken off.

Dad got to work on the little excavator.

We got all the post pulled out and trailer loaded up and to the dump right in time before it closed!

Then we got back to her house and dug up a trench to put in a mow strip for her next time we come up.

Then it was a whole lot of digging up and hauling dirt out of the way.

We got a lot done and the kids worked really hard.

There was some grumpy tired times, but I think we all ended good and we did a good job!

We got all showered, and then Emmy made a yummy dinner for us.

The rest of the night was spent chatting and Emmy sharing some fun stuff she gave the kids from work :)

She is good at spoiling us!

All the kids were VERY ready to get to bed!

They worked their buns off!

Friday August 31 (add pictures of Spencer and Port)

I did not go running right away this morning.

My head was killing me and I had a lot to get done in the house.

So I worked on sorting laundry and getting the kitchen clean etc.

I finally needed to take a break and I felt a bit better so I went for a run.

Man, I feel like I worked all day to get stuff done to get ready to go, but once the kids came home it seemed like it all fell apart :(

My heart broke when Port came home.

Today they had student council elections.

He did so good with his speech, but when it came to it, he wasn't voted in.

He was so sad.

He had a good cry, he was very disappointed.

But we talked about the chance to try again next year.

My sweet, tender-hearted boy!

I hate to see them sad, but also these life lessons are great to learn from.

I have high hopes for him next year!

The kids had different activities and friends over.

I did not feel like I could focus with my head feeling like it did!

Honestly....I really can't remember today really very well to even write it down!!!!!

Anyway, the kids got packed, I still need to pack Dad and I.

Cassi went to the football game and is still out with friends.

Madi and Spencer hung out....really for the last time for the next two years.

He gets set apart on Tuesday and we are leaving tomorrow morning.

Port was really happy that Spencer made an effort to come and see him and play some Nintendo with Port before he left :)

I took the Port, Cannon and Elsie to Sonic for half price shakes.

The I got them to bed at a good time.

Now I am trying to get the house clean again, get myself and Dad packed, and try to get to bed at a decent time....but I can't go to bed until those big girls get home!!!!!