A Small Favor

Hi all, I am working on a project and I am hoping you'll be willing to help.

Please leave me a comment with a 

favorite scripture or quote 

that helps you 

get through hard times or that maybe
encourages you be a (or try to be...) 

better parent. 

I'm really excited about the project, but need lots of ideas!  I'll be sure to share when I finish!  Thanks in advance!  You guys are the very best!  Love you all!

Cross Country First Meet

Tuesday, August 21 was our first Cross Country meet for the year.  The boys were really excited... Levi was kind of nervous, as well.  But once we got there in the excitement of the atmosphere he was all smiles.

The team has a lot more kids than they've had in the past and therefore, not enough small uniforms... Jonas' is huge!  It was a cool, rainy day so with the weather and the size of his uniform he wore a shirt under the uniform.

Bryant doesn't take anything seriously, as you can see.  He is just a ham.

The team warmed up and then stretched together, so they'd be ready to run all out for the race.

My favorite stretch, its like watching 50 kids bouncing around trying to get their balance.

A big portion of the Middle School and Elementary teams.

Jonas was the first of my boys to cross the finish line.  He was actually quite a bit ahead of his teammate, but didn't know where the finish line was and went the wrong way... it was so funny!  At least a hundred people were yelling and waving their arms at him to get in corrected.  He ended up crossing before her anyway.  He seems to be taking it the most seriously of everyone.  He's always telling me when he "beats" someone in a race.  He's a great runner, when he chooses to run.  Last week, he walked a lot of practice, not sure why...

Bryant was next to cross the line.  He said that his side started hurting soon after the race started so he walked, "that's why Jonas beat me."  He is the most dedicated to working hard on running at practice and is definitely built like a runner.

He crossed the line so fast, this is the best shot I got.

Levi finally rounding the last bend in the course.  To avoid the same confusion that Jonas experienced there was a nice lady pointing him in the correct direction.

He fought hard to beat this little girl across the finish line.  Notice the difference in their expressions... she looks like she's actually enjoying it!

I can't say for sure if he beat her across, but either way they were the last two kids to finish aside from one little girl on our team who has some sort of physical limitations.  I totally cried when she finally finished.

I'm very proud of my little runners.  I'm not sure if Levi will continue with the team, he's having a really difficult time lately and while I hate to let him quit because something is hard or because he has a bad attitude... BUT I also don't think he really knew what he was committing to before giving it a shot.  His coach has a hard time getting him to listen and to participate... but I know he'll learn so much if he can work hard and improve.  I don't know what to do... what would you do?

Cave Run Lake

Our stake had an end of summer activity at Cave Run Lake and it was SO fun!  When we first arrived we went looking for the beach not sure what to expect... we found the woods...

... a stage (the kids happily put on a show for us)... but no beach!  Apparently we walked the wrong direction. :)

So after dinner (at 4 pm) we got directions on how to best find the water... and find it we did!

It was such a nice place.  The water was nice, there was plenty of beach for playing in the sand, there is a roped off area just for swimming, and just look at how beautiful it was!

IF you think Bryant looks bad you should see the other guy.

We even brought the kayak and had lots of fun playing on a different kind of water surface than we've experienced with it yet.

The kids were thrilled that Ethan finally let them jump off it into the water.

Bolton was in heaven!  Outside, check.  Dirt, check. Water, check.  What more could a little boy need?

Oh, that's right, a shovel! Check.

We can't forget a big brother who destroys your "castle."  Check.  I know it looks like Bolton is upset, but he was actually laughing like crazy!  Good thing their roles weren't reversed. That would have spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

 
I was watching Ethan closely, wondering if he was trying to hit the water or just testing the limits of the kayaks balance...

...either way, it looks like the water won!

Hey look I was there too!  It was such a beautiful place.  I was really dreading going, thinking it was going to be more work than fun and I was tired already, but I am so glad we went!

 It was a perfect way to spend a Saturday and bid farewell to summer!

Harvest

As selfish and terrible as this may sound, if there is ever a time I miss the luxuries of living in Utah its harvest time each year.  I can't tell you how much I miss being able to pick berries, peaches, apples, pears, apricots, etc. from Grandma's orchard.  

Living in Oregon I was still able to enjoy the fruits of the season going to "you pick" farms. But the last four years in Texas were painful as far as harvesting goes.  No fruit grows anywhere near Abilene.  It was so sad.  

You can imagine my excitement when I discovered that Kentucky is not like Texas in this way!  I went to the local farmer's market and discovered they even grow berries here!  Hooray!  Unfortunately I missed strawberries for the year and the raspberries had a short growing season this year due to the weather.  So two batches of blackberry jam (and some strawberry jam from berries at the grocery store) were all I was able to do when we first arrived.  

After cousin camp I decided to try and get my hands on some produce so I could really do some preserving this year... an email showed up in my in box that someone in the ward had apples falling off the tree and they were available to anyone who wanted to come and pick!  So I loaded up the 5 kids and off we went to pick apples.  We ended up coming home with three 5 gallon buckets full of pretty small, imperfect apples.

Now onto the second reason I miss being in Utah during harvest time... I have to can by myself!  Boo hoo!  But I did it this year!  And it felt good.  And I think it looks good too!

I found a farm that still had peaches available and rushed out to buy some so I could get some more jam made for the year... I was already down to one container from the three batches made earlier in the year.

So what you see here is two days worth of hard work.  I got 6 half pints of apple butter (first time ever even tasting it and YUMM-O!), 3 batches of peach freezer jam, 7 pints of Grandma's Peach Blush Jam, and 26 quarts of applesauce.  I even took pictures along the way to do a tutorial on canning applesauce on my food blog... when I get around to it.  Add that to the 6 pints of salsa I made this year from tomatoes given to me by a neighbor and I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself!

 The kids thought I was the coolest mom ever.  They came home from school and saw my juicer out and asked (in awed voices), "Did you buy that today?!"  No, was the reply, it just sat in a box for four year while we lived in Texas...  then they tasted the applesauce.  They were impressed.  Jonas asked if he could take it to his friend's birthday party, why? I wondered... because "its homemade applesauce!" duh, Mom.

So family in Utah, be thankful that you have each other to work together, to share the load, to enjoy the free harvest... Me? I'll be thankful that I don't have to split the end product with anyone but my crew, heaven knows we'll go through it all fast enough.

First Day of School (Already!!!)

School started for my big boys yesterday.  I can't believe how early in the year they start here!  I can see advantages to the early start date, but it sure got here quickly.  The boys were mostly really excited.  

Monday evening Ethan gave all the kids Father's Blessings, which is always such a special thing.  Bryant went first and after he was done Bolton shot onto the chair fast as could be saying, "my turn" over and over.  Levi wasn't too excited about Bolton going before him and Jonas, but relented in the end.  He sat reverently through his whole blessing too.  I was impressed.  

Jonas, however, did not sit still.  I was peeking during to keep an eye on Bolton during Jo's (because by the time Jonas went Bolton was pretty much out of reverence).  I had to laugh as I noticed Ethan's vice grip on Jonas' head to try to get him to hold still.  Pretty funny.

I don't remember if I shared this story here, but a few weeks ago Jonas came into our bedroom near tears.  He said, "I don't know if I'm ready for 2nd grade."  He was really upset and worried.  We talked about how he's not as good a reader as Bryant and we explained that Bryant is a lot older than him and has had a lot more practice, etc.  Not to mention that Bryant is super above most all the kids that are his age at reading.  Anyway, we talked about the things that Jonas is good at and how its going to be great to make new friends and that when school starts we are probably going to have the kids join the cross country team.  As soon as I said that, his tears dried up, a smile crossed that cute face and he ran off to tell the other boys.

Since then, he hasn't mentioned any hesitancy and yesterday came home saying, "2nd grade is a lot like 1st grade!"  And he says his teacher is really, really nice.  So hooray for Jonas!

When we went to Back to School Night, I was most worried the kind of teacher Levi would end up with.  However, she was by far the one that impressed me the most.  She knew exactly who he was and where we'd come from.  She seemed quite interested in him and excited for him to be there.  I think she will be a great fit for our Levi!

I think of all the boys, he has been the most excited for school to start.  And then the night before school started the zipper on his old backpack really quit (it was my back pack in Jr. High and High School, so its lived a good life) so he woke up to a new backpack full of school supplies!  He was SO excited!  It made for the first day of school that dreams are made of.  I love it when he's so happy and eager for life.

Bryant is growing up so much.  I know, I say that all the time, but its true!!!  Doesn't he look more grown up?  He has been putting hair spray in his hair!  Now if that isn't a sign of growing up, I don't know what is. :)

His teacher seems like she will be the toughest, but I'm not too worried about him.  Obviously he's fully capable scholastically, but he has a ways to go maturity wise.  Thankfully, teachers are used to working with 9 year old boys all the time.  I'm just getting my feet wet and it is an interesting age to work with.  He's more helpful than ever.  More understanding.  But he's very... busy (in case he reads this...) and likes to drive people crazy.

So the first day of school was a success.  And they just got home from the second day of school and they seem to have enjoyed it as well!  Yay!

Last night we went to cross country practice for the first time and the boys all loved it!  They have a team for K-12 and it seems to be really neat.  Last night they ran about 1 mile and I'm excited to see how they improve in their endurance as time goes by.  A friend told me that the kids struggle until the first race and then they see what all the practice is about and they get excited to work.  So that will be fun to see!  We'll be sure to keep you posted!

Cousin Camp: Day 10

Another skipped day, I know.  Tuesday, Day 9,  I sent Richy and family to Louisville to The Science Center and Frazier Museum, but I didn't think I'd be up to two big travel days, so I stayed home.  My kids were bummed at first... and at bed time, but we had a nice day.  Richy's fam had a great time!  They definitely sold us on taking a trip out sometime.

Day 10 was the biggest travel day of all.  It was Ethan's day off, so he got to come with us on our big adventure!  We got up early and hit the road south west to the Cave Region of Kentucky, about 2 1/2 hours from home.  We started our day at Kentucky Down Under.

When we got out of the car, there were lots of vultures circling above so the boys wanted to play dead to see if they could lure them down to the ground... but no dice.  Those vultures must be smarter than they look.

Our first stop in the land down under was to feed the parakeets.  It was a perfect way to start our day!  I walked out and had at least 4 birds land on me!

The kids were a little freaked out and complained a tiny bit about the birds' claws hurting them, but they all loved it.

Isn't that a cool picture?

Who knew I married my own version of Cinderella?

After feeding the birds we found a fun water way where the kids could search for gemstones among rough rock.  It was pretty cool.  Porter even bought a bag of the rough rock and ended up going home with some really neat stones!

Then it was time for our tour of Kentucky Caverns.  It was a short trip in, but very decorative and slippery and beautiful.  Some of the kids were scared, but most of them loved it!

Next we walked through the bird garden.  The first bird we encountered was a kookaburra.  Ethan was a pro at getting him to laugh but we thought it was funny to make the kids think their funny faces were the cause of the laughter...

They had some really gorgeous birds.

We watched a reptile show and the kids got to see and touch several different animals... like a skink...

...a small python...

...and a great bid python...

After we stopped for some lunch, we stopped to feed the lorikeets.  They weren't as friendly as usual according to the attendant, but we still had a great time!

And finally, we took a walkabout in the outback.  We got to pet a Red Kangaroo...

 ... an emu...

... and a gray kangaroo...

It was a really fun way to spend the day.  Bryant said, "This was the best day ever.  I got to spend the whole day in my favorite continent and country."  He is really obsessed with Australia lately.  We let the kids choose some souvenirs and daddy ended up going home with a big didgeridoo...

Our next stop was Mammoth Cave National Park.  We only had time for one tour, but we had a great time.  And it was stunningly beautiful!

Mammoth Cave was unlike any cave I've ever seen.  It is HUGE (hence the name!).  This room is the rotunda I was shocked at its size.  The first and second levels of the cave (I think they said there were 5 levels) don't have any of the normal stalagtites and stalagmites, etc.  But it was still really neat.  And there is a lot of interesting history there.

A nice man offered to take a picture of our entire group!  I think its the only one from the entire trip.

And Kari took another photo of our crazy family.

Kari was taking a couple shots of Ethan and I when our little sweetheart jumped in... I love it!  She is such a doll!  And handled all the walking of the day so well.

After our tour, we took a short "hike" through the beautiful fauna and flora. Kari and Bolton bonded as she chased him and he giggled up the trail.  It was so, so sweet. I love baby laughter.

Driving out of the park, we spied a fawn!  It got spooked right as we were going to pass so it was a bit of a blur, but a fun memory nonetheless.

I think we successfully tired the kids out.  I know we tuckered me out!

Day 11 was spent getting Richy and Kari all loaded up, we made a simple craft (lava lamps) but didn't get any pictures.  Then I got to take Kari and Paige shopping!  It was fun to have a little time away from all the craziness!

And this morning they drove away.  We are going to miss them! It was such a fun way to get to know our area and forge friendships with our family!  Thanks for taking the time, effort, and money to come and see us!  We love you!  And are so happy we have these fabulous memories to last forever!