Class Hike

Because they neeed another leader I was asked to go to the YW activity for Eva's class. They were going on a hike in the Franklin Mountains. I had to take Paige with me but she didn't mind. Tomorrow is the beginning of Fall Break so we had less girls than normal. It was a lovely hike and the girls are great. I am not as in shape as they are, however, so I usually was the caboose. Seeing the sunset from the summit was marvelous. 

 

My Spot

Apparently, my spot on the couch is coveted, as is the spot on my lap. I almost always have a Paige, Darby, or Jason on me when I sit on the couch.

When I get up, the dog steals my spot. I guess it's nice to be so loved. 

 

Garden

Our tomato plant is doing well but I fear that we didn't plant it correctly. I think we should have put a cage aroud it to support it as it grows. It is putting forth so many tomatoes that the limbs are drooping. I may need to cut it back a bit.

The jalapeno plant is booming! We got this many peppers from it today. Eva and I will make some pickled peppers from these to use on pizza and other things. 

Our poblano plant is growing but has only put forth one pepper. It is also leaning so far over to one side that I am surprised it is still alive. This is because of our dumb dog.

I looked outside one day and was able to see Stella go under the fence and start digging in the garden. She has uprooted part of the poblano plant in doing so. Of course I shooed her out but damage had been done. I hope it survives. We need a better fence. And a better behaved dog. 

 

What's New for Jason

This guy got second place in another Jui Jitsu tournament. He also got a fat lip, bloody nose and swollen ear. But he is pretty pleased with himself. 

He also got these two Funko Pop figures on sale. One is Ron Swanson's jazz alter ego who plays the sax named Duke Silver. The other is the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. A few days after hw bought them I found them in "appropriate" places. Duke Silver is by the piano and the Soup Nazi is in the kitchen. It is funny to note that he also has a Ron Swanson figure in hunting gear near his gun safe. 

He was hoping I would notice and was waiting for me to comment. What a silly guy!

 

Homecoming

Since Paige had such a blast last year, we all decided to go to the homecoming parade. We sat by the Ruths (Cassidy's family). I knew that there were several youth we knew from church that would be in the parade and I was happy to support them. It started off with the marching band and color guard. 

At one point, we saw one of our Sunday School students atop a car as he was part of the Homecoming court. We saw plenty of kids we knew and tried to wave at them all. 

There were a lot of floats and a TON of candy thrown. Jason thought that if he made the most noise they would notice him and throw it our way. It worked. Our kids came home with as much candy as if they had been trick-or-treating. It was so much fun!

 

Another Stripe

Coach told Paige that she would be getting another belt stripe this week so I made sure to go to class with her. I watched her roll with classmates and practice what the coach was teaching. She has a cute little friend in class and they love to be paired together. You can see these two cute girls in the picture. It is also fun to see Jason as assistant coach for the kids' class.

Here is Paige getting her new stripe and standing with her two great coaches. :)

 

New Baby

I got a text on September 12th with wonderful news. I am now a great aunt! Baby Luna had been born to my niece Sarah and her husband Luis that morning. She is 7lbs 5 oz and is just so precious.

A few days later we got some newborn pictures as well. She is just a doll!

 

What We've Been Up To

One evening I looked over to see these girls all cuddled up with their dad. It was so cute that I had to get a picture.

Darby decided that she needed to figure out her Halloween costume a little early. So she asked to try on all my teaching costumes. It really surprised me that she could fit into them now. My mom made this dress for my Civil War unit. 

One day I got this picture texted me from Ed. It cracked me up. Jason was using his neck strengthening machine (called Iron Neck) in his office and Ed walked in. Jason grabbed his back roller that the physical therapist gave to him as well for the shot. it is extra funny that the backdrop is the American flag. It's just all so ridiculous looking. 

Speaking of physical therapy, Paige is doing much better with her toe walking. She still walks on her toes but her calves are slowly stretching out. She still has a ways to go but I am growing tired of fighting her about it. We have come to the conclusion that the appointments don't really give us anything new. We know all the exercises and now she just needs to do them. So we discontinued the appointments.  Here she is doing a squat. Someday the hope is that she can do it without having to prop up her heels but we are working on getting there. 

I was asked to help with a youth service activity. My station as making cards fro hospitalized kids, senior homes and veterans. paige had to come with me, which she didn't mind. Some kids made wonderful cards but just as many didn't listen to instructions and/or wasted time and supplies. I will sort through the cards and send off the proper ones to CardzforKidz.org. Brendan and his friends made some funny but nerdy cards. Darby made many with puns, Eva's were artistic and Paige's were clever with its of cute. 

 

Temple Trip

There was another youth temple trip this weekend so we decided to make it another family affair. Paige went over to her friend Cassidy's for the day and we drove the kids plus one friend, Josh Ashby, to the Gila Valley Temple. The drive is 3.5 hours but we were able to make it fun. Brendan and Josh talked most of the way and the girls read books or slept. Jason and I were asked to help with the baptisms. I was in charge of towels and directing the youth to the changing rooms. Jason was in charge of rotating youth in to be witnesses. 

It was the first time I have watched youth baptisms when not a youth and I enjoyed it. I got to see Brendan do some baptizing. He is rather good at pronouncing the names (even the Korean ones we had) but not as good at supporting the person being baptized to come back up out of the water. He was just not strong enough for some of the youth who are bigger than he was. He was able to baptize his sisters and that seemed okay. 

After the baptisms and confirmation were completed we met outside for donuts and a picture. Jason got a phone call right before the picture so he and I are not in it. 

We then drove a little way to a restaurant for some lunch. It was a Hawaiian restaurant and was pretty good. On the way back to El Paso we stopped at a gas station that had a Dairy Queen in it for some treats. It took forever for our order to be made so we spent some time investigating this weird gas station in the middle of nowhere. There were some super weird trinkets to be bought, not to mention fireworks and a "huge selection of awesomeness". 

We got back around dinnertime and picked up Paige. She was supposed to have come back to the house a few times to let the dog out. Well, she forgot and the dog pooped in the house. Funnily enough, it was in her room. I had to clean it up, which was not fun, but I hope she learned her lesson. Jason called it a "justice pooping". 

Jason's Birthday

Happy Birthday Jason! He had to work on his birthday but his assistants decorated his office. When he got home we had Reubens for dinner and the girls made him apple pie instead of cake.

I gave him a Sonos bluetooth speaker as well as a case for it.

He spent quite a while getting it to work and I felt bad that the gift I gave made him so frustrated on his birthday. 

He wanted to play Ultimate Chicken Horse that evening so that's what we did. He is always the skateboarding cobra. 

If you are wondering about his ear, it was smashed in a grappling match and is swelling. To avoid cauliflower ear he has magnets on it to it can heal and not refill with fluid.  

Labor Day

We had a pretty low key Labor Day. This that could, stayed in their pajamas. Daddy convened the "BBQ committee" and they marinated ribs for dinner. 

Jason spent some time practicing grappling moves with Stanley. 

Brendan went to D&D with his friends. Eva did some baking, I did some family history and the little girls played dolls and Just Dance. It was nice to have a slow day together.

September Begins

Paige brought her violin home to show me what she's been learning. She can play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She's so cute! The winter concert is in a few months. I am anxious to see what these kids can do. 

The older girls asked how was taller today so I had them stand back to back. It has finally happened. Darby is two years younger but officially taller. 

I picked Paige up from Cassidy's house yesterday after a playdate. They tried to fool me into thinking she had a black eye. But she just looked too happy so I knew they were trying to pull something. Apparently they DID fool Cassidy's sister-in-law who gasped and said, "They will never let her come play at our house again!" I gotta admit that it looks pretty convincing. Cassidy's mom apologized for the make-up but it was really no big deal. It came right off. 

Darby came inside from the garage to tell us that Stanley was tired and taking a nap. 

This morning I see that Stanley is eating breakfast at the table. Oh brother.