First lost tooth

Alex informed us last night that he had a loose tooth. A very loose tooth which did not make it through the night.

We searched the bed and nothing. The only other alternative is down the hatch (we didn't tell him it might be swimming in his stomach). Ty and I kind of mourned this day: it signaled that our baby is moving quickly into that young boy stage. Soon after he was born and during our home build, I remember many days of just wanting to sit and hold him because I knew it would go so quickly.

Erik must have had the same thought.

Before leaving for his first day of a whole day of first grade, Alex quickly wrote a note to the tooth fairy and put it under his pillow.

Ah, the tooth fairy. He's quite an unreliable fellow at our home. I sure hope he doesn't disappoint tonight.

What's going on in my yard
Apples. My apples are ripe and ready for eating. I've already dried some and made applesauce and apple crisp. I'm hoping to make some apple pie filling this week. We were also smart enough to cover our trees with netting and so far the birds have left them alone. Hallelujah!

These are the days of . . . 
*boating activities with the youth

*nesting; it seems every fall when the kids go back to school I find myself cleaning, organizing, dejunking; boy does it feel good to regroup after all the summer festivities

*difficult planned conversations gone awry

First day of school

This year school began on a Monday much to the dismay of my children. But come what may and love it.

Years ago I remember a woman from my Stansbury ward detailing the cost of having 3 kids in high school at the same time. I made a mental note and realized that many years down the road I would be in the same boat.

And here I am with a senior, junior, and freshman. Ah, this was Kiersten's LAST first day of school picture. I see many more LAST things to come this year.

The idea of a free education is so foreign to me right now. If it's not the school needing money than its the kids fundraising at my door for all their various clubs. It only cost me $850 to get my three into school. It could have been much worse if Drivers Ed were part of the equation.

As my neighbor and I were walking the other day, we discussed the public school system in our country and both are of the consensus that organized sports should have no place in education other than a PE class. But we both know that will never fly. Too much emphasis on trophies and not enough on education.

Ash is 6th grade. Swim big fishy. And Alex is 1st grade. Swim faster than the big fishy. Somehow I never imagined this day would come where all my kids would be in school for the entire day. I'm loving the quiet mornings.

And this morning I finished a book titiled Simply Tuesday by Emily P. Freeman. Make sure you get that P in there because another of my most favorite authors is Emily Freeman whose writing style and genre is very similar although I doubt they even know the other exists.

You want a little taste of what I've been reading this week. Well, here ya go:

It’s easy to fight for a cause when the stake are high – freedom, rights, life or death. It’s way harder to fight for moments, to fight to see meaning on a Tuesday afternoon around the homework table. Because at the end of it you don’t have anything to show for it beyond a kid who has finished math worksheet and let’s be honest, who cares much about that? Yet if the world gives it such attention, maybe we need to crane our necks away from the cities of the world and force our attention to the benches in our own front yards. I don’t mean we have to create meaning and elevate each moment to the level of The Most Important Thing Ever. The truth is, the moments may be boring. In the scope of life, they may not have much impact on the course of things or the decisions we make. But learning to live well in ordinary time isn’t a call to elevate moments; it’s a call to draw close to Christ.

Kind of goes along with our school theme for this post. Another little phrase I'm gonna borrow from her and add to this blog is "These are the days . . . ". I've been ending my blog with Good Things going on in our live at the moment, a kind of gratitude list. Well, I imagine this could very well incorporate that and many more things, more of the ordinary, day-to-day stuff that I tend to forget about.

What's going on in my yard

Well, about the only thing really blooming right now are these volunteer sunflowers. I'm knowledgeable enough to know in the spring what they are and not pull them. You can't get anything much better than this that requires absolutely no water and no maintenance.

These are the days of . . . 

*little boys who are so excited for school and who tell their mom how important it is to go to "back to school" night even though she was not planning on going (she went . . . for him). ALEX

*a daughter who is so diligent and committed to her cross country team that she gets up early to run, runs during her Running for Life class, runs after school for practice, and cools down at night with a 2 mile run. Okay maybe she is just crazy. KIERSTEN

*having a child (ASHLYN) remind you of the tradition you started many years ago of giving each child a candy gram for the morning of the first day of school and you realize it's Sunday night and school starts in t minus 8 hours. Yep, this mom came through albeit it was more at t PLUS 8 hours.

Racing with a prayer

I completed my 7th half marathon and Kiersten and Nate both have two under their belts with the completion of the Crandall Canyon Half.

This was a harder race than the others due to a lack of training. I did get a couple of long runs in but not enough mileage. This summer was jammed packed with so many events that I just didn't have the time to devote. I'm so glad I didn't sign up for that marathon I was thinking about earlier this year.

Kiersten and Nate froze while we waited for the bus to pick us up

and transport us to the top of Huntington Canyon which was beautiful. We were dropped off by Electric Lake where a mist of clouds hung around the mountains. After we all boarded the bus, the race director offered a prayer. That was so impressive and something that has never happened before. I was touched by that simple gesture.

I also got reacquainted with a childhood friend at the race start but that's the last I saw of her. With only around 25 competitors you were bound to run a majority of it by yourself which I did. With no one to keep my eye on, I lagged quite a bit.

Nate took 2nd overall. I overheard a comment as he was exiting the porta-potty at the start. Some lady looked at him and said, "That kid's gonna beat us all." Kiersten did pretty well herself.

These two have improved a great deal in endurance and speed and were BOTH invited to HARC -- High Altitude Running Camp, a camp sponsored by their coaches. It is invitation only and in years past not many freshmen have been included. Kiersten was super excited to have Nate join her in this adventure. They camped in Big Cottonwood Canyon for 4 days and ran, Ran, RAN . . . mostly uphill twice a day.

I have never had to push or cajole them into running the miles they do. It is something they've wanted for themselves and they get up and do it.

School doesn't start until Monday and already we've had two cross country races. Settlement Canyon was a disappointment to both but the Highland Invitational was a success. Nate smashed his old time, coming in at 19:04. 

Kiersten also PR'd by about 40 seconds and was the first JV to cross the finish line from our school.


What's happening in my yard
I didn't get around to harvesting my artichoke and was pleasantly surprised to see a stunning lavender flower atop it one morning. It looks like the petal below it is about ready to flower also.

Good things
ripening apple tree
apple crisp
heck, anything apple in the fall

Number 2's big week

The deal was Erik had to get his eagle scout before he got his license.

1. All the paperwork got turned in this week and now we're just waiting.

2. That elusive license finally became his. He's been driving by himself for a little bit. It's just nice to finally be legal.

3. Hometown Pizza called for an interview and hired him on the spot. He had applied at Del Taco and even got a couple of interviews but due to manager changes and miscommunication, he never heard back from them. Pizza really is where his heart is though, not tacos. Part of me has been okay with him not having a "real" job. He's got a fantastic ACT score and great grades and can currently get a scholarship to USU. I'm just hoping this job won't interfere with school.

What's happening my my yard

Yes. More trees. I really thought we were done as in we've run out of room. But there seems to be more than enough space for more. We are planting another crab apple to match one we already have in the front and another Winter King Hawthorne for the front. The crab apple is a clump variety which Tyler is a sucker for. 

Good things
2 year old niece
coconut vanilla Pepsi (actually this is great thing; one of my weaknesses)
hard running camps that stretch my kids