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Life seems to tumble and gather steam at times when I think it should be calm. Tyler had a business trip to Portland and asked me to tag along. At the time the week looked relatively calm. But little by little things began to unexpectedly fill in.
Cross country races. Activity days. A surprise baby shower. Homecoming. Volleyball games.
Last Sunday I finally insisted that Erik take charge of his homecoming group of boys and make some plans because I was headed to Portland for three days and needed to know what role I was to play in the whole affair.
We hosted dinner and one other mom had them over after the dance for dessert. This meant that I was unable to go home for the weekend and help my mom with a surprise baby shower for my sweet sister in law. Choosing between two good things is so much harder than choosing between black and white.
But ah, what a great group. I'm so glad Erik has such good friends with good standards to rub shoulders with. What's ironic is three of these boys used to all be in the same ward in Stansbury: Erik, Mason, and Austin S. And one of the girls also used to live in our old Gordon Lane ward.
The dinner was a success with salad and soup
and Italian sodas and chicken cordon bleu and rolls. One mom also brought cute conversation stones to put on the table to stimulate some conversation when it started to lag and those kids used them. I heard it all from my perch in the kitchen.
And where's Kiersten, you say, in all this Homecoming hoopla?
She and Nate went to Boise for a cross country meet. The races were divided into two different groups for JV girls and the first 20 to cross the finish line got medals. At some point in the race her coach yelled to her that she was number 18 which she held to the end (18th out of about 200). Wow. She has come a long way since she joined this team three years ago.
Many times I ask myself how did I get so lucky to be her mom. She is amazing. This past week she also found out she scored a 34 on her ACT. The girl is headed for good things, including a cross country homecoming in a couple of weeks.
Josh Larsen, a boy on her team and Book Battle nemesis from grade school, asked her.
What's happening in my yard
My pumpkins are just about ready to be picked. This picture is a few weeks old so the color is a lot more green than what they are now.
My tomatoes are also doing well. No more rot blossom. I'm beginning to suspect its how I watered this summer which is probably not enough for raised beds. We are also digging up potatoes -- potatoes I didn't think we had because my plants sprouted up, got leggy, and then killed over. And the raspberries have done well this year. I keep thinking they are done producing only to go out and harvest more. What we don't eat I put in my freezer to make some jam later.
These are the days of . . .
*Little boys who love their stuffed animals so much they come alive with different voices. Sometimes we have to put George, Alex's monkey, in time out.
*Job changes. Tyler basically got fired from his current position and is having to reapply. He's interviewing for more of a sales job which would mean more travel. Thus we have been looking at buying more of a commuter car.
This weekend wasn't especially eventful. Kiersten left for Boise for a cross country meet. Our house isn't necessarily falling apart, but it's not the new house it once was. Conference began with the women's session. Nate gave his first talk in sacrament. And we got to see a blood moon lunar eclipse that won't happen again until 2033. Awesome stuff.
Every summer I have my kids make goals they want to accomplish for those three months. Some do better than others at accomplishing things, but all achieve something.
Kiersten had a goal to run 500 miles for cross country. That meant running twice a day for a lot of miles.
Nate set a goal of 250. He kind of blew his out of the water.
As a mom, I love seeing my kids grow and develop and become friends.
A month ago I watch a neighbor's toddler who tried out one of my kitchen drawers. At the time I thought he merely pulled it all the way out and I simply pushed it back in. But no, this week I discovered the screws holding the box to the rollers had been stripped with nowhere to put new screws. I dropped it off at the cabinet place to have a new box made.
And then Alex decided to even things up. His shorts caught on the handle, ripping the door off. The miraculous thing about this whole incident is I maintained my cool. I had just walked in the door from attending the temple when Tyler calmly let me know what had happened. All things can be fixed, right?
Nate gave his first sacrament talk today. I may have set him up for it. When he turned 12, he casually mentioned to me one day that he could give a talk in sacrament. Well, a year went by and nothing. So I casually mentioned it to the bishop and Nate was soon on the speaking docket. He did a fabulous job, talking about his conversion story from his baptism to receiving the priesthood to being challenged by a Sunday School teacher to consistently read his scriptures and pray. Cool under pressure. Didn't read it but spoke from his heart. Told some personal experiences. I had many people afterwards tell me what a great job he did. You wouldn't have thought he was only 13.
All evening we waited for the moon to show and finally as everyone was headed off the bed, there it was. Nate got out his telescope and we tried viewing it through that.
My camera, unfortunately, does not take good photos in the dark of objects far away. I'm always grateful for those who do get good shots and share them. This one below was taken by my friend Mindy Memmott.
Good things
a good, caring bishop
walks around the block
*digital cameras
*I am so grateful for those people in my children's lives who take photos of events that I am not able to attend. I feel like I haven't missed much when they are so kind to share either through email or social media. So with that, here are a few more homecoming pictures I got today.
A few weeks ago my Laurels and I started planning a movie night for the girls who didn't get asked to Homecoming. Slowly, one by one, I started getting those "sorry. can't make it" texts.
I was so happy for them.
Kiersten was still in our movie club up until a week and half ago.
Then she attended a seminary morningside.
So for all you younguns wondering whether 6:30 is too early in the morning to attend a fireside, you might want to think again.
Broderick Craig simply . . . and I say simply because so many proposals are anything but . . . approached her with a sunflower from off the side of the road and asked her to homecoming and she simply had to say yes.
No fluff. No wondering. No sleepless nights. No homework not done because time was spent elsewhere. My kind of proposal.
Except he didn't leave a lot of time for dress shopping and we were headed out of town for the weekend. That only really left last Monday. So Monday it was. And I prayed desperately that we might find something.
I mean I literally prayed that we would find a dress.
My Facebook peeps came through. Cousin Ash had one she was sending to the DI, so we graciously took it off her hands and set out to find some shoes at JCPenneys.
Found the shoes and took a quick glance at their dresses.
And we found one she really liked and it was on sale and the clerk used a coupon for us. I really love it when they offer to save me more money. And then she gave us a $10 coupon to use again, starting that day.
Returned the shoes and bought them again, using our $10 coupon.
What a great shopping trip.
Savings from great shopping deserves Zupas. I love Zupas, especially their tomato soup. I'm already salivating just writing about it.
Now for next year we have two great dresses to choose from and hopefully I'll be out a shopping trip.
Have I mentioned that I really don't like shopping. I mean it is one of my least favorite things to do. But for this girl, I'll happily oblige.
And now she's off at her first dance ever. Kevin Astill, our neighbor across the street, found me at stake conference and confessed that watching Kiersten leave for her date made him feel quite old.
Ya, well he's not her mother.
