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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.
Erik finally succumbed to our pleadings and is headed to Homecoming, his first actual dance. The lucky girl got a pizza delivered to her door with Erik dressed in his pizza delivery uniform from Hometown Pizza. Oh, did we have fun concocting how he would ask her.
What's happening in my yard
Our peaches are sooooooo close to being fully ripe. My dad tried to pawn some of his off on me last week and I had to decline. We are overloaded this year. The fruity peach smell in our little orchard is simply divine. I've picked them as they've fallen and picked a few off the trees to make peach pie filling, dried peaches, peach cobbler, and fruit leather, but the majority are going to ripen this week I believe.
These are the days of . . .
*Cooler fall temperatures that allow me the luxury of leaving windows open at night. Ash simply doesn't appreciate it and complains most mornings about it being too cold. I don't know . . . 68 or 69 doesn't seem terribly cool when I know it's going to warm up during the day.
*Lake Point Days race. Alex begged me to sign him up for a race at the beginning of the summer. I hesitated, not knowing if we'd be around for Lake Point Days since it fell over our traditional Ferron Peach Days weekend. He ran well and loved it.
Erik smack-talked Nate all year, telling him how he was going to beat him. Erik ran well, but didn't come close to Nate who gave it his all at the end to come in 2nd.
I can't believe this is the same kid from 7 years ago. I think his form has improved a little.
Nate actually had time to walk back a 100 yards and run with Erik when he came around the corner.
Ash also took home a medal for being the only teenage girl to race, even though she's not even 12 yet.
*Early morning orchestra. Thankfully, we are only driving to the jr. high two times a week instead of three.
*Football games have taken over our life again. It's kind of like school. I love it when they start. They seem to signal the beginning sweater and soup weather. But, man do I celebrate the Superbowl because it means the death of football for another season, and I couldn't be happier.
A couple of weeks ago Erik took the ACT test for the first time. I had suggested he do an early one to give him a benchmark. He came home that morning telling me how rough it was. He had put the answers to the reading section on the science section, so then he spent some of his time on the science section copying answers over. He didn't feel like he did well at all in the reading. SOOOOO . . . . he was hoping for just an average score.
On Tuesday he sent me an email in the middle of the day: I got a 32!!!!!!!!! with a screenshot attached.
I was dumbfounded and sent him back a quick congratulations reply and then thought more about it.
A little more than a week was a quick turn around for scores. Kiersten has waited at least 3 or 4 weeks before finding out. He was pulling my leg. I was sure he was in math with his friends who had all decided to pull a fast one on me.
So I emailed him back that I wasn't sure if he was serious because the screenshot didn't have his name. Well, another one came back with his name attached.
I'm still in shock he got such a fantastic score his first time. That sure alleviates the pressure. I'm still a little skeptical, checking the mail daily, waiting for that final notice to come.
He also moved up to first singles in varsity tennis and played a winning match against Tooele. He's got a couple of home games and then region play. Grandma Jules and Katie came to watch. My family is so supportive of my kids and their activities.
Friday I came home to find a heart of tennis balls on my floor. Erik got asked to a dance. The Last Chance Dance. My heart sank a little because Erik still has a month before turning 16. I told him this was going to be his choice, his decision to make.
In the meantime I looked up the date of the dance -- May 21, his 16th birthday. That is pretty much the last chance for a dance since school ends the following Thursday. So I guess that makes it an easy decision.
I wonder if she knew it was his birthday and safe to ask. She's been to our house a couple of times, bringing Erik cookies. And this is not the same girl who brings him cookies to math when he loses tennis matches.
Ah, first date, first dance. I think he's not entirely thrilled about it being on his actual birthday but he'll still have fun and we can celebrate on another day. He spent Friday night working on his answer.
Good things
rain
Sunday talks
Elder Vizzini's "Be Still My Soul"
Second dance date for Kiersten and she got to hang with her cousin Scott on this one. How fun. I'm so excited for the day Erik gets to join them in a couple of months.
This Snowball Dance was a girls preference. Kiersten and her friend Cambree swapped dates from homecoming, and Kiersten convinced our neighbor Hannah to join them by asking Scott. And then her friend Rachel needed a group to join. Kiersten always has fun people to hang with and they're always doing crazy things. I am just so grateful that she feels comfortable bringing her friends to our home. I love it and hope they feel comfortable in our home.
No dress shopping was involved with this dance. We had a hand-me-down that's been hanging in her closet for several years, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to reveal itself.
This particular group of girls have been driving for a little over a year. Kiersten's six-month probation was up on Saturday, giving her free legal license to be the chauffeur. No biggie, right? Except this dance was at the University of Utah. Oh my mother heart skipped a beat when that little bit of trivial information was relayed to me. I knew all I could do was just pray and put it in the Lord's hands that they would make it there and back safely. It was only several weeks ago that Kiersten drove to the temple by herself, with no adult supervision. And now she was going to have seven other passengers to be responsible for through downtown Salt Lake. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. And many thanks for cell phones that allowed her to text me when she was leaving so I could count the minutes until they arrived home. No mishaps. Or at least none that they are willing to divulge to me.
The date began with a trip to the DI to find the craziest, wackiest outfit for $10.
Oh, I'm afraid Kiersten and Cameron took first prize on that one. Kiersten even scored a pink bra out of the deal.
Dinner was hosted by Hannah's mom, Kathie, in her dance studio and then off to the dance to return several hours later to our home to finish up with a movie. Those girls had their dates home before they turned back into pumpkins at the stroke of midnight.
I am loving these dating years and we've only just begun.
