Back to School

And they're off!
Dallin: 4th grade
Brady: 2nd grade
Kenzie: Sophomore
Mallory: 8th grade

It was not easy getting these two goofballs to hold still for a picture! Notice the long pants...it was in the 40's when the kids left for school!

I forgot to get pics of the girls so I made Kenzie pose that night but Mallory wouldn't cooperate. I guess she thinks she can give me attitude now that she's a big 8th grader. The house was definitely quiet yesterday without the constant sound of Disney Channel in the background. Everyone came home tired and happy, ready to face the new year!

Last Getaway of the Summer

We had a busy but fun-filled weekend. We went to McCall for the first time for our former ward's campout. It is so beautiful up there, I wish we could have stayed longer. We had so much fun on the lake, tubing with the Burks and playing in the sand. 

When we got back to our campsite this is what the kids spotted right by our tents:

 Brady did the one thing he wanted to do while camping, "find a perfect stick gun." (A direct quote.)

We had to head out early Saturday morning to get back in town in time for Dallin's first tackle football game, a scrimmage on the blue turf of Boise State. (Sorry about the not-so-great picture, in our hurry I forgot my camera). He did great and it was a thrill to play in a real college stadium (even if it was the not-so-favorite Broncos)

Oh, and throw in the birthday of this new thirteen-year-old and you have the makings of a very busy weekend. Just one more week of summer fun before it's back to school (maybe then I'll get a minute of rest!)

Toothless

Brady has lost two teeth this week so he's sporting a cute Jack-O-Lantern smile. Too bad the tooth fairy is so forgetful and took three days to come, therefore having to pay more out of guilt. (There's nothing sadder than waking up only to be disappointed with your tooth still under your pillow.)

Who needs vinyl lettering?

Not us! I told Mark that if the whole medicine thing doesn't work out he can always find work as a wall muralist.
 Look what he painted on the boys' wall:

Seriously, he just freehanded the design in pencil and then painted it. He's going to go over the white with glow-in-the-dark paint (how much are the boys going to love that!?!)

If you know Mark you know he is always working on a project of some sort. I call him a "Nervous Ninny" because if he's home he has to be doing something. Usually I am less than supportive of the home improvement projects he comes up with because I'm unsure about how they'll turn out. In the end, though, they are always great and I love how handy he is.

Excitement at our house today

We had an eventful afternoon around here. The kids and I were outside working on shucking about 100 ears of corn that our friends gave us when a storm started to blow in. For some reason Kenzie, Mallory and Dallin decided to don goggles, capes and magic wands and play Wizards in the backyard (don't ask me where they think of these things.)

Right after they performed this magic spell the lightning and thunder began (coincidence? I'm not so sure!)

We were in the house when we heard a loud bang that shook the house. Kenzie was near a window in the front of the house and said the lightning lit up the whole sky. A few minutes later we heard sirens and Kenzie looked out and saw smoke coming from the roof of the neighbor's detached garage.

The kids enjoyed watching all five firetrucks put out the small fire. The thoughts I had were:
1. I'm glad it was only their garage and not their house
2. I'm really glad it wasn't our house and
3. Why couldn't the lightning have hit the calcium plant behind us? I wouldn't have even called the fire dept. on that one (just let it burn).

Lazy Summer Days

I would like to call this photo montage "Barefoot on a Barbed Wire Fence"

This is what I found in the backyard a few nights ago. Mallory had somehow climbed up without shoes (ouch!) and Cosmo jumped right up and joined her.

Let's pretend those are amber waves of grain behind our house instead of dry weeds.

This is what happens when the sprinkler line Mark is working on sprays me and the camera.

See the lovely old building in the distance? It's an old calcium plant, and for those of you who have been here, you know how much I hate it. Good news! It looks like if might be in the process of being dismantled. I dream of one day waking up to see it completely gone.

This girl, she's dreaming of more summer nights like this one.

We are enjoying a few more weeks of doing nothing before school starts on the 30th. After our busy summer it's been nice to just be home. Our days are spent sleeping in, playing on the computer, reading books, working on projects, going on field trips, buying treats. In the evening you can find us outside: cooking on the grill, working in the yard, checking on the garden, jumping on the trampoline, enjoying the cooler temps. Dallin just started football practice (2 hours, 5 days a week!) so life is going to get busier. I'm hoping to enjoy these lazy days as long as I can!