September....

September has come and gone in a flash.  Between school, soccer, volleyball, cross-country, our schedules are adjusting to the new school year and the hecticness that comes with it.  So far all three kiddos are doing well in school and adjusting to new schedules, teachers, and friends.  Olivia is loving the high school and the new found freedoms she is finding.  It has been easy for me to let her go on to this new experience because she is such a great kid.  Shaylee is finding 7th grade isn't near as easy as 6th grade.  We are reliving 7th grade projects with her as we did with Olivia.  Shaylee however is putting a new light on things.  Olivia is definitely our perfectionist and every project in science had to be above and beyond.  Shaylee on the other hand is good with "let's just get it done".  For a mom who leans to the perfectionist side this isn't an easy take for me.  I have a feeling this will be the year I have to step back and say, "Go for it!", and let her try it on her own.  Taite has easily adjusted to fourth grade.  I love having him next door to me, and he LOVES his class.  I am excited for his successes this year.

As I mentioned above our schedule has been full of soccer, volleyball, and cross-country.  Olivia's soccer experience so far has been fantastic!  They just finished their JV games last night at Blackfoot.  They ended having a winning season with Liv getting tons of field time.  She is definitely a fiesty little player.  Her coach made the comment to me one day, "I can't believe Olivia.  She is so quiet and polite on the sidelines, then I put her out on the field and she turns into an animal!"  She had a couple of health setbacks this season, but with her determination she worked through them and kept playing.  She had shin splints so bad for about two weeks that she could hardly walk up and down the stairs when she would come home from practice.  I kept telling her she needed to talk to the athletic trainer.  Her response, "No way, he will bench me!"  She played through them and eventually the pain subsided and she could walk comfortably.  Towards the end of the regular season she took a kick to the foot.  It hit her right on the incision from her surgery.  I know she truly was in pain because she actually did tell the athletic trainer, we went to the doctor, AND she sat out of about a weeks worth of practices.  The doctor confirmed there was no structural damage, but that she had a severe bone bruise resulting from being kicked right directly where the bone removal had taken place.  She has worked through this pain as well, limping around after practice, but determined to finish the season strong!  She absolutley loved playing for Kara Johnson and Kara's assistant, Alex White.  To watch Liv go from someone who wasn't sure she was even good enough to try~out, to someone who put everything she had on the field whenever she walked on it makes me so proud of her.  However, one of the proudest moments came as the head coach pulled me aside and said they were going to pull Olivia up to varsity for district.  She had very mixed emotions when she found out the good news.  First, her insecurities started showing, then the fear of playing bigger and tougher girls crossed her mind, and finally she became honored and excited. Yes, this shows that hard work, a good attitude, and determination can take you far.  Now our eyes are on Preston High School winning district and going to STATE!!!!! 

Shaylee has become Dave's official big-game hunter in the family.  She headed to Wyoming on the 15 of September with Dave and Roger in hopes of tagging her first antelope.  Sure enough she came home with meat for the freezer, wouldn't call it a trophy, but for a first time hunt she did great!  Again, as I have said before you will have to catch up with Dave to get the full details on any hunting excursions I post about. 

Taite got to take the next hunting trip, much to mom's dismay as it required him to miss a few days of school.  His awesome teacher encouraged him to go and spend quality time with his dad.  Yeah, she will probably always be among his top favorite teachers for convincing me it was okay for him to miss school.  Taite, Dave, Boone, Jake, and a few other fellows that I don't know, headed off for a trip down the Middle Fork.  Yep, I was nervous knowing he had to fly in a little bush plane, float down the river, and try to stay warm....it is one thing to send Dave off as an adult, but another to send my little buddy off.  In the end, it all turned out great.  He had a fatastic trip with lots of stories to tell.   It cracked me up that when I asked him what his favorite part was his answer, with a huge smile on his face, was, "Burning trash!" Yep, quality time spent with his dad.  I have included a few pictures since otherwise I am not too full of details. I do know the bear in the pictures was shot by Dave, beyond that who knows what their hunting stories might be....


Taite's soccer season ends in two weeks. He is having a great time, and I will update as the season ends. Shaylee too is in the middle of cross-country and volleyball. She really is torn between which sport is her favorite, but I have informed her that next year I think it is going to have to be one or the other. Too much, is just that, TOO MUCH. She also is going to try-out for the Cache Valley Elite basketball team. That will be plenty to keep her busy. More updates to come with all of her activities as well.

We had the special opportunity of visiting the new Brigham City Temple during the open house held this month.  We also were able to attend one of the dedication sessions towards the end of the month.  We kind of made it a rushed decision on the day we were going, but we knew it was the only day that we could possibly make it work with all the other obligations we had.  So after Shaylee ran a meet in Soda we piled in the car, drove home, changed, and hopped back in the car.......just as the rain hit.  Lucky for us, I guess, the rain became a downpour and we found front row parking, short waiting lines, and a beautiful experience.  Shaylee kind of gave us fits about going, because she wanted to do something with her friends.  I told her she had to go "because who knows maybe this will be the temple you want to get married in."  She looked at me with complete disgust, rolled her eyes, and said, "Yeah right, I am getting married in Hawaii."  Simple as that I guess.  The temple experience was beautiful and a fantastic chance for our children to see the beauty on the inside.  It made me also realize that I have a long way to go in temple attendance, I can only use the excuse, "But we are so busy" for so long.  It gave me a stronger desire to attend the temple more regularly and also to spend more quality time with our family. 

We are now 3 days into October and with much ahead of us............