Enjoying autumn

Labor Day

We hit the pool and golf course one last time before the end of a fun season.

Boating

The kids had an extra long Labor Day weekend, so when everyone else was in school, we headed to the lake!  We only saw one other boat the entire time we were there.  I now have proof that I can waterski.  It may not look pretty, but I got over the wake which made me feel a little less-old.

Fun times with friends

Brynlie is having a great school year!  She has rekindled old friendships and made new ones.  She is about a zillion times happier than I've seen her in a couple years.  To facilitate socializing at the beginning of the school year, I took a bunch of her friends to Pizza Ranch for dinner before the Friday Fun Night I chaperoned at their school.

Wacky Wednesday and Throwback Thursday

During Spirit Week, Lindsey and Logan got all whacked out by mixing up plaid and polka dots, and Logan even wore his button-up shirt backward.  Brynlie did a major throwback to the 80's.  Yep, she looks pretty much the same way I did when I was 11 in 1988.

Homecoming Parade

Homecoming in Kearney is quite the event.  School gets out before lunch so the town can congregate downtown and cheer on the football players, cheerleaders, marching band and Homecoming royalty in a parade.  My kids mostly go for the candy!  The whole town dresses up in school colors - gold and purple - and we even whip out the spray paint to let the kids have wild hair.

Soccer, soccer and more soccer

Logan and Lindsey are both on soccer teams, so we spend many hours on the fields for practices and games.  This year they are playing harder times in a Liberty league, and they sometimes have late games where they have to play under the lights.  On this night, these 6-year-old boys had a game from 7:45-8:45 on a school night!  Logan isn't so into soccer, but he's excited to try basketball this winter.  Lindsey still loves soccer and even joined an indoor league that begins next week.  Her Daddy is happy to be coaching again.

We might be a little over-scheduled

After his soccer game, Logan was exhausted.  When we got home, I told him to go to the bathroom before he fell asleep.  I guess I should have been more specific.  We all laughed so hard when we saw him fast asleep on the toilet.  At least the toilet had been thoroughly cleaned earlier that day!

We love each other

I found this note underneath my pillow one morning.  We might be over-scheduled, but at least we still take time to serve and love each other.

General Conference

We enjoyed a weekend of wearing pajamas, eating (a loooot) of comfort food and devouring General Conference.  For the record, I did finish listening to every talk again from the April Conference before this Conference began. 

More fun times with friends

The Bonneau's invited us over for a big fall party.  Lindsey and Logan were ecstatic about spending the day with TJ and Madeleine.  Ryan was ecstatic about watching football on all NINE TV's in the basement.  The Bonneau's house is IN-CRED-I-BLE.  When you take the stairs to the basement, you realize there is a basement for the basement.  And it is fully decked out to make it the best party house of all time, including TV's on every wall of the "man cave" to make it feel like a sports bar. Their backyard is a dream, too.

We are dog owners!

After all the drama with the last dog dying, we were anxious to bring a puppy home.  When we went to see the puppies at the breeder's home last week, the kids fell in love with this little cutie named Bella.  I wanted one of the tiny puppies with brown coloring, but the kids had their heart set on taking a puppy home that day.  So off we went with a Bella puppy, and I was just a tad nervous about taking care of a dog since I've never had one before (besides Benji when I was a kid, who sadly doesn't really count because he stayed outside and never got attention)!  The first night was hell.  The puppy cried all night because she missed her Mama and brother.  She also had a bit of a scary experience with the Napier's dog, Rusty.  The next day I got on the phone to call all my dog-loving friends and got some great advice.  I got a crate, which has saved us all.  Bella already had her name when we picked her up, but we are considering changing it since we found out we have TWO neighbors right by us with dogs named Bella.  That could make for some confusion when the dogs wander off!

Here's the kicker . . . I'm in love with this girl.  I giggle and coo at her all day, and spoil her ridiculously rotten.  Who would have thought?  I've honestly taken myself by surprise.  She has the cutest personality, and loves to snuggle with me.  Anytime I sit down to do homework on the computer, she prances over and cuddles up on my socks.  I'm definitely learning why dogs are man's best friend!  Ryan and the kids laugh at me because I can hardly stand to leave the puppy alone for just a few minutes.  She isn't having 100% success on doing her business outside, but she's about 75% and improving daily.  Until then, I'm cleaning her sweet-smelling, cutie-patootie pooper-doopers off the hardwood floors.

The dog in front is Bailey, the brother of Bella.  They were the only two dogs born in their litter, and they've been best buds since day one.  They were so cute running around with each other before we brought Bella home.  It felt a little cruel to separate them!

I will give you three guesses to figure out which child was angry that she couldn't hold Bella on the drive to our house.  I just wish this child would be more expressive.  It's so hard to read her moods.  :)

This sweater . . . right?!  Ryan bought it for her.  I'm considering having her keep the name Bella until after Halloween so I can dress her as a Bella-rina or Tinker-Bella.  Yes, I'm becoming one of those crazy ladies that dresses up her dog.  The picture on the left proves that I don't like leaving her home, so she just travels with me in the van lately.  The best news is that I've had no problems with allergies!  All my research into hypo-allergenic dogs paid off!

Elder Childs came for a visit!

Although he's no longer Elder Childs.  Now he's just Brother Stuart Childs.  We love this guy who served in our ward a few years ago!  He looks a little different, considering he's growing a beard to be Abe Lincoln for Halloween.  Perfect, since he's so freakishly tall!  I found out he's even seriously dating a girl from Moses Lake, Washington - small world!  We ML girls are the best.  I'm glad Stuey spent every last penny in his account to come to Missouri and see his mission peeps.

Cars are not friends

Brevan got hit by a car while walking from the Junior High to the High School for a debate practice.  He called me immediately afterward and through gasps, said, "Mom!  I got hit by a car!  I think I'm OK.  I'm going to the High School now."  Feeling confused, I didn't know if I should run to his aid.  Brevan doesn't seem to feel  pain the same way other people do, so I worried that he could be injured without even realizing it.  A few minutes later I got a call from the HS principal, who told me to come to the office asap.  A careless teenager hit Brevan in the leg with the bumper of the car, causing Brevan to crash into the windshield, breaking it.  He had a large bruise on his leg, his shoulder was sore and there were a couple deep wounds.  What a crazy experience.  Over the course of the next couple weeks, I spent a good amount of time helping with the investigation into the incident.  The boy who hit him stopped very briefly to say, "Are you OK?" before getting in his car and driving away.  He told his parents about the incident, but they didn't require him to call the school or check on Brevan.  I understand that everyone makes mistakes, but I wanted the kid to take some responsibility.  As it turned out, Brevan was hit in the one area between the JH and HS where the surveillance cameras have a lag in their video.  Rather frustrating, but I'm just so grateful that Brevan wasn't hurt more seriously.  The first thing he said to me when I saw him in the HS Health Office: "Well, now I know how it feels to get hit by a car.  I wonder how it feels to get shot with a bullet?"  Please, child, let's not find out.

I had my own car incident this past weekend.  It was sprinkling rain this past Friday morning as I was driving to the temple to meet a friend for a session. The one thing I hate about living out in the country is having to drive on the skinny 2-lane highways.  The roads have hills and curves, with speed limits of 55 MPH, which means people often travel as fast as 65 MPH.  There is no room for error because there are no turning lanes in the middle of the road and the shoulders immediately drop off into ditches on both sides. While driving on the highway, I turned on a blind curve and the van started fish-tailing in back.  I realized I had no control of the vehicle anymore. I looked up to see 2 large trucks headed right at me.  It sounds dramatic, but time seemed to go in slow motion.  I literally thought the first truck was going to slam right into my driver-side door at a speed of 60 MPH. Suddenly the van did a complete 360 degree turn in the middle of the road before sliding backward into a ditch and shutting off.  I was in such shock that I just sat still for a few minutes before bursting into tears.  I'm not sure how else to describe the event but to say I've never felt so close to death.  The van wouldn't start for a few minutes, but then it suddenly came to life again, although the brakes have been messed up since then.  I decided to still head to the temple, but I called Ryan along the way and cried loudly while he tried to calm me down.  My life seemed to come into focus a little more that day, and I had a new perspective on the stress.  I was grateful that I had gotten off my knees in prayer just moments before getting into my van.  

I {heart} prophets and apostles - both living and dead

Our area was blessed to welcome Elder Ballard last weekend.  He traveled here to commemorate 50 years since the Liberty Jail was renovated and opened to the public.  Christine and I got tickets to hear him speak at the Stake Center on Sunday night, where my cup was filled to the brim by the Spirit.  It was an awesome experience to hear his spiritual insights as well as get to know him as a person.  He was very humorous, and even gently reprimanded the audience at the end because we stood up to sing "Praise to the Man" without being instructed by the chorister.  

The scriptures have come alive to me as I've studied them in depth in my religion class.  There are definitely parts of the religious class that seem like "busy work" but my instructor is doing a fabulous job pushing us to study the scriptures in a way I never have before.

Never a dull moment

I have been field-tripping, spending hours volunteering with the Kearney Family Foundation, fulfilling my church responsibilities (which included teaching Relief Society yesterday) and filling every spare moment with homework.  It's a great life.