Labor Day Trip

We headed up north over Labor Day and fit in a lot of fun. 

We started off with dinner in Salt Lake at Albertos.  Which for some reason we all get too excited for.

The next day Anton, Liz, and I  headed to Mount Olympus.  We made it to the the saddle which I had done once before many years ago.  It was beautiful with the pine trees and some colored leaves.  The weather was perfect and it was fun to talk and get out and do something active.  It was so nice of Jer to stay and watch all the kids so we could go.  I'm always surprised how sore my legs get even though I think I'm in pretty good shape.  Let's just say it got so bad I actually bought a rolling stick to massage my muscles.

Later that afternoon we were all pretty tired from hiking but wanted to get the kids out to do something.  We headed to the farm that's close to Anton and Liz's and enjoyed a nice day.

It was so fun to be able to go to the zoo and it was even better that we happened to run into my brother, Ernest and his family.   I don't remember the last time we were all able to be together with all our kids.  It was chaotic of course but a great memory.

Monday before we headed home we took the kids to the discovery museum.  Jer had never been there so it was nice to be there with him as well.

We love getting away and spending time as a family.  I find more and more our life gets so crazy that we need this type of thing.  I hope that my kids appreciate and remember all the fun memories we make together.

Meal Prep

Seems like I can't find a great time to prep meals each week.  But I love to do it because it makes such a difference for me to feel prepared and have some healthy things for us through the week.  Lately Sunday afternoons while people are napping or hanging out at I've found has worked well.  Lucky for me Jer takes on most of Sunday dinner so I don't feel like I'm in the kitchen all day. Don't love the dishes after but I love the feeling of having things ready for the week.

A new kind of protein bites with almond meal, real peanut butter, dates, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.  Chambers being my little helper marking all the hard boiled eggs.

Tacy wanted to help me cook something so we made whole wheat zucchini muffins.

I had a lot of peaches and I threw some peach cobbler in the crock pot for Sunday dessert.

Anahem chilies from the bountiful basket broiled and skins peeled for chili rellonos later in the week.

I have figured out that if I want us to eat more veggies I have to have some cooked and ready to go.  It seems like we can hardly make it though a Costco bag of broccoli unless I have it cooked so we can just warm it up for lunches.  It's already gone so I need to cook the other half now.

I wanted to do a couple more things but I'll push them off for next week.

Not a meal prep but I also made some laundry detergent.  Pretty easy with the food processor and really gets our clothes clean!

Snow Canyon

Enjoyed a fun day of hiking Snow Canyon with my brother Ernest.  We even did some parts I hadn't done before.  It was hot but we talked and caught up the whole time.  Next time it's the Narrows for sure!

August Randoms

Jer and I had a pretty low key anniversary.  We had just gone to Vegas before school started and are planning a "couples" trip later in the year.  Jer surprised me with flowers and we went to dinner.  I truly can't believe it's been 13 years.  So grateful to have him by side.  As hard as marriage and life can be sometimes it is comforting to know that you will always have someone to share your life with.  We are still learning at this whole marriage thing, but it's been a wonderful journey together.

The kids have loved practicing hairstyles on me lately.  I have had to draw the line on those little rubber band elastics because they just don't have the hang of it and it they rip my hair out every time.  I do like when they play with it.  Here is one creation.

One evening a few weeks ago the clouds rolled in and it cooled off so or course we went for a walk to enjoy cooler weather.

We took L'Deane to our favorite local taco place one evening.  It was nice to visit with her while we enjoyed dinner on the patio.

Soccer Season

With school back in session, soccer is also in full swing.  The kids are both playing on competitive teams this year.  Truman plays for Heat FC.  It is affiliated with Dixie University which is nice because he has a coach that plays on the men's soccer team there.  His name is Dominic and he is great with the boys.  I have been very impressed with the program and his coach.  He also has a parent coach so they get some great guidance and Truman has improved and done so well.  He has had a bit of a confidence issue and this year it just all seemed to come together for him.  They are a first year team so they still have lots of room to grow and improve.  They are playing in "gold" bracket this year, so they are playing with the best of kids around here.  They weren't expected to win too many of their games this year but are projected to continue to improve and build on skills and do better in years to come.  They are a lot of fun to watch at this age.  Truman works hard on the field and gives it his all.  He is usually a defender and every once in a while plays mid field.  We are excited to see him play each week.  

Tacy is on the United FC team.  It is a local competitive team with the coach she has had for many seasons.  The organization isn't quite as organized yet but that will come with time I'm sure.  One nice thing is practices are literally minutes away from us.  She has won all her games but one so far.  She plays so hard, almost too hard sometimes.  We are trying to teach her to save some of her energy and trust her teammates so she isn't running full force all over the field, giving it everything she has.  She works hard and doesn't give up for sure.  She plays middle forward and we love seeing her score goals!  Her team is working on spreading the field and playing their positions.  They are also a first year team so I think they will improve a lot and learn to play even better together.  They play their rivals this Saturday so we will see how that goes!  I spent an afternoon making bows for her team.  These should last a couple years, so I will be off the hook for a while.

Since I never manage to bring my nice camera and take pictures at games, I was thrilled when the team mom on Truman's team took these shots of him one game.  There are some great action shots.  Motivates me to try and remember to take some of my own shots.  This is the game he just turned it on and showed his new team what he could do!

First Day of School 2016

 Truman is in 6th grade this year at Lava Ridge Intermediate School.  He has the earliest start time so he gets up at 6 and leaves for the bus at 7:15.  It's been nice not having all the kids up at the same time and having to have them ready at the same time.  I think it's been really good for Truman to have the one on one time every day.  Being the oldest it seems he could use a little extra individual attention.  He also gets out the earliest at 2.  So far he is really loving intermediate school.  I was worried about the new experience, but he is really enjoying everything.  Luckily after a late night switch before the first day of school, he has at least one class with all of his best friends.  He doesn't have lunch with many of his buddies which worried me, but he isn't bothered and has found other friends to eat with.  He has math, language arts, social studies, P.E., honors science, and honors choir.  He is also on safety patrol before school. A lot of big changes this year but happy for all these new experiences for him.

Prentice Tacy is in 4th grade this year and every year seems to like her Chinese portion of the day more and more.  She is out in the portables this year which she thinks is really fun.  Here is a picture of her with her best friend Kelly, who unfortunately is moving to a new school next week.  Tacy seems okay with it so it will be a good chance for her to make some different friends.  She does choir at 8 on Tuesdays and Thursdays before school, otherwise she starts at 9:00.  She thinks she has the two nicest teachers at the school!  Her Chinese teacher Mrs. Sun actually just got here last week because she had issues with her VISA and couldn't leave China.

Cardon actually started a week later in kindergarten.  He goes in the afternoon.  I try to come home and put Chambers down for a little nap so I have some time to get things done before Truman gets home.  He really didn't know anyone in his class.  I wasn't worried and figured he would be just fine.  But when I had Jer drop him off the second day I guess he came running back to his truck in tears and didn't want to go.  He was pretty sad for a few days and wanted me to wait with him until the bell rang and his teacher came to pick them up to go inside.  I guess he was just nervous about playing and not knowing anyone on the playground.  I met another mom at PTA meeting and her son Tyler didn't know anyone either.  So we have them playing together a couple times a week.  I think it has made a big difference for Cardon to know someone.  And apparently he's made friends with other people because she said he was holding hands with a girl when he was at P.E.!  I'm sure he will be friends with everyone before too long knowing this kid.

And I decided not to send Chambers to preschool so I didn't have one more schedule!  And maybe because he's my baby and I want just one more year with him.  Hopefully he doesn't get sick of me.

Goodbye lipstick kisses!

I am over membership for the PTA this year.  It's definitely been a bigger job than I expected, but I'm glad I can help.  I have added stars all around the bulletin with names of people who have joined PTA.