First Day of School

Well, the first day of school came!  Thankfully we had an extra week of summer vacation this summer, which was AWESOME!  We spent that time in Mississippi visiting my sister and her family, my parents, and meeting my sister Lena's 8th baby-Steven!

Clark is now a 7th grader!  For some reason him getting older, doesn't phase me too much.  Sometimes I think he's older than he really is.  Not sure how I feel about high school in two years though.....


Clark is the first one to leave in the morning.  What a gorgeous summer morning for a bike ride!



For the second year, the other four kids are in the same school.  I really like that.
Haley is in third!


Elden is in first!


Cal is our big fifth grader!


And Shanna is in fourth!  Just kidding.  Obviously she is in third, like, um...hmmm...Haley!


I love that we can ride bikes to school.




I didn't realize this till my sister Deborah mentioned it, but this school year wasn't as dramatic, or a huge change.  We weren't anxious about Clark starting middle school, and Elden wasn't starting his first year at school.  It was nice that it was a new school year without any big surprises.  For the second year running, I met some friends that morning for breakfast, which was really fun.  I think we'll keep up that tradition!

Just some other summer happenings after school started....a gorgeous summer sky.


My mom found my wedding dress and veil.  Shanna was so excited to put them on!


We finally bought an edger (something that I wonder why we did buy two years ago?!).  Lee and the boys cleaned up the walkways.




Looking much better!




Our apple tree did pretty well this year!  We harvested about nine apples.  Better than the two or three from last year....


One weekend we did some bathroom/house stuff.  I bought a cute bathroom rug but it was too long for the space.  I cut off the ends and "hemmed" them.


Lee put in a new outlet behind our computer desk.  We've had extension cords running along the wall for over two years now.  This was another, why-didn't-we-do-this-two-years-ago, project.  But it's done and now we can plug all of the computer stuff into the outlet BEHIND the computer desk...novel, I know.


We also bought and hung (well, Lee hung) a new mirror by our dining table!   We LOVE it!


It's like another window.


For a date one night we headed to Trader Joe's and Home Goods.  It was my very first time in a Home Goods store. LOVED IT!


Had to grab a treat for the way home!


We found Shanna like this when we arrived home...


If you had kids starting school, hope that went smoothly!  Hope you enjoyed those last glorious days of summer too!!!

King's Dominion

Sometimes I look back on my posts or activities, and can't believe how crazy Lee and I were to do the things we did!  Well, this is one of them.  Remember how I arrived home Saturday night from Mississippi?  Read on....

Sundays are always great.  After church that day, later in the afternoon, Lee and the kids had a lesson about who, what, where and when from the Book of Mormon, using Legos.  Once Abinadi, Noah, Alma, and others enter the picture, and people go off from the land of Shilom to find Zarahemla but find a land of a fallen people, and etc., etc., it gets a little confusing! 




Though our kids don't spill things every night now, messes still happen.....


Lee surprised me with these beautiful roses when I arrived home from Mississippi (on Saturday that is, not Sunday, ha ha.)


So, now we're on to Monday.  It was the last day before school started.  We had the crazy idea to surprise the kids and take them to King's Dominion.  They knew we were going to go, but not when.  Lee and I looked at the calendar and it wasn't going to work to go in September.  So August it was.  We had some coupons for IHOP from our summer reading program, so headed there for breakfast.










Then on to King's Dominion! This was our fist time there.  We picked a great day to go.  The lines weren't bad at all (not sure how they are normally....)  The most we waited for a ride was 15 minutes? 








Clark went on tons of rides, mainly with Lee. I went with him at the very end of the day on some really fun rides.  I have a hard time on rides and get nauseous quickly, so I need to take frequent breaks.  But I love the rides, so I still go on the them.  Clark and I were going to go on two more rides.  But the supposed second-to-last ride was too much for me.  It was really, really fun, but I thought I was going to throw up in the hallway leading to the outside.  Thankfully I didn't, but I couldn't go on the last planned ride. 




Our friends the Bensons went to King's Dominion early this past summer and won one of these HUGE gorillas.  Well, they gave it to us.  The gorilla was poorly made and didn't last long at our house.  It was shedding like a hairy pet (Lee and I don't do pets....) and the stuffing leaked out like crazy.  Its life was short at our house.  We saw them at the park and had to get a picture.  Like the girl photo-bombing us?  Ha!










The ride was so funny to me.  I was the backseat passenger a few times around.  What was funny was watching Shanna drive, all prim and proper, then watching Haley drive, all relaxed yet crazy.  Definitely saw their personalities shine through!  Someday Shanna will be driving on the highway in her Mercedes and Haley will be out in the sand dunes in her Jeep. 






Around 2 pm we went outside to eat some food we had brought.  We arrived about 10 minutes before the park opened and got a great parking spot.  That night we enjoyed the only thing we bought all day at the park--one funnel cake.  We all shared it, and one was plenty! We thought about buying food their, but their prices were so outrageous.  I mean, $12 for a Chick-fil-A meal?  No way! 


Though the next morning---the first day of school---wasn't as smooth as it could have been, we had a great last day of summer vacation.  Oh summer, I am missing you already!  I LOVE summer.  LOVE LOVE LOVE it. 

Mississippi Trip

The week before school started the kids and I took a trip to Mississippi. My sister Lena was expecting her 8th baby and I wanted to be there for that, and try and help a little bit.  We left fairly early that morning as I would be driving the entire way by myself-about 14 hours. On one stop the gas station was having its grand opening.  These slushies cost only $0.75 each!  A bit too much for one person, and some of the kids didn't finish theirs.


We are signed up for Zaxby's birthday program.  There isn't a Zaxby's anywhere near us here in Virginia.  But when we go to Lena's we always pass a couple.  The cool thing is that for the kids 10 and under they send them a card to get a free kid's meal.  AND the coolest part?  The card never expires!  Zaxby's also has the coolest pop dispensing machine.  It was electronic, with about a hundred different flavors/combos. 


There was a stretch of freeway that was backed up in Tennessee.  I had google maps pulled up on my phone.  It told me that it would take about an hour to go just four or five miles.  I took the suggested detour through town and hopped back on the freeway.


This is the accident that caused the back-up.  Crazy, huh?  Hope the driver was okay. There is a big concrete wall dividing the freeway.  Somehow this truck was up on it?


We arrived!!!  Fun to see cousins again!


We had family home evening with them.  Ethan had almost everyone involved in the lesson.


Lena's kids had been in school for one or two weeks already.  One afternoon after school we loaded up to go swimming.  Unfortunately, the pool was closed.  We tried a few other places, but no luck.  Finally we ended up at the splash park down by the Mississippi River--Catfish Park.






Lena's (now) 2nd youngest, Lillie.  Isn't she so cute?! I love how she scrunches her nose when she smiles at the camera.






Look!  A catfish!


One morning we took a long walk in the Military Park that is by Lena's house.  We went 4 miles. 






Lena's oldest, Jon, did his Eagle Project at the Military park.  He did quite the project!  He made a cover for the guest book, for one thing.


He also put in a new walkway through the garden.


I don't have a picture, but he also made improvements to the compost bins...and probably a couple other things I am forgetting.  He is all done now though, and has his Eagle!




Rebecca using the leaf blower to clear the pine needles off of the driveway.  Fun tools for jobs!


So the Monday that I drove down was Lena's due date.  She was expecting her 4th son, making 4 boys and 4 girls!  It was really fun though for me, because she didn't have her baby for a few days.  We had a fun time hanging out.  That is why we went on so many outings!  We went to the library one day for story time and picked out some books.  I found a three-book Amish series by Beverly Lewis for Lena to read in the hospital.  I am kind of obsessed with her books.  Once I start reading them I can't put them down!  I knew Lena would love them too, and I was right! 


We also went to the Mississippi River Museum?  I think that is what it's called....


They had a retired boat that visitors could walk through.  This is the dining area of the boat.


I drove the Mercury down to Mississippi because I didn't want to risk taking the Honda since we still hadn't fixed the transmission yet.  The Mercury needed an oil change and Mike volunteered to do it.  He was kind enough to show Clark how to change oil.  I've changed oil a few times with my dad in high school.  It's really easy, but something I just don't mess with!


Lena made some YUMMY fried cinnamon french toast one evening.  So, so good!!!


They have church activities Wednesday night, and I tagged along.  The girls went with Kirsten to Activity Days. Girls ages 8-11 meet twice a month for an activity which can vary from playing fun games, learning about the gospel, to learning new skills or making crafts. Or a combination of some or all, or other things too! My camera takes weird pictures in bad lighting...but Haley's face was kind of dirty too, which doesn't help!


Another out of place library picture.


Not sure where my picture is, but Wednesday night (I think it was) my mom and I took a late run to Kroger and bought some ice cream and some other stuff, which was fun.

Well, Thursday morning came and we all went on a walk.  Lena said something about feeling a little different that morning.  About 1:30 or so, she and Mike headed to the hospital.  Here they are leaving!  Their last car ride together as parents of 7....


That afternoon Mike called to inform us that baby Steven had arrived!


I got to drive this bad boy around a few times!  We had a 12 passenger van when I was in high school and I would drive it to school sometimes.  It was fun driving Lena's van around.  It sure is fun gunning the engine to climb up their steep driveway!


Thursday night I took Lena's kids to the hospital.  My parents stayed home with my kids.








They all loved meeting Steven!




I'm so glad I went down!  Wish I could have stayed longer....






Thankfully Mike came home the next morning and got all the kids off to school.  Keith and Lillie of course hung out with us at home.  Lillie was so good for me, and never cried once.  Even at naptime and bedtime.  She did give me some strange stares when I would put her down in her crib to go to bed at night.  But she didn't make a peep and went to sleep! 


Friday my parents, my kids and I went to the hospital to see baby Steven.  Sadly I didn't get to see Lena again. 


















We headed out early the next morning at 3:30am... I had to pull over around 6:30 to sleep for a little bit.  Thankfully the kids were still asleep.


We stopped at the same gas station on the way back to get more slushies.  This time though we bought slightly smaller ones.


We saw the sign for Johnson City.  Lee's last semester of optometry school was spent at the VA hospital in Johnson City, TN.  We enjoyed our time there.


The kids took many pictures on the trip....


I made it!  I always am so grateful when I arrive home from a trip safely.  Especially when I am the solo driver....


I loved seeing my parents, Lena, Mike and their family. Congrats you guys to number EIGHT!!!  I love telling people that Lena' has eight kids.  Their reaction is great.  Welcome baby Steven to our big, crazy, wonderful family!