Halloween Half Marathon

Roger and his friend Louie Hamner have been running together for quite some time now. They have trained on and off for a half marathon but things never seemed to work out. So when they found out about the 1st annual Halloween Half Marathon in Provo, they couldn't pass it up.

The race began at Aspen Grove in Provo Canyon and was all down hill from there.

The kids and I went to show our support. It was still quite cold so we enjoyed a nice cup of hot chocolate as we stood and cheered all of the runners on.

Naturally the runners dressed up in costume since it was Halloween day. Roger decided that they should run as "The Red Shirts" from Star Trek. The actors that wore the red shirts were not the main characters but the ones that were always chosen for a mission and rarely came back. They were the expendable ones.

So they doctored up some red running shirts and they actually looked quite convincing. They carried phasers and enjoyed "stunning" people all along the course.

The red shirts performed quite well and came in at 1 hour and 51 minutes. Not Roger's best time but pretty great for not having run 13 miles in a long time. More importantly, they had a great time and are now able to feel the burn to know they were successful.

Just call me Mrs. Productive . .

Ok, I think I can get used to this kindergarten thing. It has been quite the day.

After family scripture study, making breakfast and getting Ryan and Brianna out the door by 7:30 a.m., I took Alyssa and her friends to school (they hate to ride the bus). I then went and had a good weight lifting workout at the Legacy Center, returned library books and got myself a drink at Harts. I then went and washed my car (by hand mind you, not those easy automatic deals), went to Checker to get new windshield wiper blades, paint and air fresheners and followed that by going to Smith's to grocery shop. After putting the groceries away, I mowed the lawn. (Well almost all of it. I had to stop with just a little left when the mower started to smoke. Oops). All this was accomplished by 11:20 a.m. just in time to go and retrieve Brianna from the bus stop. Wow, that felt good. It made me realize how much was put off while we played all summer long. Oh well.

Maybe I will go and read a book now . . . well I can't quite allow myself that yet.

A monumental day . . Brianna heads to Kindergarten

Yes, the day has finally arrived when my last child, my baby, my Brianna, sets out down the road of independence. I couldn't fathom this day ever arriving and yet here I am in the middle of it. People would always say to me to enjoy your little ones because the time goes by so fast. And like most people I politely nodded while inside I believed that it just couldn't be true. Well I am here to say that they were right. And though there were days when I looked forward to some time by myself, now that it is here I am having very mixed feelings. Although I feel a little blue I am also happy about the success we have had so far and the many adventures that still lie ahead. I may miss those cute little squishy baby feet or giggles and yet I find great pride when my kids come home after learning something new or making a choosing the right in a difficult situation. So though I silently mourn on this day, I will also wear a smile knowing that the best is yet to come.

Brianna on the other hand was soooo excited. She has been counting the days and I thought for sure she would never be able to go to sleep last night. It was like Christmas Eve.

She jumped out of bed this morning wearing a smile, put on her clothes and joined us for scripture study. She is a grown-up little person now.

I was a little nervous putting her on the bus today with no other sibling to look out for her. But she quickly found some friends and off she went.

I was even more nervous about the bus ride home since she is stop #10 of 11. She was a little worried that she might get off on the wrong stop so she asked me to follow the bus home which I did. It turned out fine since both the principle and another helper rode along with all the kindergartners and checked each one at the door. I could see Brianna with her friend Brianna in the back of the bus having the time of her life.

Once she finally got off the bus (after the 45 minute trip) she told me that she was just fine and that I shouldn't have followed her. In fact she was upset that she couldn't walk home from the bus stop since I had my car. At least there is 150 more days or so to be able to do that.

All in all the first day was a success and she loved it. She is already looking forward until tomorrow and so am I because maybe I will actually use my time to do something productive.

Meeting Mrs. Ball

Today Brianna got to go to her school for the very first time for Kindergarten evaluations. Not only did she get to meet her teacher and see her classroom but also explore the bran new school.

It is a beautiful school with all of the bells and whistles. Granted, it is not completely finished yet but when it is complete it is going to be phenomenal. Not to mention it has some of the most amazing views around. I would have loved to sit in a media center like the one they have with complete vistas of the lake and mountains. It is gorgeous and reminded me once again how blessed I am to live here (in spite of the bus headache).

Mrs. Ball is great. She seems to enjoy what she does and Brianna took to her immediately. Brianna tested high (which came as no surprise to me) and Mrs. Ball was impressed. She gave Brianna a medal which Brianna thinks is pretty cool. She is still working on finishing decorating her classroom and by Thursday it should be wonderful.

Brianna is so excited to go to school. I am starting to feel a little trepidation myself, especially about letting my "baby" ride the bus by herself. I am sure all will be well in the end once I get used to it. :)

1st day of 4th Grade

Today was Ryan's first day of school. It is hard to believe the summer is actually over. No matter how much I tried to stop time it just didn't happen. So off we went. Ryan loves school and deep down I know he was excited to head back.

This year will definitely be different for him being in the A.L.L program. I know from our experience with Alyssa in the A.L.L. that he will have unique learning opportunities that he wouldn't have had otherwise. I am excited for him to experience this and to be a little more challenged.




Trying to figure out carpooling to and from school has been quite the headache but I think we finally got a good system in place (since most of us have kids in 2 different schools it was somewhat of a puzzle to arrange everything). Today I picked up 7 beautiful children from a bus-stop at the golf course and I felt such pride and joy in seeing them. We have great kids in the area and in the program with Ryan. This is going to good year with all of them.

Ryan had a wonderful day and he likes his teacher Mrs. Zito. She is an Ohio State Alumni and fan which means she has to be pretty great. He got a really "cool" planner and even homework on his first day. He was glad to be back at Saratoga Shores and to see all of his friends and Mr. Goodman. I hope the enthusiasm continues when he gets his first big load of homework :).

When he got home we made homemade chocolate ice cream to celebrate his first day of success.

Seventh grade here she comes . . .

Hurrah, hurrah, our first day of school is finally here! After months of anticipation, numerous dreams about getting lost and not being able to open her locker, and overall dread mixed with excitement, the big day finally arrived. I officially have a junior high student. Doesn't she look so beautiful and grown-up?!

Our school district has the 7th graders go a day earlier than the rest of the students. This is a nice way to acclimate the "newbies" and help them work out the kinks.

Alyssa headed down to the bus stop with her good friends Makayla and Sadie. They have been going to school together since the 1st grade and I am thankful for such wonderful girls and the positive influence they are for Alyssa. They were all smiles for the pictures even though they "really did not want to take any, how embarrassing you know".

I was able to sneak in a few pictures at the bus stop even though that was forbidden.

Alyssa survived the day. She said it was long and exhausting. They attended all 8 classes with 850 other 7th graders. (I only had 900 kids in my whole high school including 9th grade, so I can't even fathom that).

She had 8 fire drills, 4 assemblies, waited 30 minutes in the lunch line only to have 10 minutes to eat, and didn't have a chance to go to the bathroom all day. In the end, she learned very little about her actual classes.

In spite of the craziness, Alyssa really enjoyed herself and is actually looking forward to returning to school. I am sure there will be many more exciting days to come.

Geocaching

We had another fun day of geocaching with some of our favorite friends. With the help of Tyler and Jocelyn we were successful in finding 6 geocaches that were located from here to Highland.

We have become quite good at seeking out the hiding places and it is always a thrill to find out what kinds of treasures are in the box.

We decide to put our hunting skills to the ultimate test and try and find a micro cache that is located somewhere on the bridge over the Jordan River at Inlet Park. Unfortunately, we had no luck, this one left us stumped. We definitely need to go back there when we have more time.