Service with a Smile

This has been a very busy week! We went to the City Services Fair at the mall parking lot on Monday night. The boys got to shoot fire hoses, Elizabeth watched a puppet show, and everyone got to play some games to win candy!

Thursday was the Family Fitness Fiesta at the school. On Friday, I went with some friends to a Dream Dinners party. We got to each make a dinner to bring home. They do all the prep work, and you just assemble them and bring them home to your freezer, so then you have a nice meal waiting for you on a busy day. My sesame chicken looked so good, though, that I put it in the fridge and we ate it tonight for dinner -- YUM!

Saturday morning was the ward service activity. Somehow I got put in charge of buying the food for the continental breakfast. We had a hard time getting a head count, but luckily we got just the right amount -- very few leftovers, but enough that everyone had a nice breakfast! Then we headed over to a commons area in our neighborhood. There is a path that leads from our neighborhood to the homes south of us, and since it is somewhat hidden, it had become very overgrown. It was fun to work together as a large group as we made our surroundings more beautiful! Izzy's family took our kids over to get started on the service while Ryan and I cleaned up the breakfast, and they took this adorable picture:

Service with a smile!

For some strange reason, there is no school tomorrow. I initially didn't like that idea. But now that I am exhausted, I am looking forward to having one more day in my weekend . . . a day to go slow and not be on a schedule!

Family Fitness Fiesta

I have been busy and am also having a lot of fun being the PTA president this year. I am blessed with a great board and committees for the various events, which lightens my load.

This month has been Hispanic Heritage Month, and this last week was also our Green Ribbon Week (health and safety focus). To culminate both, we held a Family Fitness Fiesta at the school this last Thursday evening. Although I helped with the overall ideas, it was nice that I did not need to help with all of the small details in the planning. I liked just showing up and helping during the event, without stressing about it too much ahead of time :)

It was a great success! Our turnout was about triple the turnout we had at our Fiesta last year -- I believe we gave out about 450 sets of nachos!



There were crafts, pinatas, and nachos for the Hispanic Heritage aspect. To celebrate Green Ribbon week, we had a bike rodeo. We also had someone come to help us register bikes for free with the city.



Ryan was not able to be there due to a church commitment. I appreciate that my kids are old enough that they could do their own thing while I helped out with the event -- it was a great night!

Garden

I don't spend the time I should tending the garden. However, I LOVE the fruits of our small labors and our small garden!


We've had a lot of tomatoes and zucchini lately. We've had 3 total cucumbers -- not many considering there have been dozens of blooms. But it's been fun to find the ones that have been hidden among the vines!



We have 2 strawberry plants. One has grown like crazy and has spread out throughout the bed. (It's the one in the background in the next picture.) I think we've gotten 1 puny strawberry off of it! Then we have a small little strawberry plant that looks like it might die any day. The other day, we discovered 3 beautiful and delicious strawberries on it! I'm hoping that next year we get a more bountiful crop of berries!

Busy Body

Elizabeth is always full of energy . . . she keeps me on my toes (especially when we are out shopping -- Joshua or I usually end up having to chase her down after she escapes)!

Yesterday she wanted to go outside. She found her hat and put it on herself -- I thought it was so cute that I had to take pictures.

she likes to pose for the camera!

While I was taking pictures, she wanted to speed up the process to get outside, so she found my sandals and brought them to me!



After we spent some time outside, it was time to make dinner. She always asks to get on the counter and help. Sometimes I give in and let her!

B is for Bear

This week was B week in Kindergarten. Joshua brought home a blank paper bear, that we were to decorate however he wanted. I don't usually document little projects like this, but this time I took pictures because Ryan wanted to see the finished product . . . and we didn't finish it until after Ryan went to work the morning it was due (of course).

if you look very closely, you can see that Joshua drew the face on himself

Our Favorite Room

We have been hard at work the last few weeks, working on furnishing our basement. Since the beginning of August, we've ordered the sectional, the entertainment center, our first flat-screen TV (!), and the front speakers and all of the rest of the needed cabling. Ryan has spent many many many nights working on all of the wiring!

The couch arrived last weekend, and now we have it all set up!



We've waited and saved and envisioned this basement for 4 years, and now it is so fun to see it coming together! I am LOVING the sectional -- it is SO comfortable and the perfect size for our space. And I have to admit that the surround sound Ryan has worked so hard on is pretty amazing! Now that the foundation is in, it's time to add some color and decorate!

The sectional divides the big room in half. There is still plenty of room for the kids to play with their toys behind the couch.


Now the basement is definitely the favorite place to be in our house. Come on over -- we've got plenty of room. But I warn you, you may not want to leave that couch!

A Night Out

I have been in a cooking rut lately. Even though I've made many recipes, I can only think of about 4 things when it comes time to make dinner each night!

So we were overdue for a night out. Thanks to coupons and a gift card, we found ourselves at In N Out. Our friend, Ben, was working. We said hello, and a few minutes later he came out with hats for all of the kids!



It was great to get out and have some fun eating someone else's cooking!

Character Counts

Today Nathan was recognized at school at the Character Counts assembly. He was one of two students chosen in his class to represent the trait of "Dedication."



I'm glad that he is a good student and is great for his teachers!


(Too bad he's not "dedicated" to cooperating for pictures!)

Labor Day Weekend

We had the privilege of having some of Ryan's family visit over Labor Day weekend. Amy and her family came for the whole weekend and stayed in our basement, and his parents came briefly for Saturday and Sunday (they stayed at a hotel).

It was so fun to have Amy's family stay with us! They have 5 boys, and most of them are right about the same ages as our children. They had a great time playing together! They definitely had more play time than the times the family stayed in a hotel, and the boys took advantage of every minute!

playing frisbee . . . on skates!

On Sunday we all drove up to Layton to visit with Ryan's Grandma Partridge. We were able to go in and visit for a while. Then the moms and kids waited in the cars while the men were able to give her a priesthood blessing. I'm so glad we live close enough that we were able to be a part of that!

watching a scripture movie while we waited in the car

On Monday, Ryan and our 3 boys joined Amy, Scott, and their 3 oldest boys at a BYU women's soccer game. Bradley and Bryson had done a BYU soccer camp back in July and had been given some tickets to this game. Our kids have never played a formal soccer game (we've chosen to do baseball in our family), so they were going more to have something to do and to spend time with their cousins.

I stayed home with a napping Elizabeth and watched Amy's 2 youngest. When they got home a couple hours later, I was surprised to learn that they participated in a halftime event! The BYU staff were looking for a family of 4 to participate -- Amy's boys didn't want to do it, but Nathan and Benjamin did. So they joined Ryan and Amy on the field and got to do a relay race.

Benjamin and Amy juggling the soccer ball

Nathan dribbling the ball (barefoot, since he wore flip-flops to the game!)

Despite the lack of experience, I guess our boys held their own because they were the winning team! (There were 3 total teams.) So now we have a certificate for a free Papa John's pizza!

Yay! We won!

High five, Benjamin!

Walking off to claim their prize!

We had such a wonderful weekend with family! I'm so glad that we can now host guests in our house and create these great memories together!

Sleepy

When I went to check on the kids before I went to bed earlier this week, I smiled at how most of them were sleeping, and just had to take some pictures:

We are lucky that Elizabeth has not tried to climb out of her crib yet, but she is getting so big in it!
It is amazing that Joshua is actually on his pillow. We find him all over the place!

I've never seen Benjamin sleep with his stuffed animal so close . . . I thought it was so sweet!

Nathan was sleeping very normally, so I didn't take his picture

We are still working on getting in the groove of a new school year schedule. Before school started 2 weeks ago, we sat down and the kids helped plan out their schedules, which includes piano practice before school. But that doesn't make it any easier to wake up early when you've been used to sleeping in all summer!

So imagine our surprise when Ryan and I were awakened EARLY Tuesday morning. Two sweet boys with smiles on their faces and breakfast trays (baking cooling racks) in their hands came in our room at 6:00am. We were served toast and milk -- the milk was on the warm side but I choked it down in my half-awake state to show my appreciation for their sweetness!

I didn't think to take a picture until I was fully awake -- and so of course the breakfast is gone!

Later when I went downstairs to make their lunches, I found that they had already done it! They have a hard time getting up at 6:20 and 6:50 to practice the piano and get ready for school, but they got up around 5:00am just to surprise us!

Of course on Wednesday morning we could hardly get Nathan out of bed at all and Benjamin was tired and grumpy. But the one morning of cheerfulness was wonderful!

Kindergarten Kid

Yesterday was Joshua's first day of kindergarten!



He goes in the afternoon with Mrs. F -- she was Benjamin's teacher and we love her! He is also in the same class as his good friends Ty and Josh, which I think helped with his nervousness. With me being at the school a lot for PTA, Joshua has had the chance to meet Mrs. F several times, so I was surprised that he was so nervous that he wouldn't leave my side at the open house earlier this week -- not even to play with all of the toys.

waiting in line to go in on the first day

When I picked him up from his first day, he ran up and gave me a big hug and exclaimed, "I wasn't even nervous after you left, Mom!"



It's going to be a great year for him, and also for me . . . Elizabeth naps for most of the time that Joshua is at school. This means I should hopefully be able to get some projects crossed off of my list!