It's Back to School and Work!                    

If I had any doubts that Summer was coming to an end, that all changed on Saturday when I made a quick trip to the Mall and there was a store completely set up to sell Christmas Tree ornaments, AND Jake and I went to Michael's last week, and they had all of their Halloween decorations on display.  Am I the only one that could use another month of Summer???   

I don't think I even have had a chance to dip my toes into a pool 😕

This week saw Eilis, and Hollie back to school, and Ben starting his first year of Kindergarten ~

High School Sophomore

High School Junior

1st day of Kindergarten

Reports from Angella were; Eilis was happy to be back in school, Holly didn't love the first day, the second day was better, (and hopefully this week will be great), and Ben loved it but came home tired and hungry.

More first-days-of-school photos to come ~

I started my week off with a Dr. Appointment to have my hip evaluated again.  And again, the doctor said that surgery is pretty much my only option.  I told him that we are planning a trip to Italy next summer and he promised to have me in good shape and ready to walk those ancient streets.  I am not planning to have anything done, though, until the end of October because . . . .

Yay!  We have reservations to go to the Feather River Temple the week of my Dad's birthday, Oct 17 - 24th.  We decided this would be more meaningful to us to be able to do an endowment session, and maybe some sealings.  Mike has been called to be a sealer, so he is helping us with making appointments.

We had Jake and Milo on Tuesday, and Jake, Milo, and Lily on Thursday.  We had fun walking the dogs, with Jake leading the way on his scooter.  We spent lots of time outside and made banana bread twice.  Speaking of banana bread, I came in the house one afternoon and found this ...

👇

I'd say Sendai had an early dinner

Who me?????

Lily and I went to lunch one day and she wanted to go to Noodles and Company.  I used to love their Mediterranean Salad, but the last time we went they didn't have the good salad dressing, so this time I decided to be adventurous and ordered Zoodles - Zucchini noodles with mushrooms, spinach, and cheese in a creamy onion and roasted garlic sauce.  I have to say it was delicious (and only 190 calories for the smaller portion).  

Thanks Lily!  I love the things I learn when I am with the kids 💕

This week, I was also able to squeeze in some craft time and made some scripture bags for my Primary kids.  

Even though they were very simple, it took me a while because I hadn't used the Cricut in such a long time.  I need to find more projects to work on, so I'm not so intimidated by it.

I also found time to finish a really good book I have been reading - The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Eagan.

It tells the story of people who lived through the Dust Bowl era, how they lived, what their lives were like, and why it happened to begin with.  Such a sad time in our history, and hard to imagine that people had to live in those conditions.  I remember my Mom mentioning it a few times, and wish I had asked her more about it.  Ruthie is going to send me her letters that she has scanned to see if there is anything more to learn about it.  

FUNNY STORIES FROM THIS WEEK!

I realized Saturday afternoon that I had forgotten to order the bookmarks I wanted for my Primary class on Sunday.  I know I could have made some, but wasn't in a very creative mood, so decided I would go to the Mall and visit the All Things Catholic store to see if they might have something generic I could use.  I felt a little sheepish as I started to enter the store and then spied our three Elders sitting on a bench right in front of the entrance.  I just pointed my finger at them and said, "Please don't judge me!" 

HOWEVER, the really best funny story came from Kim and Chris. They were able to take a couple of days and headed to Southern California, see the sites, visit with family (not Max) and meet up with Chris' sisters, Heather and Julia.  

On one of their first days there they went to Disneyland and were waiting in line for Space Mountain.  Everyone should already know that Kim has an extra sensitive sense of smell - if you don't know that, just walk through Target with her, or the laundry section in the Japanese Market - she just can't help herself 

So, she and Chris are waiting in line to ride Space mountain, when they smelled an awful smell that was coming from some people ahead of them. It lingered for quite a while and Kim said all they could do was stand in line and hold their noses, and pray that they were put in a different car when it came to getting on the ride. It wasn't to be and they ended up sitting a couple of rows behind them.  The following photo says it all . . .

Notice Chris trying to stifle his gag reflex, and Kim (which you can barely see) is covering her mouth and nose with her sweater.  But everyone else seems to be having a great time!   

One thought that has come to me this week is how much as family we need each other.  It is such a crazy world we live in and our kids are bombarded everyday with all that Satan has to offer to keep them from growing in their testimonies.  I just want each grandchild to know how important they are to our family as each of them adds something unique and special to our lives.  I love you, I love visiting with you, I love watching you play soccer, and I love playing in our hearts tournaments.  I love going out to lunch with you, and shopping with you, or just sitting outside and visiting.  The only thing I don't love is you are all growing up so quickly.  Best of luck to all of you whether you are starting school, work, or both.  Work hard, and I know the blessings will come.  We pray for you every day!