Almost hot chocolate weather for us this week - highs in the 60's and lows in the 40's and 50's. The leaves are starting to change and I have pulled out all of my hoodies - I love this, especially when we still get some sunshine during the day.  This is what the sky looked like one evening when I was walking Sendai, and to top it off - this weekend we have had huge harvest moon that makes night look like day.

Wow! Isn't the beauty of our earth just amazing ❤

Between work, school, Church, and various other commitments, is there anyone in the family who isn't busy???

Hollie just let me know that she will be working 54 hours this week at The Broadmoor, including an event for the CIAB (Council for Insurance Agents and Brokers). One of her shifts is from 3pm until 1am, and another is 3pm until 3am.  

She says they make everything from scratch and you know it has to be delicious.  I wish I was learning what she is learning.  How fun to be a pastry chef! 

 Until soccer season is over next month Adam's day starts with early morning soccer practice, and then there are the soccer games - Liberty's, Jakes, and Lily's, and watching over the IEP and 504 kids at school, and being a husband to Cory, a dad to Jake, Lily, Paul, Sammi, and Milo, and then working on his truck(with Jake's help) - not always in that order 😁. He  has a super good helper with Jake when he finds time to spend on the truck.  In this photo, Jake drilled 100+ holes in the steel. I would love to have even 1/8 of his energy and stamina.  😊

Does anyone have any Provo connections?  Sammi is looking for a new job this week - filling out applications and hoping for interviews.  Extra prayers for you this week, Sammi!

I think she could always go into the cookie business - she makes the most delicious chocolate chip cookies.  Remember SPL?  Samantha, Paul, and Lily had a little cookie business going in their neighborhood - Samantha made the cookies, and Paul and Lily did the marketing.  This was years ago, and they went door-too-door drumming up business, and of course, who could say no to those cute faces? 😁 ❤

 Blythe and her friend, Warren, were the only two freshman selected to join a fraternity for students interested in a medical field,  They were among 14 who were selected out of 150 hopeful students.  

 So happy for you Blythe!❤

This has also been a great week for sports!

 Dad showed his Iowa spirit today.  The Hawkeyes beat Michigan 20-19 on Saturday.  With that score, it had to be a great game!

 Speaking of Iowa . . . Jonathan, Kate, and Sayre spent part of the week, including the weekend, feeling lousy due to a nasty cold.  Hope they at least got to enjoy the game.  

AND Chris and Spencer were in the stands at Wrigley Field when the Chicago Cubs beat the Marlins and secured a spot in the playoffs. 

I love going to a good baseball game and have the fondest memories of going to the Oakland A's games with my mom and dad when I was in high school - even made it to a World Series game one year. 😃

OUR FAVORITE MISSIONARY

I loved this letter from Paul this week and hope he won't mind if I share it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet -

Hello everyone! A lot happened this week so here are some highlights. First, we got to go to the temple on Friday and do baptisms. It was super special the members who took us had us do the baptism for one of their twin brothers who had just passed away. We also got to attend a baptism. It was their ward's first convert baptism in two years, so a ton of people came to support.

We had exchanges too, which was so much fun. I got to exchange with Elder Romney, our zone leader, and he had me lead out the area. We saw so many small miracles that day. One of them was getting to fly kites with the youth! It was my first time ever flying one and it was pretty sick.

The last big one we finally got one of our friends to church! This has been a struggling area, so we basically started from scratch in a place that isn't known for baptizing much. So that was a huge blessing. We also had some really good lessons last week and have a lot of faith going into this week!

Spiritual thought: Specific prayers bring specific blessings. On exchanges we prayed for a cool experience before companionship study and I kind of forgot about it. While we were walking to our study, a lady came up behind us and started asking us questions. We ended up walking and talking with her for like 30 minutes, and at the end we got to invite her to church. So pray for specific things and then go make them happen! The Lord will help and guide you along the way, not just do it for you.

Thank you for sending Photos this week, and thank you for the texts and phone calls.  We love you all so much and hope that in the week ahead you will do something that brings you joy! ❤

 YAY!  It's been a good week! Nothing special or out of the ordinary - no drama, or trauma, and nothing earth-shattering - just a great seven days of being healthy, loving my family, spending time with Kevin, and feeling the joy and peace the Savior brings into my life. ❤

We did yard work, mowed, edged, killed some dandelions, got rid of the pallets, the chewed up living room carpet, and our old coffee table. AND I finally took down our 4th of July lights and bunting. 

While on the topic of the coffee table, I think I mentioned that last week we received our replacement table, and sadly, it was also damaged.  I was ready to just cancel the order, but the lady I spoke with at Wayfair was so nice, she said we wouldn't need to send this one back, and she placed another order that should arrive tomorrow. I think if this one is damaged we will find the undamaged parts of both of the broken tables and put it together the best that we can - I just want to be done with it 😊

One evening this week, I was fixing taco rice for dinner, and while talking to Kate, she said she had recently read an article about taco rice in Okinawa.  So this may be an odd topic for a family blog, but who doesn't love an easy-to-fix, great-tasting dish????

This is what I learned - Okinawa taco rice was invented in 1984 by Matsuzo Gibo, who owned a restaurant, the Parlor Senri, located just outside of Camp Hansen.  Following World War II, the United States maintained a strong military presence in Okinawa and American service members who craved Tex-Mex foods found it difficult to find taco shells or tortillas. 

Matsuzo Gibo experimented with replacing taco shells with with steamed rice, topping it with taco-seasoned ground beef, shredded cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.  He named it "taco rice" so his staff could easily understand the order.

So, there you have it! The story behind taco rice.  I can still remember the first time I tried it.  To be honest it didn't sound appetizing to me at all, but the kids all like it, and one evening when I was working late at the elementary school, Kevin offered to pick some up for me at the bowling alley (I think that's where he got it from).  When I opened it up, there was a fly in it.😳😬😭

In my opinion flies rank right up there with dandelions, and spiders!  I don't understand why they needed to be created in the first place  - This meme says it all - Not only do I feel this way about spiders, but I have the same deep, dark feelings about flies!

And did you know a man actually burnt down his parent's house after he attempted to kill a spider with a blowtorch (that would be me with a fly)

On to more fun topics . . .

Today was our Sacrament Meeting Primary Program.  Our kids did such a great job, and their singing was amazing.  Jake had his Primary Program today also, as did Ben.  Angella sent me the link to their program so we were able to watch it over Zoom before going to Church. 

It was so good, and Ben did a great job reciting his part (He's in a white shirt with a vest, standing next to the teacher in a blue shirt.  Way to go Ben!!!

We just got home from having a delicious dinner with Adam, Cory, Lily, and Jake. It was nice to escape our kitchen for a couple of hours.  While we were there, Lily's cat, Danno joined us at the table - 

He just sat there very contentedly, until Kevin said something to him (we all know how he feels about cats) and Danno just gave him the look that said, "how dare you!"  She also said he is happy to be held upside- down.   

We feel so blessed to be able to spend time with the kids while they are still young.  Everyone is just growing up too fast!

Since NO ONE sent me any photos this week, I thought I would add some of my favorites 😁

Not only do these photos make me smile, they also bring back fond memories of fun times together ❤

This is the second promise from President Nelson, of the blessings that come to us as we spend time in the Temple.  

"Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work." 

 I have a testimony that attending the Temple doesn't necessarily take away the hard things in life, but it gives us the clarity we need to help us solve our problems, and the peace we seek for when we face the challenges and trials of everyday life. .  

Our Favorite Missionary - 

Paul has been great to share news and photos from his mission.  These are a couple of the most recent ones we have received.  

 It looks beautiful and I know so many people in his mission will be blessed by his example of faith and unconditional love. 

 If you have time to drop him a note, I know he would love it.  His current address is: Elder Paul Hopkins, 808 Washington Ave North, Long Beach, WA,   98631

WE LOVE YOU AND HOPE YOU HAVE AN EXTRA WONDERFUL WEEK!

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!  It was interesting this morning, to look at our weather forecast and see our projected temperatures slip from the 80's to the 70's and even 60's over the next couple of weeks. I love a long Indian Summer where the temps stay warm into October, but it looks like I'm out of luck on that one.  (However, I do love pulling out my sweatshirts and hoodies. 😁)

  In case you didn't notice, the blog was closed for Labor Day 😀 - it was so nice to have an extra day to do some house cleaning, and take Sendai to the dog park.  Our Saturday morning started like this, when we came out of the bedroom and found Sendai asleep on the couch, breaking all of the house rules - thankfully I had covered the couch with a sheet the night before because she has been a little sneaky lately. 😕   Josh popped in for a visit on Saturday, which was nice because we hadn't seen him for  quite awhile.  

And then Lily, Jake, and Cory stopped in on their ways to Sam's Club.  They had been to the Mall where they have an RC store which has a scale crawler course that Jake loves.  He's pretty good at it too -

 We worked in the yard and got the lawn mowed.  Can you believe I have these flowers that started growing in our flower bed in the front yard at the beginning of the Summer.  

We finally figured out that this is what is called Phlox.  I'm not sure where it came from, I didn't plant it, and in spite of me, it's still alive - in fact this is the second time in two months that it has had blossoms.  I hope it spreads so maybe I will have more next summer. 

I got some Labor Day selfies from last week -

 Monday, we met Adam, Cory, Jake, Lily, and Milo at the Bear Creek Dog Park.  Sendai loves it there.  She and Milo ran so much they both ended up in the water to cool off.  

 We all got in a little walking exercise, and Jake found something to climb 😄

On the way home, we ran into some pretty heavy traffic, so Dad got off the freeway and there you go - right in front of us was a Dairy Queen😍.  I got my baby blizzard, Dad got a large vanilla ice cream cone, and Sendai got a pup cup and she was sooooooo happy

What a fun day we had - and always so great to spend time with family. 

Fun stories that made me chuckle (and laugh out loud) this week!  

Ji-Chan had asked Max last week if he would go to a funeral and write a note in the guest book for a friend we knew on our mission and also while we were stationed at Yokota, who just recently passed away.  Max, being the wonderful grandson that he is, walked into the funeral home only to find himself totally surrounded by Japanese people. He said he felt really awkward, but eventually found the guest book and was trying to write the note that Ji-Chan had sent him, when he noticed a long line starting to form behind him.  He hurried and finished and then two granddaughters of our friend escorted him into the service and down to the front row.😂.  Oh my goodness!  I would have loved to have seen this!!  He managed to stay for the opening song and prayer, but when the person giving the obituary stood up to speak, Max said he stood up and made a quick exit to freedom.  I always love getting a Max story!

Last night Angella and Ben were coming over to have dinner with us, but when the girls heard Ji-Chan was grilling they wanted to come too.  The girls brought their boyfriends so we had quite a houseful (except we were missing Emma 😢). While the meat was cooking we were sitting outside around the table visiting.    

We were laughing at Eilis because she really is the instigator of teasing Ben and always has been - who would have thought this could come from quiet, sweet, Eilis???? Then Hollie brought up a time she could remember when she got in trouble because of Emma and Eilis.

They were making "potions" and told Hollie to fill the kitchen sink all the way to the top - so Hollie did what they told her to do, but then got in BIG trouble by Angella.  Then Angella was telling us about the time she had asked Emma to clean the bedroom she shared with Eilis and Hollie. Apparently, Emma wasn't in the mood for cleaning so she paid Eilis a couple of dollars from the birthday money to do the cleaning. I guess Eilis didn't feel like cleaning either (and she didn't give the money back) so when Angella checked on the progress of the bedroom and discovered it hadn't been cleaned, she grounded Emma for a week.  So . . .Emma cut all of the hair off of Eilis' favorite doll. 😂  I love that these girls are such good friends today ❤

This week, I decided with Labor Day over I would put away my red, white, and blue and pull out some of my fall decorations.  I decided to order fall lights for the my tree on the front porch, so I got on Amazon, ordered the lights, but forgot to change the shipping address - 

so Blythe ended up with my Fall leaves and lights (in Florida, where they probably don't even have Fall).  She Facetimed me this week and had hung them over her sink.

AND, then there was Dad, who one afternoon, sat down on our coffee table and broke the glass on top - Ooops . . .  So since we needed to find a new coffee table, I decided we might as well get new carpets also.  The one we had in the living room had every corner chewed on by Sendai when she was a puppy.  The carpets and the coffee table came on Friday, so Dad and I worked yesterday to get rid of the old, and celebrate the new.  I love the new carpets - the quality is great, but sadly the coffee table had a huge crack in the side, so it will need to be replaced.  

Kate spent the first two weeks of students returning to the photo department by 

wearing a different "photo" t-shirt every day.  

Wish I could be so creative ❤

    THE COLORADO SPRINGS TEMPLE  

The groundbreaking was held yesterday for the Colorado Springs Temple. Throughout the years, President Nelson suggested 15 ways that the Temple can bless our lives.  I thought I would share one each week - 

1. "The temple is a place of peace and power, and spending time there will literally change a person's life."

I think this is so true! Attending the Temple strengthens our relationship with Jesus Christ.  I always leave with thoughts of how I can improve my relationships with family and friends, and an understanding of goals that will help me get there.  And I absolutely agree, that the peace I find in the Temple is often difficult to experience anywhere else.  Below is the link from a local news station that reported on the Church and the Temple groundbreaking. 

https://youtu.be/_FiQQdQC7Xc?si=y3NsqVZIhrWRFnLW

I love you all so much!  Let us know if there is anything you need - a hug, phone call, email, care package, shirt, shoes, or advice from life-experienced older person, etc., etc., etc.,  We are always here for you ❤