The school year begins!

1st ever 1st day of school picture with dense fog in the background…
Bob, amazing as always, got the beautiful stain on our mantle downstairs.  Don’t you love it??  We will be doing the kitchen and upstairs with that as well
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This week Alayna watched “Gforce” with the guinea pigs…lol.  They loved it.  Here's a pic of their favorite activity- running free in the living room.  They never go off the carpet but they love to hide under the couches.

School started for me as well.  It was  a tough week and I am not sure I am ready to talk about it.  I think that there are experiences in life that can make you or break you, make you closer to Christ or move you farther, you can take it as a learning experience to grow or it can tear you down.  Life is about our perspective on things that are out of our hands.  My thinking this week brought me to the importance of family, the support of loved ones, and what really matters on that eternal perspective, because that is what guides our future decisions that we do have control of.  So, this week, I will focus on the good things from work, few though they may be…
My para did an awesome job decorating our door at the HS

I got a box personally from Brandon Sanderson donating 6 hard cover books worth 150 bucks!!!

I also spoke in my very 1st assembly in front of 500 kids.  Talk about nerve-racking!!  I announced how well we are doing in the summer reading program (we are 202nd place out of over 7,000 schools!) and we have almost doubled our goal.  When I announced Mike Ritland was coming the kids went crazy!  I cant wait until he comes.  So, the kids loved it and I didn’t barf.  That’s what I call success.
Kayla has been a domestic goddess and I have decided to sabotage her admission to BYUI so she has to stay here…Every day I come home from work exhausted and the house is cleaned, dinner and dessert made, and she has the kids doing their chores.  She is the only reason I am functioning now,  She cant leave.  The other day we came home and she had made brownies from scratch with cookie dough topping.  Tyler said, “Mom REALLY isnt going to let you leave now!”  She and Bob are starting the downstairs bathroom this week.  WHile we have someone here that’s “bored”…Tyler also asked what we will do when Kayla leaves and I said eat ramen.  He started laughing so hard and said he was laughing because its so true….
Alayna starts volleyball tomorrow and has her birthday!  woot woot!  Tyler is swamped with marching band and show choir.  And all 3 kids have done the ice bucket challenge…ill try to post their videos.  Oh the busyness of it all…