This Weekend:

* The "Ladies" spontaneously put together a breakfast on the spot Friday morning; 

 we went to Sill's Cafe. 

(home of the scones as big as your face)

By the time we left there, they were serving lunch to all the tables around us!  :)

* I was planning on going to the temple afterwards - I'd gone to breakfast dressed for it...

But, first I went to a store,

then to get gas,

then to a grocery store,

then to drop off two garbage bags full of stuff at the D.I. from our closet clean-out.

And by that time, the kids who'd gotten home from school were calling me.....

So, I returned home.

* I sent Kyle off on a group date he had planned with his friends.

The went to the Ice Castles up in Midway, UT.

(sidenote: this girl's mom was one of Kyle's preschool teachers!)

* Matt & I had date night at Sizzler.

We were seated in THE SMALLEST booth ever!

There was NOT enough room for me, my coat, AND my purse.

* On Saturday morning, I took Kyle and Katelyn to go audition for 

the Farmington Youth Theatre upcoming production of... 

There was quite a long wait to get in to audition,

and some good silly, young teenager watching in the meantime, too!  ;)

The fact that Kyle is a 16 yr. old MALE auditioning, made him very noticeable to the directors!

Not a bad position to be in at auditions!  :) 

* My official [write-on] calendar was finally delivered,

so I spent the afternoon filling it in with all the things we have going on this month/year.

It felt so good - I've been a bit unsettled without my "brain."

* Matt & I went on a group date of our own - I think you'd call it a quintuple date.

Our friends had reserved a court at the Rec Center and we played wallyball.

We first did girls vs. guys - I was told that it was so the girls

would actually get a chance to touch the ball!  ;)  haha.

After that, we mixed it up - and I quickly learned it was very 

advantageous to be on Matt's team!

We were reaching/lunging/jumping/hustling in ways we

are not accustomed to.....and boy, have we felt it in our bodies ever since!!!

#gettingoldstinks

Two of the couples had to return home to their young babies/toddlers,

but the rest of us went to Dairy Queen for "cool treats" 

and visited for another hour - or two....

* Church-y Church on Sunday.

This year we changed to the 9:00 a.m. time block - my favorite [at this season in my life]!

* We watched our 2015 Year-in-Review 

slideshow that Matt makes for us every year.

Always fun to reminisce!

(BUT do I REALLY look like that lady in some of the photos???)

* Brookelle got on a crazy-hair kick,

and did her own hair first....

...and then she moved on to Kyle!

* We got a surprise visit from Grandma/pa.

* I ended the day by writing my weekly email to our missionary.

This [UEA] Weekend:

Every year, the second week of October, we get Thursday & Friday off school for U.E.A. (it means Utah Education Association, and there's a 2-day convention for educators).  But, working in the airline industry, we know U.E.A. actually stands for: Utah Escapes to Anaheim!

Although, many Utahns do go to Disneyland over this long weekend, we do not. (the crowds!)  We usually go somewhere, but this year, we stayed right in Utah.

We:

* Celebrated "Wingtoberfest," and got half-price boneless wings at Sonic for lunch.

* Went to the WitchFest at Gardner Village

And, while there, we HAD to go to the Chocolate Covered Wagon (a sweets shop) for caramel apples, Utah shaped chocolate dipped Rice Krispie treats on a stick,
old-fashioned candy sticks, etc. (of course!)

We did the "Witch Scavenger Hunt" and we were on a mission to find them all, so we could take our completed list to the Naborhood Bakery to get our cookies for $0.50!
(We did it, getting "help" on just the last [elusive] one).

* That evening, Haylee & Brookelle went to play night games and have a sleepover with their cousins.  Katelyn went for a late-night at her friend's house.

* Matt & I picked up our Bountiful Basket, went to donate plasma, and then to Station Park to do some birthday shopping
for a couple of our children in between taking our kids places.

* On Friday, I took Katelyn out to her favorite smoothie joint: Roxberry's. 

(since she was the only girl at home - the others were still at their cousins, 

and Kyle just wanted to hang out at home and rest for once, after so much XC running/practice!)

* Matt & I had date night at Joy Luck Restaurant.

(It seems they "replaced" some of the shrimp in our Walnut Shrimp dish with broccoli florets - pretty disappointed!)

* We went over to Matt's brother's house to catch the last half of the USU vs. Boise State football game.

It was a great day to be an Aggie!  :)

52-26!  

* On Saturday, Matt & I went out to breakfast at a new place I've been wanting to try, Criddles Cafe.

It seemed their menu was very close to our favorites; the former Doug & Emmy's, and Sill's Cafe.

I had a cinnamon roll the SIZE OF MY PLATE 

(I only could eat a couple of bites, and took the rest home to my kids - they didn't mind at all!)

* We took the family up to the Ogden Temple

Matt, Kyle, and Haylee went in and did Baptisms for the Dead.

I walked around the temple block with Katelyn & Brookelle (too young to go in still) while we waited.

 Katelyn was excited to be almost as tall as one of the stop signs we passed!

We also thought we could take a tour at the nearby D.U.P. while we were killing time....

but it's only open Memorial Day to Labor Day - too late!

So, we found somewhere else to go!  ;)

* We finally helped the kids with one of the "bucket list" items, by taking them 

shopping at Smith & Edwards - the Country Boys Store.

Ya know, the one with the slogan, “We’ve got anything you need....IF we can find it!” 

To say the girls were THRILLED about the largest Schleich toy inventory at a store they've ever seen, would be an understatement!

From Schleich to saddles....this store has it ALL!

*  Then we had dinner at the Burger Bar on our way home.  It’s been featured on the Food Network’s show, “Diners, Drive Ins, and Dive’s.”
Even though their specialty meat they were highlighting that week was ALLIGATOR....none of us opted for it!  ;)
(But we did get deferred when trying to donate plasma later, due to us being lipemic = fat levels in blood too high) I wonder why?  ;)

* Churchy-Church on Sunday 

* Third Sunday dinner/FHE over at the Brenchley's.
Haylee commented on our way home, "That was SO MUCH FUN tonight with the cousins!"  

*  I wrote my weekly novel letter to our missionary son.

This Weekend

* On Friday, we went to a new place at Station Park, Brixton's (a baked potato restaurant!), for my birthday lunch out with 'The Girls.'
I didn't realize S.P. was such a happening place in the middle of the day - I saw several other people I knew there.
I guess I'll have to 'make an appearance' there more often!  ;)

* The afternoon was spent carting my daughters to and from friends'/parties.

* We went to The Roof with Matt's parents for our "anniversary dinner" on Friday night.

 (they want to take out each of their kids/spouse on an annual basis, so they use their
anniversary date to keep track of who they've taken out and whose turn is next)

* After returning home (and consuming much food & dessert), we thought it prudent to go out in our neighborhood in an attempt to WALK OFF dinner.

* Saturday morning, I did my first (of the required five) turn of being the chaperon/volunteer at the Bye Bye Birdie rehearsal that Katelyn is a part of (and will be performing in November).
Side Note: it was an interesting "study" in human behavior.
Each participant is suppose to sign in with their name and time of arrival prior to each rehearsal.
As background information, there has been a lot of emphasis put on the importance of being at and ON TIME to every rehearsal.  The directors have said that they will be giving out additional parts to those who do well in this area, and taking away from those who do not demonstrate dependability in this area.
One of my jobs is to check in all the kids.  So, when not everyone was there by the starting time, I wondered what those other kids would write down when they finally did arrive....
AND I observed that the majority of the kids (who were anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes late) STILL wrote down the time that the rehearsal started (when they were suppose to be there by) on the sign in sheet.
Hmmmm....See?  Interesting, huh?

* Matt & I took a jaunt up to Snowbasin...

for a Gondola ride and afternoon mountaintop dining,

followed by some hiking.

Apparently, we didn't get the memo about the XTERRA Utah off-road triathlon that was going on up there Saturday!
(notice all those cars down in the parking lot?  Normally, you wouldn't expect to see that AT A SKI RESORT in late Summer/early Fall)
So, we shared the area and our lunch table with that crowd!  (talk about some amazing athletes!)

* I attempted to go donate plasma....and was rejected. :(
The snag? Low protein.  I guess I better start eating more liver and tofu!  Yippee! (not.)

* Matt & I went up to the Bountiful Temple to do a session.

(I did pretty good staying awake this time!)  ;)

* We made sure to end the evening with a treat at Dairy Queen.
A Cherry float always hits the spot.

* Since we have afternoon church, I like to spend the morning reading/viewing things on www.lds.org.

I first read this blog post.

Which led to/referenced this article.
Valuable things to ponder. 

* We did our "yearly measurements" on the kids (height, weight, shoe size, waist/inseam).
It was only about 2 months late, I usually like to get to it in the Summer PRIOR TO going school shopping, but oh well.....
I write these all down and keep it in my purse, so I don't have to keep it all in my brain,
and I can look at it when I'm out shopping.
It's also fun to see how much they've grown from the year before!
Although everyone has grown and gained weight, the most unanticipated are:
Kyle now sports the same size shoe as his dad - a size 12!
Katelyn is just 4 inches away from being taller than I am!  She is only 10 yrs. old!

* Churchy-Church

In Sacrament meeting, we heard from a returned missionary who'd served in New Zealand.
THAT'S where I dreamed of going on my mission back in my youth!

While sitting there, I tuned-in to the fact that Matt needed me to rub his neck - he was not exactly
displaying a great deal of calmness at the moment - because of his first Gospel Doctrine lesson he had to teach in Adult Sunday School the next hour.
He prepared A TON on this lesson - and only taught a small portion of it before time ran out.
(Ya never know how it'll go with the class participation factor)

* After church, I made squash casserole.
(we've still got an overabundance from our garden!)

* We had dinner and FHE at Brenchley's

While talking together afterwards, we had an intriguing conversation about the lesson many of us had had in our Relief Society/Priesthood classes today titled,
 "Beware of Pride."

Bottom Line:  We ALL have it in some form.
(withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another, won't change our mind to accept truth, comparison, fault finding, jealousy, love the praise of man, don't receive correction easily, rebellion, puffed up,  defensiveness, not happy for another's acheivement, etc., etc.)

AND we all need to overcome/repent of this sin!

* I started my [Sunday night ritual] weekly letter to Ryan out on his mission.

Three Months of Summer - Gone?!? (Which Means it's Over!)

Sayonara, August! 

It was good while it lasted.....yes, children, we DID do something!

Here's how it went down.

Queen of the Kingdom with these lovely ladies.

This song will forever remind me of this weekend!
It cannot be played now without me breaking out into song AND dance - seriously!!

Just playin' in the rain - more like an all out thunderstorm!

Heber Valley Girls' Camp

Haylee and Matt went....Haylee as one of the "girls."  Matt as one of the "Priesthood men."

Cousins "warming up" for the backyard races

ReAL Monarchs soccer game

Farmington City Volunteer Appreciation Night at the pool

Brookelle on the high dive?!?  

(Thanks to "peer influence" she had from a friend she ran into there.)

Desert Star Theatre

"GREASE'D: Happy Days are Here Again"

Splash Pad with friends

Look what I found while shopping at Ross here in our neck of the woods......

a Virginia Tech hat - my missionary son's stompin' grounds now! :) 

Kyle ran the Davis County 5K

(in the time it takes ME to go ONE mile!)  ;)

Brookelle (navy shirt),

Katelyn (grey shirt),

and Haylee (navy shirt) all did the Kids Mud Run on the same day as the 5K.

Flips on the tramp!

Inflatable waterslide party in our backyard with the Fowers cousins!

Off the strict bedtime schedule and fallin' asleep in weird positions.

The results of new school clothes shopping

Finally got to have the full-time missionaries over for dinner!

(as "payback" for all the West Virginia/Virginia families who are feeding my boy every night)

Seven Peaks Water Park ~ jetBlue Day

ReAL Salt Lake soccer game vs. Seattle Sounders FC

School started August 24th

Kyle's first Cross Country Meet for VHS (maroon uni on left)

(an "invitational" meet in American Fork with 40 high schools!)

San Diego with Matt officially finished out August....

 Because truth be told - - I needed a vacation from [the kids and] this Summer vacation. 

{kidding/not kidding}

And, just like that: 1, 2, 3 months of Summer came to an end!

Waaaaaaaa!

and

Yaaaaaaaay!  :)