I realized that my free time lately has been spent snoozing and I haven't updated the blog for almost the whole month!  Sleep is a high priority in our household.

October has been filled with the business of school and work.  Allison got to do a day of service at her school making mosaic tile decorations and our family got to do a ward day of service pulling out bushes and gardens.  Spencer thought it was awesome to use a truck to yank a tough bush out of the ground.  We made our annual Halloween cookies, gave some out and gobbled up the rest.

Jeremy got a new phone to replace his very, very old one and has been enjoying trying out all the new video and photo capabilities.  Good thing he has some willing subjects around.


Then we had fall break.  Jeremy stayed behind to work as he and Spencer had a man trip planned the following weekend.  I checked kids out of school early and we headed off to Denver to play with cousins.  Taylor stayed behind in respite for the long weekend.  He seems to prefer hanging out with a beanbag and cuddling rather than driving and playing. 

We had a wonderful time playing with cousins and visiting with Daniel and Mimi.  I wish we could have stayed there longer and no one was eager to come home Monday. 

We played bowling and pool:


We went to a park and saw a great production of Charlotte's Web and then went swimming:


We got to cheer at Sammy's soccer game:


And went to a pumpkin festival where the hits were milking a cow and a 3-legged race:


We even had a cousin spa that Claire set up for everyone:


It was wonderful to visit, play and catch up.  And photo evidence to the contrary, Spencer was there and had a great time...with a few teenage moment thrown in there.  One night Daniel took Spencer, Allison and me to a haunted house.  The kids thought it was awesome and were waiting to see how I would sprint away from the chainsaw guys.  I did not sprint but I did walk very fast!  The things we do for our kids!

While we were gone Jeremy worked, did a bunch of photo work and enjoyed an empty house for a few days.  We got back late Monday.  I made the kids hit the grocery store on the way home which was probably a little over the top.  And we dived back into school and work.  Spencer had a quick turn around as he left Thursday after school for his man trip with Jeremy and the guys in my family in Truckee.  They had a great time and I am sure have photos to share next week.  With them gone I was excited to have some down time to work on errands, homework, garden and house stuff.  We did manage to go up to the zoo Saturday morning for their boo at the zoo which was very fun.


Both girls had birthday parties this weekend and Allison had a babysitting job, Robyn a primary program rehearsal and Allison went to her first dance.  With them so busy I got lots of my to do list done which is always nice.  Who knew I would get so excited to have the opportunity to mow the lawn and clean bathrooms!

Monday Allison turned 14.  She chose to have chunky monkey pancakes in bed and have two friends come over after school to watch a movie and have caramel popcorn and then have lasagna with our family.  Around here we are all about the food!  Hard to believe she is that old.  I will take all the snarky 14ish traits if I can get all her awesome 14 year oldness is return.

For her birthday we gave her tickets to go see Idina Menzel in concert on Thursday night.  Jeremy was working that night.  So I ran home after an exam, fed kids, dropped Taylor off at special needs mutual and we drove to to UVU.  I have learned my lesson accompanied by many long suffering sighs as although we arrived at UVU at 7:20 for a 7:30 concert, parking and standing in the will call line took us until 8!  Luckily we just missed the warm up acts and had a fun time together after.  I need to teach Allison to live it up more as she started getting concerned at 9 how much longer the concert would go as she had school the next day.  We heard some amazing music and got some new favorite Broadway songs.

With General Conference weekend the girls and I planned a girls night out for Saturday while the boys did Priesthood session.  We went to see West Side Story as Allison needed to attend a play this semester for drama class.  Robyn was quite aghast that people died in the play, "This breaks every rule about Happily Ever After!".


The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying listening to conference talks, eating yummy food and visiting with Jason and Kelly and their kids Sunday afternoon.  And of course the requisite Sunday in between session walk to stretch our legs:


On Saturday Spencer had to work 10-4, I had to fit in grocery shopping and mowing the lawn, Jeremy had work and took Allison for her promised birthday lunch to Chinese Gourmet and we all needed to clean the office.  The day seemed to fly by!  Spencer drove in at 4:10 and met us in the garage to go clean the office just astounded that he wasn't done working yet!  Jeremy told him, welcome to reality.
Allison learned she does not like mussels:


Spencer had a tough start to the week.  He was very nervous and stressed about trying out for club volleyball.  He had Jeremy drive with him there and Spencer parked onto the curb and ripped the bumper off the convertible.  It ended up being a fairly easy and inexpensive repair but he got to enjoy duct taping it up to make it home.  And then at club volleyball he was hitting nothing but net and got cut.  He was just heartbroken and down in the dumps for a day or two.  It reminded me that Spencer handles stress if his life is ordered and he knows what is coming.  Unexpected deviations to his plan just throws him off.  He does so well most days that I almost forget that he is bi-polar.

You fit in work, school and kid stuff and the week is done.  Take what comes and love it as President Wirthlin said.  Robyn really enjoys her turn at cleaning the bathroom:

The last week of summer was full of cold rainy days.  Kids broke out their comforters and jackets...and we had the elementary school fun run. 


I was helping with the drinks station at the finish line so I couldn't run it.  Girls helped me collect and load up a bunch of drink coolers and we hoped the rain would stop for at least a little bit.  And right before the race started the rain did stop.  I was proud of Allison who ran the whole thing.  She had a nice super athletic friend who left her friends to run with Allison.  Allison was feeling the pressure to not stop and walk.


And Allison went back to run to the finish with Robyn who was taking a more walk and talk approach with her friend.


Earlier that day had been my big Praxis test that I had been studying for.  Getting into the testing center required more security than going through the airport! But I passed and now I am done.  School is going well and I am getting into the swing of studying and taking tests and writing papers.  Its fun to learn things and then see it in application at school.  It does make for some busy school days though.  I appreciate so much the efforts my family makes to pick up the slack for me.  There is something immensely comforting to come home to a clean kitchen where everyone has eaten and cleaned everything up.


Last Sunday we tried a new fall outing with the family going up to Silver Lake up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It was gorgeous and cold.  There is a one mile trail around the lake that is accessible for Taylor in his stroller.  And then we shivered and ate Allison's BLTs and cookies.


One of Jeremy and my favorite Provo restaurants, El Azteca is closing so Jeremy and I got to go out to a great Mexican dinner one more time and stop by to walk around the chalk festival.  Our dates don't need to be long but it sure is much needed just to get away for a little bit and relax away from our to do lists.


We have had some cousin time lately.  We had a sleepover one night last week while Jason and Kelly went on a date.  Kids loved running around, eating pizza and watching movies.  Then last night all the girls got to take the train up to SLC for the women's broadcast.  The train was much better than taking a car and fighting traffic like we did last time.


We had planned to go to Cheesecake Factory for lunner but found out that 3 in the afternoon is too late to beat the crowds.  So we compromised and got cheesecake to go and hit up Kneaders for lunner instead.  We learned last year that you don't try to go out after the broadcast!  It was ComicCon weekend so it was a strange mixture of amazing costumers and women in church clothes walking around City Creek.  And all the girls had to get their lips done at the MAC counter.


We didn't get into the conference center this year and ended up watching the broadcast on those super hard seats in the Tabernacle.  It was still an awesome time minus one very grumpy missionary who didn't let Kelly sit with us till the broadcast started.  I love building these traditions with our girls.  While we had our girl night, the boys were building their own traditions - nachos and the new Terminator movie.


Life is busy and happy.  There are all the extra things that get fitted in like shoe shopping for kids and pruning all our trees.  Eventually everything gets done or it wasn't important enough to worry about in the first place.

School started for me on August 26th.  I have classes Wednesday and Thursday nights with 9 credits total.  I don't think I truly comprehended what I was asking my kids and especially Jeremy to do so that I could pursue this.  Jeremy has been feeding kids, driving them places and being the solo parent two nights a week.  And with a smile!  This semester I am taking Instruction for Special Ed, Behavior Management I and Elementary Literacy.  The classes are really interesting and very applicable to where I am working and want to do.  Tomorrow I take my big test Praxis I.  Its this 5 hour thing that is supposed to prove I know enough to teach elementary grades and is required to graduate this program or get hired.  I have been fitting in studying for that whenever possible and will be grateful when its over (if I pass!).  So far the idea of me getting homework done when kids are at school and I don't work is working.

Girls theater classes started up along with Robyn's choir and the last two weeks of Spencer's ACT class.  So days have felt a little too full sometimes.  Because of that we played hard for Labor Day weekend!

Garion came over to join us Friday night and the kids and I headed up for the Storytelling festival that we do every year.  We were there 4-10 on Friday and 9:30-11 on Saturday.  On Sunday afternoon we took naps!  It was awesome to hang out and listen to some wonderful stories.  While we played Jeremy worked and got some things done and we all enjoyed having a weekend off.  Someone asked me if Taylor likes the festival and he truly does.  Some tellers he listens to, others he seems to sleep to and he seems to like the canyon air.  Although at the end of the weekend he is very happy to not be in his stroller for awhile.  We give him breaks of laying in the grass but its still a lot of sitting.  And we figured out to change him off in a corner where we hold blankets around him rather than trying to use the port a potty - much easier.


On Sunday afternoon the Hall's came over for dinner and we got to have a nice visit and hang out and catch up.  It seems like we don't see each other near enough.  On Sunday night Taylor went for a 24 hour stay into respite as Allison had picked Monday for her birthday family activity.  We switch years so every other year is a birthday party with friends and every other year is a family activity.  Allison wanted to tube the Provo River which we have never done.  It was awesome.  We had a great and super cold time followed up by some BYU ice cream.


Robyn was a little nervous to go but she was OK about having her tube tethered to Jeremy.  Then we took a bus up the canyon and they started talking about how you had to walk around the bridge of death and the bridge of no return.  Her eyes got really big.  Jeremy but especially Spencer had friction burns on their arms from rubbing against the tubes while paddling.  Spencer's were a bit intense but almost all the scabs have fallen off his arms now and it just looks like raw meat.  I think he was too numb from the cold water to really feel it.

Least it sound like our weekend was too idealistic let me throw in the details of getting up early Saturday to grocery shop for the day, telling Spencer and Garion to take their grumps and listen to a storyteller for an hour before talking to me again, trying to get the lawn mowed in a swim suit before we had to pick up Taylor and all the usual work that goes into a great weekend.   We have been working on being nice in our house - not sure if it helping.  I get a lot of eye rolls every time we post a new niceness quote or share our act of niceness for the day.  But at least I feel like we are working on it!

This week we got more into the routine of how school works and the different schedules.  Jeremy has spent a couple nights in the trailer with kids and then this weekend took the girls to our ward's daddy/daughter camp out.  They had a great time. 

I asked Spencer with a long list of options what our mother/son night out should be.  His pick?  "Can we please just get a big pizza with everything on it and watch The Lord of the Rings?"  So that is what we did.  And then Saturday while I studied for my test Jeremy took the girls and Robyn's friend out to the city birthday party where Allison was there with her theater group pretending to be a pioneer.  Spencer worked on a neighbor's eagle project painting fences and recalling Karate Kid sayings.  Taylor who has been sick with a cold was happy to lay there while I tried to remember what the different amendments are and what a conjunction is. 


Taylor wasn't feeling good Thursday at school and I just assumed it was allergies like Jeremy and Spencer but by the evening he was running a fever.  He gets so pathetic when he is sick.  He won't eat or drink, won't support his weight and is just miserable.  So he has been home laying in his bean bag for a few days. Jasper considers Taylor his person and has been keeping him company.  Taylor seems to really enjoy having him cuddle up every night and as yet although he will lick Taylor's hands or feet he has yet to ever scratch him or go near his face.

We are back in school and in the routine of school life.  We have been working into doing everything a little slow this year.  My school job started but my school academic starts this week.  Girls start their theater class this week along with Allison's dance and Robyn's choir.  I appreciated not having everything start at the same time.  Its enough of an adjustment just getting everyone up, dressed and out the door early in the morning!

We have had back to school nights, Allison has been helping 7th graders tour the junior high, Spencer started an ACT class after school for two weeks and all the trips to the stores to buy school supplies.  I wish teachers in the upper grades could give you a supply list before schools start.  Spencer was still working a few nights a week as he had to wait for them to hire another person before he could go down to working one night a week.  It has made for some really busy, tiring days for him.  School, ACT prep, work, homework and fitting in some YM activities and a dance have kept him busy and out of trouble.  If he isn't busy he is sleeping!  He is still taking the bus to and from school as the parking lot at the high school is a bit scary for me. 


Allison is enjoying all her classes and being part of PALS - a group that helps out new students.  She was very disappointed when she realized that she could not do her school play and her center stage play as they are scheduled for the same time this year.  Allison is either doing our home as a personal progress project or is just working on brownie points.  One day she and her friend decided to organize and inventory all our food storage room.  One day another friend and her decided to clean out our sand box and pick all our tomatoes and peppers for salsa.  Last night I came home and she had deep cleaned out piano with q-tips.  All those things I met to get to and haven't for a long time.  So Jeremy and I restocked our food storage yesterday and I made salsa this week.  We figured out a carpool with her friends this year so I only drive to the junior high one day a week.

Robyn had a rocky first day of school.  She is in a split 3/4 grade class with two part time teachers.  One of her teachers had to quit the week before school started.  She has been replaced with a really good teacher but it made the beginning of school not quite as organized as it would have been.  She came home trying to smile the first day but then burst into tears.  She had gone to lunch with her class who splits the 3rd and 4th grade times.  But they kicked all the 4th graders out just as she sat down so she went and left without eating her lunch.  And her lunch was put with the 4th graders so she lost her new lunch bag.  And recess aides didn't understand that their class gets to do the 3rd and 4th grade recess.  So just lots of confusion and tears and emotion.  But she has really nice teachers who have straightened everything out and now she is in the swing of it.  She just had to realize that her class will do the best of both grades which means it won't be quite like the other 4th grade classes and thats OK.  For example she was upset that they had to make bridges out of legos which is a 3rd grade project.  But then she realized she really likes legos and its a lot of fun so its OK to be different.  I still get to walk with her and a friend to school every day but Wednesday.  Its a great way to spend some time with her in the morning.  She has been putting up motivational thoughts:


Taylor is getting used to getting up and going to school again.  He has been laughing these last few weeks at random times.  It has been a long time since he has been smiling and laughing so we are soaking it in.  Yesterday Spencer was getting his food handlers permit online which met we were all listening to a loud presentation for an hour on how to handle food.  Robyn pointed out that I was failing at everything they were saying and Taylor just burst into loud laughter.  Wish we had caught more of it on film.  It was awesome.  We have managed to go to the pool a few more times.  We even had a ward pool party one night after it closed.  I always feel like such a party pooper when I make kids leave activities at 9:30 on a school but they are so used to it by now that when I give them the choice they all choose to go home and go to bed so the morning would be easier.


We have had some fun things these last two weeks.  We were able to go up to Meredith's wedding reception.  She was our respite worker for years and was and is such a big part of our kids life.  It was awesome to see her getting married and to a great guy.  Jeremy even did some crazy driving so that we could hit Trader Joes on the way home and stock up on some study snacks ie chocolate for me.  Jeremy and I were able to go up Provo Canyon one evening for an acoustic guitar concert.  It was awesome to lay around with a picnic and enjoy having to snuggle in sweat shirts after Jeremy spent the day from 6 am to 4 pm working on photo shoots.  We were both ready to just hang out in the cool canyon breezes and visit.  It was so nice that this last Friday we took all the kids and went up the canyon to camp.  Having me work Friday meant that we all got to enjoy practicing loading up the trailer and thinking of what we needed to bring.  Its been a while.  Camping with girls is a little different.  Robyn had a backpack for her stuff and then another backpack for her doll's stuff.


We had a great time roasting hot dogs and marshmallows (busy mom meant no s'mores stuff but luckily kids just rolled with it).  And it was super cold that night which felt wonderful.  Although Taylor kicked off all his blankets and froze so we need to figure that out better before next time.  Jasper was in dog heaven especially when we explored a trail the next day.  One of my favorite parts was watching Robyn try to wrap roll dough around her hot dog and getting frustrated because she didn't think it was perfect.  Allison made a minor adjustment and Robyn just beamed that now it was perfect.