Friday Night Lights

On Friday night Phoebe, Sophie, and I had the opportunity to hear the Young Men General President for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Timothy Farnes, his wife Sister Linsey Farnes, and Area Seventy Elder Michael Brady give a devotional for the youth. The talks were all uplifting and spiritual and I'm so glad we made the hour and a half drive to attend. When it was over, the speakers graciously invited everyone in attendance to come greet them in person and take some pictures. So we did.

Back on the Bus

The last time I sent only three kids to school was ten years ago. Here's proof of that. It was Phoebe's first day of Kindergarten, Cooper's first day of 3rd grade, and Peter's first day of 5th grade.

And here we are again, but this time with Phoebe in 10th grade, Sophie in 7th grade, and Topher in 3rd grade.

Until seminary starts, the girls will be on the same bus in the mornings.

Everyone reported that they all had a great first day!

Peter: Week 7 in Pictures

 

This is the only picture he shared from last week. Well, there was one other, but it was of street names, so I'm not going to post that here.

And with that we're caught up!

Peter: Week 6 in Pictures

Splish Splash

Our kid choir summer concert is this Saturday, Monday was our dress rehearsal. After two long hours of standing and singing and sitting and waiting, we surprised the kids with roughly 800 water balloons. The clean-up was kind of miserable, but the water balloon fun itself was pretty magical.

Thanks go to Cooper and his friend for filling all the balloons in the janitor closet in between their musical numbers.

Crazy Days of Summer

I took this picture of Sophie after church on Sunday, she fell asleep while drawing. 

School starts on Monday. This summer has been so busy, going back to school might feel more like a rest than work.

Based on the picture, I think a rest is needed.

Lost in a Book

Bump, Set, Spike

Sophie spent Monday and Tuesday evening trying out for the middle school volleyball team. Tuesday night the coaches made the first round of cuts and Sophie was invited back to continue trying out on Wednesday night.

On that final evening, the coaches sent all the girls home with a letter in an envelope telling whether they made the team or not and told them not to open the letters until they were in their cars.

This is what Sophie's said:

She is thrilled! When she read the letter she cried happy tears. Each night she came out of the tryout and said that playing volleyball brought her so much joy. I'm so happy that she gets to play this season!

She had her first practice yesterday and this is the selfie she took afterward, the happiness is pouring out of her.

After her practice we attended a volleyball family booster dinner. Her coach came over and introduced himself. He enthusiastically praised Sophie's tryout and told us that for every four girls that tried out, only one got in.

Well done, Sophie!

Peter: Week Five in Pictures

The Main Event

We celebrated our family birthday in the traditional manner: our hodgepodge dinner. The menu this year:

Bryan: taquitos

Me: gluten-free coconut-sugar sweetened chocolate zucchini bread

Cooper: orange chicken (which we also found a gluten-free version of!)

Phoebe: sushi

Sophie: fettucine alfredo (I used gluten-free noodles!)

Topher: hot dogs

Yes, we had a meal with five main dishes. I guess the zucchini bread was our vegetable.

Bryan chose the birthday tablecloth and Topher put a wedding picture on the table as a centerpiece.

It was a very busy day with lots of end-of-summer/getting-ready-for-school-to-start activities, so the fact that we were able to squeeze in time for dinner as a family was a bit of a miracle.