Dino-Soar, Nash Visit, Samantha's 5th Birthday, Fall

Dino-Soar Days was pretty fun. James and I went to look at the classic cars, and I sent a few to Dad that I thought he'd like.

Nash came to visit for a few days. It was unexpected, but I guess it was homeless week at BYU, so he needed somewhere to stay after visiting Lars and Emily for a few days. It was decent, but I know my regular schedule is boring for just about anyone except another stay-at-home mom. He and James went hunting a few times, and he had fun doing stuff with the singles ward. I'm still tired, though, because I didn't catch up on sleep over the weekend.

Samantha's first day of school went well. She woke up happy, not even a little nervous, and had a great day at school. Today is her 5th birthday. I've made strawberry ice cream, strawberry shortcake, and grits casserole. She's also getting a matching dress for her and her new (to her) 18" doll with a few more gifts.

Tomorrow is September, which means the first unofficial day of fall. The mornings are crisp and beautiful even though the afternoons are still hot. Generous neighbors have shared their harvest with us, things like zucchini, winter squash, cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes, apricots, turnips, and more, which I can't think of now. I feel especially blessed since after going to the temple last Thursday, James and I found chicken on a super sale, so we stocked up on that too. I found some discount rotisserie chickens today while I was getting birthday presents for kids' friends at Walmart. Our freezer is 75% full now. I probably don't need to buy any meat between now and almost Thanksgiving. I had so much banana squash that I got out the pressure canner and processed 7 quarts. I'll use it to make pumpkin muffins since they are everyone's favorite pumpkin dessert.

There have been a few hiccups this week, so I haven't really enjoyed being at home alone yet. Samantha's bus was really late, I've had lots of issues signing up for Joseph's math class, and I've been unsuccessful at getting teachers for the oldest Primary class. Being tired hasn't helped either, but that's starting to improve. These are all minor things that will work themselves out. I'll get into a routine that I enjoy rather than just feel rushed and stressed about various things.

Fair, School

We went to a little bit of the Uintah County Fair last Thursday and Friday. I love that it's small and free. I think my favorite part is looking at the quilts. I can't imagine being that good at quilting and making something that looks like actual art.

Saturday evening, we went to a birthday party for Ana and Benji Boyle. The pozole was good, and so was the company. Lewis played a little too hard and felt sick afterward, but he was fine by the next morning.

Speaking of illness, Katie had a couple of mosquito bites from Idaho get infected. They looked like boils, and she ended up having 4 of them. We were careful to apply warm compresses and keep a bandage over them until they drained. So gross. She complained a lot about the pain and itching, but she's been fine the past few days. Poor Katie always gets the weird skin stuff.

We went to Back to School Night on Monday. It was a little stressful since I took 2 neighbor kids while their mom was at work. We found all the classrooms within 30 minutes, so I'll call that a win.

Tuesday, we went to the rec center to swim after James and Joseph got home from a missionary lesson with Joseph's friend Tyren. It looks like Tyren will be getting baptized pretty soon, which is super exciting. They've gone to 2 lessons this week and have a third on Saturday. Though bedtime ended up a little late, I feel like it was worth it to be in the water. Everyone was happy for the first morning of school.

The first day of school went fine for everyone, but it felt super long at the same time. I took Samantha in for her Kindergarten testing and then had a lot to do at home. I didn't finish it all and kind of crashed (mentally) by 2:30. I felt tired the rest of the day till almost bedtime, and then I couldn't sleep. Hopefully I'll adjust to waking up at 6 soon. I really have been trying, but it's been a tough adjustment from the lazy schedule of summer.

Kenny didn't feel well this morning due to anxiety, but I felt that it was important for him to go to school since it's only the second day and sets a precedent for the rest of the year (so to speak). Last year, his anxiety made my mornings extra stressful because I never knew if he was going to wake up feeling sick or not. He missed about 8 days of school due to just that, but he always felt better by 8:30 or 9:00 A.M. I haven't heard from the school, so the prayers must have worked. I really hope he can work through this soon because I don't feel like I know how to help. One day at a time, I guess.

Last Week of Summer, Saving

We ended up loving The Foreigner. A really nice thing about the Playmill is that they bring food to you, so I got to eat a hot fudge sundae right there in my seat. The van had some brake troubles, but we made it back okay with lots of brake checks.

Friday, we went to Victor to eat lunch with Grandpa and kayak. It was mostly relaxing, but we didn't get back as early as I'd hoped, so dinner wasn't quite ready when Lars and Emily showed up. We had a good time with them.

The drive home on Saturday was a bit stressful. We got delayed by traffic, then 2 trains, then a parade, so we didn't get back till almost 6:30. I felt a lot of stress that day, but I got everything done by bedtime.

I went to a fun Relief Society social on Tuesday night. We had flavored drinks/sodas and hung out.

James started work on Monday and did Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday, he installed the new dishwasher that we got for almost free since Lowe's would rather replace than repair. I'm not complaining. It smells nice and the top rack isn't broken. It's so good to have sanitized dishes again. James and I shot the old dishwasher, then he took it to the dump. The kids made us dinner and we watched Cyrano, which was totally depressing even though it had great music. We had to follow it up with something funny.

We're working hard to save money for FanX (Comicon) in Salt Lake in September. Our goals are to make no more random shopping trips to D.I., Ross, TJ Maxx, or Walmart. Also, no eating out for a month. It hasn't been a week yet, so ask me in another week how it's going. I hope we can save up enough to go for a day. Inflation has hurt us quite a bit since last March, and I'm not a fan. Despite all the questions about it, I don't feel that the timing is right for me to go out and get a job. Samantha will only be gone for 1/2 of the day, so that doesn't leave me enough time to do anything except keep this house from falling apart. I had a feeling earlier this year that we would be able to save again, but it hasn't happened quite yet.

Rexburg Trip

We went on a successful hike to Ely Falls on Thursday. It was longer than expected, 5.4 miles instead of 4, but we made it! It was fun to see the waterfall after 9 years. The kids loved it. We returned home tired and hungry, but mostly happy. The older kids got invited to the O'Crowleys' for a going away party. The younger kids went with the Boyles to a science activity, so James and I had 2 hours alone at home, which was nice.

Friday was busy. Our neighbor needed help watching his kids, so they came over from 11-4. We hosted the O'Crowleys for dinner and had a wonderful time. They said it was a nice break from packing for Germany, so that made me feel happy.

Saturday morning, I went to a baptism, and all went well with that. We lazed around the rest of the day because we were still pretty worn out from the previous 2 days. We then attended a ward party.

Monday, we left for Rexburg with a stop at the Conference Center and Church History Museum. Both were great, but I got hungry and grouchy at the end. We arrived in Rexburg in time for dinner, which was really nice. One of the hardest things about traveling is not having homecooked meals on the way.

Tuesday, Melodie took the kids to Bear World while James, Anna, and I went to the Barbie movie. We loved it! It was funny, heartwarming, and silly. I'm glad I stopped watching people's social media opinions of it and made my own. I laughed and cried during the movie. We went to dinner at the Lees', and that was fun too.

Wednesday, we picked huckleberries in the morning. Among the people there, we got 1 1/4 cups, just enough to make a batch of huckleberry ice cream.  After a delicious lunch at Big Jud's, we went to Rigby Lake in the afternoon. The water was too cold for me to go in all the way, but the kids really enjoyed playing in the sand and water.

Today, the kids are going to Bear World again while I make a double batch of raspberry ice cream. Then, it's off to West Yellowstone to the Playmill to see The Foreigner. I'm so excited.

This trip has been one of many "firsts". 

JWP, Grumpy and Good, Social Media

The John Wesley Powell Festival happened over the weekend. We attempted to help James's friend Jared with the treasure hunt for 10 grand but didn't have much luck. It was still fun to try. We hosted a game night that night, but I only played for a little while because it was too hot in the cabin.

I've been grumpy this week for a couple of reasons.

1. I'm trying to set up a meeting with stake primary, my presidency, and my music leaders. It's a logistical nightmare.

2. I need to come up with more teachers, and I don't know who to pick. Everyone who comes to church already has a calling.

3. The dishwasher isn't working well, and Lowe's still hasn't contacted me about the protection plan we bough with it. It isn't even 2 years old. Someone is supposed to come fix it within a week. It's been a week, and I haven't ever heard from anyone.

4. Good old PMS.

Good things

1. I sorted through all the kids' clothes in their dressers and storage. Thanks to hand-me-downs and some D.I. shopping this summer, I only needed to buy 1 pair of shoes and some training bras. School supplies were also not as expensive as I thought they'd be.

2. We got my plane ticket to NC for Carmel's wedding in October. I'm flying to and from Vernal and only had to pay $325. The times aren't terrible either. The flight started off at $450 and with a couple of page refreshes, it magically dropped prices. It must be a gift from God.

3. The Boyles came over for dinner last night, and though they left late, everything turned out delicious.

4. I had fun redeeming free kids' meals from coupons the kids got from the library.

5. James took the kids out this morning so I can have a break from them. I'm getting caught up (and ahead) since we plan on leaving earlyish tomorrow morning for a hike. I hope it goes well.

I decided to take a break from social media this week. It's been hard because I rely on it for "doom scrolling", but that's a silly reason to keep using it. Two posts on FB made me feel angry recently. One was about a girl who paid off her house in 8 years. She posted about making homemade pizza to help with that. I literally make homemade everything, but I can't pay off my house yet. Really, it came down to this family having 25k more a year than we've ever had. It's not just about the pizza or how much they've sacrificed. Back when our income jumped 14k one year, we saved about 10k of that. I don't know what I'm trying to prove, though. Even when I do pay off my house, I probably won't talk about it on FB. Everyone has a different situation, and not owning your house does not equal laziness.

The other post was comparing the Barbie movie to Sound of Freedom. It made both movies political in a very unnecessary way. I plan on seeing both at some point. Politics ruin everything, though.

Now that it's August, I can't stop thinking about school. I'm not ready for early wakeups at all. I'm also sad that summer is ending. It's been one of my favorite summers ever!