Night Fall

Living in the burbs we rarely see a good sunset. This was one of those nights where dusk clashes with stormy air and gives the world a yellow hue.

Daddy's New Ride

We've been car shopping for a while now. We found out this spring that our Buick Regal was failing in well, pretty much all areas. The cost to fix was more than the car was worth. With 170,000 miles on the odometer it has been a wonderful car but it was time to say goodbye to an old traveling companion. We were disappointed because our goal was to hit 200K on it.

The Buick was our first big purchase together. Jared had accepted a job in Houston and I was still finishing school at Iowa State so we needed a second car. We were visiting my parents in Manchester and while waiting for them to close down the shop one night we decided to go look at the used car lot down the street.

The manager asked if we had ever driven a Buick and we said, well no, but our grandparents drive one :) He threw us the keys without even asking for a drivers license, told us to go put ten miles on it and come back. It was a sweet ride, the price was right and we purchased it the next day.

Seeing the Buick go was hard, (it was traded in on the drive the Texas drive clean machine program) it was being scrapped. Lots of good memories in it, heck two of our children were practically born in that car (thank goodness for leather seats :)

This time we wanted something that was safe and got great gas mileage. We almost purchased a Prius but it had some problems we didn't feel comfortable with (like it would kick into gear when the battery switched to the motor when in neutral).

We had been eying the Honda Civics but most were out of our price range. And then we found this little gem. Its a 2007 Civic. I wasn't crazy about getting a coupe until Jared talked me into driving it. The price was right, its in excellent shape and I was getting too many calls from Jared to pick him up because his car wouldn't start. Oh and it's Blue! We have only owned white cars except our van which is puke gold, ugh!So I suppose Jared deserves something a little sporty after driving a Buick for seven years (although I steal it whenever I don't have to take three kids, because you know it gets better gas mileage than the van :)

First Day of Kindergarten

Where does the time go? It seems like yesterday we finally got to bring this beautiful fragile baby home after a lengthy stay at the hospital, having no comprehension of the joy she would bring into our young marriage. And this week she walked through those entry doors into Bauerslaug Elementary to start the next chapter in her life.

Erin does not deal with change well (I have been trying for months to get her into new tennis shoes) and so naturally she was apprehensive about starting a new school. However she has a wonderful teacher and her first week has been good. In fact her first night home I asked her what her teacher was like and she said “She seems very competent”.

Its funny, her elementary school has more students than my JK-12^th grade complex did growing up. They typically have 80-100 kindergarteners but the last minute they had over 140 register so they were scrambling to find teachers and staff.

With budget cuts they did away with bus service this year. I guess we know no different, but what I do know is the car drop off line can be up to an hour wait – one way! So we bike it. Ike and Eliza ride in the trailer and Erin rides her scooter. The only bad thing is right now its hot! A few of the days the heat index was still over 100. The school is only about ½ mile; round trip it’s about 15 minutes. We have to cross a 4 –lane divided highway. It’s at a stop sign, no cross walk, so the traffic makes me really nervous because everyone is in the morning rush mode. Erin waves like a crazy woman to make sure the cars see her and typically they wave back to signal its okay to cross. It’s hilarious; she is my safety conscious one!

As for me having three at home the past year I didn’t think I would have a problem, but the first day was rough, the house felt a little emptier and Eliza was lost without her sister. And Isaac didn’t have his protector by his side; he probably had the roughest week.

And she is off!

Hot Tamale

Totally Focused

I love this photo of Erin....she reminds me alot of Jared's sister Britt, totally focused and ready to compete :) Erin joined the neighborhood swim team for the second half of the summer. To join you had to swim the length of the pool and she just barely made it. Most of the kids had been swimming all summer and she was the youngest on the team by a year so she was always about a half lap behind everyone.

It was really good for her, by the end of the session she was a fairly proficient swimmer and she really enjoyed it. She can't freestyle to save her life, but that girl has a killer butterfly stroke :)

Girls Camp & Grandma Sue Visits

A couple of weeks ago I got to go to GIRLS CAMP! Yes I am one of those freaks of nature who loves to go camp in the sweltering heat with a bunch of city teenage girls who have never been camping, let along taken a shower with a family of spiders.

We took 21 girls from our ward and it was a wonderful week! Low drama (well low for teenage girls) and lots of fun experiences and above all it was just a nice break from life and a chance to refocus spiritually.

I spent most of my free time at the rifle and archery range since I was fighting a chest cold all week. Even being sick Amber and I SWAMPED the competition in the canoe races and had the best overall time in the camp.

And while I was away, my mom and aunt Kathy flew down to watch my kiddos for the week. The played tea parties, American Idol, learned to tie-dye from the hippie sisters and got spoiled rotten.

We went to the beach on day and Eliza found a blue crab that she wanted to pet, not such a good idea :)

The girls had a blast and I think my mom and aunt had a good time. Although mom said it took them a good week to recover.