First Day of School

I am sure I say this every year but I this was the fastest summer ever!  I can't believe we are already going back to school!  I feel like the older I get the faster time goes for sure.  This is going to be a great year for the Childs kiddos.  Har is a senior, Nash is in 10th grade (first year at Skyridge), Gray is in the 9th grade, and Tag is in 7th (first year at Viewpoint).  I love that each of them have a buddy with them this year- calms my worried heart.  Love all of them so much and I know that this year will bring amazing experiences!

Seventh Grade Day

Today was the first day back for our seventh grader.  I was a little nervous since it is such a big school but he did great.  Each class was only 10 minutes but it gave him an opportunity to find each of his classes. When they arrived at school, there was a tunnel of their old elementary school teachers cheering them on. So sweet!  He came home excited which is a great sign.  Tomorrow will be the official first day for each of the kiddos.

Missionary Monday

Luke had a crazy busy week and was unable to send an email.  I did want to do a little weekly report based on our phone conversation.  He had a great week this last week.  They did not have any baptisms but they did have a lot of lessons.  They are working with a lady named Rosadine that is super solid and he feels like she will get baptized soon.  He finds out tomorrow if he will be transferred.  I seriously cannot believe that he only has 3 more transfers until he comes home.  I know that he will make the most of every moment and leave his mission with no regrets.  Love how much he is loving his mission.  Can't wait to hear what happens next week.

Last summer getaway to our favorite place...

This summer has by far been the fast summer so far.  I cannot believe that they go back to school next week.  Carson and Kylee moved out last week so we decided to go down to SG and spread out!  Harlee invited Miah to come with us and everyone was so excited to get away one last time before reality hits!  We left on Thursday after Joey got home from work.  We got down there around 10:30pm, unpacked, and went to bed.  Friday was a little busy for Joey and I with work but we found some time to have fun.  I got up and took Ike on a walk for an hour.  I love SG mornings!  We worked while the kids slept and then went to Pork Bellies for lunch.  It was just as good as we remembered.  Before going home we stopped by the Salt Water Taffy store to show Miah some of our favs.  The rest of the day the kids just relaxed and spent a little time in the bathtub pool- so hot!  Miah and Har went shopping a bit and then went out at night to find cute SG boys.  Saturday was a great day.  We got up and got Donutville donuts per Tag's request and then we made our way to a few garage sales.  We went to Chubbys for lunch that day.  After lunch, Har and Miah dropped me and the boys off at the rec center to swim in a cooler pool.  They went shopping a bit more.  They picked us up and then dropped me, Nash, and Gray off to see the movie Trap.  It was a little intense but so good.  We got In and Out for dinner and then worked on getting the house clean so we could take off in the morning.  Har and Miah went out again that night and actually met some boys that came over to play pool.  All in all it was a great trip!  Hope the kids had one last fun weekend before school starts.  We will come down again to our favorite place for Fall Break.

Nash loses some wisdom...

I remembered last week that I was supposed to schedule Nash getting his wisdom teeth out this summer.  Thankfully they had an opening this week so he can hopefully be healed before school starts.  Nash handled it like a champ! The oral surgeon said that he was so mellow which is so typical Nashie.  He got a little nauseous from the anestethia and was my first kiddo of 3 to throw up.  Besides that though he has been amazing.  So glad that this is done and hopefully the next few days will not be too bad for him.

Another P Day for Elder C

It was so good to hear from Luke today. I missed him so much last week as we got to go experience Canada and he was not able to be with us.  He was for sure where he needed to be.  Sheila was baptized!  It was such a special experience for Luke to witness that. They also had 20 friends show up to church.  It is crazy how many more "friends" Luke is finding in the Haitian Creole area.  He had two exchanges this week: one with Elder Melor and one with Elder Egan.  Luke really enjoys exchanges and I am sure it is nice to change it up a bit!  The rest of the week was full of lessons and an interview with President Durrant.  Another great week for our misisonary!

Finally made it to Canada...

We have been talking about it for years and we finally made it happen.  With Joey's crazy work schedule we could not get away for too long so we packed each day to the fullest!  We left on Wednesday morning at 5am and drove all the way to Canada.  We stopped for lunch in Montana but still made it to our hotel by 5pm.  Not bad!  The kids were all so good on the drive.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Lethbridge.  That night we went to Costco to try their fries and ketchup which was recommended by our favorite Canadian grandma!  We also got to see some of our Herderite friends on our shopping trip.  We went back to the hotel and the kids swam for a little bit.  We ended up going to bed pretty early since we were getting up again at 5am to head to Banff.  Thursday morning we made our way to Banff.  It is such a cool town.  We parked and then took the shuttle to Lake Louise.  It was seriously just as beautiful as I remembered it.  The whole process to get there was a lot and Tag was not impressed.  Once we saw the lake he said "Not worth it!".  Got to love his honesty.  Thankfully all the other kids loved the experience.  After Banff we headed back to Lethbridge.  We stopped at a yummy pizza place for lunch.  It was so good.  Once we got back to the hotel, the kids went swimming and Har and I tried out the fitness room.  Joey ran to Costco to get some blankets for the kids and picked up some dinner.  We relaxed the rest of the night and went to bed early.  We had another early start on Friday.  We got up, ate some breakfast, and made our way to Waterton.  On the way there, Joey stopped and gave us a tour of McGrath.   We then went on to Cardston and saw the temple.  It is such a pretty one.  After driving through town we made our way to Waterton.  Joey and I walked over to a small shop and rented a paddle board.  The water was freezing but that did not stop the kids from having fun.  We all took a turn on the paddle board and loved it.  It was a little tough standing up, but once we did, it was so fun.  After some time in the water, we walked over to Pats which came highly recommended by Sarah Sam.  We got some smarties an ketchup chips.  The ketchup chips were not as bad as I expected.  We left Waterton, stopped for lunch in Cardston, and then went back to the hotel to get ready.  We had plans to go visit Donna.  We were so excited to see her.  She was especially excited to meet Tag.  She just loves hearing about all of the funny things that he says.   We took her out to eat at this place she suggested named Earls.  It was super good food and everyone was able to get something that they liked.  We then took Donna to Costco and stocked her up on a few things.  We also got her an air conditioner that Joey installed for her.  Her house has been so hot and it will be such a blessing for her to have that.  It was so fun to visit with her and wish that we lived closer.  We got home and went to bed for another early start.  We got up and started our drive home on Saturday.  We went the long way around Glacier.  It was so pretty.  We stopped in Kallispel and had lunch at this really good Mexican restaurant.  We then drove past Flathead Lake which was so pretty!  May or may not have decided that we need to get a cabin on the water.  We made it to Butte and checked into our hotel. We were all exhausted so we just grabbed dinner to go and just relaxed.  We got up early this morning and we are on our way home.  We got gas and went to start the car and it really struggled to start.  Pretty sure that the starter needs to be replaced.  Joey was smart to leave the car running while we got gas and now we are on the last stretch.  Just about 2 hours from home.  Minus the car stress at the end it was an amazing trip.  So fun to get out and see new things.  Love spending time with our family.  They are all so good and just easy to travel with.  So glad that we finally made the Canada trip happen.

Missionary Monday

This week Luke said was one of the fastest weeks on his mission.  I have a feeling that is how it is going to be until he comes home.  He said it was a super busy week with lots of teaching.  They have several people on baptism date for next week which is crazy.  Such a different experience for him teaching the Haitian people for sure.  He went on an exchange to Ironwood with Elder Weber.  They met an interesting guy that wanted to join the church so he could have a ton of wives.  Good motivation?  So funny.  They had a big zone conference with Zones 1-5.  He got to see so many of his buddies and they talked about personal conversion.  He said that the spirit was so strong.  The mission president also introduced a new temple policy  which will allow them to get to the temple more frequently which is awesome.  They had 25 friends come to church on Sunday.  25!!  That is insane.  I am so grateful that he is going to have all of this work to do to keep him going strong for the rest of his mission.  What a blessing!  

Stair rail upgrade

We are always looking for a project to update the house a little bit.  We have been talking for a bit about updating the stair rail.  So Joey took that as a green light and got to work.  He lightened the stain on the rail to a more natural color.  I love it!  We then took out all of the decorative balusters and bought enough to just do straight rails.  I love how it turned out.  It looks so much more currant.  The next step is to get new carpet on all of the stairs.  While we save for that I will enjoy the change of the rails.  Amazing job Joe!

Uncle D for the Win

Don called me a couple months ago when he found out that the performer for his convention was going to be Benson Boone!  Harlee is a little obsessed with him so she was so excited when Don was able to get two tickets for her and surprise, they were in the VIP section.  They were so close!  At one point they were standing right by the stage and Benson pinky promised Harlee!  She also got to see Papa Boone.  He saw her  and came running up to her.  So funny!  Don's family could not believe she knew them.  I am so grateful that he would think of Harlee.  Definitely a night to remember.  On a side note, D.J is actually doing a loan for Benson right now so I am processing it.  Turns out he is buying on Traverse Mountain.  Hello neighbor!

Best way to start the day...

Today we woke up bright and early to go to the Draper Temple to do baptisms.  What a special morning!  It was Tag's first time and he did great.  Nash was able to baptize all of the kids.  Joey and I were witnesses.  Since it was not too busy they each got to do 10 names.  After the baptisms we went and did confirmations.  Joey got to do them and I even did 6 names.  What a beautiful experience.  After the temple Joey talked us into going to Einstein's for breakfast.  Good call!  It did not disappoint.  I love serving with my family.  Joey and I have really been blessed with the best kids.  They are all such examples to me.  We have already scheduled out next temple trip for Sept. 7.  Hoping to make this a great family habit.