Mark's new ride

    I've never had much leverage when it came to Mark. He's never cared that much about anything including getting decent grades or putting forth much effort in his school work. Well, that's all about to change. Meet the BEST leverage....

     He may not be 16 yet but he's just bought his first vehicle and he thinks he's pretty hot stuff. This is his 1997 Ford Ranger that's got some body damage, a little over 100,000 miles and is a 'gutless' stick shift. (According to Greg.) Needless to say, Mark is on cloud 9 and I'm just happy I have the best leverage in the world to keep him focused on keeping his grades at a C or better level!

Quick spin around the cul-de-sac.

     Now where are we going to park it?!

Here's a fun napping photo taken just a few hours ago.

The best way to use a football pad.

And a perfect posed photo from our newest addition.

He may not be potty trained yet but I still think he's the CUTEST!!

     And here's a few other photos from our week.

A Charlie sandwich.

Cookie making is so yummy!

These two were very 'helpful'.

Their tiny drones arrived right on time. Isaac got one too but wasn't around for the photo. Unfortunately Carter's has been compromised by McClane but it was fun while it lasted.

   So that's our week and we actually survived our first full week of the school year. Only 'too many' more to go.

School!?!?

    Well it happened! School has started once again! I love the schedule but I hate the homework and all the signatures that are required. Obviously there is no homework the first week but you can bet next week is going to hit hard for all of us.

Isaac's a Sevvie this year. Jr. High school!

Mark's a sad sophomore.

Mark's a cooperative sophomore.

Carter's a happy 5th grader.

Charlie's wishing she was something other than just CUTE!

Brock's an excited 2nd grader.

McClane is so excited about preschool!

He couldn't wait to get involved, no tears for him or me!

    We also had a visit from my sister, Ann and her family for a couple of days. I didn't get too many photos but it was fun to see them even if it was for just a brief time.

David, Vienna, London and Asher enjoying a spin with Isaac, Charlie, McClane and Brock.

     McClane had a couple of sleeps in odd places this week.

    And then he requested I take this photo...

Everyone loves to snuggle the dog.

    Greg had a nap or two this week as well. I documented this one...

He loves snuggling with the puppy too.

    Speaking of Greg, he met with the cardiologist on Monday and apparently his heart is either too fast or too slow 25% of the time, which is a problem. After Greg explained all of his work responsibilities and the stress he's under the doctor agreed that he has too much to worry about. Greg can literally say his job is killing him at the moment. For now the doctor has him on a very mild anxiety medicine that will hopefully eliminate the major stresses and help him to manage the stress for now. They'll reevaluate in a month. So far it seems to be helping. Having someone trained right alongside him would also help but that's probably not going to happen this year.

       On another note, I was released from being a relief society instructor and I'm now the new Webelos den leader. I'm definitely happy to be done teaching and hopefully Webelos will be a fun change and far less stressful.

Alpine's birthday and Charlie's birthday

     Alpine Days this past weekend was pretty awesome. Whoever was in charge made some great improvements to most everything, especially the events Friday and Saturday. After the parade, which was pretty typical, there were bouncy slides, carnival rides and some game booths at the nearby park. Initially we went to see all the activities available only out of curiosity. The all day wristbands  were eight dollars apiece and we had no plans on purchasing any but then a kind City Councilman came across Greg and the kids and couldn't understand why Greg wouldn't be given free wristbands for his kids since he's a city employee. So the kind man took it upon himself to walk over to the ticket booth and made sure all of our kids got wristbands. Obviously the kids were in heaven and spent the rest of the day at the new park going on rides, jumping off bouncy slides and cliff jumps until they were sunburned and happy. And the fireworks show later that night was something you just had to be there to witness because it was absolutely amazing. Overall it was a pretty great celebration.

Let the parade begin.

Showing her patriotism like a good girl!

These kids love the free stuff handed out at the parade.

In awe of all that is available to be enjoyed.

Train ride.

Swings!

Boats.

Rockets, only Charlie was allowed on this ride, the boys were too big.

Isaac in a freefall.

I can't believe another Alpine Day's celebration has come and gone. A little depressing.

Sunday can be exhausting!

Naps are hard to come by on Sundays.

     Then it was Charlie's 2nd birthday! Charlie's fun, busy, loves strawberry milk, takes the best naps and is loud and demanding. We think she's pretty great!!

Birthday Girl!

Sporting some cute new pants.

Time for the family to eat cake and ice cream in honor of Charlie's big day.

When you're only two Mom gets to choose your birthday cake. (3 lbs. of fudge just in the frosting! YES!!)

This is one way to eat cake and ice cream.

Time for presents.

Aunt Heidi was a great gift opening buddy!

Aunt Kristin was a great distractor from opening the rest of the gifts. (Please ignore my finger in the corner, I struggle with that!)

Her very own wiggle car, she's in heaven!

She loves her new ride! She's a wiggle car riding fool.

   It's been a fun week and the last full week of summer vacation. Only 5 days left before school starts! Two backpacks are already full of supplies. We won't know for sure who Carter's teacher is until Monday afternoon but Brock has Ms. Jacobs who was Isaac's kindergarten teacher 6 years ago and hopefully will work well with Brock. Of course Mark and Isaac won't know what supplies they need until they actually start attending classes but hopefully we have a good stockpile of what they need so I won't need to run to the store for another couple of weeks. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike school?! I am not looking forward to making lunches every day and I especially dread homework but I am somewhat excited for going to bed earlier. At least I only have three kids to make lunches for instead of four. (High school students/Mark are on their own for lunch.) Here's to making it through another school year!

Our summer is winding down

      This week has been nice and not too busy. We said farewell to cousin Josh Budden mid-week. It was fun having him here for awhile but I know he's probably thrilled to finally be home and sleeping in his own bed after a month away.

       I did attempt taking the kids, all SEVEN, to the water park Thursday evening but for the second time this summer we pulled in only to find out it was closing early for a private party. Thankfully the Provo Rec. Center is close by and a great backup plan. I found this photo on my phone after our swim.

Charlie loves being at the pool.

     While driving home after my morning workout/walk earlier this week I found myself following Jesus, literally.

     Sunday I crashed Greg's Sunday school class and was pleasantly surprised to find out they were discussing keeping journals. I seriously had no idea but I actually felt like it was meant to be. And after all the talk on keeping records for posterities sake I decided it was a great opportunity to take a photo of the whole class for Greg's record keeping. There were 16 of his 19 kids there so a pretty accurate photo record.

These kids will be moving on to the 9th grade class in just a few weeks so this was good timing.

And then there was some cute sleeps.

Charlie threw herself a fit that ended in total exhaustion.

This puppy loves sleeping with people.

The stuffed puppy is a close second to human sleep partners.

And his favorite spot is by the pillows on my bed. He's so stinkin' cute!

     We're all still in puppy heaven and Smalls is definitely getting comfortable around all of us. You really can't put a price on the joy this puppy has brought the whole family!
     Now on to the Alpine parade and fireworks tomorrow and celebrating Charlie's 2nd birthday in just a few days.