Ranch Road Robbery

One day a few weeks ago, Mylie asked me if she could do a "concession stand" on the side of the road. Our road is just a lane into our ranch, which has four houses on it, and very little traffic other than the family coming and going. I was busy that day and told her to go for it. She decided to sell bread (fresh from the Wonder bag) and water (fresh from our faucet). I was happy about this, since I didn't need to help her at all. Before long, she had made $2 from just three sales--to Grandma and Grandpa, an aunt, and a great uncle. She was so excited about making some money, and when Connor got home from school, they went at it again! This time they sold some fresh garden vegetables that they picked themselves. By the end of the evening, they each had a few dollars. I figured that their customers may have been overpaying a bit, and that fact was confirmed several days later, when I finally read the prices hung on the fence. In Connor's handwriting, the paper read:

1 ceret for 50 (cent sign)

1 pee for 10 (cent sign)

Talk about ROBBERY! (And I got a little giggle about the "pee" part. Made me think of my trip to Mexico, where you actually DO have to pay to take a pee. Haha.)

October 1st Gratitude (the SHORT list)

There are so many things I am grateful for today. Here are just a few . . .

I'm grateful that I was able to make fresh salsa yesterday from my own HOMEGROWN tomatoes and onions. Next year I hope to grow everything I'll need!

I'm grateful that my two cute girls are starting to become great friends! Mariah is old enough to play now and thinks Mylie is awesome! She follows her around and copies her all day long, which Mylie doesn't seem to mind.

I'm grateful that we have had high temperatures near 80 every day this week WITH NO WIND!

I'm grateful that Tony and I were able to go to sealings at the temple this morning.

I'm grateful for the "proud mama" moment I had yesterday as Connor got an award at school for being a great leader.

I'm grateful that my living room window has been open for three weeks straight (day and night!) and my heater has not kicked on once! (So a lot of my gratitude deals with this incredible weather we've had this month! I can't help it . . . I love fall when it's like this!)

I'm grateful that General Conference is this weekend, and I will get to see my entire family (minus Sullivan) on Sunday!

I'm grateful that I am still getting to look at THIS each day (in October?!?)

You'll Shoot Yer Eye Out!

So . . . today was probably the best day of Connor's life so far: the day he got his first BB Gun. Several people gave him money for his birthday, and that--combined with the money he already had--was almost enough for one. Tony pitched in the remaining money, and when I got home from volleyball practice, here is what I found!He could hardly go to sleep tonight because he was so pumped about it.

Even before the BB Gun, Connor had had a pretty good birthday. It started the night before his actual birthday (since I was gone all day on his birthday). He got to have his choice for dinner (taco salad) and his choice for birthday cake (cheesecake: the instant kind out of a box). Can you say EASY TO PLEASE?!? I love this kid! He also got a cheap little yard horseshoes set and a box of over 100 basketball trading cards. He was thrilled!

Saturday--this wasn't really for his birthday, but it felt like we were still celebrating--we went to Laramie for the Cowboys football game. They got killed by Boise State, but it was a nice night and we had a great time with family.
Finally, to finish off the celebrations, we had grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins come for birthday cake last night. That's when he rolled in all the dough necessary to buy his newest prized posession! Thanks to all of you who made Connor's 7th birthday such a hit! (Now, what to get him for Christmas? It was going to be a BB GUN!!)

Rollercoaster

Do you ever feel like your life is a rollercoaster? Since I last updated my blog, mine sure has been one. Last week, volleyball went really well. We won both of our games, and had Saturday off, which is very rare. So, to take full advantage of the free weekend, we headed out of town--Tony and Connor to Laramie to watch the Cowboys play football, and Mylie and I to Provo to watch a college volleyball tournament (specifically Idaho State, where my Uncle Chad is the head coach.) Both the father/son and mother/daughter dates were huge successes! Tony got pictures on his phone, which we don't know how to put onto the computer, so you'll just have to imagine the fun they had! Mylie and I got a couple pictures in the gym. We also stopped at Bridal Veil Falls on the way home and went to the bottom of the falls, but my camera had run out of battery, so we didn't get any pics there. Bummer. We also went out to eat, got ice cream, and did a little shopping between games.

Sunday, we headed to Cokeville after church, where we enjoyed a great dinner and evening with my family. We stayed overnight, and I got some more raspberries Monday morning for jam. We had a hot dog roast for lunch, then we headed back home. It was a great Labor Day weekend.

Then back to volleyball. I was super excited to get going again, but we had a pretty rough week. But that pales in comparison to the sad news I recieved Monday night that a young mother in Cokeville died unexpectedly. It has really made me think long and hard about life and how we can never just assume there will be a tomorrow. I have prayed and cried for their family all week. Then on Friday, my cousin Jared passed away after a long battle with brain cancer. Although we knew this was going to happen, it is still painful and hard to see his young family struggle through this. Once again, my prayers are with them and my mind is consumed with thoughts of how short this life really is and how important it is to have faith in our Heavenly Father's plan.

One happy moment in the middle of the week came Wednesday morning as Mylie went to the first day of preschool. She was so excited!

Now--on the way back up the rollercoaster--my JV team had a great tournament this weekend. They really worked hard. Friday had its ups and downs, so we didn't get in the gold bracket, but then Saturday was tons of fun as they played great and won the silver bracket.

Today was also a good day. After taking the summer off, ward choir got rolling again today. We had 25 people show up and I'm excited about our music we're working on for this fall. I still get nervous conducting, but it's getting better.

Finally, I know that I said I'd do garden "updates" throughout the summer, and I have failed miserably with that. But here is my most favorite update possible--enjoying the fruits (or vegetables) of my labors. Today for dinner, we enjoyed stir fry made from our own carrots, peas, broccoli, and onions and corn on the cob!! Yeah! All the veggies went from the plant to my belly in less than an hour. Now that is eating FRESH! And doesn't it look divine?!?

Kitchen Beauty Salon

Now that the boys are back in school, it's a girl party everyday again at our house! Yesterday, Mylie thought it would be fun to have a beauty salon. I wasn't sure if Mariah would understand how "fun" this game would be. But she LOVED it!!

First Mylie made Mariah BEAUTIFUL!

Check out the pedi!

Then Mariah, of course, wanted to return the favor!

Oh, the joys of little GIRLS!

First Grade

Connor started first grade last week, and so far he loves it! Tony is working with a student in Connor's class this year, so Connor thinks it's cool to have Dad around. And the best things ever . . . they are starting out with a unit about insects! They are supposed to catch bugs at home and then bring them to school where they are making bug boxes. And although these are technically not insects, they are super cool!

We've caught three of these bad boys (yes, it's a scorpion) so far for the bug collection, and Connor is certain that nobody will get a bug as cool as this!

First grade ROCKS!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I know, I know . . . Christmas is still months away! But this particular phrase, for me, is about RIGHT NOW--late summer/early fall! I absolutely love this time of year more than any other. And I have for a really long time. Here are a few reasons why right now is the MOST wonderful time of the year.

--The morning air is getting cooler and has that "crisp" feeling to it.
--I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the smell of fall!

--Fall colors are my favorite, and soon they will be everywhere in nature!

--I currently have a bucket of peas in their shells on my counter for snacking.

--Corn, tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, raspberries, etc. YUM!!

--School is starting, which means getting back into a routine. This makes me happy.

--With a new school year comes excitement. It always did for me as a student, and now I get to see that same excitement in Connor!

--Yesterday morning, as I walked into the gym, I could smell a mix of fall air, cut grass, and football pads. Something about this made me smile.

--Birthdays: Dad, Tami, Connor, me, Mom, and Mariah all have fall birthdays!

--Finally, probably the BIGGEST reason of all for my love of fall is my VOLLEYBALL OBSESSION! For three months, I get be part of a small group of people who get to go to work every day doing something that they completely love! I always loved volleyball, but I never really thought I would coach it, and I never dreamed I could love coaching it like I do! Today was the first day of school, so we only have one practice. I was really bummed this morning that I had to wait until 3:00 to go to the gym and get back to work. The girls are working really hard, the practices are intense, we have so much improving to do this year, and I really have a hard time leaving it in the gym. In fact, I don't even try! I do try to not talk to Tony about it every minute, but if I'm not talking about it, chances are, I'm thinking--what we need to improve on, what we can do to improve, what my best possible lineup might be, what we need to do to ensure success in our future as well as this year, what adjustments we may need to make for conference opponents, and on, and on, and on! Anyway, I never really blog about volleyball, even though it is a MAJOR part of my life and who I am. I just don't think that anybody would be very interested, and I'm fairly sure that only a small percentage of my readers would relate to this obsession that I have. But if you'd like to follow our team this year, we have a team website where you can stay updated on our season: mountainviewgirlsvolleyball.vnsports.com

--And finally, doesn't this just make your mouth water? I picked berries at my mom's house on Saturday (they just have TOO many!) and I got a TON! Delicious!