Filled to the Brim!

We just had the most wonderful weekend filled with friends, food and fun...

Our good friends Steve and Kristin (Krissi) Goodmansen flew down from Post Falls for the weekend. Friday night, we went on a triple date (Steve/Krissi, Brek/Marianne and Jason/me)to Deseret Book's "Time Out for Couples". With it only being 3 hours, we wished for less music and more instruction. Our favorite speaker was Kim Nelson. He used humor to lighten the more serious issues of marriage. ---The basic points I got from his talk were; Men and women ARE different. Realize these differences and work with them. Talk to your spouse and let them know what you REALLY want. Steve and Jason standing in front of the "Time Out for Women" poster (for the next day). Jason wouldn't hold my purse in the picture, but he had been carrying it around for me. :o)

After the Time Out conference, we went to Applebee's for appetizers and dessert. Yum!

Brek, Marianne and Steve.

Krissi, Jason and me. (Well, atleast my right eye.)

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On Saturday, we had the most fun and relaxing day. Krissi and I went shopping (of course) while Steve and Jason "played"...video games that is. (Jason had taken the day off of work. A VERY rare thing because it was Saturday.) Then for dinner, we went downtown to P.F. Chang's. We called it a birthday dinner, since Krissi's birthday is this month and mine is in October. We had yummy food on the patio. The weather was perfectly pleasant and the company was even better.

I can't explain how wonderful this weekend was for me. I felt joyful. It's been a LONG time since I've been "filled" so full. Thank you to my wonderful, eternal companion Jason (who puts up with me and my weirdness) and to my good friends for such an awesome time. ----I really needed that!!!! :o)

Smullin Reunion

I have no photo proof that we went to the anual Smullin Reunion, over Labor Day weekend... but we did! My camera memory was full and I didn't take the time to download or develop pictures

The reunion was hosted by Jason's Uncle Fred and Aunt Jenni this year. It was an afternoon event in Utah, somewhere outside of Odgen. We BBQ-ed, visited, participated in the Smullin Olympics (a tradition every year) and benefited from the reunion raffle. The raffle is the highlight of the reunion for us. Every year, my kids look forward to getting their tickets and anticipating which prize they might win. And every year we have to talk about being gratefully for what we get and that we might not get exactly the thing we were hoping for. -As they get older, this IS actually getting better. Whew! -My favorite thing I got from the raffle was a Christmas table runner that was made by my sister-in-law Melissa. Thanks Melissa. It will look great on my new table.

I know, I'll take a picture of that...there's my proof. :o)

We stayed with Jared and Teresa (Jason's brother and our new sis-in-law). They were awesome hosts and we enjoyed our time with them thoroughly. Thanks guys!

Back to School

This is over-due, but better late than never... I guess.

The kids went back to school on August 25th. Yea! They were all very excited... I think for different reasons:

I'd say Treyson was looking forward to riding his bike to school. (The new one he got for his birthday.) Rylee made it her "goal" to teach him to ride a 2-wheeler, without training wheels, a week before school started. Both of them got up and ready, that first Monday morning, to practice riding. In less than an hour, he was riding fairly confidently, with no assistance. Both of them were totally thrilled. Rylee had only one problem, "Mom, now what am I going to do for the rest of the week???" Funny girl. Her "goal" was met much sooner than she thought it would be. --Thanks Rylee for being such a great big sister and for being so organized and goal-oriented. :o)

I think Taylee was excited to use her new school supplies and be at a new school. She loves to create and was probably excitedly anticipating the first masterpiece to be done with her new box of crayons. --We barely made the power-walk to school that first day. Their backpacks were heavy with supplies and they kept lagging behind. I was glad that I had chosen to put Abree in the stroller that morning. She's perfectly capable of walking the distance, but it would have been hard for her to keep up with our pace that day. The kids were starting to go into the school, just as we got there. We caught Treyson's class before they went in, but missed Taylee's. I had to give her instructions (from the outside of the school) on how to get to her classroom. She told me later she had gotten confused and ended up asking for help. Then she realized she had been looking in the 3rd grade hall...and she was now in 4th grade! She's a little directionally-challenged, just like her dad. :o)

Rylee had many things to be excited about. First on her list I think was her new school clothes. She had them outfitted and laying out a week before school started. (Well she did have that extra time on her hands, since Treyson learned riding his bike so quickly.) Also she was excited to be going into Middle School! --Yikes, I can't believe this. I went to Jr. High and was used to the idea of 7th grade being that next big step. In Meridian, you start Middle School in 6th grade. Jason admitted he was having a bit of anxiety for her, the night before school started. Cute, funny daddy. --She liked the idea of having a locker (to decorate, of course) and moving classes for different subjects. She told me when she got home that day, "I had my map with me, but I didn't even have to use it. I just looked at the room numbers and figured it out." She also had been a little worried about memorizing her 10-digit school ID#, but said, "After I wrote it down for the second time, I had it memorized already." Gosh, I wish I had a memory like that!

Abree is dying to go to school! We took part in a pre-school co-op last year and she totally loved it. I plan on doing it again this year, with new mommies and new kiddos. We don't plan on starting until the first part of October, but that doesn't stop her from asking, almost every morning, "Do I have pre-school today?" I remind her we're starting in October and then she says, "But that's when my birthday is!" Yep. --Abree doesn't make the cut-off for kindergarten next year either, although I'm pretty sure she would be ready. Oh well, when she goes to school I'll be a school-kid-empty-nester. I'm liking that she gets to stay my "baby" just a little bit longer. :o)

**Pictures to come in a later post.**

GNO

It was so fun to have a Girl's Night Out with my friends Jaime and Marianne. We went to dinner and then talked and talked and talked and talked AND talked. (Sorry, that sorta turned into a familiar primary song.) I think it's so important that women/moms take time to "play" with their friends every once-in-a-while. Jaime and Marianne, thanks for being my play buddies! :o)

Unplugged

The week before school started up again, our family went "unplugged". This meant no tv, no movies, no video games, no radio/cd player and no computer. I thought it would be a good way to get our brains in gear for school. We'd done enough of being "plugged in" during the summer and we needed to go COLD TURKEY to break the cycle. :o)

I have to admit, this was mostly to prove to myself that I could do it. (I am a self-admitting t.v. addict. I just LOVE it!) I'd never done anything like it and wanted to experiment to see how I handled it, along with my family. We purposely planned a few family outings in the evenings and made a long list of things we could possibly do without being "plugging in". (This was for the times when I predicted the kids would say, "There's nothing to do.")

I'm happy to report that the week actually went quite well. No one cheated (that I am aware of), no one was badly hurt and we did a lot more reading and playing than normal. (I read 5 books myself... and I don't consider myself a big reader.) It went so well we're considering making it a tradition, doing it the week before school starts, each year.

Western Idaho FAIR

Last week, our family went to the Western Idaho State Fair. Growing up in the area, this was the fair I went to in my childhood. It was always exciting and fun and I always looked forward to it, even though it meant that school was just around the corner. Unlike my childhood, the first thing our agenda was riding some carnival rides. I think it would be hard for Jason to go to a fair, with rides, and NOT ride them. He's a big kid. :o)

First ride of the day.

The Wacky Worm was Abree's first ride of the day. It was kind of like a very mild little roller coaster. The first 2 times around I couldn't tell if she was having fun. The last few times around she was finally smiling.
I think Abree had fun "driving", but Treyson was kind of bored being the passenger.
Taylee is our adreniline (sp?) junky. She loves big rides that "scare" her. She chose to go on the "Crazy Train" by herself.
Rylee loved this ride, but Treyson wasn't too sure. When the ride started going backwards, he finally looked like he was having fun.
As we were checking out the animals, this little girl walked by with her sheep. She let us pet it. My kids loved feeling how soft and wooly it was.

Abree bravely going on the ride all by herself.
The last scary ride of the day. It went around and around and upside-down. Taylee considered bailing, but went and was totally thrilled she did. She LOVED it and is already making plans on going on it next year.
These are the African Acrobats. The kids and Jason watched several shows while I had to duck out for 2 hours to go to my old book group to discuss "Breaking Dawn". They also watched the monster truck 4x4's . When I returned we had treats and went to the hypnotist.

We stayed ALL day. It was a long, but very fun day.