First Day of School

Today is back to school!  Where did the summer go?  The kids are were all very excited/nervous, but sweet father's blessings helped to calm their nerves.  We had a great morning, but an early one with Merritt needing to be out the door at 7:25 to catch the bus.  We moved scripture study up to 6:30 and it worked like a charm!  I've never had such a smooth first-day-of-school morning.  Now I need to breeze through my chores, make cookies with Joseph for an after school treat, and wait for the first day report.

Cousins

My mom has a brother and a sister and so does my dad, but I never really knew my cousins.  The ones we saw most often were Greg and Brian, and that was probably 7 or 8 times in the 18 years I lived at home.  I would have loved to know them better.  I'm grateful that my kids see their own cousins more often and list them among their friends.  Nathan came to visit our home and after he left, my little Joseph didn't stop asking where "Nafun" was for three days.  Now their "Wyoming" cousins are here to visit and they are having a marvelous time.  We were able to take the kids to the zoo yesterday.  They laughed at the monkeys, oohed and aahed over snakes and crocodiles, marveled at the polar bear, elephants and rhinos, and just enjoyed themselves.  We topped it off with some water fun at the zoo splash pad.  What a fun day!

Peach Harvest

There is something so satisfying about the sight of a small mountain of peaches that grew on your own backyard fruit tree.