Back to School

Still catching up...

The kids started back to school the end of August. Lots of first day excitement as usual, especially for Hannah who started at the middle school this year.

Traditional morning-of-the-first-day-of-school pictures:

McKay - a big 8th grader this year!


Hannah - started at the middle school in 5th grade


Courtney - going into 3rd grade


Hayley - my baby's in 2nd grade!


The girls together:



All four kids ready to go!



After the traditional pep rally, I took the two younger girls to the elementary while Brian walked the older two over to the middle school. Hayley was so excited to get the same 2nd grade teacher that both Hannah and Courtney have had - Mrs. Tinsley.



Courtney was also excited for her teacher, Mrs. Reed.



So far, the school year has been going great for everyone. McKay and Hannah have had one report card and each got all A's. We are proud of them!

One big change with the school year starting this year is that I decided to try substitute teaching. I got all the paperwork done over the summer and have kept fairly busy with it so far -- probably averaging about 2 days a week. Most of my jobs have been at the elementary school, but I've had a couple over at the middle school as well. For the most part it's been fun and I've enjoyed it, although I've had a few crazy days with some pretty wild classes!

Summer in a Glance

So, wow, it's almost the middle of October! And I haven't posted in the blog since June. Yeah, wow.

So here is the fastest summer re-cap ever! After the visit in June from my parents and brother (which I actually DID blog about), here is pretty much how the rest of the summer went:


Swimming lessons for the girls




Daddy-Daughter Kickball for Activity Days



Creating "Club Armadillo"



Week-long Scout Camp for McKay in 100+ degree weather



Finishing up upstairs bedrooms enough so kids can move in. Hooray!






McKay gets a "new" trigger trombone



Family vacation in July! Start off with a week in Wyoming for a wedding, high school reunion and general relaxing with lots of family on the farm



Then a few days in Utah


Followed by a week in Dillon, CO doing lots of fun things with more cousins and family



Activity Days outing to the Amarillo Zoo



Gayle's birthday and cake decorated by the girls in August



Day trip with some friends to Ute Lake state park in New Mexico




Finally, an evening at Wonderland amusement park shortly before it's back to school!


Whew! No wonder the summer went by so fast!

Panhandle Plains Museum

The other big outing we took while my parents were here visiting was to visit the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum. It's down in Canyon near West Texas A&M University. I think most of the kids have been there at least once on a school field trip (I went once with Hayley's Pre-K class), but Brian had never been there before.

We saw lots of neat exhibits and real historical artifacts -- everything from dinosaurs to windmills to cowboys to cars to oil & gas exploration and more! Here are a few pictures from our visit:

Palo Duro Canyon

While my parents were here visiting, we took a little trip down to see Palo Duro Canyon. We brought some dinner and found a little picnic area with a little shade.




Not long after we got unpacked, we spotted a pretty scrawny-looking deer approaching our picnic area. The kids were very excited and the deer didn't seem too nervous to get close to us. We figure it was pretty hungry, although the kids could startle it off by running towards it. It came back several times while we were there.


Courtney & Hayley picked up some walking sticks that they brought back home. It was nice that we could all ride together in the bus! We were able to enjoy the scenery through the big windows. We didn't stay long because of the heat (and the bugs), but it was a fun outing!

Catching Up

Wow, I've gotten way behind on blogging! I can't believe that it will be July in just a couple of days -- the summer will be gone before I know it.

I'll try to do a quick catch-up and then post some other posts with pictures.

School got out the end of May. My dad made a quick visit in May and was able to be here for McKay's Spring Band Concert, where McKay received the "Outstanding Brass" award. McKay got a new trigger trombone right after school was out, so I hope he keeps up with his practicing. I am considering getting him in private lessons in the fall, depending on how much they cost and how far we'd have to drive (from what I know right now, our best chances are probably going to be finding someone down at West Texas A&M in Canyon).

Speaking of McKay, remember how he was in the state compeition for the National Geography Bee? The national competition was held in Washington DC the end of June and we found out that the kid from Texas won! We knew McKay had some tough competition!

On the last day of school, I also decided to turn in the paperwork to be a substitute teacher next year (for either the elementary or the middle school). It's something I've thought about doing, so I thought I might as well ast least try it since that's where my kids are. I had to get fingerprinted as part of the process but everything should be all set for the fall.

My parents and brother Tyler came for a 10-day visit the first part of June. It is always a big adventure for them to travel anywhere! We enjoyed having them here and even managed to take a couple of outings with them (pictures coming in future posts). The kids spent a lot of time playing over at their house.

The weather here in Amarillo this summer has been HOT and DRY. We've had record-breaking temperatures -- multiple days between 105-110 degrees (and when the wind blows, that is a HOT wind!). We're also in an extreme drought right now -- we've had only a tiny amount of rain all year. A few weekends ago there was a big wildfire only a few miles from our house. We could see lots of smoke from our patio and it was a little scary! The fire got pretty close to our chuch building and several families in our ward had to be evacuated. Several homes were totally destroyed. They have canceled and banned all fireworks this summer and I really hope people listen and don't light them anyway.

June has also meant swimming lessons for the girls. I signed them up for two back-to-back sessions (2 weeks each). We'll be gone for a good chunk of July, so we had to get lessons started right after school was out. They seem to be enjoying it -- Hannah and Courtney are in the same class this year and are having fun with that (pictures coming here too!)

We have been making progress on our upstairs addition -- in fact, the kids are sleeping up there now! (Except for McKay, who is at Scout Camp right now, but I'm sure he'll be up there as soon as he gets home.) We got the painting, plumbing and electrical work done and this past weekend we got most of the carpet put in (except for the stairs). The furniture's not moved yet -- only mattresses on the floor -- and there are several other things that need to be finished, but it's livable! Hooray!

That's all for now -- I have lots of pictures to share and will try to get those up soon!

My First 5K

A couple of weeks ago, I did something I never thought I would -- ran a 5K! And not only that, I managed to actually run the whole 3.1 miles without walking!

Seriously, I have never been very athletic. I have always hated running -- was always the last one to finish when we had to run a mile in PE, etc. I never in my life thought I would actually choose to run.

Over a year ago, my sister Amy (who used to be like me in regards to running but had begun to run some races and lost some weight and was enjoying it) convinced me to start training for an Iron Girl Triathlon with her later this summer. She was pregnant at the time, so we knew we would have over a year to get ready (which was a good thing!).

I decided to start with some running training. I had some friends who had done the Couch to 5K training program, so that's where I started. I did pretty good with it until the holidays, when my exercise time got dropped from the busy schedule. So in January, I decided to backtrack and start the training almost over at the beginning and work my way through it again.

My good friend Emily -- who has been one of my best cheerleaders -- agreed to run in a 5K with me this spring. I needed to run a 5K -- I knew it would be good practice for me in regards to the triathlon training (which includes a 5K run). We decided on a small 5K race down in Tulia (where she lives). Unfortunately, Emily hurt her back the day before the race so she was flat in bed that morning and wasn't able to run with me. We were both sad! But I decided I still needed to go through with it.

I had only managed to run 3 miles a couple of times in my training. But the day of the race, I was able to do it again! I was very slow (41 minutes), but so proud of myself when I finished! It was a perfect day for a race too -- beautiful spring morning with a small group (no more than 50 people) in a small town (you can tell how high-tech everything was by the handwritten race numbers!)

I can't say that I enjoy running -- at least not yet. But I do know that it's something I can do -- I can't go far and I don't go fast -- but I can do it!

2nd Grade Plays

The Friday before Mother's Day, Courtney's 2nd Grade class invited the parents to come and see their class plays. (Hannah had the same teacher a couple of years ago and did the same thing -- in fact, she and Courtney had the same part in one of the plays!)

Courtney got the part of the narrator in "Slurping Beauty" (a version of "Sleeping Beauty"). She had most of her many lines memorized and did a great job!

Then, Courtney had the part of "Kitty-O," a cat-turned-rapper in The Brementon Rappers" (a version of the The Brementon Musicians). She had her rap "moves" down!

And here she is at the end with one of her best friends, Erica. They are cute girls!