Monsoon

On Saturday evening we were just getting ready to run some errands. We had eaten dinner, got the kids ready, shoes and socks were on. We were just about to walk out the door. Then the rain came. And it came hard. We decided to wait until the storm passed to go run our errands. We all ended up sitting on our bed looking into the backyard through the window. We started to count the seconds between the flash of lightning and the thunder and it was getting closer and closer. Then came the 3/8 inch diameter hail. Then there were a couple of times when the thunder and lightning were simultaneous. The whole time the wind was blowing. The kids got to see the effects of a good windstorm as the tree fell over. I love the monsoons in the desert.

FHE

Last night our Home Teacher came over. Then some other good friends dropped by as well. Both times our kids did or said something that was inappropriate or embarassed us or something like that. So, tonight for FHE we decided that we needed to teach the kids how to behave when adult friends come over. We talked about some things and then had the kids role-play what they learned. When it was Rebecca's turn to be the friend and Tyler's turn to welcome her into our home he showed us just how smooth he is going to be. She came in and sat down and he was going to ask her some questions about how her day was. He couldn't think about what to say, so we prodded him a little and here is what he said. "Well, if it's a girl and we don't know her really well we can ask her for her name and then her phone number, and then we can call her up and ask her to come over and then we can do stuff with her." We didn't teach him dating 101, but that is what he came up with on his own. He spent our week at Fish Lake holding his 18 yr old cousin's friend's hand and now this statement from him. Should we be worried?

Back to School

It was the first day of school today. It is hard to believe that the summer is over. It went by really fast. The kids were excited to go back to school. Rebecca couldn't go to sleep the night before, she was so excited. It is going to be a hard year for Meagan. She wants to go to school, but isn't quite old enough. However, all of her friends at church started kindergarten this year so she won't have anyone to play with during the day. We are going to need to find her some new friends to play with.

Notice the bags full of supplies that Tyler's class asked each student to bring. Paper towels, Kleenex, copy paper, crayons, folders, markers, etc. Rebecca's class had a similar list. I don't think that there is any money in the budget for supplies so they are asking the parents to provide.

Erin on the Tile

It seems that we have always taken a picture of the first time that each kid scooted off the carpet onto the tile. Well, it was finally Erin's turn. She didn't make it far off the carpet, but she did finally touch the tile. It took a little encouragement by placing her plug just out reach, but here's the proof that she finally made it.

Climbing

I am going to make an effort to try and keep current on the blog.

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to go climbing with some good friends. We went to an area that had just recently been opened and no one in our group had been to before. The weather was perfect and it was a great day. Michelle was great to let me go and have a good time. She took the kids to go see Shrek the Fourth while I was out playing. I don't think she had as much fun as I did. Meagan was scared by the movie and so the two of them spent a lot of time in the hallway outside the theater.

This is me struggling to get up a route that is much harder than my current ability.
This is Rik...

...and this is Ryan.

I would take a day out climbing with these guys over most other things that I have to deal with. They are patient with my while I am trying to learn and they make for an enjoyable day. Ryan's wife was also with us, but I didn't get a picture of her.

Ride 'Em Cowgirl

I am not sure exactly what the kids were doing here, but they were being creative.

Kindergarten Graduation

Tyler graduated from kindergarten. Some might call it celebrating mediocrity (name that movie), especially when you see how the kids spelt kindergarten on the board.

100,000 Miles

This probably isn't blog worthy, but as you can tell, I am updating with everything that has happened in the last several months. I went climbing with a friend and when we stopped to park I looked at the odometer of the truck and it was exactly 100000 miles. I just happened to have my camera (in a hope that I would take some climbing pictures, but didn't) so I took a picture. The truck is now almost 8 and half years old. It has served me well so far. Let's see how many more miles I can get out of it.