September

As it always does, summer ended way too quickly and it was time to get back to school and work and all the busyness that goes with it. 

Kendall began his freshman year at Marshall High School so we continue the schedule we had with Taylor last year with Kalen driving every morning to Marshall to get Kendall to early morning seminary. The only difference is that Kendall is not attending the math and science center so he spends his entire day in one school and is very happy with that decision. He is quickly making new friends (he says being short makes him really noticeable so people learned who he was right away). He is doing well so far in his classes--Spanish is his favorite and Geometry is not. He had a fun but exhausting time with marching band but was happy when he played at the last football game of the season so that his schedule would be a little more flexible.

 Lynnsey, Spencer, and Kaya are continuing together at Albion Community School and are all off to a good start.

 Spencer is in fourth grade this year and is having an amazing year. He has been in occupational therapy to help with Sensory Processing Disorder since April and it seems to have helped tremendously in the school setting. He is focused and happier and respectful of his teacher (who he adores) and the other students. He is making better friends this year and has actually been to several sleepovers! He even was awarded Student of the Month! He is academically at the top of his class and is especially talented at writing and reading. He read the entire Harry Potter series in less than three months and started a trend among his classmates who saw him enjoying them so much. He said there are five kids currently plowing through them in his class.

 Kaya is in first grade now and enjoying it most days. She has a great teacher that she really loves but has been a lot more emotional this year and seems to have developed a bit of a fear of failure. Her teacher says Kaya doesn't realize how smart she really is and often will be sad and not even want to try an assignment if she thinks she might not be able to do it. But she's making strides and her reading is improving tremendously. She even read a book to the class which she previously had been afraid to try. She is coping with the departure of her best friend who is moving away so that was pretty sad for her too.

 Lynnsey is in 6th grade this year and doing great! She is also top of the class academically and is really happy with the teacher she got. She wound up with several of her friends in the class too. This year she is doing the after school program a couple of days a week because they are offering dance classes which she has wanted to take for awhile now. She is doing ballet and jazz and enjoying both but especially the ballet.

 For Kalen's birthday I took him to see the Piano Guys in concert in Detroit. We were really wishing that we could take the entire family again this year but the tickets were so much more expensive that we just couldn't. We probably shouldn't have gone either but it was right on Kalen's birthday and the temptation was too great to pass up. It was so much fun! We went to dinner beforehand at a yummy barbecue place just down the road and then went to the concert. They just put on a fabulous show. Lots of it was similar to last year when we went but they had lots of new stuff too.

 Because they are so much more famous now, the only way to meet them after the show was if we purchased VIP tickets which we couldn't do so we knew we wouldn't be staying after this time. But after we were in our seats we turned around and once again the sound guys were right behind us just like last year. So at intermission Kalen and I went over and talked to Paul and Al (who Kaya said was her favorite Piano Guy and wanted me to say hi for her). They were really nice and took a minute to come talk to us and Al says he actually remembers Kaya from last year. I don't know if he actually does but maybe... So that was pretty cool. I'm so glad we splurged and went!

 We also enjoyed another Festival of the Forks this year. Taylor signed up to run in the 5K. The picture I got of him came out totally blurry, but he did great and won the first place medal for his age category.

Spencer tried to jump in and pretend like he was completing the race too.

The soccer club marched in the parade this year!

Kendall marched with the Marshall High School marching band.

And Lynnsey marched in the Albion Community school band.

 The highlight of the Festival this year was getting to tour the newly refurbished Bohm Theater. There was still just a little bit of work left to do with the balcony but we were able to walk around the lower part and sit in the cushy new chairs. It is seriously amazing. Every time I see it I just can't get over the transformation. Seeing something like this come back from such a poor state that it was closed for so many years is really huge for our community.

 After spending several hours downtown, we headed up to the soccer field for Lynnsey and Spencer's games. (Kaya's was postponed.) The kids all had a great soccer season this year. Lynnsey is still so much fun to watch--she is just graceful and talented out there. She loved that Kalen got to be her coach this season. And Spencer! Holy cow! That boy was a maniac on the field this fall. I could see it beginning during the spring season, but this season he just took off. He's so fast and plays his position incredibly. He seems to be able to anticipate where he needs to be on the field. He scored many goals this season and got in some valuable goalie practice. He always feels bad if a ball gets past him on goal, so that's not his favorite position but with some coaching from Kendall, he got a lot more comfortable. Kaya did great this season too. She was one of the youngest players on her team since she moved up to the next level, but she did great and learned a ton from her very patient coach.

Even though Kendall is too old to play on the kids teams now, they kept him busy as a linesman.

August

The Albion Youth Theater decided to perform a middle school play this summer with Kendall in mind for a specific role. It was called C-rhyme and Pun-ishment and was a hilarious musical detective story. They had wanted Kendall to play the role of the detective. We told them right from the start though that our summer, and especially Kendall's schedule was going to be nearly impossible to work around. They insisted he come to audition though and had us bring our calendar to see what they could do. So we went but sure enough, it just wasn't possible for them to give that role to Kendall since he wouldn't be able to make it to hardly any of the practices and actually would miss opening night because he wouldn't be done at band camp yet. So they decided to cut out one day of the performances so that he could still be in it but with a much lesser role: Humpty Dumpty (whose murder the detectives are actually trying to solve) who comes in at the very end of the play and only says a few words. Lynnsey also got a role as one of the Old Woman who Lives in a Shoe's children. 

It has been awhile since they did anything other than a Missoula Children's Theater play where they come with all the costumes and backdrops and the whole thing is over and done with in a week. This one had lots of practices and extras like set building, etc. Kendall missed most of that and pretty much just had to show up the night of the performances but Lynnsey spent many hours at rehearsal. She did have a lot of fun and enjoyed spending some time with friends too.

 Our branch did a summertime family activity that the Relief Society was in charge of. Unfortunately the opening night of the play was the same night as the party so we had to split up. We would have just skipped the party so we could see the play,  but since I'm in the Relief Society presidency I didn't have a choice. So Kalen went to opening night and I brought Taylor, Spencer and Kaya with me. It was a circus themed party so we all had to dress up in our clowniest attire. It was fun piecing together costumes. Somehow I didn't get a picture of mine, but the kids looked great.

It was an unusual summer weather-wise. We had a few really hot days but most of the time it was really mild and even a bit cool some days. Still, the kids managed to take advantage of any high-temp days to cool off in the sprinklers!

 As a part of the library's summer reading program, they had a fun performance to end it. We don't know where everyone was because there wasn't a big crowd, but our kids had a great time and we all laughed a lot and learned at the same time.

 The Bramhall's decided that our visit together in Utah wasn't enough and so they came for a few days in August. It is always so much fun to have them! We did lots of visiting and made sure to do the favorites like Turkeyville and Swain's Lake.

 We had to do our traditional dutch oven potato and roasted hot dog dinner. So delicious! And Kalen made a phenomenal bean salad that we couldn't get enough of and was nutritious enough to take away some of the guilt about the s'mores we ate for dessert!

Kendall made a delicious cheesecake that was an amazing first attempt.

It was a great way to end our crazy summer!

The Rest of July

As I mentioned earlier, Taylor and Kendall went to Youth Conference right after we arrived home from Utah. Of course, I don't have any photographic evidence, because neither of them brought a camera with them, but they had a great time. They did another Trek adventure this year (Taylor's first youth conference was also Trek). Technically Taylor is eighteen now but they let him go to one last conference. This was Kendall's first youth conference. 

This year to celebrate our 20th anniversary (which happened while we were still in Utah), we left Taylor and Kendall in charge and went to Detroit for two nights. It was SO much fun! The first night it was already evening when we arrived. We stayed at a place near Auburn Hills that we found on Priceline for a great deal. It was not the fanciest hotel we've ever been in but it wasn't the worst either. And it had a nice pool and free breakfast so that was great. Next door there was a really great restaurant where we ate a couple of times. The next morning we headed to the temple where we spent a long day first doing initiatories (I did 15 and Kalen did about 17!) and then did an endowment session before heading back to the hotel. On the way we stopped for lunch and then at a miniature golf place and played a couple of fun rounds before going back and swimming for awhile before a late dinner. It was just so nice to spend some time together reconnecting and celebrating the fact that I have now been married for over half of my life! Amazing!

This summer the Kids n' Stuff museum offered some dance classes. Kaya was dying to sign up and she had a great time. Unfortunately they didn't really get the numbers of kids they were hoping for. I think the younger classes had a few but the 5 and 6 year old class just had Kaya. So I don't know if that's something they will offer again or not. I loved that it was affordable and right here in town and I think people really missed out. Kaya really loved having her own private instructor though!

 While Kaya was in class, and Lynnsey was at play practice, Spencer had fun in the museum.

 We also celebrated Spencer's 9th birthday in July. He is growing up so fast!

He was ecstatic to get the Mario Kart DS game that he was hoping for!

Lynnsey and Kendall both had visits with the orthodontist this summer and unfortunately it is time for them both to be in braces. :( It is horrible timing with Taylor getting ready to serve a mission me losing half of the kids I babysat for last year and we aren't sure how we are going to be able to afford all these extra costs, but we are hoping for the best.)

We did corn on the cob for Lynnsey's last supper before she got her braces on! Kendall had to wait a few extra weeks because of scout camp and band camp.