SEC madness!

Last night was the first football game of the season. And people here go crazy for their college football. . . for real!

Dayne is just a little over 18 months and already he's been to his first tailgating party. I'd say he's acclimating to the South very well!

Lexi was getting her face painted to show her school spirit. She was so proud of her Auburn shirt.

So, how could you tell this was a Mormon tailgating party? Just check out their trash - not a beer can in sight. This was probably the ONLY tent up on campus that didn't have alcohol.

Two words: Psycho Fan!

This was just one of the RV parking areas. They start arriving on Wednesday for the Saturday games. As crazy as it was, everyone told us it's WAY worse when they are playing a big team because the other team's fans come as well and there aren't any tent spots open on campus. That should be interesting!

It's a small world. . .

This being the beginning of fall semester there are a lot of new families and students moving into the branch. Ben came home the other day from a service project and told me that he had met a new family that had just moved into the student branch. I really wasn't all that excited because there are a lot of people that are moving in right now. Then he said that the husband was from my hometown and graduated the same year that I did. He told me what his name was, but I didn't recognize the name so I pulled out my yearbooks from storage and looked him up. When I saw the picture I recognized who it was. I didn't know him well and he didn't know who I was, but isn't that crazy?!? Anyway, he ended up joining the church a couple of years after high school and then went to BYU. So, any of you honkers out there who want to know who it is, send me an email.

Brotherly Kindness

I went to the park with the boys last week while Lexi was at school. I was so happy to turn around and see Sam helping his little brother get a drink of water. What cute little boys - of course, they are always like that! =)

Lexi's Family Home Evening

Lexi told us last week that she wanted to give the Family Home Evening lesson. I was very impressed because she wrote up her notes (pictures and phonetically spelled words) all by herself and didn't have anybody else help her with it. She chose the topic herself which was Missionaries. She even assigned me to give a scripture to go along with it. She was dying to tell what the lesson was, but he asked her to wait until Monday so that it would be a surprise... and then she could hardly stand waiting, and kept asking him if he wanted any hints. She was bursting at the seams all week!

Family Fun Time

The kids convinced us that we needed to take them on a bike ride so we went to the nearby school to ride around. The kids had a blast and surprisingly enough, we enjoyed ourselves as well.











Sam posin' on his trike.











Lexi took a break from her bike to take Dayne around on the wagon.

First day of 1st Grade!

Well, Alexis survived her first day of all-day school. She was so excited and got herself ready all by herself. I can't believe how old she is getting. I guess that means I'm getting older too. Sometimes it seems like she is older than she is. Today when we were walking home from school we had a funny little conversation. It went something like this . . .

Lexi: Mom, I need to get a drink from my backpack.

Me: Do you want to stop so that you can get it out?

Lexi: Do I walk with my hands?

Me: No.

Lexi: Then, why would we need to stop? I can walk and open my backpack at the same time.

Me (in my head): Where did that come from? Must be from Ben's side of the family! (my parents are probably laughing right here)

She's growing up WAY too fast!












(Lexi at "Meet Your Teacher" night, showing me Paraguay, where Grandma and Grandpa are on their mission.)

Why I love being a mother

It's always so encouraging when I walk back into the room and see something like this. Lexi's has been really taking off in her reading and she loves to share her new found talent with her brothers.

Ben finished up his summer semester on Monday and we are soooo glad to have him back. The first thing that he did (besides get some rest) was organize and purge the house. Wow, have I missed him! I wanted to post some pictures so that you could see a little of what he's been doing. These drawings were part of his final project that he was doing. He worked incredibly hard on it. The weekend before he turned in the project he got maybe 5 or 6 hours of sleep. . .total! He's such a perfectionist, but it's paid off for him. He found out today that he placed 12th out of 66 (there were originally 81 in the class, but many dropped out when they realized that they weren't going to make the cut). We're really excited to know for sure that he's been accepted into the program and it's nice to see my husband again!!! I'll try to remember to post some of his finished drawings when he gets his portfolio back. We'll see if I remember. . .

Pioneer Day Activity

1. Ben and Ben fight over a stick. Boys! Actually, this is a stick pull -- just like the pioneers used to do. (What kids would do today without video games)










2. The shotput of the South...er...watermelon-seed spitting contest. Folks, we are not kidding about this one.











3. Dayne training for next year's contest.













(posting by Ben)

Sam finished up his swimming lessons last week and I'm so relieved. Sam did end up jumping off of the diving board by the end of the class. It's amazing what kids will do for candy! I think that it's been really great for him. At the beginning of the summer, he wouldn't even get into the pool, but now he looks forward to it and seems to have no fear! Lexi was able to make new friends while playing in the kiddy pool during Sam's lesson. All in all, it turned out to be not as painful as I was expecting!