Sigh

It is lovely Fall weather. The air is crisp and I decided I wanted pumpkin pie.

After our stocking up shopping trip, I got down to business.

The house smelled of lovely cinnamon, ginger and cloves. 

We ate dinner, left overs in an attempt to clean out the fridge; had Family Home Evening - discussed our game plan for Craig being gone for two weeks; and I pulled out the pie.

The flavor that I had been craving was absent. In fact, there was barely flavor at all.

In dismay I realized that I had forgotten the sugar.

Pumpkin pie with out sugar is a major bummer.

Bringing back the cardigan

Wearing one of his dad's sweater to Church.

I think he looks great.

Smarty pants

Thursday in History, the teacher passed out a study guide for the test on Friday.

Josh read through the guide, felt he was good and pulled out his book.

The teacher, a bit perturbed, called Josh on the wasted time. Josh told the teacher he was ready for the test.

The teacher replied that if Josh missed any questions Josh would owe him a candy bar.

Done! Josh replied full of the cocky confidence of a teenager.

The teacher relented and allowed one missed question.

Josh went back to his book. (I have introduced him to Belgarath, Polgara and Garion - some of my favorite characters and they were on the brink of saving the world.) 

Fast forward to Friday. Josh was grinning from ear to ear as he turned his test in - 100 0/0.

The teacher said, "Dang it, I was really looking forward to that candy bar."

"Can I have a candy bar?" 

"No, that was not part of the bet, I'm a bit surprised it wasn't, but it wasn't."

So Josh is thinking he might have another chance at some candy next test.

I'm thinking it is a good thing he is so cute or he would end up on the poor teacher's black list.

Cross country epic finish

No pictures this time.

Josh ran here in town.

He did so good. 

He came in seventh place. He got a medal.

After the race, his whole body ached.

I nagged him to drink water. He didn't want to do anything. When we got home he threw up the water.

Poor guy.

I sent him to the shower. 

Then he drank a nutrition shake - the Walmrt version of Ensure.

He feels better. 

He is very proud of himself.

CDL

It has taken longer than we thought. The written part was basically on time. Get the book, read, study and take the test. There were five parts.  He ended up taking the last part twice. But still, he was still on his original time line.

He called to set up the skills test. He found out that he had to bring his own truck. Well, we don't have a semi truck. So we started networking. Trying to find people who had a truck that wasn't already on the road. Because honestly if you have a truck it, isn't making any money if you're not driving it.

He had one lined up as soon  as it got back. The plan was set, and it opened up a lot of time for golf. On the trip home the truck that Craig was going to practice on and take the test with was rolled.

A bit of a panic. 

I was talking with one of my friends, and her husband has a truck that he keeps for the occasional delivery. It was just sitting there.

Craig called and set up a time to practice. They went over the inspection - a huge part of the skills test. Craig started it up, found all the gears, put it into first and started out. The pnly problem was the truck was stuck in the high gear. (I don't know how many gears are on such a truck.) 

He came home and said that he broke the truck.

It was a hard day. 

A lot of things had not gone according to plan. It was hard to see the blessings that we knew abundant and timely.

He was already missing the first two-week cycle where he thought he would be in North Dakota making money.

He called to see about taking the class. That would have meant paying for the class and missing more time in ND. More time with no money coming in. We were seriously considering it.

He waited to talk to his buddy and see how it went with the truck.

The broken truck was fixed quickly, and cheaply. Sixty dollars later, Craig was back in the truck with his buddy Scott to talk him through it. He learned how to back the truck and trailer around a 90 degree corner. To me that is amazing. I don't even want to try to pull a trailer straight. He learned the other things. He practiced docking the trailer, again amazing. He drove it for a two more days, getting more confident.

He passed the test the first time.

Now we are getting set up for him to leave for two weeks starting next week. He will have to go to North Dakota and get set up there. He will join his buddy, Scott, and be a truck driver for the oil boom that is going on up there. 

This is our bandaid until we move to Wisconsin next summer to become farmers. 

Get ready.

Get set.

And, go.

Substituting

So at the end of the school year, last year, we were audited by the state. We received several dings. One of them resulted in my position being cut.

So, this year, I am a substitute. I've been in the class room three times. It's been a slow start, but it is just the beginning of the year. I have also been subbing for lunch duty. That is only two hours a day. It barely makes any sense to do it. But hopefully I will be working in the class room more.

I miss my friends. Friday, I am meeting my friend that I used to work with. I miss talking to her.

I turned in an application for the Charter schools. I said I would be available for middle school. I have no experience with them. I hope they call and it goes well. It is a bit difficult to not know a schedule or have any idea what days I will be working or have any idea about money until the month is over.

Hard to plan.

It feels a bit weird being at my old school and not really belonging.

But I do like seeing the kids again.

Picking Corn for the Community Dinners

We attended a service project this morning. We all got up and out of the house at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. Amazing for me. :)

We drove to a local corn patch -- very big -- to pick and husk corn. A different stake(s) will blanch the corn and cut it for the freezing. It will be used in the community dinners. A good thing.

I had forgotten that I was supposed to take pictures for our Relief Society Meeting before the broadcast. Craig said too bad you don't have your camera, and then I remembered. I had forgotten the camera. But I still had my phone. I don't think it takes great pictures, but I took some anyway. I have to send them all individually. It is a bit of a pain, probably because I don't know the tech shortcuts.

But the pictures are good enough.

The Bishop with half of Kelsey's face cut off. I was taking pictures on the sly.

A group of the scouts husking. Josh has the corn and Boaz is in the jacket in the background.

Busy boys.

Dirty shoes.

The bishop with the Deacon's quorum adviser. The young men program in this ward rocks.

The Scout Leader. He has really helped Josh grow. We love Brother Smith.

I love this man.

Another sneaky picture. Seth, Josh's best friend, is right behind him.

This is Kelsey.

Lynette, the Relief Society Pres and my good friend and the mother of Kelsey and Rachel.

Rachel with her little brother Rob facing the other way.

There were a ton of people that showed up. There were at least people from two stakes. Pretty amazing.

Boys at the fair

We were watching the cowboys cut and rope the cows.

I noticed we were not the only ones.

Cute little boys with big dreams and big heros.

Cross country meet in IF

Josh is loving running.

He is the fastest runner since Brad moved to high school.

He keeps track of his time and is rather hard on himself. But I think he is doing great.

A few pictures.

This was a relay. A team consisted of five members. All the number ones started off at the same time.  Josh was number 5 on his team. They all ran about one and a quarter mile laps. I felt bad for the slower runners.  

I watched Josh start and I ran to a good part way point.

Here you can see Josh getting ready to lap a team from his own school. His Dad had just told him to see what he had got. He was turning on the last push.

I cheered him over the line. But no pictures. I'm proud of him. He was a bit disappointed with his time, but I am proud of him.

He didn't like the sun in his eyes.

1,999 pieces

Grandma Harris must have the last piece.

I have looked everywhere for it, except for the vacuum bag. But I might have missed my window on that one.

Still it looks pretty good.

First Day of School

It happened.

The summer is over.

They boys are at school, and I am wondering what I am going to do with my life.

First things first, a few pictures of the morning.

I love this face.

Boaz with his backpack on. Last night was back to school night. We met his teacher. She explained that she will have a sub the first day of school because she is taking her daughter to the MTC. Boaz was excited to learn his teacher was LDS. His best friend is starting the year out sitting right across the desk group from him. I imagine that will change quickly.

We talked about completing and turning in assignments. He told me in the car that I should punish him if he didn't get his assignments completed. I asked him what we should do. He suggested no reading if he missed. I didn't like that idea. He has loved reading this summer. I suggested instead no electronics. He agreed. 

This morning we also discussed keeping his desk organized.

Fourth grade is a big deal.

He is confident that it will be a good year.

I hope so.

I had to get a shot of how tall he is getting. He didn't really want pictures, but humored me and gave me a big smile anyway.

I love this face.

Josh is starting 8th grade. His last year before high school. I don't really know how this happened. Wasn't I just taking him to pre-school?

We didn't have to have the motivation talk with him. He is motivated to get good grades. This year we are focusing on getting merit badges completed for scouts. That and learning the hymns in the hymn book.

I asked him when he really started reading. We were coming back from the library. He said 4th grade. But he has regretted that. There are so many books that he wants to read, and he doesn't feel like he has time to read them all. He should have gotten started earlier.

He is so cute.

A few pictures from the wedding.

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures at the wedding. But I did get a few that I can post.

So apparently I stalked the Oswald kids and snapped them individually. Tyson poised with the yummy eclair. I should have gotten a better face shot, he is rather handsome. I have gotten a bit lazy with the camera at family events. Usually there are lots of pictures that I can get from others. I just haven't seen any from this night.

Oh well. It was a great night filled with family and dancing

She is on her way. 

Congratulations to Mattie!

The last day of August, Mattie and Jessie started their happily ever after.

A beautiful picture of a beautiful couple.

I have a few more pictures on another camera. I'll get those on later.