Summer is over. Fall is in the air. The nights are cool. The days are warm. It is beautiful weather. Our garden is giving its harvest. We have lots of.................Zuchini! Last year we had tons too, so I planted less, but we still are giving it away, freezing it and making zuchinni bread. We also had green beans, we ate fresh for dinner several nights. Our corn did not do so well. We had no cucumbers. We are getting tomatoes, hopefully enough for salsa. Part of my fall routine is also canning. So I have been canning peaches and pears. We love to eat these in the winter. My next task is to find some apples and make pie filling and applesauce. I hope to get my house back in order soon. Canning puts everything else on hold, and laundry is pilling up.
-N- is playing football. He seems to enjoy it. Their team is 2-2 right now. He plays on the Offensive and Defensive line. He looks so big and grown in his uniform. -E- is learning to play the violin. She came home the other day and played "twinkle-twinkle little star" for me. As soon as she played, a poem started playing in my head-The touch of the Master's Hand. Our family used to watch the LDS Family Home Evening Video of the poem. The memory came flooding back. I made Emma play the song into the phone for my sister. When I got back on the phone, she started reciting the poem. It was quite hilarious. We sat down and watched the video together for FHE. -L- is really enjoying KG and has learned to write her full name. Quite an accomplishment. :) -K- is having fun being home with me. She is quite entertaining, always cooking something up on her kitchen playset and singing to herself.
Spalding is busy at work and is taking a pre-requisite course for his doctorate degree. He is much more relaxed now that the yard is finished and every spare minute is not spent there. It does take a long time to mow, but I wanted a big yard. I am sad to see the summer gone, but the pace of life has slowed down a bit too, and we are happy about that.
In the many places that we have lived, we have tried to experience the places around us. Moving here, we began a tradition. My sister, Audra, comes from Wyoming and we drive North and we meet in Yellowstone National Park. We do this the weekend after Labor Day. We camp for a night, hike a trail, and enjoy each others company. We have camped in a different place every year so far. It has become quite an enjoyable thing. This year, Crystal came from Utah, and my parents came also. They dropped Megan off to start college. It rained on us some Friday night, but Dad, (wise, experienced camper that he is) brought a tarp and we huddled under it for a while. Saturday was better and we hiked to Riddle lake. -L- hiked the whole way. -K- made it to the lake, but got a ride in the back pack on the way down. Our group totalled 7 adults and 8 kids, ages 12, 10, 5, 2,2,2, 9 months, and 6 months. My sisters are die-hards. They have the babies. -E- was a great help with all the younger cousins. It was a fun outing and we had a great time laughing around the fire, hiking, visiting different areas of the park and just being with family.
This summer we bought a tent trailer. The kids have been using it to sleep in the driveway during the summer. I used it for Girls Camp. We used it for our family reunion. This weekend was the first time we used it for actual camping. It was great. I slept quite comfortably, and so did the kids. The only bad thing was that it is getting cold here. Only the end of August, and already feeling like Fall. -N- was disappointed not to catch any fish, but enjoyed trying. -K- got her first fishing lesson. We ate banana boats, our kids' favorite, and roasted hot dogs of course. The place we went to had bike trails so the kids enjoyed riding their bikes. We went with our neighbors. -K- has a fear of all port-a-potties and outhouses. She would be dancing around saying she needed to go potty and then when we would get to the out house potty, she would miraculously not need to go. I was getting worried, I did not want her to have an accident. Finally we took her in the woods. After that, she did not want to use the port-a-potty. She would say "I will go in the woods." The woods definitely smell much better than the outhouse.
Sunday, the girls wore their "indian dresses" to church. Spalding's cousins brought them from Mauritius when they visited in May. If you have the Disney Channel, you may have seen "Cheetah Girls-One World." It is set in India. As we were watching the movie, I was telling the girls that they have ancestors from India. Now that this movie has come out, this has almost been a bragging point for -E- with one of her friends. When -E- first got her Churidar, this friend was over and saw her put it on. Her friend said "what is that?" (insert 10 year old sarcastic voice) -E- told her it was a dress from India, and I said to -E- "Embrace your heritage." After this Disney channel movie, -E's- friend thinks this dress is so cool. Hmmm.... tv influence? Anyway, they are quite proud to wear their dresses and that was even before the movie. I think they look adorable in them.
Here is a picture of one side of our house. The new grass is over the last 1/3 of our property. We planted 100 new strawberry plants from our old plants. 
Today was the first day of the new school year. -N- grumbled that summer was not long enough, but was smiling none-the-less. -E- jumped right out of bed and was eager to go. It is her first year at the middle school. It will be nice to have the older two kids in the same school for the year. -L- was slow to get out of bed, but that is why we chose afternoon kindergarten. I was hoping to drive her to her first day of school, but she insisted on riding the bus. I thought maybe since she is riding the bus, I won't be so sad as she goes off to school. I was wrong, I had to fight the tears as I said good bye when she got on, then after the bus was moving, I could let them flow. You would think that I wouldn't be sad about putting my kids in school, but the reality of it is that they are growing up, and I treasure the time I have with them.
My Seventh Grader 
Well, where have I been? Of course I am not a daily blogger, but we have been very busy the past few weeks so I haven't posted anything. But here goes. We hosted two girls from Belgium during the International Dance Festival.
It was lots of fun, but very busy. I have learned that Root Beer is a totally American thing, and that people from other countries do not enjoy it like we do. 
Our kids really enjoyed having Annelies and Pakku visit with us and we enjoyed watching all the countries perform.
In our hiking group we had 4 generations.
It was lots of fun and definately a good way to end the summer. Sorry I don't have more picts, but my camera battery died and I haven't got copies of picts from my mom and sisters yet.
