And They Are Back...

...in school. First time ever that I wasn't quite ready for school to start. Summer went by way too fast. 

Summer seemed short, but I am happy to be back into a routine and to have a clean house and peace and quiet for most of the day. 

Taking Care of Some Business

The timing was less than ideal, but we got to go back to Utah to get our house ready for new renters. We do still miss this place. 

Some fun surprises left by the renters. 

Nice stencil job that was definitely not an approved change to the house. 

And some serious lawn issues needed to be addressed, but all in all after two years the house looked pretty good. 

I love going back. This time around I got to sneak in some hair styling time. And even better: breakfast at Kneaders with these lovely ladies. I really wish one or more of them would move across the street from me again. Or at least come visit! Also, they could open a Kneaders in my neighborhood. 

We were so wasted that we welcomed the invite to stay the night in Brian Head. We got up early, grabbed breakfast in St. George and made it back in time for church on Sunday. 

One last trip before school starts on Monday. Yeah!!

While the Older Kids Are Away

David gave Matt some tickets to a Chargers pre-season football game in San Diego. He took Noah & Ben for a quick trip to San Diego along with Ken, Haeli & Ian. That left Zack and I all by ourselves. What does Zack want to do with an entire day alone with mom? Here's the list: 

King Putt

Olive Garden

Going to Costco was on my list but he wanted to make sure we bought The Hunger Games for Noah. 

Quirkle

Homemade chocolate chip cookies

We didn't accomplish everything on the list, but we had a great day together. So did these guys. 

Another Escape from the Heat

 Being in Idaho kind of ruined us for dealing with the heat of Vegas. It is so hot! A weekend retreat to Brian Head was the perfect solution.

This peaceful place was also just what I needed to relax. 

 I was content to read or puzzle. I picked up this one at MOMM with the hopes that it might encourage the men to join in. Everyone got involved at some point, which might explain why we lost a piece. 

 These kids like to explore. 

Or ATV

  

 And just do boy things... 

 I loved it! (We haven't needed jackets in forever.) 

A little more Idaho

Grandpa drove all the way to Preston to pick up this new little puppy, Patch. The kids loved playing with him. But because he came from Preston we had different name suggestions, like Uncle Rico or Kip or maybe even Napoleon. 

Noah doesn't get the opportunity to do any yard work and he needed to know what he was missing out on. He spent almost an entire day mowing Logan's and my parents' lawns. He tried to act like it was hard work, but he can't fool me. Back in my day....well, we had a riding mower then too, and I always thought it was fun. There's a steering wheel!! 

The Caramel Tree in Rigby Idaho makes delicious caramel apples. In addition, they took one of my favorite treats to a whole new level. The caramel was an ok addition, but the fact that the put it on a stick=genius!

Matt flew home so we could stay longer. This is the first time the kids and I drove it all in one day. It wasn't too bad until we hit this and were detoured to a frontage road for miles. Somehow I got a rock chip on my door window that cracked all the way across. 

We also drove into this storm. Good times! But we made it home safe and sound. We had a great visit to Idaho. 

The Lake

The really really great thing about Idaho in the summer is that it isn't a million degrees. The weather was so nice!