Homecoming came so early this year that September seemed to last a long time! Below are a few photos from the official end of summer:
Danny went for 110 floors on the elliptical the night of 9/11 to honor the firefighters that put everything on the line to help others. He is considering becoming a firefighter after high school and Kate even found a junior college a few hours from here that seems to have a neat training program for that. She is looking into going there herself to save money while getting her associates degree and then transferring to another in state college after that. I am excited to see both of them exploring their options.
Michelle got to share about her trip to Asia with the Rotary Club. The group made a presentation during a lunch meeting and all seemed to go well from what she told us. This girl is so busy this year with SCLA, LYSO, Student Senate, Science Olympiad, and her heavy course load but is loving all she is doing.
Hubby and I are actually going to be less busy! Between losing money on repairs such as replacing the roof and HVAC system, realizing we are too nice to raise the rent when we should, knowing that our state has recently passed renter laws that basically make it impossible to evict someone, and our renters of six years moving out of state, we decided to put on house on the market at a price low enough to sell this summer and still cover all our debts. We hired my friend, Melanie, and said goodbye to the house we bought as newlyweds and brought our four babies home to. It was pretty emotional to put so much time and money into this house this summer but we hope the cute little family who bought it love it as much as we did. If we only had 2 children (like them) we would still be living there!
Don't worry, we are very glad we felt the need to buy our new house. Saturdays mean softball around here nowadays and we have our youngest to thank for that. Her softball is also the reason we decided to lease a super cheap but awesomely fun EV. With VW making too many ID4s and the federal tax credits ending at the end of September, you can get a base model for 99$/month! Our neighbors got a silver one a couple weeks before we got our gray one and we are all loving our steal of a deal. We think we will easily pay for the lease in money saved on gas going to and from softball alone. This will also free up a car in case Danny needs to take himself or Michelle somewhere before Hubby gets home from work on softball days that Kate is also driving H to volleyball for her job. We are all very excited. Oh, and you might be wondering where Michelle was? She was camping with her friend Aidah as part of LHOC. It's a volunteer program related to the job she had this summer but the people in charge make it really fun. So she did trail work but also had a blast playing charades in the dark. She loved it.
We did make sure Michelle was home in time to go out to eat to celebrate selling our old house, her half birthday, and getting the new car. Photo credit goes to Kate, who even though she looked beautiful, didn't want to be in front of the camera. It was great to have all 6 of us together doing something we don't usually do. And I was proud that my oldest two asked me how much I tipped because I always ask them that after they get their hair cut all by themselves. lol
The last weekend of September we got to spend lots of quality time outdoors in perfect fall weather. Friday night Natalie, her best friend, and I joined Hubby at a work event at Anderson Farms, which included not only entrance but also a meal coupon and tickets to Terror in the Corn. I had always stayed back with Natalie while Hubby took the older children as they got into middle school and were brave enough to go. Let's just say I was very impressed with their set up, the duration, and actors and I'm glad I went but it might have to take another "free" ticket to get me to go again. Why is it so creepy to see people crawling out from under tables in the dark, hear chainsaws in a corn field, and have people in costumes silently follow you for a while?!?
The next morning Natalie and I were awake bright and early for a double header and got to bring Grandpa along! The second game was pretty fun because they played against the other 12U team from their club and they had chosen to wear their black uniforms as well so both teams had the same uniforms. The only difference was our girls have white batting helmets and their girls have black batting helmets. You really had to pay attention but Natalie said it was easy because only one team wore batting helmets at a time.
I was home for about half an hour before heading out again in a different VW and different direction to take Kate to have her senior pictures taken. We were so fortunate to have her photos scheduled for the best weekend of the year at Rocky Mountain National Park! The leaves were perfect and I am so excited to see the final results from the photographer, but here are a few behind the scenes shots I took. Such a gorgeous girl in a beautiful place!
While Kate and I were getting her senior pictures taken, Hubby and Danny got to go to the CU vs BYU football game. They had a great time and reported it was a good game. Although Hubby is an alumni of both universities, Danny insisted they go as CU fans but there was plenty of royal blue around them too.
Sunday morning was stake conference, so when Michelle asked if I could drive and chaperone the first hike of the hiking club she is starting at her high school, I was thrilled to say yes. Michelle did a wonderful job planning and we had a great time! We hiked Green Mountain via Chautauqua, Amphitheater, and Gregory Canyon Loop -- over 6 miles with over 2,600 feet of elevation gain. Lots of fun boulders and even a ladder to climb. The initial hike had three wonderful high schoolers but we decided this was a good number to show growth from. Michelle already has their next hike planned but one friend suggested she might get more people to come if the hikes weren't so difficult. lol. My knees agree and she did say she would plan easier hikes for when the weather gets colder.
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