Back To School

DO you remember the first day of school? Do you remember the nervous butterflies, the excited anticipation, the dread? Do you remember seeing old friends again, and making new ones? Packing a school lunch, and getting up an hour earlier than you needed to? Mom fixing a great breakfast, when the rest of the year you eat cold cereal?
As I watch my kids get ready to go back to school all of these old feelings come back, along with new ones. Will they be okay? Will they be loved and cherished as I can love them? Will they be permanently scarred?:) No one warned me that being a mother was so full of emotional pitfalls, or that I would be going through elementary school four more times. (like the first time wasn't bad enough) But it is an exciting time.

Channing and Evie planned their wardrobe VERY carefully. Channing and her best friend were chic in Black and white, (always one of my favorites) while Evie was stylish in Red.
Ryder was excited to see Spencer and Cassie. (of course he has played with Spencer everyday all summer long.)
And I never can get them to all smile at the same time. (thank you Evie!)

And here is a little line that made me smile. Don't forget your apple for the teacher!

School
A little girl had just finished her first week of school.
"I'm just wasting my time," she said to her mother.
"I can't read, I can't write and they won't let me talk!"
~ Author Unknown ~

Summer Fun, Over at Last.

Yesterday was back to school night (??? it was at 3 in the afternoon) at the kids elementary school. We got to meet and greet all the teachers, and all of the kids are going to love their classes. They have great teachers, who I have gotten to know through the PTA, and who love the kids.


We also ran a booth for Orchestra sign ups. We have 37 students signed up so far.


There is a definite cooling trend in the air; paper, pens, and pencils are floating through our house; backpacks are packed; and lunchboxes are ready and waiting.
Until this week, the summer seemed to fly by, and I wanted it to be longer and longer, but now that we are looking forward to a new year, I am read to move on. Earlier bedtimes, schedules, and lessons. The crisp scent of fall in the air, sweaters and jackets in the closets, and time inside to sew. I love the fall.

But here is a quick view of some of the end of summer hilarity. Sutton and all of his friends in the pool, channing, Evie, and Brenna. They spent all summer in their swimsuits with hair pulled back into a ponytail. Here come the real clothes, neat hair do's, and organization. Gasp! Maybe I am not ready to go back to school!!!

All Aboard

Is there anything a little boy loves more than trains? From thomas the train, to SLC's trax, my boys are fascinated with any mobile unit of transportation that travels along a track, and occasionally emits a piercing whistle, designed to rupture the eardrums. One of our favorite places to eat in northern Utah has always been the "train place" otherwise known as Dairy Keen. I have been going there since I was yea high, and it was little more than a sidewalk burger joint. But for all our love of all things "locomotive" we have never taken a ride along the heber creeper. That is the Utah equivalent of living in San Francisco and never visiting Alcatraz, or New York, and never seeing Staten Island up close.
So this week we corrected this grevious oversight. Grandma and Grandpa Spotts, Sutton, Ryder, Channing, Evie, and Ron and I boarded the Heber Creeper at 10AM sharp, bound for a round trip journey to Vivian Park. Whomever nicknamed the train the Heber Creeper did so for obvious reasons. It CREEPS! But it was a lovely morning, accompanied by birds, squirrels, a multitude of cows, and bugs in veritable locust like proportions. Halfway down the canyon it came to me. Despite summer heat, an excess of sagebrush, and sometime shortage of water, we live in a LOVELY area. Wide blue skies, green mountains, cascading waterfalls, and the slowmoving waters of the provo river accompanied our trip through Provo Canyon.
And the slow pace of a nineteenth century mode of transportation was the perfect antidote to the all encompassing, headlong pace of modern concerns. It was like a deep breath of pine scented air in a stuffy room. This is the Place!!