It's all good . . .

September Ups and Downs

The past couple weeks have been filled with ups and downs, which is the stuff of life, right? Life is never all good, and it is never all bad, but sometimes things happen that make the ups and downs more evident than others - like when your car breaks down . . . again, but I'll get to that.

Sometimes the downs are just annoying, like the other day when Arthur and I were locked out of the house.  I was teaching school every day last week, which meant that on Wednesday, Lily needed the car to get to Catholic Charities. Usually she drops us off and picks us up, but it was an early release day, and so I got a ride for us to get home since she wouldn't be back for hours.  What I forgot, however, was to bring a house key. Oops. So yes, Arthur and I were locked out in the 90+ degree heat with no way in. Because of course, I never did put out an emergency house key anywhere . . . or remember to give one to my neighbors, and we still don't have the keypad hooked up to open the garage.  So, our next best thing was to break into the backyard gate (which now only opens from the inside), which I painfully managed to do, and so then we could sit in the shade at least. With no water and in the heat. Thank goodness that I was able to get ahold of Kevin to come home and let us in, even though the work number I have for him doesn't work anymore - ha ha! Yes, it really was a comedy of errors. But hey, instead of hours out in the heat, it was only one hour.  Thank goodness for Kevin saving us!

Some of the ups are super amazing, like getting to attend the baptism of one of my sweet primary kids, Harper.  And at the baptism, four of the girls sang a musical number, which was seriously the cutest! I sure love that I get to work with these amazing girls.
Another "up" for me is that we live so close to the San Antonio Temple, that when I take walks around the neighborhood to work out, I see the temple.  In fact, the other day, I was walking up our street, and there, peeking out from behind a house, was the angel Moroni from the top of the temple.  So awesome!

And then there was Monday.  On Monday morning, Derek and I went out to the car at 5:40am to take him to seminary, only to have the van not start.  (And Kevin was out of town with his car sitting at the airport, completely inaccessible.). I could not figure out what was wrong with the van, as it would start for a second, and then it would immediately shut off. So bizarre! And thus began the insanity of not having a car all week - a week filled with appointments, work, school for the boys, seminary for Derek, service assignments for Lily, and figuring out how to get us all everywhere.  At least I had roadside assistance that was able to tow my van to the shop to get checked out.

Somehow we were incredibly blessed all week without our van, between Gabby, an awesome teenage girl gave Derek rides to seminary, including taking him at the last second on Monday morning.  Then there was my amazing neighbor/friend Whitney not only took Arthur to school everyday (and me too on days when I was subbing), but also picked him (and sometimes me)up after school.  My friend, Erica, also helped with picking up and dropping off  - even taking me to my chiropractor appointment. There were other friends who helped as well, picking me up from things and dropping me off, and then there were unexpected blessings was when my awesome dental hygienist, who happens to live a few doors down from us, who drove me home from my dentist appointment so I didn’t have to walk uphill in the heat. Oh, and Kevin got back from his trip in time to be able to get Lily to and from her Catholic Charities assignment across town, and the daughter of a friend was able to take Lily to Institute on Wednesday night so she didn't have to miss it.  Seriously, it was amazing all the "ups" there were in the middle of a very hard situation.

There were still plenty of good moments among the stressfulness of the week, like when Arthur held an auction where he was the auctioneer and I was the only person bidding on the random things he had gathered from around the house.  And he even gave me the "money" to spend, which was a pile of fake gems and gold coins. It was awesome!

There were some other wonderful moments with Arthur, including getting to read with him before bed. Right now we are reading a really great book, The Ickabog, and sometimes he will read to me while I wash my face and take out my contacts, which is the best.  And it was even more fun because he even put on a crown to get into character the last time he read to me.  I sure do love that kid!

One of the best "Ups" of the week was my monthly lunch with my friend, Megan.  We have been having these monthly lunches for a year now, and they are always one of the highlights of each month. It is almost like a therapy session as we catch up on our lives and laugh - a lot. This time we went to Bakery Lorraine at the Pearl, and it was very yummy, but the conversation was even better.
In spite of not having a car to drive, I still had to get to work at the school on Thursday and Friday, and thank goodness for friends that helped me out.  And it was hilarious after school, because I had to pay attention to car rider numbers and go out and wait at the cone with Arthur - ha ha! This week at school was also the Penny Wars, and Arthur was bent on thwarting the fifth grade, and so he took a year's worth of loose change from Kevin's car - pennies for his for points, and tickles, dimes and quarters for the fifth grade for negative point for them.  Good times!

On Friday night, about thirty minutes before they closed, they were finally done with my van. Hallelujah! It turned out that we needed to get the ignition rekeyed, because the key was slipping out of place and shutting off the car.  Good times :/. It was not cheap, but man, was it a huge blessing to have it fixed and back in our driveway.

One of the things that helps me survive the downs, is getting in a daily workout.  When I opened my health app the other day, I noticed that I had gotten in some sort of exercise every day - whether it was an actual workout, a yoga routine, or a Sunday evening walk around the neighborhood.  These workouts not only help my mental health, but mean that I am somewhat free to eat what I want . . . in moderation ;).

We finished the week with a high - an early morning drive with Derek for him to catch up on the missed driving time from the van being broken. We got out before the sunrise, so he got in some night driving, and then stopped at Krispy Kreme on the way home. We had a free dozen of glazed, but we had to grab another dozen of mixed varieties - including their fall flavors - yum!  I may have eaten four donuts throughout the day.  Thank goodness for all the exercise I get - ha ha!

Kevin's Adventures

For the past two weekends in a row, Kevin had to leave us to go out of town.  Once for fun, and once for work.  Two weeks ago, he left on Saturday and flew to Las Vegas so that he could be there for our nephew Conner's homecoming from his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We were so happy that it worked out for him to be there!  His parents picked him up at the airport, and he got to Scott and Shannon's in time to watch the BYU game with everybody.  Good times!  And hey, BYU beat Baylor.  Go Cougars!

The next day was church and Conner's homecoming address. Kevin said that it was a wonderful meeting, and that Conner's talk was fantastic. Afterward, there was a little get-together, and Kevin spent the whole time talking and laughing with his parents and his brother.  It was such a special weekend, and I am so grateful that he got to be there for it!

This past weekend, Kevin left long before the sun was up to catch a plane to Maryland for a work trip.  Since he arrived pretty early on Sunday, it meant that he got to spend most of the day with our friends, Kevin and Amy. We sure have missed them, and Kevin has especially missed getting to play golf with Kevin.  Luckily the two Kevins were able to squeeze in two rounds of golf  when he wasn't in meetings, which made his work trip so much better. 

He left to come home on Tuesday night, but because of some weather delays, he didn't get home at 2am on Wednesday morning. Poor Kevin! He did come home bearing gifts from when he had a meeting with the FBI.  Cool spy mirrored sunglasses for the kids, and a beautiful Christmas ornament and cool magnet for me.  We sure are glad that he is back in town now, and hopefully won't have to go anywhere for a while.

A Night with Derek at Michael Buble'

A few years ago, Lily and I had the most amazing time seeing Michael Buble' in concert, but because of circumstances, Derek wasn't able to join us and has always wanted to see him live as well. So when I found out that he was coming to the AT&T Center in San Antonio, I talked to Derek and we got tickets to go and see him. Well, last night was finally the night, and it was worth the wait.

The first thing he did was search out the merchandise sales and bought himself a hat from the tour. We also searched the whole place for dessert, since we had already had dinner, but there was nothing!  So lame. I guess there is an ice cream place, but it was closed, so we had to settle for peanut M&M's. We did find brisket mac & cheese though, and although it wasn't dessert, it was still yummy.

After getting our food and merchandise, we headed up to our seats.  They were very high up in the rafters, but we didn't mind.

Because Derek was buying his own ticket, we saved money by getting the cheep seats, which meant we were five rows from the very top of the arena, but it's all good.  We had a really cool view of the stage, and we could see the musicians as they were getting set up in their seats behind the curtain.

The show was AMAZING! I mean, I had remembered how great he was in person, but I had forgotten how truly fantastic he really is in person.  Like blow you away good. And the band/orchestra was just fabulous. He started the concert by rising up out of the stage, which was pretty darn cool. We loved it!

He sang so many of our favorite songs, which we had to sing along to, and even some songs from his new album.  We especially loved his song "Higher," which was he named the album and the tour after.

Here is a little snippet of some of the songs during the performance :).

At the end of the show, we got one last selfie (and if you look closely, you can see Michael right in between our heads. Derek had had a long day of work before we left for the concert, and so we snuck out during the finale number, and walked out the doors just as the final applause sounded.  

I only felt a tiny bit guilty, but that went away when we made it out of the parking lot before all the chaos descended.  (It also meant we made it home to say goodbye to Kevin who was just getting to bed, since he had to leave for the airport at 3am Sunday morning.) It was such a fantastic show, and I am so glad that Derek and I get to share such fun and wonderful experiences together.

Starting Off September

September is going strong, and before I know it, it will be over.  That just seems to be how quickly life is going by these days.  Last week, I decided that it was too nice outside to stay in the house any longer, and so I convinced Arthur to take a walk with me to the playground around the corner.  He was super excited and started playing right away, but within 30 seconds, it started raining.  And then it was a full on cloudburst.  Luckily for him, the main play area had a large sun canopy over it which protected him from the rain, and luckily for me, there was a picnic pavilion I was able to sit in and read my book while I listened to the rain on the tin roof.  Eventually, Arthur decided he would rather just play in the rain, and so I had to get some pictures of him at it.  And soon enough, the cloud moved on, the skies cleared, and we walked home.  Good times!

Speaking of Arthur, he has the most active imagination.  His older brother and sister were just like that at his age, and it is fun to see how similar he is to them.  The other day I walked upstairs to see him in his bathrobe, a purple winter hat, and gauntlet type gloves that Kevin had crocheted for Derek years ago - and if that wasn't odd enough, he had made himself a pillow fort and closed himself up inside it. Why? The world may never know. Ha ha!

One of the reasons that time is just flying, is that I have been so crazy busy working - between teaching and working remotely designing cabinets, I feel like I am always busy.  I have spent most of my time up in the fifth grade, which has actually been really fun, albeit exhausting.  I love the 5th grade team and we have such a great time together, and I not only have strong bonds with many of the kids from when I taught them in fourth grade, but I have loved getting to know the rest of the kids. My friend, Jamie, has been subbing up in fifth a lot as well, and we have a great time together. Good thing I like it, because next week I am teaching Monday through Friday while one of the teachers goes out of town ;). (And Jamie totally stole my phone and took a picture of herself - good times!)

My favorite day of work this week, however, was on Wednesday when I subbed for the librarian.  Library is my very favorite thing to teach - you get to read and discuss books with kids all day, and then shelve and check out books.  It is my dream job! And while I was there, I kept finding books I wanted to read, and ended up with a whole stack I checked out.  It also happened to be Substitute Appreciation Day, and the PTA gave me an awesome drink tumbler and a cookie.  So fun!

Yesterday found Derek and I at the high school early for his tux fitting.  It is a long and tedious process, especially when your son is growing so much that he can't reuse the tux from the year before - ha ha!  Actually, it would have been a lot faster, but the seamstress doing the alterations, and the photographer doing the headshots, were both super late.  Oh well. We got it done in an hour.
And while Derek and I were busy, so was Kevin.  He built a little fence/wall so that we could put our trash cans along the side of our house, instead of them taking up precious space on our back patio.  It is perfect! And I planted a Texas Sage in front of it, which will also be nice :).  It has been a good couple weeks so far!

Missionary Moments

We sure love having our missionary here in our home.  Lily has always had a special spirit about her, and so although now she is dedicated to serving those around her, truthfully, not much has changed in her interactions with others.  She has always been quick to drop everything and help someone.  I think her favorite part of her mission so far is to have the wonderful schedule of dedicated time to do specific service. 

On Mondays, Lily stays at home and serves here - whether it is helping me with projects, indexing, or self improvement, she keeps busy. Tuesdays and Fridays she works at the Church Distribution Center as a volunteer from 9:30am-5:30pm, which she loves - and it is only a short walk from our house, which really helps when I have to have the car.  Here is what she said about it in her weekly email: 

"At the distribution center, I learned how to take customer orders and where everything was. I also watched videos that told me about the different styles and materials for garments, and what worked best for what. Then, we had a shipment arrive, and I helped check to make sure we got everything, and restock the store with what we got. It was really nice, and I learned a lot. There were a lot of people going to the temple I was able to help!" and "I was able to help with some extra tasks. I sorted all of the shoeboxes (because believe me, it was a MESS), and then learned how to use a steamer to steam-iron dresses. My arm got really tired from holding it so long, but I did a really good job!"

Wednesdays are her days to work at Catholic Charities across town. (Wow, does she have an insane commute to it, taking her on four different big freeways - thank goodness the Lord is watching over her!) They serve a lot of homeless and poor in the area, and she does a lot behind the scenes to help organize donations.  Some of her emails recently talked a bit about it:

"At Catholic Charities, I helped stock the food shelves. There were a lot of moldy strawberries that we had to find and throw out...but we also stocked a bunch of bread! I also helped sort out a bunch of soup cans. Then, to end off the day, I helped make bagged lunches that would be given to the homeless." and "Wednesday was another day of Catholic Charities work at St Stephan's Care Center--well, once I was able to get there, at least. Having to go fill up on gas, mixed with the rainy weather, mixed with so much traffic, made it so the drive there took twice as long and I ended up getting there 20 minutes late...vut once I finally got there, I was able to immediately get to work sorting tomatoes and putting the good ones in bags while throwing out the moldy ones. I also helped sort out some cans!" 

Thursday is her day at the San Antonio Temple. Up until this last week, she had been using it as a day to attend the temple while she waited for them to get her into the rotation and get set apart as a worker, but this week she finally got to do serve there as an ordinance worker, and she loved it! (And she is on the same shift as my Aunt Linda and Uncle Scott - so cool! Here is a little bit of what Lily has to say about it all:

"On Thursday, I got to do an initiatory session at the temple! After the session, I went to the offices to see if I could get scheduled to work soon. But even better than that, I was able to meet with a member of the presidency and not only get my schedule set, but also get set apart!" and "Thursday was my first day working at the temple!!! And it was AMAZING!!!!! :D I got to meet my Great-Aunt Linda and Great-Uncle Scott, and I got to help out all over, and even got to keep watch in the Celestial Room! I'm so excited to come back next week!!!"

Aside from her service assignments, she also gets to serve in our ward, and just recently got a calling to help teach the CTR 4 class in Primary, which she loves! She is also encouraged to attend Institute Classes at UTSA (For those who don't know, Institute is a religious program for young adults college aged, and they also have social activities.) Lily goes faithfully every Wednesday evening and loves it.  She also has a companion, but unlike a teaching missionary, she does not have to live with or do things with her companion. Instead, they are a support to each other and have their semiweekly companionship study. She also has a district and zone, and they have meetings on occasion. And sometimes they have mission-wide service projects, like the one she had last week.  I'll include the part from her email about it:

"I got to help with a service project on Saturday! That morning, I drove out to a church building in Helotes, where we all met up to go across the street to a property we were going to be cleaning up. We were working to try to make it work as a place where church campouts could happen. We cleaned up piles of junk, moved rocks, trimmed trees, and got REALLY hot and sweaty. After the work was done, we went back over to the church building to have lunch and watch a service missionary conference! It was really cool. Then, after that, some of us then headed over to one of the elder's houses to go swimming! The pool was big and got decently deep, and there was even a waterslide!"  (Obviously, her rules are a little bit different than a teaching missionary.)

One of the things that has been the most amazing blessing for Lily on her mission, is how close we live to the San Antonio Temple (0.3 miles away - albeit uphill). It has made it easy for her to serve there and at the Distribution Center, especially since she often has to walk. But even more, it has made it so easy for her to serve there - doing endowments, initiators, and even baptisms with her brother, Derek.  And yesterday, we had the most wonderful experience of getting to do a sealing session with our sweet Sister Brown. What a special moment and blessing!

And one more special moment, was when we were at church today and saw that they have her plaque up on the wall! So cool! We sure do love our missionary and know that she will continue to be a blessing to all those she serves and comes in contact with over the next 12-18 months. 

August Adventures

Fun and Work with Lily 

Lily is going strong with her Service Mission, and although four days a week she is busy serving at different locations, she has reserved Mondays for extra service at home. She has been amazing about serving with small and large projects at home, and it has been especially great because of how busy I have been teaching.  We did take one Monday recently to get some things taken care of, like shopping for some new clothes and new shoes that she really needed for her missionary service. We were super successful, and so we decided to celebrate by going to Chuy's for lunch. We were also celebrating the fact that she got all A's this last semester of school.  Go Lily!!

Another large project she helped me with was some much needed yard work.  I had bought some new bushes and small plants to replace the ones that did not survive the drought summer. (Some of them, like my gardenias and azaleas, I wasn't sure if they would work here anyway, so I replaced them with Texas natives, like the gorgeous Texas purple sage.  And as I mentioned before, planting in our solid limestone "soil" is not for the faint of heart.  We definitely borrowed our neighbor's pick-ax.

While we were busy at work, I also had my first tomato "harvest," if you could call it that.  I planted way too late for the plant to handle the heat, and so the few tomatoes I got were tiny.  They tasted yummy though, and next year I will know better.

Swimming and Backyard Fun

As much as there were times after we ordered our swim spa that I cursed us for making such a big purchase  - usually after something else on the house had broken or needed replacing - there has not been a day since it arrived that I have regretted that we got it.  It is a huge source of joy and fun for our kids, as well as a great place for Kevin to relax or exercise.  The other day, the three kids were having so much fun, that I just brought dinner outside to them so they could get right back in the pool.

And Arthur has been getting so great at going completely under the water.  He can dive down for things on the bottom of the pool, which is pretty amazing.  The other day, he was showing me how he can swim from one side to the other on a single breath and even pick up rings off the bottom while he was at it.
And like I mentioned before, it is not just a place for playing, but for relaxing, especially for Kevin.

Arthur Fun

The school year is in full swing, and Arthur is loving his new teacher and his class. I love that Ms. Branch sends us pictures of the class and what they are up to at school.

Arthur also loves to spend time with his friends, and is always trying to plan times for them to play.  One Saturday, he had his friend, Oliver over and they swam and played with Legos and had a blast.  And then last week, he had a play date with his friend Jack, where they had so much fun playing and using their imaginations, that Jack's mom postponed their dinner so that they could have more time together.  I love that he has good friends!Dating Kevin

Kevin and I rarely miss a Saturday date night - not just because it is a much needed time of reconnection for the two of us, but because our kids look forward to us leaving them alone all week long - ha ha!  They are always asking us if we are going, when are we leaving, etc.  They love the time to eat frozen pizza and watch a movie or play video games together.  Our dates, for the most part, consist of us trying a new San Antonio restaurant (there are so many great ones) and going to Target - ha ha!  A few weeks ago, Kevin took me to this yummy Mexican place on the Riverwalk, and we had the patio to ourselves, because we beat the dinner rush.
And then last weekend, we had to have a brunch date, because I was throwing a party for my friend that night, and so we tried out a creperie that was on my list. It was yummy, but I hate to say it, I think there may have been too much chocolate on the crepe (Can there be too much chocolate?).
Celebrating Erica

On Saturday night, months of planning came together and we had a surprise birthday party for my friend, Erica.  Her husband, Steve, had approached me about helping him with it a while back, and it all came together - and he didn't even have to come, which was just how he wanted it - ha ha! We had one of the guests "kidnap" her and bring her to my house - and she was awesome about keeping her eyes closed, since they forgot the blindfold.

We may have scared her to death shooting confetti at her when we said surprise.  It was so fun!
The party was great, with a group of close friends, some from her old neighborhood. We had so much fun talking, laughing, and getting to know Erica better through our game.  It was good times!
And we had fantastic food - everyone brought an appetizer, and I made her the lemon blueberry birthday cake of her dreams, complete with lemon curd between the layers.  So delicious! It was such a fun night, and the perfect way to finish off our August.

A Very Happy Birthday Weekend

This past weekend, Kevin had his 44th birthday, finally making him as old as me ;).  We celebrated him as a family on his birthday, but on the night before, we just happened to be on a big group date with some friends, and so I used that as an extra way to celebrate.

We met up at The Sugar Factory down on the River Walk, and had the best time. (Sharon & Shane, Debbie & Tyler, Erica & Steve, Janilee & Jon, as well as Shenai and Jana, whose husbands ended up not being able to join us)  

For some reason, when we made our reservation, they wouldn't put us all together, and so we ended up at two separate tables of six.  It's all good, we still had a blast, even if it ruined our plans of getting the King Kong Sundae to share.

Our table decided to just get our own things, and I got the amazing Sugar Daddy Shake with cheesecake on top and everything, and Kevin got an ice cream sandwich where there were Oreos baked into the chocolate chip cookies.  Wow!  Talk about a sugar coma.
The other table decided to go with the original plan, but to get the half, and so they shared a massive, crazy sundae.  Good times!

The desserts were amazing and fun, but the highlight of the night, other than all the great laughter and conversation, was when they made Kevin dance for his birthday. And then they all sang to him.  It was fantastic, and we have three or four videos as evidence of the adventure.

Saturday morning, Kevin's actual birthday, I drug myself out of bed after getting very little sleep the night before, to drive across town to get his birthday breakfast.  (Derek was out late with his Priest's Quorum playing Dungeons and Dragons, and then I just couldn't sleep.)  Luckily, the kolaches from the Kolache Factory were totally worth the sacrifice, especially the steak and egg ones ;).  So yummy!

The best part of Kevin's birthday was that his older brother, Scott, came to town.  He flew in from Vegas that morning, and we all had the best day together.  I loved watching the two of them watch golf and baseball and listen to their conversations.  They rarely get to spend time together, but you can always tell how close they were growing up when the two of them get together.

In the afternoon, we took Scott for a late lunch/early dinner at Blanco Barbecue, which is so yummy!  And hey, you can't come to Texas without getting BBQ. Arthur thought the bell at the place was pretty cool and loved getting to ring it.

After eating, we came home and had presents for Kevin.  I got him two giant golf nets for a project he is working on out in the back yard.  Good times. Then he also got some fancy chocolates, as well as Villianous Star Wars Edition that the kids went in on to buy him.  (They even went to Target all together to buy it - so fun!)
For his cake, I had him pick out a cake from my Cake by Courtney recipe book, and he chose the chocolate malt cake, which turned out very yummy.  And yes, I did write 44 on it with malt balls - ha ha!
After cake, the kids insisted on breaking out the game and playing, and miracle of miracle, Kevin won! Now, those of you who know Kevin, know that he often wins every game he plays, but for some reason neither of us adults had ever won a game of Villianous. The kids always win, and so it was a birthday miracle - or perhaps a Star Wars miracle - that he won this time :).

After the cake and games were done, Kevin took Scott outside to try out the "white trash golf oasis" with him. They talked and laughed and had a blast. And of course, I snuck outside to get a picture.

Although Kevin's birthday was a great reason for a visit, the real reason Scott came to visit, was to be there for Lily's Mission "Farewell" talk. It was so awesome of him to want to be there and share this special time with us, and we are so glad that he came!  Lily gave a fabulous talk and our boys sang a duet of "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," which was beautiful and sweet.

And as a bonus gift for Kevin's birthday weekend, we finally got a good rainstorm.  We are praying that it is a sign of the end of the drought. 

After church,  we had a special birthday dinner for Kevin, and then Kevin and Scott got in a few more hours and talking and watching golf, before he had to head to the airport to get back to Vegas.  It was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend of celebrating our Kevin.  

First Day of School

I blinked, summer was gone, and school was starting.  The start of a new school year always shows me how the time has passed, between the first day of school pictures that show how much the kids have grown, and just knowing what grade they are in.  I mean, Derek is a Junior this year!! How did that happen that me little Derek is now a tall lanky sixteen year old with only two years of school left.

And then my baby boy, Arthur is nine and starting fourth grade. Wow! (That was the grade Lily was in when he was born.) Not sure where the time has gone, but they both looked so grown up and handsome.

Arthur had a "Back to School Night" on Monday, where he got to meet his teacher, Ms. Branch. (Who just happens to be a friend of mine - after teaching on their team last year, I got to know all the 4th grade teachers really well, and he is going to love her!)

On Tuesday, I got a few frantic texts from the fifth grade team and the secretary to see if I could substitute on the first day of school. Mrs. Parker, one of the fifth grade teachers, got her dream job as an assistant principal in the district, and only found out the day before. Truly, subbing on the first day of school sounds like a nightmare, but the circumstances were such that I said yes.  First of all, I love the fifth grade teachers, and would always want to help them out. Also, most of the fifth graders were my fourth graders from the year before, and I love those kids - and so not only had I taught many of them before, all of the grade knows me.

And so, on Wednesday morning, I was not only making sure the boys were ready to start school and sneaking in first day pictures all while trying to get ready myself.  It was a bit stressful, but being back in the school and teaching sure felt like coming home. And I loved being with my old students, and I did get to see them all, because they rotate between the three classes and I was teaching all of the science, I got to teach all of them. It was awesome, exhausting, and crazy, but it was a wonderful day.

After school was out, I crashed on my chair for a while.  Lily was amazing and made dinner - hallelujah! And luckily I had frozen chocolate chip cookie dough last week for first day of school cookies, and so all I had to do was pull it out and put it in the oven, and we had our after school snack.  It was the perfect way to end what was a great first day of school for all of us - especially for our boys.

The Last Days of Summer

I truly don't have a clue where the summer went, but it has come to a close in spite of me. We did manage to squeeze in some last fun adventures, including the last bits of random free time where the kids could just do whatever - like when Arthur pulled out a game and just made fun designs on it.

One of our last adventures was when I took the kids to the Witte museum here in San Antonio. They had some really fabulous dinosaur bones, and we especially loved the crazy giant pterodactyl creature. Wow!  There was also an area where you could pretend to be an archaeologist and dig for dinosaur bones. And speaking of bones, just look at the leg bone Lily is standing by - so big!

They had all sorts of fabulous other exhibits, including a fabulous Texas animal exhibit that I completely forgot to get pictures of.  Lily especially loved the amazing display of dresses throughout the decade, including some amazing Fiesta dresses.  We also really loved the building that had all the science things about the human body, which had this cool treehouse attached to it.  It was such a fun and eclectic museum.

Another fun adventure was when Arthur's boys' primary activity was at the San Antonio Temple.  They learned about the temple and loved getting to be there on the temple grounds.

But our biggest adventure to finish off the summer, was to go to Schlitterbahn with the family.  Kevin and I have been there more than once, but it was the first time that the kids got to go, and we had the best day!

We started in the newer park, got there early and all was good, but we had a couple hiccups in the beginning, like getting lost and not knowing how to get to get to the big rides. And then when we were in line, the Master Blaster, broke down twice, and so instead of making it through quickly and moving on, it took over an hour and a half before we went on our first waterslide.  Luckily, it was a pretty awesome one, and worth the wait.
After our initial wait for the first ride, we had pretty great luck getting on the slides we wanted.  There is really so much to do at each park, and not enough time to do it all, but we did our best.  My very favorite ride of the day was The Falls, a long river ride that took you over little waterfalls and you just slipped along happily. At the end, it even took us up a giant conveyor belt to get us back to the starting point.  It was awesome, and even though it was a tad extra crowded when we went on it, since it had just opened up, it really was the best.  And we managed to not lose Arthur in all of it - hallelujah!
Another of my favorites was Dragon's Revenge.  It was another of the water fosters, but not as much water spraying directly into my face, like on Master Blaster - and it had lots of cool dark turns and tunnels.
On Saturday morning, Derek and I went on an adventure up to the Fredericksburg area to buy peaches. I love having bottled peaches and jam, and was really missing having a fabulous orchard five minutes down the road, and so I heard that the peaches were ready, I thought it was the perfect chance for Derek to get some driving time and for me to get my peaches. And on our way through one of the tiny towns, we found a chocolate shop that had free samples, and so after sampling, we had to get some.

The peaches being actually in our home always starts a clock inside my head, because you have to start planning and plotting when you are going to get them processed before they start going bad. And so on Monday afternoon, after a morning spent at the dentist's office, Lily and I got to work bottling peaches.  Because of the drought, they were especially tiny, but since we were doing 1.25 bushels no matter what, it just made for a lot of extra work. And when a lot of them did not want to peal well, it made it even harder.  Luckily I had Lily as my helper, and we watched both "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "Thoroughly Modern Milly" to keep us entertained and occupied during the exhausting drudgery of it all ;).  And then on Tuesday, I made peach jam, but since we had already pealed and slice the peaches the day before, it was much easier.

Also on Tuesday, Arthur got one last hurrah before school started, as he went to a trampoline park for his friend Jack's belated birthday party.  They had so much fun, and I am so glad he has such good friends!  It was the perfect way to finish of summer vacation.

Lily, the Missionary

We have a missionary!! Our sweet Lily was set apart Thursday night as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will be serving as a Service Missionary right here in San Antonio. 

Although they have service missionaries in the church for many, many years, Service Missions are a newer thing, and Lily was told by the coordinators that she is a pioneer. I loved learning more about them as Lily has begun this process, and here is a little bit about it.  Here are a few things about them:

The Service Missionary Purpose: Our purpose is to help others come unto Christ by serving them as the Savior would. We serve voluntarily in charitable organizations, Church functions, and within the community. We will minister in His name to the one, just as He did, expressing His loving kindness.

Key Objectives of a Service Mission

• Provide an opportunity for all willing young women and young men to serve the Lord and increase in testimony of Him.
• Help each service missionary prepare for a lifetime of service.
• Provide needed and valuable service to Church and community organizations.

Last week, Lily got to meet a bunch of the other service missionaries from the area, including her companion, her district leader and the amazing service missionary coordinators.

On Wednesday, Lily and I got to tour a few of the places she may end up serving. (Wish I had gotten a picture of the San Antonio Food Bank - it is massive - the largest in the country 😳). It is so exciting, and pretty amazing, to have a missionary in our house ❤️.