Hooray For Fall!!

Today is one of those days when I could sit on the couch and watch the weather all day. Clouds and rain, cool temperatures. A little wind is blowing what is left of the leaves on the trees. But, of course, I have to work instead. I have finally been able to get a system going, getting up at 4:30 or 5:00 and getting half of my work done before the kids head out for school. This has greatly improved my day-to-day and I have been able to get my work done on time for the last 3 weeks! Therefore, I wouldn't be working this weekend if it weren't for the mandatory overtime that is needed to help get things caught up on their end.

Ryan has been pretty busy working for the past month as well and this is his first Saturday off from everything in quite a while. Thankfully he did not decide to sleep for half the day and has taken the girls swimming (at an indoor pool) and looking for new shoes (but only if he can find them on clearance). Later today I am going with Ryan's sisters and mom to the General Relief Society meeting downtown, so he is planning to take the kids to see Transformers, which is finally at the $1 theater.

My brother David flew into town just in time for Labor Day and spent the week with us before going up to BYU Idaho. Sunday we went to Mary & Frank's place for dinner and visiting. Jenny & Brent were there, as well as Amber, who happened to be in town for the weekend as well! On Labor Day we went up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Eleanor's cabin for lunch. We enjoyed a nice walk around Silver Lake and the kids had a fun little "treasure hunt" once we were at the cabin. It was a beautiful day to be in the mountains and was a nice breath of fresh air to start the week.

The kids were out of school Monday and Tuesday, so they enjoyed the extended weekend break. We thought about going to the zoo on Thursday, but found out it closed early that day for some special event. So, instead, we were able to use our zoo membership pass to go to Tracy Aviary that day. There wasn't a lot to see at that time of the day, except feeding time for the "Birds of Prey." The kids found it quite entertaining to watch a hawk rip apart a mouse and eat it.

Sunday, September 9, was my mom's birthday. We had a birthday dinner for Ryan's mom that day, as her birthday is September 10th. It sure makes it easier to remember birthdays when they are just a day apart.

The girls started back to dance on Monday and were excited about that. They have a new teacher this year, Miss Rachel, who is really good with the girls. Unfortunately, she got sick by the third week of class and has not been able to come back since then. They have still been having class, but with a new substitute each week since then. Hopefully they will be able to find a more permanent substitute to take over until Miss Rachel is back.

To add to a busy week, we also had a birthday party dinner for my grandpa, Enos Heward. He is 86 this year. It was perfect weather for a backyard picnic that day and we had a fun visit with other relatives there.

Ryan and I have recently been released from our callings as ward missionaries and activities committee members. Ryan is now serving as the 2nd counselor in the Young Men and is over the Deacons' class. So, Andrew has him for a teacher each Sunday. My new calling is on the Compassionate Service board and also to do the Sacrament Meeting Program/Bulletin each week.

Ryan noticed our freezer wasn't freezing his ice cream rock hard anymore and, with a thermometer, we found that the fridge was not a very cool temperature either. So, we thoroughly vacuumed off the coils underneath the fridge and waited another day in hopes that would do the trick. Unfortunately, that did not solve the problem and the refrigerator repair man was called. In about 30 seconds he was able to diagnose the problem in the auto defrost in the freezer, therefore a new part was to be ordered and available in a week. Luckily, the problem was temporarily able to be solved by totally defrosting the freezer and then turning the fridge back on. This should do the trick for about a week-and-a-half before things get all frozen up again. On the bright side, in the process of defrosting I also cleaned the fridge and now the inside looks almost new again! The defective part should be replaced on Monday and, though seemingly expensive, it will be much less than replacing our fridge, so I am thankful for that!

We celebrated Ryan's 34th birthday last Saturday, September 22nd. He had to work about 5 hours in the morning, but it gave us some time to get the house cleaned and a cake made before he came home. We had a fun lunch at Del Taco, where the kids were able to play, then an afternoon nap before we went out later that evening. Since we weren't able to go out until after the baby was in bed, we decided not to go for Ryan's usual birthday steak dinner. Instead, on our way to Olive Garden, Ryan decided he was in the mood for a pizza from The Pie Pizzeria. Unfortunately, the pizza was not as good as usual and the atmosphere was just not as pleasant as we had hoped. So, we got a movie, picked up some ice cream, and went home. We played it safe getting the movie "Notting Hill" which we knew to be a funny one. It was already too late to watch it by the time we were ready to start, but Ryan convinced me to go ahead and waited until after the movie to tell me he had a 7:00 a.m. meeting the next day. Needless to say, Ryan was EXHAUSTED in church on Sunday and was practically begging to take the baby out to the foyer, undoubtedly so he could fall asleep on the couch, which would be much more comfortable. He managed to teach his lesson to the deacons, then was in bed before we even started on lunch. He probably slept a good 3 hours that afternoon. Emily & Nate kindly offered to have us over for dinner Sunday evening, so I sent Ryan and the kids over there while I finished up my overtime work for that weekend.

This week involved a new experience for me as the junior high had their parent teacher conferences. Instead of setting up appointments to meet with each of the 8 teachers, they have all the teachers set up at tables all around the gym where the students and parents can just go to each teacher on their list, in whatever order, and talk to them about how their student is doing. This actually went rather well for us. We arrived right at the beginning, before lines had begun to form at the different teacher's tables. Our visits were short, as Andrew is doing well and is not a problem in class. All in all I think we were in and out in just 30 minutes.

Ryan's parents took us out to dinner last night, for a late birthday present for Ryan. We enjoyed some delicious barbecue ribs, beef and pork at Q4U in Kearns, which reminds me I have some leftovers for lunch. YAY!

Tomorrow we are hosting the combined family birthday party/dinner for Ryan and his sister Kelsi (B-day 10/1). I am in charge of a crock-pot of barbecue chicken, so I better remember to pick some up before the day's end.

I guess there are still a lot of things to get done today, so I better get going. I am about 1/3 done with my work, which is a good start, but it won't impress Ryan after I've been on the computer all morning. Bye for now! Julie :-)