What’s Up? The September edition (an epic tale)

 

Here are (more than) a few thoughts on the month of September. If you don’t want to read everything, the pictures do a great job of summing everything up.

 

Jared …

• still loves his pet frog Pacman. We found a place to buy bigger crickets but they die a lot faster.
• is still happy & smiling a lot. He had to get four teeth pulled – all on the same day. The roots were very long & not going anywhere soon. His bottom teeth are very crowded so it had to be done. He had happy gas & when we driving home he said, “That felt funny! It was like Tom & Jerry were REAL!” It reminded me of  the youtube video of David at the dentist.
• is very thoughtful about the hows and whys of everything. I will add an example if I can think of one…
• involved in Cub Scouts at church. He loves completing the requirements & his friends.
• taking piano lessons & gaining finger strength when he remembers to practice. He loves music & singing. His favorite songs are popular songs that he hears from his brothers.
• playing baseball on a fall ball team. (Fall ball is a more relaxed version – they don’t officially keep score (thankfully!), only one practice & game a week, more instructional & less competitive.) Jared is much, much better since spring. He likes to play catcher & hits the ball pretty well most of the time.

  

 

  Ryan …

• is so good with little kids! I gave my friend’s kids a ride to church one Sunday & they asked him to come sit in the back seat by them. He played & colored & was their friend. It made my heart happy.
• plays baseball for a travel ball team. He has been very blessed & is able to only play on Saturdays! (Travel ball is a more competitive level & usually means two games Saturday & two games Sunday.) Today, while up to bat in the top of the last inning, he was hit by a crazy pitch in the chest. He has two practices per week & then games on a few Saturdays of each month.
• is the deacon’s quorum president at church & working on his scouting requirements. He loved scout camp this summer & earned seven merit badges in a week.
• takes piano lessons & is starting to sound really good. (The hoe-down song is getting a little old though!)
• works hard when he wants something. He wanted a little electronic gadget & saved & saved for over a year to get it.
• loves to run. He is participating in the running club at his middle school. One day each week they run around the track for thirty minutes. He currently holds the record for running around the track the most times in fifteen minutes. (9.75 times – only whole numbers count – so 9) He is hoping to run at the kids’ marathon at the end of October but has developed knee pain in the last week or two. :(
• has a goal to get all A’s for the year. He is great about getting his homework done, pacing out assignments, and turning things in. Last week, he was accused of not turning something in & I knew for sure that the teacher had forgotten that he had turned it in.

 

 

Chris …

• has two college classes in addition to his high school classes this semester – world history and college algebra. The reading list for world history gave me nightmares for a week! He attends a very small high school (under 450 students) but is given great opportunities.
• is on the varsity cross-country team. He can pretty much run forever. Today, he decided to run twelve miles & ran around the neighborhoods until he was finished. After running nine miles last weekend, he shaved 30 seconds off his best time this year. Last week, he was the fastest runner for his school.
• loves the social life (=girls) on the cross-country team and high school in general.
• loves to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. He frequently has opportunities in his high school classes to explain what he believes and why. He is not ashamed to speak up & tell people what he believes.
• has recently discovered the joys of text-messaging.
• gets up at 5:30 a.m. every morning, showers & gets breakfast, makes his lunch, and goes to early morning seminary.(starts at 6:30 a.m.) He does this cheerfully & willingly every single day.
• loves to help people – either with their homework or their running. Sometimes, he slows down during a race to help someone who is truly injured. (I feel bad telling him to not stop to help – but it’s a race!!!)
• is down to the fine-tuning part of his braces. He will have a retainer for a few years & then get implants where he has a peg lateral & a missing tooth before his mission.
• does not really hop into photographs very often… or else he’s just not home much. I will take more pictures in October!  (And just added the post-priesthood-session photo!)

   

Scott  …

• had his birthday at the end of August. The number may be getting bigger but he is still as fun & energetic as the day we met. He loves to play & run & makes life fun.
• is running & training for the Greenville marathon at the end of this month. Some runs are good & some are not. Today was 21-miles & a great run! He ran negative splits – he got faster as he went along.
• works hard every day. Business is slow right now, but his job should be fine.
• helps Ryan’s baseball team as the first base coach or whatever the coach asks him to do.
• still on the high council with YSA, seminary, & institute responsibilities. Next weekend is the HUGE YSA conference & he’s doing the activities on Saturday afternoon.
• I do not know how he manages to get everything done that he does in a given day!!! He works circles around me & smiles almost all the time.
• runs with me (much slower than his pace) & encourages me along the way.
• takes me out on a date every single week.

Jenna …

• drives and drives and drives and drives. Three kids, three schools, three teams, cub scouts, boys scouts, and piano. Have I forgotten anything?
• is eating healthier and exercising a lot. I started working with a  personal trainer back in June. I say he is the real deal. I write down everything I eat, record it in LoseIt! and then take the print-outs to DJ to look at. I stand on the scale & then we work out for an hour while he teaches me whatever I need to know. I had Ryan take my picture last week with the sign at the grocery store because my trainer says, “You have some sweet tooth!!!” (Um, yeah, we were going to buy ice cream for family night!!!) I still have more weight to lose but I am making steady progress.
• is running more. Last Saturday Scott & I ran downtown for over seven miles. Then I went back on Thursday and ran nine miles. I am training to do the half marathon at the end of October. I am hoping to break 2:30 but I am not going to hold my breath. My toenails are very battered, bruised, and oozing.
• loves Spinning! It is a cycling class at the gym, can burn >600 calories per hour, & is just fun.
• is still amazed that I have such a nice husband, good kids, & a great life! My life feels mostly out-of-control and chaotic every day & I am behind on almost everything (except the mortgage payment) but it is still pretty great.

OK, thanks for sticking with me. Hopefully I can shorten this next month (if anyone still reads my blog by then).