How exciting, the first day of school!

All of our school age (and pre-school age) grandchildren have started school. We wish we could be with each one of them! Here's Cole on his first day of Kindergarten (can you say 'deer in headlights'?) with his big sister Ella, who started 3rd grade in Utah.

Next is Logan on his first day of Kindergarten, with his little brother Landon who started preschool in Washington.

Next is Nathan, ready for his first day of Kindergarten in Utah.

...and Nathan's brother Tyler going to his first day of 2nd grade in Utah.

Next is Elly, starting Kindergarten in Arizona.

...and Elly's brother Owen, who started preschool this year.

We love all our granchillun's! And want them all to "have the day they're going to have!" :) (I have no idea what's up with Tyler and Elly's picture size! I'll have to figure that out!

An outing to the cemetery

I took my cute little Primary Activity Day girls to the cemetery this week.

We talked about our ancestors and did some rubbings on some pretty cool headstones. And they didn't seem to be the least bit freaked out that we were in a cemetery.

Each girl chose a headstone and did their rubbings. They turned out pretty cool too! (let's only use that "pretty cool" term once in this post, shall we? They did turn out awesome!

Afterward, we took Brooklyn to her soccer practice, and celebrated her birthday with big chocolate cupcakes. She will be leaving our group and moving up with the 10 and 11 year olds. :(

It is so funny to drive in the car with these girls and listen to all six of them chattering away with each other. They really are good girls, and this has been a super fun calling. I'm going to miss them when we leave on our mission.

Fall

This has always been my favorite time of year. I love everything about Fall. I grew up with the mountains literally out my back door, and I miss seeing them changing colors. I love the crispness of the Autumn chill in the air, the sound of leaves crunching beneath my feet, and the tartness of biting into a fresh picked apple. I love the smell of ditches being burned by farmers, and roadside pumpkin stands that have a bucket and a sign that says "honor system". I love shopping for new school clothes and shoes. I love the smell of a brand new box of crayons and freshly sharpened pencil shavings. I love bottling fresh peaches, then proudly standing back, looking at the rows of gleaming golden quart bottles on the shelf. I love that smell the first morning the furnace kicks on, and wrapping up in the ugliest, but warmest crochet afghan made by Grandma. I love it all. What do you love about Fall?

Fun, simple project

With school starting this week, I made these little Rolo pencils (found on Pinterest, of course!) with a thought for the Young Women lesson that I taught on Sunday. I had good helpers (Logan, Landon, & Angela) with the project and that made it super easy to do.

Also on our Oregon stop:

Was the cheese factory. Not to be confused with the Cheesecake Factory. We had Tillamook squeaky cheese and Mudslide ice cream! Yum-O!

And while we were in Cannon Beach we stopped at Bruce's Candy Kitchen and watched them make salt water taffy. Hmm...I see a happiness thread here...

Ron and I got up Thursday morning and went to the Portland Temple and did a session. The temple is beautiful. It has a lot of the same designs (interior) as the Las Vegas Temple, and they were both dedicated the same year ('89). I'd be interested to know if they were designed by the same architect.

On our way home we went drove up to... Mount St. Helen's. (Which is in Washington, not Oregon, I know)

Talk about amazing! I remember when this thing (the mountain, not my hubby) blew her top. I was living in Utah, and I recall there being the most beautiful sunsets courtesy of all the ash that had entered the atmosphere...anyway, they have a cool movie at the visitor's center and afterward (spoiler alert!) they lift the screen and open the curtains to the most incredible view of Mount St. Helen's!

If you have the opportunity to go up to this National Park and Visitor's Center, I highly recommend it!

Our May visit in August

We spent the afternoon at Cannon Beach with Janae, Annabelle and Daniel. The weather was warm and foggy. Absolutely no wind to blow out the fog, but by mid-afternoon the sun was out and the fog had burned off.

The kids had a great time playing in the sand. Daniel ate half the beach and LOVED it!

Annabelle had such a good time digging in the sand with Grandpa!

Janae talked me into touching one of those sea stars... (I still call them star fish) They aren't as squishy as they look...but they're still kinda icky.

We've had a great time visiting the May's in Oregon, but we missed having Peter here. but we missed not having Peter here Guhh!! Peter was gone and we've missed him. There!

Our two mini missionaries

This was taken in our entryway just before we headed off to church. Aren't they so cute! Landon gave the prayer and the scripture in primary today, and he did a fantastic job!