The Nitty Gritty

How is everyone doing? It's been HOT here in Missouri. The temperature has been in the upper 80s, low 90s. It's projected to cool off into the low 70s, high 60s this week. Yesterday was the Burg Fest. We walked around for a bit and came home hot and sweaty! The Burg Fest was funny. There were a bunch of vendors and a bounce house area for the kids, plus plenty of fried food options. William's birthday is this coming Saturday!! He'll be 9 years old. Crazy! He's had a hard time adjusting to school.  For the past two weeks all I've heard is, "I hate school". He has a really rowdy class and he said the teachers yell a lot at the kids. I tell him to do his best and be grateful that he gets to go to school safely on a bus, learn in a nice environment with lots of neat supplies...like an IPAD. By Friday, I had had it with his negative attitude so I emailed the teacher and the counselor and told them about how Will is feeling towards school. The counselor ta...

Van had an epic birthday this year! Saturday night, we did our tradition of setting up a poster and balloons and displaying his gifts. He was so excited on Sunday morning to see a Batman suit, Maui hook and new bike! He really wanted a Batman suit, which cracked me up because last year he wanted a Mario costume. This boy loves dressing up!! The past few weeks, he's been doing push-ups and wall crawls so he can get strong muscles like Batman. Grandma Lisa bought him the Maui fish hook. Van loves Maui from Moana. He and William love to sing the rap in "You're Welcome". We threw Van's bike away when we moved so when Aunt Lana asked what she could get Van for his bday I told her money towards a bike. Then she said, "We'll just get him a new bike!" Sooo nice! I can't wait to get him practicing on the trails around here. He loves it and when he sits on it wearing the Batman suit, it's amazing.  I hope this slow motion video works! It was a ...

We had another great week here in Warrensburg, Missouri! The best day was FRIDAY! Our new washer was FINALLY delivered, I made apple chips, apple cake, and apple sauce with my freshly picked apples and then to top it all off, Walker arrived Friday night!! Yahoo! The boys were counting down the days when Uncle Walker would come and stay with us. They looooove their Uncle Walker and rightfully so! He left for SLC Monday morning. William said last night, "I wish Uncle Walker was still here." We all do! My friend Megan and I picked apples on Thursday. It was my first time picking apples in an orchard! I love apples so you can only imagine how thrilling it was for me to try all the different varieties of apples!!  I've never been so excited to do laundry! Isn't she (the new washer)  a beauty? We were so excited to finally try some Kansas City BBQ! Isaac and Walker ordered the plate called Four Boner so you can only imagine the jokes they made. Hee hee. ...

Hello! Isaac had a fantastic week at work! On Wednesday, he participated in the "Instrument Petting Zoo" where the music ed students played around and tried various instruments. Isaac set up his Makey Makey and it was a huge success. The students thought it was so cool (because it is!) and Isaac was glad to have something unique to showcase.  He was observed on Friday during choir. The observation went very well. He said the professor observing him had a big smile on his face during the observation. Isaac noticed that having a detailed plan, scheduled down to the minute really helped the class so he's going to continue writing out his plans for choir until he gets comfortable. William has a rowdy class and he complains about it everyday. The good thing is the teacher rearranged the seats and Will now gets to sit at the same table as his friend Colin. Will has a one track mind--TERRARIA. He was stoked he earned the Night's Edge this week. We finally downloaded the...

Hi family and friends! We miss you all, especially when we hear about health issues, surgeries, car accidents, pets dying, etc. It's hard to be away from family when they are in need of help and support. I'm learning how to show that love and support from afar, but it's not the same. Grandma Lisa celebrated her 60th birthday on Wednesday and Jason, Alex, and Nixon were sealed in the L.A. temple on Saturday. We wish we could have been at both occasions. Just know that even though we are more than 1,000 miles away, our hearts are near and we think about you all the time.  I've been motivated to get my emergency kits squared away since Hurricane Harvey. You just never know what can happen and I realized if a disaster hit here, we will be totally unprepared. The first thing I did was tackle the little storage room underneath the stairs. It's supposed to be our shelter in case of a tornado since it's somewhat underground and has no windows. It was also full of s...