September 7-15

Owen loves to he with friends.  And while he has made a couple of good friends at school, Owen doesn’t have many (or any) friends his age in the neighborhood.  Well, I guess I should say friends that are boys.  He actually gets along quite well with our family friends daughter Clara.  Owen had a crush on her and professed his love for her regularly when they were little.  Clara is very shy and this made her want nothing to do with him. As they’ve grown older his love has  subsided and she’s decided he’s actually not too bad to be around.  While they rarely hang out they always seem to have a good time when they do.  One night, when Owen was bored to tears and I encouraged him to go to Clara’s to see if she wanted to do anything.  Unfortunately Clara is in a similar situation to Owen where friends are concerned. And Emmie was already at their house and it seemed like a good idea.  Owen wasn’t convinced.  But when I dared him to go ask Clara if she wanted to go “skip with him at the school” and bet him a dollar he wouldn’t do it things changed.  Owen loves money and rarely turns down a dare.  So what started as a forced night ended with Owen and Clara baking cookies, jumping on the tramp, and having a fun night.  Rather than them both sitting home alone. And the next time Owen was bored on a weekend he headed over to see what Clara was up to.  Seeing that makes me happy. I honestly enjoy watching the two of them together.  Clara is athletic and strong and so she can keep up Owen.  I actually think she is stronger than he is.  But she is quiet and calm in many ways which I think is good for Owen at times.  And at their times Owen’s loud and outgoing personality can pull Clara out of her shell.  I hope they remain friends throughout middle school and high school.

Ainsley has been working on getting her drivers license.  She’s completed her online portion.  That was super easy for her.  And now she’s moved into more practical skills…like actually driving a car.  This terrifies me.  She had her first drive last weekend and came home with a good report from her instructor. Her second drive was scheduled for the next day.  Sadly, she came home in tears because she nearly hit a car that was in her blind spot while driving on the freeway.  And apparently this threw her off for the rest of her drive and she just couldn’t get her head back in the game.  Her teacher said the rest of the drive was pretty rough. Ains was nervous about her final drive.  To the point that she wanted me to reschedule it for even later.   She had her final drive a few days ago and by some miracle she passed. Now she has a learners permit and has to drive for 50 hours over the next 6 months with John or I in the car.  I drove with her for the first time on the road tonight.  So scary.  She actually didn’t do too bad…but I was a nervous wreck! We need to find her a little dumpy car to drive because I have a hard time letting her drive my new van!

This week Ainsley told me that she was going to miss swim team when it was over.  What?!  Ainsley usually never is sad about a sport ending!  We may have found something physical she actually enjoys! She did great in her meet this week and ended up getting to race in 4 events because 2 of the high-schools in the meet had so many swimmers they needed more heats.  She was at the meet for 4.5 hours and came home smiling.  A good Day I’d say!

 Last weekend we took the kids to a BSU football game.  John has fond memories of going to the BYU football games as a kid with his dad and had wanted to take our kids to a game.  So when I got an email about a discount night for educators we took advantage of the cheap tickets.  My parents joined us and we had a fun night with the kids. I think the pregame and half time were the most exciting for the kids to watch but they actually got into the game as well.  And as luck would have it there was an Albertsons promotion going on that night at the game so there were $5 gift cards under every seat.  We took all of ours and them Emmie and Owen (along with lots f other kids throughout the stadium) hunted for gift cards left behind.  I think we came home with $95 in Albertsons gift cards!  We left the game after the end of the 3rd quarter because BSU was so far ahead, but I’m confident that we could have made money on the evening if we had stayed longer and let the kids keep hunting as the stadium cleared out!

Owen continues to be a bit of a bum.  He isn’t involved in any fall activities so he has too much down time for my liking. Owen has always been much happier when he’s busy.  He’s continued to work on sanding down my kitchen barstools.  But they have proven to be a beast.  So I’ve stepped in to help.  And I don’t have time for that right now! We may have ruined them.  Time will tell…

Emmie’s time is (as always) filled with friends, soccer, friends, activity days, friends, piano, and more friends. I think she spends more time with Elsie than me.  Those two are like sisters.  Emmie did well in her soccer games.  2 goals last week and 1 this week.

On a side note…Emmie still says “Valentimes” day.  I hope that never changes.

Also I’m booking a flight to Cabo!  A week in November with my parents and Kortney.  Birthday week in November is going to be a blast this year!