Back to School!

Well - it's official. They are all back in school! The boys are back in Provo and settled into their apartments and have their class schedules figured out. Logan has started back to Young Ambassador practice and is excited that in the Tarzan number he gets to swing out on a bungee cord!

After only one week in school Clark has decided to change his major - from Political Science to Latin American Area Studies after attending a law seminar. His plans are now to attend law school after completing his undergraduate.

The girls looked darling on their first day of school even after all the stressing over the first day of school outfit. All went well the first week and Tessa easily transitioned into high school. Having an older sister there and knowing all of her friends surely helped! Not too much homework this week but I am sure that will change soon. Both girls seem to like their classes although Tessa is a little worked about Spanish 2 and Cali about AP Music Theory. She has 3 AP classes this year so she has her work cut out for her. She is working towards an Honor diploma. In addtion to the classes she needs to complete an honors project which is similar to a Eagle Project. It requires 50 hours of time. Cali is raising money to buy the supplies to make faceless dolls for the childrens hospital. The doctors use them to show the children where they will be having surgery etc.

Wednesday I attended the Stake Relief Society Temple day with my friend Jeannena and then joined a group of women for lunch at Olive Garden afterwards.

Jim was in town all week, no travel time. It really was a quiet week. I took advantage of the kids being gone to do some organizing and cleaning out of my office. All the piles that had accumulated over the summer, cleaning out my email inbox etc. I got back into my walking schedule too.

Thursday I made a yummy tomato tart for a birthday brunch I went too. Used fresh tomatoes and basil out of the garden. It is definitely tomato time around here. Made bruschetta for dinner today. Lots more tomatoes to ripen soon so better get out all those tomato recipes - anyone have one to share??

Saturday the girls and I attended a Stake Youth activity. We went to Haag Lake and did a cleanup around the lake. The weather was perfect. They only had latex gloves and since I am allergic I got out of the trash patrol and helped with the lunch preparationn- darn! There was a youth dance that evening too. It was Tessa's first dance. She had fun and was asked to dance several times. I guess boys only ask the girls to dance on the slow songs and they all just dance together as a group during the fast songs?!?! Jim worked hard in the garden all day, digging out trees, planting new ones and other various plants that have accumulated over the past few weeks. Jim and I were old boring folks and stayed home and read that evening.

We are enjoying our Indian Summer. It never fails, the weather the first couple weeks of school is usually better than it's been most of the summer - in the 90's all week!

Hope all is well with all of you!! Leave us a comment and let us know how you are.

Leigh Anne

Last Week of Summer!

We tried to get in all the last minute fun we could this week before school starts tomorrow. The week started out rather exciting when the boys were finishing up a landscape job at the Martell's house. They were digging up a bush and discovered a yellow jacket nest in the dirt. Well, as you can magine, the yellow jackets weren't too happy to have their home disturbed so they took it out on Logan and Clark! . They both jumped in the pool at the house they were working at to get rid of the yellow jackets but not quite soon enough. Logan got about 8 bites and Clark around 15. The homeowner quickly gave them some benedryl and then they came home for the day. We had the Epi-pen handy but fortunately didn't need it. Logan had several swell up pretty good and they both were in pain for a while but survived. We talked to the emergency room nurse and she said they really don't get too concerned until you have been bitten 50 times!

The girls attended a Drama camp at the high school on Monday and Tuesday and had fun. Jim was in Colorado the first part of the week so I planned a "While You Were Out" surprise for him. The kids and I reorganized his tool and work bench area in the garage - completed with pegboard on the walls with all of his tools hung and organized. It looks great and he loved it!

Monday night we left Clark at home and Logan, Cali, Tessa and I went to the Michael Buble concert. We figured since Clark didn't even know who Michael Buble was he didn't need to go. We stopped for pizza on the way and had a great time! Michael is wonderful and a true entertainer. The kids didn't even mind when I sang along a little. Logan was in heaven!

The boys got in a round of golf with Grandpa on Tuesday and Clark went to the temple with a friend of his, Nathan Jensen, who is leaving on a mission to Australia in a few weeks.

Wednesday we drove to Seattle to go to a Mariner's game - we had lunch at Ivar's on the Pier before the game. The kids enjoyed feeding french fries to the seagulls as always. We sat in the nose bleed section but had a great time - I read a book for part of the game but did watch at least half. I go to the games for the food! Unfortunately the Mariner's lost - in fact I think they are in a 10 game losing streak!! It was a mid day game so parking was at a premium. Jim dropped us off and then drove around for over an hour trying to find a parking spot!

Thursday the boys loaded up the car to head back to Provo- amazingly everything fit in. Two hours outside of Portland they called to say the "check engine" light had gone on. We said a prayer here at home and they made it all the way to Provo without a problem. Logan headed down to St. George Friday morning with Shayla to spend the weekend with her family. He played golf with her dad and grandpa Friday morning and beat them all. Clark got moved into his apartment. He didn't know two of his roommates and discovered that one of them was an elder in his mission in Chile. Small world! He has spent quite a bit of time out at Uncle David and Aunt Tricia's house this weekend, watching the BYU football game and eating (Thank you Tricia!!)

The girls and I did a bit of back to school shopping. I can't believe my baby is going to high school and Cali will be a senior - I'm already starting to panic about her going off to college next year!!!

Tessa's summer was cut a bit short - she had to be at freshman orientation on Friday at 7:30 a.m. She talked mom into driving her so she didn't have to take the bus.

Jim had a "coming of age" experience on Friday when he had his first colonoscopy. The fun part was all the prep the two days prior. It was rather amusing to be there as he came out of it - we had the same conversation 6 or 7 times as he didn't remember much of anything the first hour or so. He was ready for food though by the time we got home so we went out for Mexican.

After dinner we loaded the car and headed to the beach for the weekend. We had a wonderful, relaxing, weekend. It was PERFECT beach weather. Warm, sunny, absolutely no wind. We enjoyed time on the beach on Saturday and had a bonfire too. We went to church at the Neahkahnie Branch Sunday morning and then had a relaxing day, reading, walking on the beach and watching "Persuasion" and "Pride and Prejudice" - a real Jane Austen film festival. Jim escaped to the other room and read!

Monday we cleaned up and headed home. We went to a Labor Day BBQ with some families from the ward. Jim BBQ'd one of the salmon he and the Wilkes men caught this summer and everyone loved it. Cali was having a last minute "I don't have anything to wear the first day of school " crisis so we ran to Nordstrom Rack to see if we couldn't find the last minute perfect first day of my senior year of high school outfit! Think we found something that will work.

We are missing the boys already and Leigh Anne is getting pretty good at text messaging them! I must admit though I am a little excited about having some peace and quiet at home tomorrow and getting some work done in my office! Love to everyone!

Check out my Slide Show!