September

So we're adjusting to the back to school schedule now, we've got some good carpooling and play date structures going on, and I'm feeling pretty good about it so far.  The kids are all loving their classes and making good friends.  Although life is getting busier as usual with all of the sports and stuff starting up, and of course our church callings are taking quite a bit of time as well!  It is quite rare for us to have an evening where there is nothing going on!  But we are excited for the kids to start basketball, 3 of them are in it now, and Dakota is in Hip Hop and Mason and Dakota are still taking piano.  Lee's basketball has started up again too.  But the biggest consumer of our time this month has been the renovation of my Dad's office at Glenmore Landing!  Lee was absolutely consumed for 2 weeks straight trying to get it all done, and it just seemed like problem after problem occurred, and people kept letting him down.  He worked all day, and all night most days too!  Seriously, he literally pulled 4 all nighters where he never came home, never laid down or rested at all!  I truly don't know how he stayed alive and healthy.  And it sucked for me being a single Mom for the first 2 weeks of school!  But we both prayed hard and the Lord helped us through that tough time.  And thankfully we are out of it now, and things are going back to normal.  My poor husband was so sleep deprived though, his face and hands were swelling up, and his back was so sore he could hardly move.  He felt like he was going to pass out at times, but somehow he just kept pushing himself.  I am actually quite impressed with his level of commitment!   When he commits to something, he REALLY commits to it and will follow through at all costs!  Hopefully that character trait carries through to our marriage as well! :)  He even left me a note on one of the last days as I was starting to lose steam and getting low that said how much he loves me and can't wait to get back to me and the kids.  He said the whole experience helped him realize what is really important and that he wants to be a better husband and father when he gets back.  It was so sweet and gave me the strength to get through the last couple days.  What a great guy I have, I feel so lucky to have him.
And even as he came off his last all nighter on Saturday night, he still went to all his church meetings the next morning.  (With little naps in between things in his truck, but I was impressed!)  He looked like he was started to lose it during the Sacrament though and had his eyes closed.  Griffin noticed him and called out in a very loud whisper, "Wake UP Dad!!"  And sure enough Lee's eyes popped open and everyone around us had a good laugh.  It was pretty funny!
Anyway, the office is pretty much done, I will have to post some before and after pictures, because it's a huge change, and we are very happy with how it turned out!  It was a lot of fun for Lee and I to plan and design it together!!
We had a fun weekend this last one where we finally had time to do stuff together!  On Friday night my parents took us out for dinner as a thank you for all of the time Lee put in.  We had a great time, and it was a wonderful treat!
And on Saturday we went Duck Hunting with the Leishmans and the Irvines.  We had so much fun!  We went out for dinner first then changed into our camo gear, grabbed all our hunting stuff and their dog and headed out together to storm some ponds!!  Unfortunately it was a very slow day at the pond so there was not much action at all, but Jason did manage to shoot 2 ducks!  And the rest of us took a few shots at least!  I actually did shoot a duck, but the sad thing was that it was already dead but just sitting in the pond.  Lee told me it was sleeping so I shot at it, but when we found it we could tell it had been dead for a little while!  Still felt cool to shoot it though!  And the funny thing was that we had a deal on with the other couples that whoever shot the least had to buy dessert after for the others... so we kinda used the dead duck to say we got one and tricked the Irvines into buying dessert!  It was only after they were dropping us home that I revealed our confession that my duck was maybe not as alive as it could have been when I shot it... they thought it was funny but still wanted payback, so apparently they toilet papered our house while we were sleeping! Ha ha, it was a funny night!  We had a lot of good laughs.  Here's some cool pics of us: