Dear Family and Friends,

Yep, yesterday was The Holy War with BYU playing Utah.  That is all I will say about that game, best to forget it quickly I think.  But on Friday, our kids' school let them wear team shirts to school.  Allison despite our best efforts has been tainted by her friends into thinking that she needs to root for Utah.  So she called her friend to bring a shirt with her to school for her to borrow, since we don't support such sedition around her.  Jeremy of course had to break out his camera.

This week was much more laid back with our girls getting definitely spoiled this weekend.  Our ward daddy/daughter event ended up not coming together.  Our girls still planned on and told everyone that they were having a daddy/daughter date.  So Friday night Jeremy took them off to the movies where they decided a dinner of popcorn and candy was more than enough.  Then they camped out in the trailer - in a rainstorm - with Jeremy valiantly trying to get some sleep despite our girls' efforts to keep him awake all night long.  Then in the morning Jeremy made them breakfast and carried it out to the trailer where the girls spent the morning watching cartoons and hanging out till it was time for Robyn's soccer game.  Robyn did not do as well this week at soccer.  I am not sure if it is because she wanted her hair down so it could flow in the breeze, the lack of sleep or the lost in another girly world feel of the whole weekend but she was definitely doing her own thing.  The girls picked apples and played together all afternoon talking excitedly about their next night.
Our sweet friend and missed babysitter extraordinaire Meredith, called up to invite the girls out for a girls night.  She took them out to dinner and then back to her place for a surprise birthday present for Allison, to watch Tangled and paint nails and eat brownies.  To say our girls were living in cloud 9 all weekend is no exaggeration.  I am so glad for all the people in our family's lives who take such amazing care and efforts to help our kids.  Extra brownie points in heaven is all I'll say.

Thursday was our school carnival.  It felt a little disjointed as Robyn arrived there before us with her new BFF who lives next door to the school, Lindsay.  Then kids and I came and then Jeremy biked up from work (he has been a biking maniac lately).  Then I ran Robyn to soccer, came back, ran Spencer home to get ready for scouts, picked up Robyn and her friend from soccer and came back and then we all left.  But the carnival was full of face painting and mini-train rides (Robyn), winning a goldfish (Allison), eating pizza and knocking over cups with a squirt gun (Spencer) and visiting with friends.  So a great time for all with kids disappearing with friends for long periods of time and returning with big smiles and mouths of taffy.

Jeremy continues to work insanely but I am hoping he is catching up a bit.  He had a smug meet up this Tuesday that he enjoyed talking shop at.  He got to teach Beehives today about dating which he was thinking about all week.  He is starting to achieve super dad status around here between his daddy/daughter date and then taking time to go to the temple and missing the BYU/Uof U kick-off when he had work to do.  But the prize goes this week for his work with Spencer.  Spencer had to build a rocket for school.  Lets just say that Jeremy used enormous amounts of patience and know-how to get that rocket made correctly and in time by Spencer.  But it was made, launched 250 feet into the air and got an A.

School life keeps humming along.  We started this week hosting a veggie/fruit co-op in our garage for us and 11 other friends.  One of our friends makes a group purchase every two weeks and delivers it to our garage and then everyone divies it up and takes home their share.  Makes for some cheaper produce and gets us to try some new things.  Our kids are really liking it.

Signed up for a sprint triathlon for November 5th.  So I have been biking more and Monday tried swimming laps for the first time since I was 10.  Made it 1300m and felt like such a wimp when I had to stop.  I did run for awhile first but I think it was mainly that I need to learn how to breath while swimming again.  The shorts gasps in and out while doing freestyle just wear me out.  But I figure if all my siblings can be such great swimmers I hopefully have some of the same genetics to help me along.

Taylor is doing pretty good.  He had a bad day Friday and Saturday with lots of seizures and was pretty miserable.  But that is his life.  He seems to like school though as he leaves every morning chirping and clapping away.

Made a dutch apple baby for breakfast this morning and remembered my mom making them for me when I was a kid.   This week its apple crisp and apple sauce time along with getting our bedroom carpets cleaned of left over cat pee smell.  So our house should be smelling good by the end of the week!

love to you all, Heather