Drama!

Well, first of all, the ladies retreat went great! I think everyone not only had a great time but left encouraged. I was definitely challenged and I hope everyone else was as well. Thank you to everyone who pitched in and made it a great weekend.

Aubrey had an accident yesterday (this is the drama.) She fell on her bike in our neighborhood and hit her head pretty bad. She was confused and couldn't remember people....even the Schadeggs (she did remember Rylan, however :-) I've never really seen anyone like that before so we were a bit worried. We took her to the ER, they did a CAT scan and there is no permanent damage, she just bruised her brain and there was some swelling. She woke up this morning with a pretty bad headache but has all her memory back. The first thing she said was, "Am I going to have to miss my symphony today?" I was worried she would forget her paper route and I'd have to teach it to her all over again...AAAGH! She seems to be the one to always bonk her head. Caleb breaks limbs, and Cameron seems to avert danger for the most part for some reason.

That's our update for now. Busy, busy, busy!

More Pirtle adventures

We apparantly don't have the genius in our household that it takes to upload the video of Aub's fiddle contest...so we will have to bring in the reinforcements and hope for the best at a later date.

Lots has happened in the last couple of weeks. I didn't think we would have enough going on in our life to blog about but it is hard to keep up. Get ready for lots of pictures.....

Caleb lost a tooth. Cameron is bound and determined to find out who the tooth fairy is. Deep down he knows it's dad, but is just dieing to prove it...so funny.

We've taken a couple of fun little hikes before the cold weather sets in. The kids can do about 6 miles pretty comfortably now (not Holly, of course...she still hitches a ride part of the way.)

Tony Grove

The Crimson Trail

Providence Canyon

Another trip to the American West Heritage Center for the corn maze...the kids LOVE it!

Last summer we took a tour of the Air Force Academy in CO Springs...Cam just can't wait to be a cadet there. I just had to show these pics because they are so....CAMERON! He loved everything about it...he loved that they all wore the same clothes, walked in a straight line, yelled as they marched, etc...crazy kid.

We finally got him enrolled in Cub Scouts this last week and it is all we have heard about. He has read through the entire book about 3 times already, he has his first little "Bobcat trail" thing already memorized, and is already thinking about what his Eagle Scout project should be! He's gotta be an Eagle Scout because only Eagle Scouts have walked on the moon, you know. The boy is obsessed! I'm glad he has a passion for something...it sure keeps him motivated. I'll put up a picture of him in his little Cub Scout outfit, it's pretty cute!

Fiddle Contest

Aub played today and did great! She really played the best I have ever heard her...she really does well under pressure. Of course her father and I thought she got completely ripped off by not winning the gold....but that's a proud parent's prerogative. I am still trying to figure out how to download the video Tony took....might take awhile. For now, here is a picture of our second child whose activities of the day we are incredibly proud of as well......

Typical Camo...

We did it!

Consider the Wellsvilles conquered! Jill, Erin and I did it! We decided to go clear across the entire mountain range. It took about 9 hours of serious hiking...I was hurting on Sunday. It was absolutely amazing! For about 2 miles once you hit the top, you just hike along the peak of the mountain range looking over the valleys on both sides of it. It was by far one of the coolest hikes I have been on...and right in our backyard too! Next is Naomi and Logan peaks...then to the 14ers in Colorado with Cam. He wants to do as many as he can before he graduates ( in about 10 years.)

Speaking of Cam, he is becoming quite the little runner lately. He asks every day if he can run on the track and today I clocked him around a 7 minute mile...not bad for an 8 year old!

He and Aub are doing great on their paper route...real troopers. I go with them in the morning sometimes...otherwise, I just stay at home and worry about them.

Aub has her annual fiddle contest tomorrow and one of her songs she will be playing is "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band. She is pretty nervous, but I know she will do great.

Caleb is a wiz at reading, but struggles with math a bit...nothing serious. That boy is keeping me on my toes, that's for sure. Something I am learning about raising boys...they must be busy constantly!

Holly Grace is still as unable to sit still as ever. She cracked us all up the other day when Aub found about 10 dominoes in her purse...put there by Holly. She is obsessed with dominoes, cars, and babies...what a mix!

So much for the deep insightful political views of all my friends out there...I guess I'll just stick to the shallow stuff from now on. :-)

Finally...

I am finally going to embark upon conquering the Wellsville mountain range on Saturday! For those of you who are not from around here...it is only the steepest mountain range in all of North America! I am SO excited. I've been wanting to do this since we moved here! I look at those mountains outside my window every day and think about getting to the top. I'll let everyone know if I survive. Steb...if you read this, you'd better comment :-). The highest peak toward the left of the picture is where I will be on Sat. Minus the snow, of course. This view is from our backyard last winter, by the way.

Getting in shape is my new goal. I have started a "piyo" (pilate and yoga) class every Tuesday night. OUCH! But I feel much stronger and I'm starting to not be sore every time. Also, one of the kids and I are riding our bike from the church building on Sunday afternoon all the way home. For those of you who are not familiar with our town...we live on a great big mountain and the only way to get to our house is up monstrous hills. It has been a great cardio workout and good time with the kids. With all of this, I don't really see any progress in the whole firming up thing...comes with age I guess.

Paper route is going much better. I think the kids will be able to handle it on their own by the end of this week and I can go back to sleeping in. Although, getting up at 5:30 has been quite productive....I may just keep it up.

So, when you blog, you're supposed to exchange ideas....I want to get everyone's thoughts on McCain's pick for VP, Sarah Palin. For once, I will refrain from expressing my opinion. You can even remain anonymous if you so desire.

Kudos

Yes, I finally got some pics on my blog :-). The first one is Tony preaching a lesson on Judges and the second one is Holly Grace listening intently. I am going to try to learn how to do the picture thing on my own soon.

Kudos to all the paper boys of the world! Don't ever let anyone tell you your job is easy! This paper route is harder than it seems. Aub is determined to stick with it, however. She is going to need her brother's help and isn't too thrilled about that. All those papers are just too much for her little body to carry on her own...I am proud of her determination!

Rocky and Apollo have become a bit of a nuisance with their constant running around the house and playing together. They are like a couple of kids that I have to get onto. I catch myself saying, "Don't run in the house" to my dog and cat. I guess the mother in me will never die.

Aubrey had a sewing day with Aunt Jill and they made a dress for Holly Grace. It looks pretty good. I have no idea where she got her passion for such domestic things...not from her mother as you all know.

I will not be working this tax season. The scheduling didn't work out and I am a bit relieved to be honest. It really makes for 4 months of constant busyness and a lack of being together as a family. Our summer has been crazy and I am looking forward to a nice quiet winter at home...ha ha. Since when is anything nice and quiet around here?

Happy Labor Day

Well, we went on our annual Labor Day campout this year with other congregations in Utah. When it poured rain from Sunday evening until we left on Monday morning, I was very grateful for our camper. It would have been cold and miserable in a tent. Other than the rain the weather was perfect and we had a great time. It is encouraging to get out and see some of the other Christians in the state. There are only nineteen or so congregations in Utah and there were probably 10 represented this weekend. When Christians are as few and far between as they are here, we are grateful for times like these to catch up and see how the work is going in other places in the state.

We officially do not have any TV as of Sunday! We have to catch up (once again) with the current century and go digital (I guess). All these years I have refused to pay for TV because....well...I always thought that's what we all endured commercials every ten minutes for. It will be interesting to see how much we miss the little we watch. I am sad to be missing the Republican Convention...or maybe it's just as well. We are going to try it out for awhile and see how it goes. We would like to get high speed internet, though. :-)

Aubrey is starting a paper route tomorrow....5:30 AM. Of course, being the wonderful mother that I am, I will be escorting her in the freezing cold wee hours of the morning. Why a child would be so ambitious as to voluntarily endure such things is beyond me. However, I am proud and supportive. She will, after all, be using some of it to pay for her music lessons for which we are currently footing the bill. I am hoping she has the gumption to stick with it.

We are getting full swing back into our lives tomorrow. We are going whole hog on school, my weekly ladies Bible study will be starting, music lessons, Cam will be starting cub scouts, running here and there...etc. I'm kind of dreading it, but summer can't last forever.

My garden this year is the best it has ever been. We had a late start with an unusually cold spring, but everything is beautiful now...just in time to start freezing. Aub and I have canned about 10 quarts of tomatoes and 12 cans of green enchilada sauce. I think all that work for the last 3 years prepping that soil and digging up thousands of rocks is finally paying off. My okra even decided to produce this year!

Well it's getting late and I have to get up early.

Ta, ta for now.