The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's the most wonderful time of the year (for parents). School's in session and Mom as her "me time" back. The kids are getting out the door early! The sun wasn't even up for Jake's first day photo. Doesn't he look thrilled to be up at 6 am?

Emma gets to sleep in an hour longer than her brother. She still managed to run late for the bus though. This was the only picture I could get of her before school:

Fortunately, she was still smiling after she got home. In fact, both kids reported that they liked their teachers and felt it was going to be a good year.

Several friends from my ward celebrated the first day of school with a tasty brunch at Scrambler Marie's. From left to right you'll see Cat, Angie, and Kelly:

That's my neighbor Emily with the two little boys. My friend Anita is on the right.

Susan is holding the sweetest baby ever, her daughter Kara. Jacob is her next oldest child on the end.

All in all, it was a pretty productive day. I washed 6 loads of laundry, read my scriptures, decorated my seminary classroom for 4 hours, and made dinner. Today was going at a pretty good clip too until I picked Jake up from football practice. He had been pushed from behind and caught his fall with his left wrist. It was giving him quite a bit of pain. I had my nurse friend Cat (see above picture) take a look and she suggested we have it looked at. After a few hours of icing it without improvement, we decided to have it checked out at the hospital by Dr. Dad. He didn't think it was broken, but decided to get a second opinion anyway. The other doc suggested we go ahead and x-ray it, but that was inconclusive too. Ultimately, they decided Jake may have a scaphoid fracture, so they splinted his wrist. He will have to be re-examined in a couple of weeks to determine additional treatment.

So, that might be the end of Jake's football career. He's pretty disappointed too since the coach told him today he was going to have him play first string defensive end at their first game next week. This also affects his participation in P.E. and orchestra. Fortunately, his writing hand is okay, so he won't miss out on all that 7th grade school work!

Birthdays, Blessings, and Bruises

Rick "celebrated" the big 3-6 today (although we're using the term loosely). When the clock struck midnight, turning Monday into Tuesday, Dr. Saunders was still at work dealing with crazy, drug-seeking patients. He didn't get ready for bed until 2:30ish. When he went to climb in, he had to wrestle our geriatric dog out of his spot. Poor guy.

After snoozing his alarm clock 10 times (and missing a meeting), he rolled out of bed at 10:30. He spent some quality time with the sick computer until we forced him to open his birthday gift.

As always, we labored over what to get for him. We knew we couldn't go wrong with a purchase from Costco, so we bought him a cache cooker. Now to find the time to go camping...

Jacob and Emma have their first day of school tomorrow (Wednesday). Rick seized the opportunity to give the kids a father's blessing. It's always such a neat thing to see the Priesthood in action! Since Rick had to go to work at 1:00, we hurried over to a little Mexican restaurant for a birthday brunch. We ate like it was our last meal. Miraculously we could still take down the fried ice cream dessert they gave him for his special day.

You may not know that Jacob is a big 7th grader playing on the football team this year. He's been in training for a few weeks now, and really enjoys it. Now that the boys are in pads though, things have gotten kind of rough. Check out this kid's bruises!

Isn't he such a tough guy?

Next post: A report on the first day of school!

Remembering Toni

My sister-in-law Toni died last week. It was quite sudden and it rocked the entire family. I will miss her greatly.

Several thoughts about Toni have been kicking around my mind since I returned from Arizona. I want to remember her, because she did so much during her short time here.

Toni had a great sense of humor.

She had to be quick to laugh because she was married to Mark (haha), and because she had two busy boys that kept her hopping. She would kind of mutter things under her breath or add a sarcastic comment here and there. She had the kind of dry sense of humor that I love!

She could throw a party.

I still remember some of the bashes she threw for Mark and the boys. From lights, to food, to decorations, Toni did it with flair. Everyone always had a great time.

Creativity was her middle name.

Toni possessed a myriad of talents. She played the piano, wove baskets, painted pictures, carved amazing pumpkins, and decorated her home like a pro. She worked most of her married life but still managed to give time to her artistic side too.

Toni loved animals, especially dogs.

Her passion for toy poodles started with Sable, a pup she had for 17 years. Later, her doggy family expanded. She and Mark bred toy poodles for a while. My kids have fond memories of holding the new little babies. Some were too special for Toni to part with, so her "pack" expanded to include 5 little poodles.

She was extremely thoughtful.

When it came to special occasions, Toni had it handled. She never seemed to forget a birthday or anniversary (a trait that particularly impressed me, as it is one of my faults). We always received cards or unique gifts carefully selected by her. She would shop months in advance to find just the right thing for her little nieces and nephews. My kids knew that Aunt Toni loved them because of her close attention to detail.

Teaching was her hidden calling.

Toni was a very capable woman, in many areas. I remember when I was a brand-new bride and Rick and I got an invite to eat dinner at her house. I offered to "help" with the preparations (but I didn't know what I was doing). Poor Toni had to give me a lesson on how to properly wash red leaf lettuce in order to make a salad. She was patient though, and gave me specific instructions so I could do it just right. Ha!

She had deep faith.

Toni was born and raised in the Catholic church. Her religion was very important to her and she brought her boys up to share her beliefs. I've always respected her for holding fast to her faith. She worked hard to provide a good foundation for her family. As I watched my nephews work through their grief this week, I saw some of the things she taught them. They are a testament to her hard work.

Many people were influenced by Toni.

Thursday night was the viewing. For 3 hours, family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and church members poured into the funeral home to pay respects. Everyone had been touched by Toni in some way. As I sat and listened to people quietly talking around me, I heard someone wondering aloud if anyone would come to her own funeral. It then struck me that Toni knew and affected many people. I know that she continues to influence people where she is now. I look forward to the time when I can see her again.