It was the first week of school! Holy Moly! Were we ready for that? I suppose as ready as we could. Of course, for Mariah, Chey, and Cali, since they've been doing school sports ALL summer, it didn't feel that different. Beth and Ben were excited to see their friends again!

I took this picture on a hike the day before. That's the junior high and off to the left behind it is the high school. Even farther you can see Sage Creek Elementary. All in line! Really not that far away from me all day!

Savannah got in almost a perfect 40 hour work week! Classes don't start for her until after Labor Day but she did pay for her tuition completely out of her own bank account and she is raring to go! Ok, she may not be quite that eager, but she's determined to make it a good semester and we are proud of her.

Sarah had a good week at work. She even got a day off and went to Zion's with a couple of girls who also had the day off. We think she likes it!

Megan is gone on a mission. *sob!* No, we are thrilled that she gets this awesome opportunity and love getting her enthusiastic letters. She has already grown so much.

Mariah went to Lagoon Friday night on a triple date. They had a great time, but someone (?) forgot to check the train schedules back to Provo. So, they missed the last train and guess who got a call at 12:15am and got asked to drive to Salt Lake and rescue them? Kevin B. And he's just such a great dad that he did!

The next day Mariah, Chey, and Cali had grass relays in Highland for Cross Country. This is where they race as several relay teams and also jump over hay bales as part of the race. They had a lot of fun! Mariah (even though she was working on four hours of sleep) ran on the Varsity relay team and they placed 4th! They were pretty excited!

Cali and Chey have been pretty exhausted going from school to cross country to tennis practice. We've changed dinner time to 7:00pm to accommodate late tennis practice and that is how long they are gone everyday! Tennis season in only one month. We are hoping they survive!

Bethany likes her new teacher, Mr. Wright, and her substitute who will teach until her Chinese teacher arrives from Asia. She doesn't sit by any of her friends, though, and reports being lonely. She plays with her friends at recess though and I took her to the pool on Saturday where she played completely alone and completely contented for over an hour! She is just a happy little thing.

Benjamin likes his new teachers, Mrs. Taylor and Ms. Wong. He has come home with a reading challenge for the year and he is revved up and ready to READ! He also had his first flag football scrimmage game. It looks like it is going to be fun! He had two other practices this week and I also took him to the pool twice during the week with Beth in hopes of tiring them out enough to get them to bed early enough for school. It's only kind of working. . . Oh, they had karate twice this week, too! They are hard to tire out.

Kevin and I are going to try to hike Timpanogos this coming Friday, so I have been trying to be extra diligent in getting miles in on the mountain (though it is nowhere near the amount I will need to do on Timp! *groan*) Still, I'm seeing beautiful views and growing strength in my legs!