Holding Midnight

 

Ax Throwing

 Beckett has been working on his "OR" sounds for about three months. His reward for working hard and perfecting the sound was ax throwing with mom. And boy did he love it! His favorite was the ninja star and my favorite was one on one time with my oldest red. He is just so darn cool! 

College

 Its official! I'm a college student, again. I started classes last week and its been great. I'm going back to Brigham Young University-Idaho to finish my teaching degree. I'm on campus Monday and Wednesday and doing the rest of my classes online. This first semester back, I'm taking 12 credits. I could be done in two years, but will probably push it to three, so I can still enjoy life and time with my kids. 

I am loving learning again. Its been such a neat experience going as an adult, rather than a old teenager. I appreciate the lessons more. I'm not scared to speak up in class or ask questions. I am focus on my work rather than what is going on around me. Its just been so great. 

School Dates

Scott and I are getting the hang of this back to school thing!! 

 Friday morning breakfast dates!

Choke Cherries

We have an abundant resource of choke cherries in Ashton. I haven't ever had the desire or knowledge to pick them, but after hearing Dave and Cheryl talk about them and watching our neighbors pick them, we decided to give it a try. The boys had a blast picking them. I only have a few pictures of them picking, but rest assured everyone had a good time picking over the weekend. We ended up with three gallon bags full of them. 

Beckett was my big helper when it came to processing the berries and making syrup.

We ended up with the most beautiful purple syrup. However, I'm not sure how it tastes. Since getting COVID, my taste has still been a little off. As we were making the syrup, I couldn't believe the amount of sugar that was going into it. Beckett was my taster and kept saying it needed more sugar, but it tasted awfully sweet to me! So the jury is out whether its sweet enough or not. I figure I can add sugar to each jar after we open it if we need to. Maybe one day my taste will return to normal and I'll learn to trust my taste buds again. 

Sweet enough or not, it sure is pretty and it was fun to pick something off our land and use it! I think we stumbled upon a new family tradition! 

 

Back to School

 The younger boys started school a day after Tayden. They were all excited and ready to go. I am so pleased with all their teachers, and everyone is happy to be back and getting into a regular schedule. 

Middle School

 Tayden started Middle School this week. He is loving it! He loves changing classes and the bit more of independence it offers. He starts school almost an hour later that the elementary and doesn't get home off the bus until 4:15. That is taking some getting used to on everyone's behalf. The younger kids don't like him gone so much and nor do I. But he is handling it like a champ and we'll all fall into a rhythm soon. He is going do great things this year and I can't wait to witness it. 

His friends and him at the open house getting their lockers and schedules. 

First day of middle school. Funny story about the shorts. Not this exact pair, but the same style. Short shorts are all the rage these days. As I was going through the hand me down box for Cache, Tayden saw a couple pairs of shorts. He held them up and said, "These are perfect!" They were a pair of shorts that he had already worn when he was eight and outgrew, but decided to wear them again! FOUR years later. He is wearing his own hand me downs.