Emerson has discovered a love for trains at is the BEST!!!

He can entertain himself for hours.

 Thia was the first time he ever was interested in my little IKEA train. He spent the entire two hours he was at my house playing with it.

 My Aunt Loralie had all of her kids in town because my cousin Heather's daughter Tara got married. It was so fun to hang out with all my cousins. I think I went up North five days in a row. Anthony took their family pictures and I went to help him one night. There was the wedding. We helped Katie take wall paper out of her new house. We had dinner twice at Loralie's. I was tired but it was really fun.

Melissa's cute family

 Emery

 Regan

 Sharee's family

 Cierra

 At the wedding Andrew ran up and gave me the best hug. Then his gigantic sucker got stuck in my hair. Love this sweet boy.

 We did the photo booth as well.

Maddie, Sharee's daughter got baptized. I entertained Emerson in the sink during the luncheon.

 I was going for the mad scientist look!

 Then Andrew, Katie, Cyndee and I went and watched Leap. It was the cutest little movie.

 It was so great until Andrew lost his stuffed animal stuffy. That was a meltdown. He was so sad. Lesson learned, no bringing toys when you come out with Aunt LaNell

September flew by. It was filled with family, hiking and fun. I have also been playing basketball and soccer at least once a week. That is so fun for me.

Fall Hiking

I feel like it stayed warm longer than usual this year. The first three week of school were so hot outside. That is so exhausting when you are outside ALL. DAY. LONG. I was so happy when it finally started to cool down a bit. I love when it is finally fall and the windows can be open and it is the perfect weather for outdoor activities.

Squaw Peak with Hannah right as the leaves started to change. A week later the were even more amazing.

 Slate Canyon Saturday morning between general conference sessions. I loved general conference and Moki and I loved the little break up the canyon in between. I timed my watch and went up for 45 minutes. I went as fast as I could. It was a good workout.

 The leaves were starting to change.

 Slate canyon one night after work. We got out barely before dark.

 Squaw peak exactly one week later. It was amazing.

 Silver Lake after school. We ended up hiking the last mile in the dark but it was fun to do this hike in the fall. So beautiful.

 This was my first time hiking Silver Lake so late in the year. It was really pretty.

It has been fun to get out and hike in the evenings when I have time.

The Routine Life

Being back in school means back to all the normal routines and stuff. I like routines, but man it is so exhausting adjusting back to the life where I can't just take an afternoon nap whenever I am tired. Pathetic I know. I have done a decent job of waking up early. I have biked almost everyday to and from school! I haven't missed an early morning weight lifting workout yet!

I got this fun map for my guest room. You can scratch off the countries you have visited. It makes me realize I really haven't been that many places.

 Seventh grade day, the first day of school, was also eclipse day. Teachers and students were outside togther watching the eclipse. Our biology teacher looked so cool with his beard I had to get a picture.

 I was playing total eclipse of the heart and looking at the eclipse. The boomerang video that Hannah took was hilarious. We were not in totality but it was really cool to see.

 I wanted to do something different this year on the first day of school. Every teacher always just does disclosure documents and the students are so bored. all. day. long. I decided to teach a fun mixer dance that our former ballroom teacher used to teach. it was really simple, obviously because I don't dance, but so fun. The girls had a great time and so did I. I need to learn a few more really simple dances.

We celebrated Anthony's birthday. I got him the best present ever, a scale:)

On August 18th when I got out of teacher meetings I learned that Angelee Acebo Petersons' dad Angelo Acebo had passed away. I was so sad and shocked. Having just recently dealt with a similar loss my heart hurt so much for Angelee and her siblings. Angelee and I have been friends since the third grade, I moved into her class that year. We were the only mormons in third grade at our elementary school and thus began a lifelong friendship. I spent lots of time at her house growing up and I was really sad to hear about the loss of her dad. I knew I wanted to try to go home for the funeral but I also knew with school just starting it would be tricky. Lucky for me the funeral fell on September 1, also labor day weekend. This made it an option for me to drive home for the funeral. I am grateful it worked out. The funeral was really nice and it was a great celebration of Angelo's life. It was so great to be able to give Angelee a big hug in person. I did not anticipate how emotionally hard the funeral would be. I felt good all morning, but as soon as I walked into the church, the same place we held my dads funeral, it was almost too much. All weekend I have had to confront a lot of emotions that I thought I was done with. I had to remind myself that it has only been 8 and 1/2 months since I did this for my dad. The emotions are still there. Even though it was hard I am so glad I went. I am also so sorry that Angelee is now dealing with the grief and sorrow of losing a parent.

After the funeral my mom went and picked up Olivia and Braxton and we hung out all weekend. It was soooooooo hot in Oroville. 110 degrees all weekend. And there are multiple fires burning near by so it was super smoky. Conditions were not the best but seeing family and friends made for a fun weekend despite the real reason I went.

My trip got off to an annoying start. I got up early and hiked the Y with Moki. When I got home I noticed her fur was laying weird in one spot on her back. I decided to investigate and pulled off a scab with loads of pus. So gross. I quickly shaved her back to get a better look. Cleaned the wound and texted a vet friend. Blah! We ended up stopping at the vet on the way out of town. My vet was in surgery and no one else was at the office so I made an executive decision to just go to California and worry about it later if it appears to get infected. Luckily it has healed up pretty nicely.

 Moki thinks she is a human. She is ridiculous!

 Kevin and Liz were out of toen most of the time I was in Oroville but they were generous enough to let us swim. I swam one day with Olivia, Braxton, and Moki.

 Olivia and I did this puzzle that you put together and then color. It was pretty fun. We didn't quite get it finished so she will have to finish it later.

 Dropping these cute kids off at home. I love spending time with them. They are so fun to be around. Man they are getting so big!

 Today was back to the grind. It is always a little rough going back to work after a short but exhausting vacation. It will probably take me all week to recover.

Last full week of summer . . . . tell me it isn't so

I have had a great summer. A good balance of being home and being on trips. I do wish all the home hadn't all been at once and all the trips all at once, but what do you do. I feel rejuvenated. Ready to be around these middle school kids all day that really do make me laugh. I am excited for a new school year. My last full week of summer went out with a bang!

Monday: I really did nothing all day. I was recovering from the 66 miler the week before. I cleaned, ran errands, but mostly rested.

Tuesday: Woke up to my alarm and biked 28 miles. Then met Amanda, Andrew, and Emerson at Battle Creek Falls trailhead to hike.

 I kept Andrew for a sleepover. We hung out with Jana and Erica and all their kids all afternoon. We headed back to my house and had some dinner and then Dan came over and we played two rounds of Skipbo.

 Andrew won both! His face says it all.

 I wore Andrew out and actually got him into bed on time. Sleepover miracle right there. I went to bed early too!

Wednesday: Hang out with Andrew. We ran some errands, made lunch and then went swimming. He loves the Provo Rec Center so we went there. He did the big indoor slide on repeat for an hour and a half straight. He would get so excited every time he got off of the slide.

After I returned him to his parents Anthony, Moki and I hiked Silver Lake. We hiked in a crazy thunder and lightning storm. We were drenched by the time we got to the lake. The weather cleared up before we reached the top and was beautiful the way back to the car. We ran out of daylight so we were pretty cold when we finally finished. First time Anthony has agreed to hike with me in years so that is a win.

 Thursday: Woke up to an early alarm. Boo! I biked to Erica's house and then we biked together. So fun! And then I biked home. That was a little over 47 miles so I was really tired after that. I rested and did some home chores the rest of the afternoon.

Thursday evening we went to Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at the outdoor theater at Sundance. Thanks to Than and Erica for getting tickets. That was the first time I had seen the show. I liked it. The music was fun and the company was great. We didn't even let a little rain stop us from having fun.

Friday: Woke up to an early alarm again. What the heck summer??? Jana and I hiked Mt. Timpanogos. I loved hiking it with Jana. We visited the whole time, except when we were too out of breath near the top. It was a gorgeous day. We did the American Fork side in seven and a half hours, 16ish miles. It was a tiring but fun day.

 It is so fun for me that I live pretty close to some of my friends I have known and loved the longest. I really am grateful that I get to spend time with them. I love that Jana and I can still try to play on sports teams together as well as go on fun adventures. Here's to trying to stay young forever.

Moki loves hiking Timp!

After I went home and rested Hannah and I met up for yogurt. That was a great way to end a long hiking day.