Whirlwind to the New School Year

"Let me 'splain.  No, let me sum up."  

We went to San Diego for the last hoorah of summer and had a wonderful time with Grandparents Stubbs.  Then, school started.  Then, the girls started Cross Country.  Meanwhile, I teach Chinese kids early in the morning, and piano in the afternoons.  Also, Spencer got his tonsils out and has taken two weeks to really get better.  Lots of smoke in the air, lots of dry weather, lots of beans to pick, lots of apples ready to fall, and that is about it.  

Here are some out of order pics to round out the summary:

Post-Tonsilectomy Spencer.  Much happier.  Still a grouch in the morning. 

 Ahhhhhh.  She runs.  She runs in the clouds with a smile on her face.  She runs with the wind in her hair.  She runs with wings on her heels..... 

 Then she hangs upside down on the playground equipment.  

And I finally get a candid of Sam with her bestie, Emily.  Pizza in their mouths, we are celebrating Sammy's Fall birthday, complete with ripe apples in the background. 

 And because she is a 15 year old in living in the social media world of today, she has lots of pictures celebrating this event taken by herself and her friend.  Here are some of my favorites.

 On Saturday (Sam's b-day) we drove up to campus and watched Allie Boyer run.  She is a senior this year.  The BYU invitational was moved up to USU because of the smoke in Spanish Fork Canyon.  It has been a rough cross country season because of the smoke.  At least it was a little better up here.  The girls come home with sore throats and itchy eyes after their runs.  Here they are with their Boyer cousins.  Matt and Sadie have started school up at USU. 

 We went shopping.  I splurged and bought the girls new running shoes.  LL has been running in ones that were used.  Sammy's are about 2 years old.  Their coach mentioned it might help to have new ones.  We went to a running store where the sales clerk analyzed their running gate, old shoes, etc.  He nailed it when he said that LL probably has hip pain (yes) and when Sam runs her ankles hurt (yep!!)  He got them the proper footwear and now they are running on the clouds!  :) We then went to lunch.  

This is Spencer pre and post op.  He was pretty nervous.  When he got done with the tonsilectomy/adnoidectomy they brought him in and he said, "Is it done already?"  He thought no time had passed.  

 Laura Lee was asked to prom by their friend Johannes.  He is from Austria and is staying in town with our friends, The Sharps. He will be here for the school year as an exchange student. He is on the cross country team.  Sammy and LL give Johannes and Branson Sharp a ride to school every day and they all ride home from cross country together.  Johannes is a sophomore and wants to go to the dance so much-- he was very frustrated that the girls he wanted to ask weren't 16.  He says in his Austrian accent, " I just do not understand this rule! This 16 year old rule!"  He has been such a great kid, and the kids at school really like him.  He loves Green Canyon and thinks it is so much fun.  He attends an all boys school in Austria in Salzburg when he is home.  The Sharps took him to an Aggie Football game and he loved it-- he came to church with them the next day with a USU temporary tatoo on his cheek.  He is just a sweet kid.  I told LL she should just ask him to Homecoming so he can at least go, but she wouldn't.  Fortunately, Johannes has a friend that is a Jr. and they both asked Savannah and LL to go.  I think LL is actually looking forward to the date because she knows she will have fun with Johannes. 

 The McDonald's chicken nugget thing is a joke with all of them because Johannes LOVES McDonald's chicken nuggets! They all tease him for it because he loves to get them after cross country practice.  They all think it is gross, but he is a good sport about it!  

 And we will end with the Ramen Noodle King.  He ate a whole case of Ramen while recovering from surgery.  I made him some good bone broth the other day.  He dipped bread in it and said while eating, "I don't really like this, but I feel like I really need to eat it," and ate it up.  Haha! Sometimes I guess our bodies tell us what we need.