September

September flew by and now it's half way through October and I never made a post.  So here is a super long post to sum up one busy month. 

Jacob is loving 1st grade.  He comes home with the cutest cheers and songs.  We love that he always wants to share them with us.   Here is his September cheer that we heard daily. 

September started out with new adventures for many.  Kaitlyn our niece started collage at BYU.  We took advantage of the one day (move in day) to let the boys go and see her new dorm room (after that no boys are allowed in her bedroom).   She has the cutest dorm room.  It brought back a flood of memories for Zeke and I of when we went away to collage 20 years ago!!  Can't believe this fun, smart, pretty freshman is starting collage, but we are excited to have her only a short drive away.

Labor Day at Bear Lake!

The Findlay's invited us to spend the weekend up at Bear Lake.  They have a fabulous piece of land with a trailer on it.  Since we were feeling like our lives had just started to settle down from moving all our stuff, we opted out of digging all our camping gear out of the storage unit and instead just woke up early on Monday and drove to Bear Lake.   My kids had a blast!  They love spending time with their cousins and they also love hanging out at a beach.   

Jacob loved riding this four-wheeler just his size.

We finished off the night at Old Ephrim Pizza Parlor where we ordered the largest pizza ("Old Ephrim") we had ever seen.  It was so big that even with 3 teenagers and 7 regular eaters you would think we would have finished all of it but to our disappointment we couldn't.


Kong Kone Eating Contest
There is a temptation not to far from our home.  It's call the Kong Kone.  At the local Macey's grocery store they sell super large yummy ice cream cones for just pennies. The ice cream is thick and creamy and they even have an option to get it dipped in chocolate or the flavor of the day (ie butterscotch, bubble gum, blueberry etc).  When we read in the store ad that they were going to hold a kong kone eating contest we were all over the opportunity to win a kong kone every week for a year.  Landon and Mason were up helping their cousin Cameron with his Eagle project so rest of us  decided this would be a fun Saturday afternoon activity.  
First there was the eating contest for kids under 7.  Jacob joined in the fun.  He tried his best but there were other kids that had a greater craving for ice cream.  


After was followed by Lydia's age group.  She was more excited to have some free ice cream and said early on that she wasn't in it to win it, but she had fun none the less.

After was the teenagers and adults.  We all thought Dad would win it for sure.   He loves ice cream and this eating contest was right up his ally.   He had a plan about how to eat it fast, but in the end the large amount of cold ice cream in his chest and cold headache prevented him from finishing.   It was a fun afternoon and it's probably better that we did not win the weekly ice cream cones. 

Visit from Josh

We sure enjoyed our visit with my brother Josh.  He came to speak to the faculty at BYU for a few days and we got to spend the evenings with him.  He was able to come to one of Lydia and Jacob's soccer games and hang out at our house.  Then the next night Melissa and her boys came up so they could see him too.  The adults went out to eat and Josh took us to one of his favorites collage day eateries.  The funny thing about this restaurant was that it had shrunk since he had been there.  There were only 2 tables in the restaurant.  One for us and the other was full of collage students.  

First Lost Tooth

It was a big deal for Jacob to loose his first tooth.  He has been waiting since he was 4 to loose a tooth so it was very exciting for him.  We were glad the tooth fairy remember to come on the first night, as it often takes her several nights to get to us.  

Dad Camping Trip

Lydia loves to camp and she was feeling a little slighted that we never got the opportunity to camp during the summer.  With several camp grounds up the canyon, only minutes from where we are building our home, Zeke thought the kids would enjoy an overnighter in the woods before it gets to cold.  Landon and Mason have had plenty of camping experiences with scouts that they opted out of this camping trip and Lydia and Jacob went up the beautiful Whiting canyon in Mapleton and found a great camping spot.  Zeke found the bare essentials in the storage unit to make the experience bearable.   Zeke bought all the yummy treats that make camping fun, they went on hikes, jump roped, threw ballse, etc.  These three had a great time together.  In fact, they had such a good time that they spent the majority of Saturday up there and with out cell service Mom began to worry and thought they may have been eaten by a bear so she went looking for them only to find out they had just left.  

Building........

Due to some internal issues with our builder nothing happened on our house in August.  After everything was ironed out, September was a very productive month.  We love to drive by and see the daily progress.  We started the month with a big hole in the ground and by the end of the month the house was framed except for the roof.  

Filling the big hole with the beginnings of a home!  

Future basement... the neighbor boys who are in our primary class tell us that when it was just the foundation it was a great place to play spies!  

Starting to look like a house. 

Afternoons at the park

After picking up Jacob and Lydia each day from school we have about 45 minutes before we needed to go and get Landon and Mason from cross country, and since driving to our rental house is out of the way,  we would spend that time at this great park that is close to the elementary school.  

The 3 of us sure enjoyed this simple pleasure each day. 

USU Homecoming Weekend

We love Utah State University, Logan, Aggies Ice Cream, Aggie Football, and family so we were excited to be part of USU's homecoming this year.  My parents came down for a visit during that time and it was fun being able to spend that time with them too.  

We started out the homecoming celebration running in the 5K.  Both Zeke and I ran, along with Landon and Mason and my parents.  It was a blast running around campus.  

Here is a picture of us before the race. 

A picture after the race.  We didn't know this was a category but our family won for having the most members of a family run.  The prize was an awesome USU blanket, 2 sport bottles, a pennant, and lots of great gift certificates and coupons.  We scored big time with this prize! 

Below are some pictures of some of us when we were almost to the finish line.  

Mason, Landon, Zeke, and Stephanie

Zeke killed it!  Earning 1st place for adult male.  He has had a goal to run a 5K under 20 minutes and he did it with two seconds to spare!     Way to go Zeke! 

It was also fun to run with some of my extended family too.

After the race we went straight to the parade, where we showed our Aggie spirit and our post 5K oder:)  

One of the best things about going up to USU's homecoming is getting to see my wonderful Grandparents.  We stayed at their house and had a nice visit with them over the weekend.  We are so blessed to have both of them around.  

We also loved spending time with my parents.  It was so much fun to have them come visit us, and after the homecoming weekend they came back home to our rental and stayed a few days. 

That night was the football game.  

It was fun cheering the Aggies to victory over Weber State.  We also enjoyed watching my cousin Jenna cheer.  She is one of the girls in the air.

Lydia loves to show her spirit and was probably the loudest cheerer of all.  She also enjoyed sitting with and getting to know a few of her second cousins.  Here she is with her second cousin Lexie. 

Cross Country

Landon and Mason joined cross county this year.  It has been such a great thing for them to be involved with.  When the season started the weather was in the 90's and the altitude was a lot higher than we were use to, but these boys stuck it out and are great runners because of it.  It has also been a great place for them to make some good friends and feel involved in a new school.

Every Friday they have a meet in the district somewhere, and every meet they get faster and faster.  We are so proud of them and they both have developed a passion for running now.  

Landon

Landon pushing it 

Mason always finishes very strong! 

Mason

Jacob Soccer

Jacob has always loved anything that has to do with balls.  He has enjoyed playing soccer the last two seasons so we knew it would be important for him to be able to play this fall.   He enjoyed every minute of it.  No matter what the weather was, or how the team played Jacob had a blast with his teammates.   He also continues to be a good little player! 

#2

Lydia Soccer

Lydia has played soccer for many years and she has been fortunate to always be on nice teams with great coaches.  We were a little nervous about having her start fresh in a new place.   But this year was no different.  She had a very nice team of girls and a great coach.  A new soccer player emerged from Lydia.  She found greater confidence in the sport as well as some fierce competitiveness.  Her team won all but two games and she was one of the top goal scorers for her team.  

She also loved having her Dad as a coach! 

Relief Society Broadcast

I always look forward to the annual Relief Society broadcast, so when I heard that our stake got tickets and we could go to the conference center I was excited.  My stake told me I could get more than one ticket so I got two others and invited my sister and niece to go with me.  Melissa came down with her family so they could hang out and have a boys night (plus Lydia) while we went to the broadcast. We rode the train up north, got some dinner, did some shopping and had wonderful evening. 

The boys (plus Lydia) had a blast playing pool, watching football, playing video games, legos, and eating this "nothing good for you" concoction that is only made when mom is not around. 

The Hot Mess (donut hamburger).