We have had amazing fall weather this week, particularly the evenings!  It makes me remember why I put up with the winters!

Both football teams remain undefeated!  And both boys remain injury free!

Jacob has taken up the trombone.  Not real sure where the interest in the trombone came from, but he decided he wanted to play that in the school band.  I think he really liked the 'slide'.

The boys and I have started an NFL football bracket.  We are picking teams each week and racking up points I few choose the winning team.  So far, I am in last place, but still lots of room for improvement.  There are on going discussions about the prize at the end of the season.

All the boys are doing pretty good in school.  Joseph is striving for the highest reading goal...10,000 pages!  Last year the kids who hit that got to get ice cream with the principal in a limo.  Not sure what this year's top prize will be, but I think I need to rally to be involved, since I will be reading most of those pages too!

We have found a van.  It is actually a year older than our other van but great shape.  My mechanic said it was a steal of a deal for a Honda Odyssey.  It was the first van I found.  So thankful that search is over.

Pretty quiet weekend coming up.  A Saturday morning football game and looking at taking the boys to a movie Sunday afternoon!

We have survived the first week of football games. Wins all the way around and the best part...no injuries!!!

See the white dots...yep, snow!  I guess starting out with very wet and cold weather means it can only get warmer.

I never got a good shot of Benjamin, but sure love this one!

Joseph is loving hip hop.  He is getting really good at some of his moves.  I love to see him come home and practice all of them!  He is also doing really well with his reading!  The principal has another reading contest going on this school year.  Last year, the kids that read 10,000 pages got to ride in a limo to get ice cream.  No one knows what this years prize will be, but Joseph is sure motivated.  How awesome would that be.

Benjamin has committed to the 8th grade Washington DC trip.  He saved some money over the summer and will be participating in all kinds of fundraisers.  Next weekend he will be bagging groceries!  I think he is actually excited about this.

It was a sad day this week.....

My van has finally died and according to the mechanic, not worth saving!  Not real sure how it happened, but the engine seized up!  We were hoping to make it one more winter with this.  Fortunately, we have a few extra vehicles given JRs job, so I have something to drive for now.  I am on the hunt though...just waiting for the perfect car to come along!

Here is looking to some 60 degree and sunny days ahead!!!!

We are in a real good grove right now. I am even dialed in with all of our food, that I am only grocery shopping once a week, minus a few fresh things. One of my goals this school year was to become more efficient in all areas. Check in the food department. No more throwing out food for this family (for three growing boys, it is amazing the food I throw out that does not get eaten) or making multiple stops to get things I forgot.

Our morning routine is good! The boys and I (JR's work schedule is all of the place) sit down for breakfast every morning! Something I have never been able to accomplish.

I am also learning how to be more efficient during workouts. I just read a post about how dangerous Crossfit is, and I would agree it can be dangerous. However, with the coaches I have, no way. They know the body and how it is suppose to work. Today we did 200 russian kettle bell swings (think hold the kettle bell between your legs and swing it up to above your eyes. So much easier when you learn to lift with your hips. A few weeks ago we did a workout where you maxed out (hit your high end) a strict press (overhead), a back squat, and a deadlift. My 1 rep max was 75# for strict press, 150# for back squat (should have been higher but was struggling with form, so stopped) and 215# for deadlift.

There is mountain snow in the forecast. I sure don't want cold, but will be so nice to have some relief from the wild fire smoke. I can't imagine those that live close to them.

Both boys start football games this week. Benjamin is so excited, looks like he will be on special teams (punt return) and Jacob is looking at receiver right now. Hopefully I will get some good pictures.

Speaking of football, I came across these pictures recently and don't think I ever put them on the blog. We were invited to a BBQ with some of JR's clients.

Did you recognize who that was??  Alex Smith, the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs.  The boys had a great time playing football with him.  What a neat family he has.  We will definitely be a new cheering family for the Chiefs.

A Sunday afternoon bike ride!

 Everyone seems to have functional bikes, except me.  I guess maybe I should say that when I do get a bike, another one breaks and then one of the boys ends up 'taking' mine.

Ready for the fall weather.  I think my favorite outfit is jeans, sweatshirt and sandals.  Let's hope for clearer skies too!

Had a very quiet Labor Day weekend.  I pretty much just hung at home and knocked out projects.  JR was hiking in the Beartooth Mountains with a friend and Bree (pictures to follow another day).  Jacob went to the cabin with his best friend Cam.

I got a text Sunday morning from Cam's mom that Jacob had been fine all day and then threw up Saturday evening.  (She did not realize it at the time of the text, but he also threw up in the middle of the night).  We awaited for them to wake up Sunday and sure enough, he felt just fine!  (This is the second trip to the cabin where he has thrown up...not sure what is going on.)  Then Sun evening I got a call from the cabin (I have never gotten a phone call!).  They were headed into the ER with Jacob.  It seems they were off smashing big branches and somehow Jacob's hand got caught in between two big branches!  Fortunately, no fractures or stitches required.   However, a huge lesson was learned.  He wanted to finish out his weekend at the cabin, so he pushed on.  I was glad when he was finally home.

One of my projects from the long weekend was to start sorting through all of my digital pictures.  I want to get them in the correct yearly photos.  I am all the way back to 2013.  It sure is much easier to weed through and eliminate pictures that are several years old.

This is the view from my window these days!  We provide some of the only shade for the cows in our huge field, so we have been seeing a lot of them lately.

It seems like it varies from day to day, as to how bad the smoke it.  Usually the mountains are pretty clear.  Lots of wildfire smoke!  Crazy how much of the northwest is in flames.  Many having to evacuate.  Some fires will probably not burn out until the snow flies.

The other day there was a knock on the door.  Then I hear a voice, is your mom home?  It was a police officer.  One of the boys was not home and my first thought was, what did X do?  Turns out the man that owns the cows in the field called to report that the barb wire fence, behind our wooden fence had been cut, and he had just repaired it two days ago.  Not real sure what that was all about, but none of us had cut the fence.

Jacob recently bought a skim board with his own money.  What is a skim board you ask?  Why a board allows you to skim across the surface of the water.

He executed that one pretty well...this one not so much.  It seems that if your angle is wrong or the positioning of your feet, you are toast.

And that is how it is done.  Although I think once you get it down, you just sink with the board and then start all over again.

I thought about trying it, but figured I would not look nearly as graceful as they did falling/sinking.

Joseph started Hip Hop dance today.  He was really nervous that he might be the only boy, but he went anyway.  Thankfully, there were 2 other boys in his class.  The only way you can watch is in the observation room, via video camera.  That is Joseph on the mat.

The other two boys got their football pads, etc.  So crazy cool seeing them all geared up. Can't believe they are both old enough for full on football.