Update for my own records, no pictures..ugh!

Robert's mom came into town on Thursday , she got to watch Leavi run cross country and made the last half of Jaydn's 8th grade football game! Our visit was short but very fun! We ran all over town on Friday, watched a high school football game and listened to Leavi play in the pep band( the best part). Watched movies and made pizza and pumpkin cheesecake Saturday for Kole's birthday. Kole had a great birthday but not much fanfare, he enjoyed presents( Heeley's from Robert and I and I Frisbee type toy and a mechanical bug), all is good! Grandma Jean and Grandpa Tim gave him the 4th book in the Leven Thumps series! Yay! He is excited to get to it!

Sunday Kole was ordained a Deacon with his grandma Jean there! That was too cool! I taught a lesson about "Wise Dating Decisions" in Young Women's that went over very well! Mom sat in on the lesson which made me a bit nervous because I knew there were a few very frank things I was going to discuss with my girls. Mom said the lesson was good..whew! I would love to alter that lesson and do it for a Standards night, I think it is much needed!

The rest of the week went well with Leavi celebrating her 15th birthday on Wednesday! It was a way too busy day and her and Jaydn had mutual that evening where they began the first of 4 Roadshow practices! Leavi is dancing with a boy in our ward ( the swing) who is a Junior in high school and whom, she did not know very well ...at first. She was tentative, but after 10 minutes they were swinging and high fiving each other when they got it! Totally fun to watch! Later, Leavi told me she didn't want to dance with that particular boy because she had heard at school that he did drugs( simply silly to believe everything you hear if you ask me) and after mutual she was pretty convinced by his, how did she put it?..."countenance"..that he was a good boy..and did I mention she now thinks he is cute and funny and nice! Just goes to show ya, don't ever listen to gossip about other people!!! And, don't be too quick to judge others, good lesson to learn at her age:)

On to the rest of the week.. well let's see here.. Jaydn had another football game Thursday where his team "killed" the Henkle team winning some 45 -6 or something like that! Jaydn got a cookie from the coaches when they ran the film because the couches were complimenting him on some great blocks he made! Who knew I would get into football..ha ha!

Friday, Kole came home from being at Cispus( Outdoor school) for the entire week, I missed him terribly! He didn't seem to think it was very fun, poor kid. It is not that he missed home but he just said it was boring and the food was bad. I have spoiled my kids with my cooking...proof positive! We then, saw Leavi off on a cross country trip to Seaside for 2 days. She comes home Saturday evening sometime. She is so excited about the trip! She has moved up to the B team from the C team for cross country this year:) She is not Varsity yet but I am sure she will be by next year if she keeps running all year. She really likes the challenge of running hard. For the trip...they are staying at Camp Rilea and there will be a dance for all the runners on Friday evening. They run Saturday, then come home. Fun for her! The surprise chaperone is my Mia maids advisor, Janice Richardson( who happens to be the stake presidents wife) so i felt really good about Leavi going on this fun trip!

Funny story: Thursday evening Robert age Leavi some advice about dancing with non- Mormon boys and suggested she only dance with Jake( He didn't know about Matthew Richardson going at this point) because Jake is Mormon and will respect her standards..hee hee Jake is a senior so the following morning I told her she could dance with any boy but Jake or any other senior, for the reason that he/they are too old for her to dance with. I had not known about Robert's advice the night before and she just "UGHHED" me and relayed what her dad had said. I just laughed and laughed! Robert and I tend to be very protective of our little girl! I then told her that I trusted her judgment implicitly and she should dance with any boy she felt was good enough to dance with! Followed by... " Slap him if his hands go anywhere you don't like...then stomp away!" I know how these high school boys think...I am not stupid. Apparently there is a boy on the cross country team that wanted to ask Leavi to Homecoming via another boy telling Leavi this information. Leavi knows she can NOT date until she is 16 and even then it will be group dating until she is 18 years old! She is very happy about that rule for it helps her to politely tell any boy " Thank you so much for asking me and I am flattered and would love to go with you but I can't date until I am 16, sorry." Have I really gotten to this part of raising my children...the eve of dating..YIKES!

This is all part of my life now and my children are not getting any younger, that is for sure! I am, however, grateful for the young men in our ward that live up to their standards and are following the guidelines of the church for youth! I am grateful there are young men out there that have testimonies and are shining examples of the kind of young men my daughter will eventually be dating. I am grateful for the stair step process that enables our young men and women to become familiar with one another in a safe and friendly enviroment. The 12-14 year olds begin by having one activity per month that is co-ed and they go to the temple together and have Sunday school together. Then on to ages 14-16 where they can also dance together for things like Roadshows or Dance Festivals and they may attend church dances! Then 16-18 is group dating and group social activities that are enriching and fun! Then 18 and on would be the dating for the purpose of finding traits that you want in your Eternal companion and eventually to courting and marriage! It is such a simple and perfect guideline/plan! I am so grateful for it!I wish this could have been part of my life when I was a youth! It would have made the world of difference in a young, impressionable me:)

Today, Robert sold one of the 4 cars he agreed to get rid of ( The deal was if I got to 180 pounds he would sell all the junk cars...I got there like 6 weeks ago..about time!)! I am happy happy happy about that! I cleaned the Jetta out again so we can unload that one soon too! He posted the Mercedes and hopefully we will get that one out of here soon too! I bought a NEW garbage can because as of last week we have garbage service for the first time in 6 years! I am so happy about it! We get a HUGE recycling can and that about takes care of most all of our garbage! We have taking it all to the dump every 3-4 months which is much less expensive( by half the cost) but I decided that the garbage everywhere, the rats, the smell, the work is not worth it any more! I feel like we really need to recycle and the service that goes along with our garbage is perfect! I am so so so HAPPY! Robert took Kole and Jaydn to go climb something...a mountain or something or other and I go to pick my Leavi up in a few minutes! Kyzen got to go work at his friend, Cole's, house for $10 moving wood! He is happy about that! More money for college/mission fund:)