Jack the mountain biker...

Jack had a mountain bike race in Cedar City. I was really afraid it was going to be super cold and wore a ton of layers. 

I brought snow pants and coats for the littles so they wouldn't be cold either. 

I may have over prepped.

Jack has improved a lot during this past year, "because he's so good." as he said. He moved to intermediate this year and he finishes mid pack. 

Piles of pants...

I've been saving pants for over 10 years! I've wanted to do a denim quilt for even longer than that! I started cutting denim squares over the summer and I finally feel like I have enough to start sewing. It's just over 200 6.5" by 6.5" squares. I've seen patterns that look like subway tiles and liked the way it looked. Laying them out is hard. I want it to look random but that's harder than it seems.

I was worried it wasn't going to come together as nicely as I imagined but it's looking awesome!

Here's the quilt top all stitched together. I need to figure out what to do for the bottom but this was the hardest and most time consuming part. And it's done!

Merril's Japan trip...

Merril went back to Japan to talk to guys about buying cars there and got some tag a longs. This is Tokyo Sky Tree.

Here are the tag a longs in front of Tokyo tower: Wade, Ryan, and Ryan's Dad-Joe. 

They found the Tokyo Temple.

They went to the Hiroshima Bomb Memorial.

They went to Osaka to see the crazy, Vegas-style lights.

In Nara, there's a huge wooden structure that houses one of the largest Buddhas in the world.

I spy Ren and Gunji!

And this big wooden samurai.

Merril said that these guys are not huge fish eaters so it was a little tricky finding things to eat but they all survived. :)  

Jack's Mountain Bike Race Richfield and the Coolest AirBnb Ever!

Merril was gone riding dirtbikes in Idaho so I loaded up the crew for a mountain bike weekend in Richfield. We stopped in Beaver to get ice cream at the Beaver Creamery. It's something I've always wanted to do but we usually don't have time. We weren't in a big hurry so I made the executive decision to stop. It was delicious! We tried some squeaky cheese on the way out but Juliet was not a fan.

Our AirBnb in Salina was also a tumbling gym and we had full access to the facility without anyone there. It was awesome! The foam pit was the favorite! Unfortunately, Juliet overshot the foam pit and hurt her foot almost immediately. She was upset that her foot hurt and now she was going to have a harder time playing on the equipment. :(

We got some Tylenol in her and she was able to keep playing but I could tell she was favoring it.

The next day we went to the race! I stole Merril's team shirt to support!

Jack finished 42 out of around 100 boys. I feel like his technique has improved a lot since last year and it was fun to watch him race.

Afterwards we ran back to the tumbling gym for another hour to play and clean up before it was time to come home. 

Recovery for my Mom...

My Mom has gotten to the point in her recovery to start physical therapy. She loves to swim and the doc said if she swims 2-3 times a week, he won't send her to traditional physical therapy. She can't drive yet so I've been taking her. Mark comes too. We go on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Dad takes her on Saturdays.

It's been good for me because my S.I. joint is acting up from running. I love running but it might not love me. So I've been doing my stretches and swimming and it's been great! Mom says her foot and ankle feel good for the rest of the day when we swim. On the off days, she says it gets sore. But everyday is a little bit better. This recovery is taking longer than she'd like but she is steadily improving.

Labor Day at Toquerville Falls...

We loaded up with some Subways and headed out for Toquerville Falls because Summer is coming to a close! Mikayla liked these chip bags at Subway. :)

Maxine brought Ellen and they said they weren't going to get wet. Maxine ended up jumping in the waterfall.

Jack and Kayla were having fun with the frogs.

On the way home we got a flat tire on the Expedition. We had all the stuff to change it so it only took about 20 minutes and then we were back on the road again! No worries!

Back to School!

Holy cow it's time for school to start again! Let's be honest, these are not from the first day of school. Woops. I was enjoying the day and realized after Julie left that I hadn't taken her picture. Grrr. So I proceeded to not worry about the rest of them and took these around a week later. 

Mikayla 2nd grade

Maxine 11th grade-woah man!

Jack 8th grade

Juliet 7th grade

Mark Kindergarten

Mark is a little nervous about school and seems to be sad that he's in afternoon kindergarten and his best friend Liam is in morning.

Muscles...

Not quite sure what prompted this series of pictures. I think Mark wanted his picture taken and then everyone jumped in. Mark needs a haircut mega bad!

What dorks!

Reading buddies...

Okay, they may not be reading buddies. It was more like, "Hey Jack, read the littles a bedtime story!"

Future hair stylist...

Juliet has a youtube channel and I was thinking of chopping some length off my hair. I asked if she wanted to do it. It's not big deal, it's just hair and I can fix it.

It was a fun experience. I may have been going for something a little longer but it's short and fun! Julie had fun cutting it and her video is getting lots of views!

High Adventure Camp in Moab, UT...

Merril and Jack went to high adventure camp in Moab. They hiked Corona Arch. Trentin W., A.J. M., Merril, and Jack hiked to the top, everyone else was too chicken. They ended up helping some university students and a professor who had gotten in over their head. Their own little SAR operation.  

They rode the slick rock the next morning. 

Later in the day they rode the river.

They hiked delicate arch the next morning. 

I think they packed a ton in! Lance Bertola said it was the funnest trip he'd ever been on!