The Leake's Week-October 23, 2023

 Hello!  These emails have completely gone to the wayside as I have just been trying to stay afloat in life!  It seems like life is going a mile a minute and all I want to do on Sundays is relax and try to catch my breath before we dive into another week of insanity.  I think I need to pivot and find a better/easier time to write these emails, because deep down, I don't want to stop...I have been writing these for 16 years, so I can't stop now!  

Before I dive into a massive catch up, the kids and I had a brief moment of reflection last Wednesday morning that I want to write down.  Last Wednesday was the last day of the first term of the school year.  I honestly wish I had planned ahead a bit and had some sort of a celebration, because I think we all deserved it!  We all survived the first term of the school year!  This entailed cross country, competition soccer, AP classes, insanely early wake up calls to catch buses to meets, farm life, goat shows, transition to junior high, an intense dance schedule, and then no dance schedule, a broken leg, changing piano times to accommodate said broken leg, more dance, Gretchen's music class on our busiest night of the week (what was I thinking???), and a transition to full-day school for our little Bear Cub.  And through all that madness, we have celebrated four birthdays, thrown three birthday parties, laughed quite a bit, and cried a lot.  :)  It has been wild!  We are just coming off of Fall Break, which Richard had off as well-yay!!!  We spent time in Vernal, regrouped, caught up on some sleep, and we are just about ready to jump back into real life.  The kids had today off of school as well and then we hit the ground running tomorrow.  Deep breaths!  

Okay, here is a month long catch up.  

Gretchen:  Gretchen remains a social little succulent!  She is making new friends left and right and pretty much every week comes home with a phone number for a new friend.  She is hoping to trick-or-treat with two friends on Halloween and asks me daily if I have arranged that for her yet.  :)  Two weeks in a row she went home with her friend, Hannah, from school and then they went to dance class together.  Gretchen loved it and wishes she could do this every week!  Gretchen has walked to school with the Howells every morning since Rachel broke her leg.  As Richard and I watched her run down the hill one morning last week to meet them I told him that none of our other kids would have done this.  In some ways, she is fiercely independent and is not to be messed with!  Gretchen went to a birthday party a couple of weeks ago and it was a trampoline park.  You better believe that I was a stress-case for the two hours she was there.  I was just waiting for a call from the mom saying Gretchen broke a bone!  I cannot tell you how relieved I was when that party was over and Gretchen came home in one piece!  Gretchen really is enjoying first grade, though she still tells me multiple times a week that she wishes she was still in kindergarten.  :)  I volunteer in her class every Thursday afternoon and Gretchen gives me no less than five hugs while I am there and I love it.  After a summer slump in reading, Gretchen has rekindled her love of reading and books and that has been fun to continue to watch her grow in that.  We love her and all the spunk and comedy she brings into our family!  She still loves to run back and forth in our house while listening to music-I wish I knew all that went on in that darling head of hers!

Rachel:  Rachel made it through six weeks in a cast.  The wheelchair was her best friend.  She was able to go to a primary activity, a birthday party, friend hangouts, the school carnival, and BYU's World of Dance all with a broken leg.  Overall, she navigated things really, really well.  There were lots of tears mixed in though, even though she adjusted to this new life quite well.  One interesting thing I noticed during all of this, often in the evenings, when we would be putting Rachel to bed, she would be so upset at Gretchen and 90% of the time it was without any apparent reason.  She would just go on this rant about Gretchen and I really think that's just how she was expressing all her emotion about her broken leg.  Rachel got her cast off last Monday and we have honestly had more tears in the last week than we have had in the last six weeks.  It has been a rollercoaster.  Rachel's x-rays looked great last Monday so that is great news.  Even getting the cast off was simple and easy and I didn't pass out and Rachel didn't lose it, and Richard was there to hold us both together!  The hard part is that her knee/leg is incredibly stiff after being bent for six weeks.  We are one week out, and she has not yet been able to straighten it all the way or bend it past 90 degrees.  This means she is still "walking" with crutches.  We have heated, massaged, taken hot baths, and done all sorts of things we have found on YouTube.  Tears and screaming has accompanied 80% of it.  She is terrified of her leg going backward again like when it broke.  At this point, she is unwilling to push past the pain, and at ten years old, I can't say that I blame her!  And I also really think she has lost muscle memory.  I really am starting to think her body doesn't know how to straighten her leg.  It is crazy.  Within two hours of getting her home from the fracture clinic last Monday I knew she would need physical therapy and her first appointment is finally this Thursday.  I think it is going to be awful (which is one reason I would love for her to be able to have some range of motion back in that leg beforehand!) but, I also know it will be so helpful!  Pray we can both survive Thursday morning.  They told me to plan on two hours for her first appointment.  I am bracing myself!  Despite the emotional roller coaster this broken leg has sent us on, we sure love Rachel.  

Bridget:  Bridget rocked her first term of 7th grade.  She has figured out how to balance A and B days, homework, and everything else in her life.  I asked her a couple of weeks ago what her favorite class was and she said band!  She really, really enjoys most of her teachers and I am so thankful for that.  If Bridget had her way, every single weekend night would involve hanging out with her friends until midnight!  When she complains about friend hangouts ending at 10:30, I kindly remind her she is 12, and none of her friends can drive and all the parents are tired!  Haha!  A couple of weeks ago she went to a joint birthday party for two of her dearest friends and it was from 4:30-10:30 and Bridget was on Cloud 9 with how long the party was.  And lucky for her, the party went over a little bit, but fortunately she was right next door so that was easy!  I have been wanting a full size skeleton as a Halloween decoration for a few years now and I finally bought one a few weeks ago.  Bridget has taken to that skeleton in a way I was not anticipating!  She named him Bill.  She is frequently placing him in new positions and dressing him up.  It is hilarious.  Animal life continues to go great for our little farm girl.  Thriving at the farm, and in horseback riding, and of course, she was in heaven in Vernal with the horses.  She rode Fred every single day we were there.  She just found her dream home in Vernal this last weekend.  She went with Bob to deliver a bunch of apples to their friends, the Daniels.  They live on about ten acres, and I guess their house is situated pretty centrally on their land, so their driveway is super long and lined with trees.  Bridget was enamored and cannot stop talking about living there one day.  :)  She would love it.  We love our farm girl!

Marshall:  Wow, this kid is growing up and changing weekly it seems.  I am in a current obsession of comparing pictures of him from year to year and sending them to my parents.  It is CRAZY how much he has changed in just his junior high years.  My heart is bursting and breaking all at the same time.  We measured him a couple of weeks ago and he is officially 5'7".  That puts him one inch away from me and two from Richard.  Marshall also rocked his first term of 9th grade, and that is very impressive considering how busy this kid is and that he has two AP classes and two honors classes.  He has had multiple late nights doing homework well after Richard and I have gone to bed.  It hurts my heart to leave him awake and alone in the family room, because it throws me back to my teenage years of staying up late doing homework in a quiet house wanting so badly to be in my bed just like everyone else!  But, he seems to be handling it much better than I ever did!  Thankfully the junior high has late start on Wednesdays, so I am always happy he can catch up with a bit of extra sleep those days!  Marshall finished his official cross country season with two amazing races.  He set a PR on October 4th.  His goal was to finish the three-mile race in 18:30 and he finished in 18:17 with a 6:05 pace.  It was such an exciting day!  Two weeks later he had his last race, JV region.  He was running with a super tight IT band and he got a terrible side ache the last 400 meters, but he powered through, even though he said he thought he was going to die!  He averaged a 6:22 pace (second best race pace of the season) and came in at 19:07.  Tomorrow is the state cross country meet.  The whole team gets to go and support and cheer even though the top seven boys and girls are the only ones running.  I am excited he gets to be a part of this.  The boys team is poised to take first (fingers crossed!) and the girls are hoping to place on the podium.  Can't wait to see how tomorrow goes.  And even though the season officially wraps up tomorrow, I have learned this is pretty much a year-round sport.  The team is going to a race in December in California, they will run indoor track this winter, and outdoor in the spring, and then it's back to cross country.  Marshall is LOVING it though and I am so happy for him.  He has had multiple weekend hangouts with the 9th grade cross country kids, and I am so grateful for that.  Soccer has taken a bit of a backseat to all of this, but he has still made as many games and practices as possible.  They have their last game of the fall season tomorrow night.  Last new development in Marshall's life is that he got his driver's permit.  Yikes!!!  He passed the permit test on the first try by the skin of his teeth.  :)  He has about four hours of driving under his belt and I am getting less and less tense with each drive!  I have found that I have to be mentally prepared for it!  I do much better with advanced notice and planned drives rather than spontaneous ones!  

Jenny:  I am 40 years old and still alive to tell about it!  Haha!  The week of my birthday I woke up so happy each day and filled with so much gratitude for this amazing life I have.  It is full of goodness and wonderful people and a lot of love and happiness and laughter, despite all the hard that is mixed in.  Richard took the day off on my birthday, and I think he was a little disappointed with how relaxing I made my day-ha!  But, I have zero regrets!  I took three naps, slowly got ready, enjoyed a great visit with my Mom and just soaked in the day!  He and I did go to lunch and we had 90 free minutes with all the kids that evening so we went to dinner and grabbed custard from Nelson's.  My family made me feel very loved and it was a great, great day.  The next night I threw myself a birthday party!  I was very excited to do this, but as that afternoon went on I got text after text from people who had RSVP'd yes who then couldn't make it.  I had ordered 60 small cookies from Crumbl and when I picked them up at 5:00 pm I was certain I had made a huge mistake and ordered way too many cookies.  I even told Richard we didn't need to set out extra chairs on the deck.  Richard's parents were beyond kind to drive all the way from Vernal for the party and were so helpful in helping with dinner and party prep before the party.  At 6:30 I went outside, and within minutes the first guests had arrived and 20 minutes later we needed more chairs!  It was the best night!  Oh my goodness.  Our deck was filled with people the entire evening and I was able to talk to every single person.  I had scheduled the party for 6:30-8:30, and the last guests left at 10:00 pm and we ended the night with just three cookies left.  I went to bed with the happiest and most joyful heart.  I am still beyond grateful for every single family member and friend who came.  It was the happiest evening and I am so grateful for all the good people in my life and I am now convinced every adult needs to throw themselves a birthday party every few years!  I have kept the birthday celebrations alive and well since my big day.  I have had brunch and dinner with friends who couldn't make the party and I have more  friend dates on my calendar in the coming days!  Hooray for birthdays!

*Richard:  Work, home renovation ideas, BYU sports, and shuffling kids around in the evenings is Richard's life.  :)  Every night before we fall into bed, we look at the calendar and figure out how in the world we are going to get our kids to all the places they need to be the next evening.  Thankfully, Richard has had so many days of working in Bountiful-praise the heavens!  While we were in Vernal Richard was able to spend all of Thursday afternoon golfing with his brother, Dad, and Marshall.  It sounds like he didn't play particularly well, but he still had a great time!  I have been SO grateful for Richard's help in Rachel's recovery.  I was incredibly relieved that he was able to come to her appointment because I was honestly concerned about passing out.  He was able to be there for her x-rays and see the images minutes later.  His impeccable knowledge of the human body has helped us work on Rachel's leg (as much as she will let us!).  Richard makes all our lives better and I love him very much!

Well, that's our recap.  I know I left out so many things, but it is too hard to catch up on a month!  I will just end by saying we had the best time in Vernal.  It was a bit different due to Rachel's leg and not being able to walk, but we still had a great time.  We stayed up late, slept in, ate hot breakfasts, the girls played endless Barbies, we loved getting acquainted with the new puppy (Ziggy did not!), playing outside, picking apples and making cider, playing games, spending time with cousins, and watching movies.  

We love each of you!  We have had great moments with so many extended family members the last month and we are grateful for each one!  Sending all the love.

Love,

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)

The Leake's Week-September 18, 2023

 Hello!

We live.  The last three weeks have been a WILD ride.  Since I last wrote, we have celebrated three birthdays and dealt with Rachel's broken leg.  My last email, on August 28th, seems like a lifetime ago. So nuts.  Because there is so much to catch up on, I am just going to limit this email to the birthdays and the broken leg-those are the most important things to document!  I will start with the sad, and move on to all the happy.

Two weeks ago, on Sunday, September 3rd, we went to Danny and Stacie's ward to be there for the blessing of sweet baby Miles.  After sacrament meeting, we went back to their house and we were having the best time.  We were eating delicious food, the kids were playing, and Richard and I were sitting at Danny and Stacie's kitchen table having delightful conversation with Danny, Stacie, Kevin and Audrey.  In the distance, I could hear someone yelling "Mom!", but there were so many moms there and I was fully invested in whatever conversation was happening at the table.  All of a sudden Bridget was right behind me yelling at me that Rachel was hurt and needed me.  I went outside to see her on the grass, by the trampoline, and she was sobbing.  A few minutes before this I had looked out the kitchen window to see Benson under the trampoline gently bouncing my girls, who were all sitting on the tramp, and maybe one or two other cousins.  It looked so calm and controlled and perfectly wonderful.  I even pointed out to Richard and made a comment about how kind that was of Benson, and what he was doing was just perfect for Gretchen, who hates when people are jumping on trampolines!  At some point after I looked out, Rachel had joined Benson under the trampoline.  No one was jumping, Rachel and Benson were just bouncing people up and down from underneath the tramp.  We are guessing that Rachel's leg just absorbed someone's bounce wrong and boom...broken tibia!  Anyway, I got out to Rachel and she was pretty hysterical.  She said she felt like her leg went backwards and I thought maybe she just hyperextended her knee just a bit, which I thought could be scary and hurt.  Richard got to her just a few seconds after I did and scooped her up and moved her inside to the couch.  A broken bone was not even on my radar!  She was pretty pale though, and kept telling us she just wanted to go to sleep, which is how she always prefers to deal with pain!  Thankfully, Richard was there and after just asking her a couple of questions, he told me her leg was broken!  I was shocked, and also still living in denial, but I did agree we should take her in for an x-ray.  Thankfully, Danny and Stacie live so close to the Layton Hospital and they have an urgent care.  We left our other kids and we both took Rachel in.  Richard carried her everywhere and we did not have a long wait at all.  Before long she was in getting an x-ray, I was reading her dance September newsletter putting dates on our calendar, and then next thing I knew the doctor came back with the x-ray in hand saying that her tibia was fractured.  Ah!  It was then my turn to go into shock.  I will forever be grateful for the ice pack Stacie sent with us to put on Rachel's knee because I was putting that on my head to try and not pass out!  Two weeks later, and I still get queasy thinking about her broken leg.  It is nuts.  Anyway, back to Rachel.  :)  She took so much of this day in stride.  Despite all her tears at Danny's house, she completely calmed down once we were in an exam room.  She was calm with the doctor during her exam and was so calm during the x-ray.  I was still living in denial of a broken bone!  Within minutes of them telling us it was broken, we had three nurses in our room splinting and wrapping her leg and going over all sorts of things.  Once again, I was beyond glad Richard was there because I was just trying to stay upright!  Rachel felt almost immediate relief once her leg was splinted and wrapped.  They had us stay in the room for about 15 minutes so whatever cast material they put on her could harden.  Once that was done, a nurse brought in crutches and gave Rachel a tutorial and got Rachel up and moving.  The three of us made it home about 5:00 pm.  What an afternoon!  Rachel was a great sport that night though.  She used the bathroom, with our help, and was willing to go up and down the three stairs from our family room to our kitchen.  She ate dinner at the table with us and her spirits were quite high.  She had a bit of a rough night sleeping and we were up with her off and on until 4:00 am when I just got in bed with her.  She and I were finally able to sleep until just before 7:00 am.  Rough!  

Monday, also Richard's birthday, was much of the same for Rachel.  She was happy, pleasant, and willing to crutch around anywhere on the main floor.  She had lots of visitors that day, including her wonderful friend, Sara, who broke her leg 18 months ago!  Sara spent three hours at our house playing games with Rachel and talking and laughing.  It was so great!  I slept in Rachel's bed again that night, and she and I both slept so much better than the night before!  

Tuesday the 5th was a HARD day for Rachel.  For whatever reason, she hit a mental block with stairs, and refused to go up or down them with her crutches.  And if you know the main floor of our house, you know that one must go up and down stairs!  I think it was really hard for her to see everyone's lives return back to "normal" after a three-day weekend, and she was on the couch.  So many tears from her, which also brought many tears from me.  By Wednesday evening, Richard and I decided to get a wheelchair for Rachel.  She was hating the crutches, and we saw a wheelchair as a way to just get her from Point A to Point B.  Thankfully, her wonderful friend, Sara, came to our rescue again!  Sara has a cousin who lives in Bountiful who has spina bifida.  When Sara broke her leg, she used one of his wheelchairs he had outgrown, so I reached out to Sara's mom Thursday morning and by Thursday night we had a wheelchair for Rachel!  She went back to school for the first time on Friday, the 8th, and had the BEST day!  It did her spirits a world of good to get out of the house, be with her friends, and also be the center of attention.  :)  Rachel has been back at school every day since and it is going so well.  Gretchen still walks to school with neighborhood friends, but Rachel and I load up in the van about 8:35.  Her class lines up in back, and they have to go up stairs, so Rachel and I just go in the front doors of the school and get her situated before the bell rings.  Now that we have been doing this for a week, she and I have a good system down.  She holds her crutches while in the wheelchair and I get her through the parking lot, but once we are up on the sidewalk, I take her crutches and hold open the doors and she just wheels herself all the way to class.  At school, she sits at her desk, with a stool to keep her leg up, but for recess and lunch she is in the wheelchair.  Rachel's friends and classmates have been so kind to her.  When I come into her classroom at the end of the school day, I see friends packing up her backpack and gathering her lunch box and crutches.  When I got to her classroom on Friday, everyone was gone, and I noticed everyone's backpacks were gone too.  I looked out the classroom window and saw her class outside gathering trash.  Rachel had an entire entourage of friends walking by her and a friend pushing her in her wheelchair, and cute Lucas, her crush, was carrying her backpack.  :)  

This last Monday was another setback for Rachel though.  We had our first appointment with Primary Children's fracture clinic.  She had an x-ray and got a hard cast on.  While we were in the clinic she was so chipper and happy.  She did great for the x-ray and was her usual spunky self with all the medical people who came into our exam room.  Scott Ford, who we have known for the last five years because of Marshall's soccer team, is the one who is overseeing her care and that was great to have a familiar face in there.  As they were putting on her new cast they were joking with Rachel and she was taking it all in stride.  I was intentionally facing away from her leg trying not to get dizzy!  Gosh.  Anyway, the x-ray showed that the fracture extends up into her growth plate, which just means a longer recovery.  So, she has five weeks in her hard cast, but that last week she can start putting weight on her foot and using it.  (I have no idea how she will do this though because her leg is bent in the cast!).  We go back after five weeks for another x-ray and to have the cast removed.  Scott did tell us though to plan on no dance for three weeks after the cast comes off.  Ugh.  So, despite the happy mood in that room with all those people in there, once everyone had left, and she had to sit up with this massive cast on her leg and get back into her wheelchair, the tears started all over again.  Her hard cast is nice in that it just goes to her ankle (her first cast went to her toes), but it is all the way to her upper thigh, her first one just went to her mid-thigh.  So it just threw another learning curve at her and it is so heavy!  The poor girl cried all the way home, and then most of the afternoon.  She cried every time I took her to the bathroom that day.  It was so hard!  I did force her to go to the last 30 minutes of her dance class that night though.  She had missed an entire week of dance and the second those girls saw her she was enveloped in hugs and screams and she definitely felt the love.  

Rachel finally had a mental breakthrough on Friday and it has made a world of difference for her.  She has finally realized that she can scoot anywhere in the house that she wants.  She got herself up to the loft on Friday after school and spent all afternoon up there playing and scooting around.  She had not been up there in 13 days!  She has still been wanting our help using the bathroom, but on Friday afternoon a couple of things clicked for her, she problem solved them, and boom!  She can do it!  She also went to a friend's house for the first time on Friday night and navigated all of that really well.  On Saturday she had a five-hour choreography rehearsal.  She was excited to go, until we started getting her ready and then she lost it.  I knew that if I could just get her there she would be okay.  Sure enough, Sara hopped in the car and her mood improved and then once again she was swarmed at dance with love and attention.  She was a good sport about sitting through all of rehearsal, but she worked hard to learn all the upper body stuff and the counts and she made it through five hours at the dance studio not being able to dance!  That is to be commended.  Today marks our two-week mark of recovery, and knock on wood, but I do feel like the worst is behind us.  Only four more weeks with the cast on!  She can do it.  We can do it.  

And now a few thoughts and random notes about all of this.  Some positives:  this has drastically cut down on my laundry because Rachel is not changing clothes multiple times a day!  Also, her closet was a disaster when this happened, I cleaned it up, and because she is not going in there (because it has a step!) it is staying clean!  And the not-so positives...if you have talked to me in the last two weeks, you know that this has been SO hard.  Hard on Rachel especially, obviously, and also so hard on Richard and me.  I have never broken a bone, Richard has only broken a thumb as a child, and none of our kids have broken a bone!  This is brand new territory for us, and it has been extremely life altering!  Thankfully, she is getting more independence back, but we have happily been living in a phase of life with pretty independent children, so to be thrust back into that, in such an intense way, has been a challenge.  But, this has also given us a huge dose of empathy for anyone who has broken a bone, which obviously I never fully realized until now-depending on the break it can be hugely life altering!  Also, I have resolved to try to just be more aware of what is going on around me in public settings, like parking lots!  At the school, there are only three locations where the cement does not have a curb.  Two are at the far ends of the school and there is just one at the front.  That is the one I use to get Rachel in and out of the school.  It is clearly painted and marked to not park there, but every day this last week there has been a car parked there in the morning or the afternoon and Rachel and I just have to wait for them to move. I admit that I have been guilty of pulling up there real quick to have my kids hop in, but I have resolved to never do it again!  This whole thing has been a learning experience for sure, and we have many weeks to keep learning!

Now!  Onto happier things...birthdays!  We had a weekend of celebrations book-ending the broken leg experience at the beginning of September.  Gretchen's birthday was Friday, September 1st.  Marshall had a cross country race in Orem that morning, so he was out of the house by 5:30 am, and we missed him for Gretchen's birthday morning.  Gretchen, unfortunately, was up before 6:15 am, the birthday excitement got the best of her!  At 7:00 am she opened presents as the rest of us gathered around her.  She was pretty happy, but also had moments of reverting to her past life of gifts and crankiness!  After gifts, the rest of us enjoyed her birthday breakfast of donuts as she threw a bit of a tantrum.  :)  We all took it in stride though and within a handful of minutes she found her way back to happiness.  :)  I am actually really glad she got to go to school on her birthday.  Our Friday was busy, so I am so glad she got to be at school with friends and be celebrated in class.  She and I had worked all week on her birthday poster and she was so excited to show it off and take Skittles for her class treat.  She was on Cloud 9 when I picked her and Rachel up from school that afternoon.  Marshall had a soccer game that afternoon at 4:00, but after the game we all met up at Hug-Hes (one of Gretchen's current favorite restaurants because of their bread and cheese curds) for a family dinner.  That was the only time we were all together that day and we soaked it up!  This seems like so long ago, but I am guessing we came home from dinner and watched some funny videos and then everyone fell into bed.  

The next day was a smashing success and I am still so proud of Richard and I for pulling it off and having it all be so successful!  We hosted a birthday party for Gretchen from 11:00-1:00 and a party for Marshall from 3:00-6:00!  The only advanced preparation I had done was Gretchen and I had ordered her birthday cake from Dicks.  :)  We woke up Saturday morning and scheduled a pizza delivery for Gretchen's party, ordered a platter of chicken strips from Chick-Fil-A for Marshall's party, planned three party games for Gretchen's party, and Richard ran to the store that morning and bought snacks, fruits, veggies, stuff for root beer floats and party plates.  Gretchen had a ball with her party.  She had so much fun with her friends.  They played, we played our organized games, they ate lunch, played a bit more, opened presents, had cake, and then played outside.  Boom-done!  We had two hours to clean up and get things turned over for the next party.  Richard and I both even snagged a power nap!  Amazing!  Also, my parents came in between parties and picked up Rachel for her birthday outing and Bridget also got to tag along.  They went to Farmington Station to shop at Barnes and Noble and do other window shopping and then went back to my parents' house to play games.  At 3:00 Marshall's friends started to arrive.  We invited all the freshman boys on the cross country team as well as two other good friends of his.  Those two friends were both out of town for the Labor Day weekend, so it was just cross country boys and it was so fun listening to them play.  They played foosball, air hockey, video games, played outside and also just talked!  They devoured the platter of Chick-Fil-A strips.  They are the kindest and best boys and I hope that these friendships can continue to flourish over four years of cross country.  Marshall's party ended just as my parents brought back the girls and Bob also arrived.  Just after 6:00, Bob, Richard, and Marshall were on their way to Provo for the first home game of the football season.  Bridget worked at the farm that evening, and then I am pretty sure she hung out with Cambria afterward.  It was just me and the younger girls at home.  I did party clean up, ran to the store one more time, and then we watched Father of the Bride Part 2.  It was a great end to a busy, but very successful day!  

Monday the 4th was Richard's birthday.  43!  Becky had flown in from Scotland very late the night before, so she and Bob spent the night at our house.  Most of us got to sleep in that morning and once everyone was awake we had a big birthday breakfast of waffles and bacon in celebration of Richard.  After breakfast, we opened presents and then played a new game Richard got for his birthday.  It almost felt like Christmas morning.  A big breakfast, new gifts, and playing games in pajamas.  It was truly a great morning and just what we needed post-broken leg.  Rachel was a champion that morning.  She moved all over the main floor on her crutches and played games with us and was so delightful.  Bob and Becky left just before noon, and we are so glad we were able to spend Richard's birthday morning with them.  Our afternoon was chill and relaxing.  That evening Richard and I picked up take-out from R&R Barbecue.  It was not his first choice for a birthday dinner, but given the circumstances, it fit the bill.

The next day was Marshall's 15th birthday.  Cue the tears.  I was a wreck that day, between Rachel's broken leg and Marshall turning 15 I was undone.  It was a strange birthday for him because he was hardly home!  It was bizarre!  We were all awake to watch him open presents at 7:00 am.  He requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but he had eaten those at 6:30 am.  Shortly after he opened presents, he quicky got dressed and was off to school.  I had a last minute idea to send out a group text to all the moms of freshman cross country kids letting them know it was Marshall's birthday and to tell their kids.  I figured if he was hardly going to be home, I wanted at least some people around him to know it was his birthday!  After school, he went straight to cross country, where I think word adequately got out it was his birthday and according to one of the coaches, he was sufficiently embarrassed.  :)  Perfect!  I picked him up from cross country at 5:00, and instead of going straight to soccer practice, he opted to skip that and do homework instead.  Busy kid!  That evening at 7:00 was the formal cross country banquet.  I was at the school helping to set up for it, but Richard dropped Marshall off and I was able to see him for a minute before he told me good-bye.  :)  Typical teenager!  The banquet went until a little after 9:30, but he came home so happy, and dare I say, inspired!  Richard and I were beat at the end of the night, but Marshall had so much homework.  I felt bed going to bed before him on his birthday, but he assured us he would be fine and we didn't need to stay up with him.  Bless that boy!  He was up until 12:30 am doing homework!  Thankfully, it was late-start the next day, but still.  He has handled school, soccer, and cross country SO well, but I think we will all be glad for a breather once these fall sports have wrapped up.  

So that is how the birthdays were all celebrated, but now I have to write a bit about each person.  

Gretchen, seven, I can hardly believe it.  She seems so little and so grown up all at the same time.  She has lost her bottom two teeth earlier this year.  Her top front teeth are lose, and though it gives me one more thing to be sad about, I am excited to see that toothless grin on her.  She has shot up in height the last few months and has the longest and skinniest legs.  It is amazing!  She loves school, but is still adjusting to full-day school.  She frequently tells me how much she misses kindergarten.  :)  Don't we all!  At times she is timid and so shy, and other times she is stubborn and opinionated and very head-strong.  She has become good friends with two little girls in our cul-de-sac.  She is not at all afraid to go and knock on their door, but if they can't play because they still have to finish their chores, it just about kills Gretchen to wait for them.  Even if she has been turned away by them and told by us to wait and not go down, she will put her shoes on and march out the door.  The Howells eventually tire of telling her "No, not yet." and they just let her come in and sit!  That girl just does what she wants, when she wants!  One day last week we could not find her anywhere in the house or yard before dinner.  Richard, Marshall, and Bridget were all looking for her.  She was nowhere to be found, then it dawned on me to text the Howells.  Sure enough, she was down there!  We had a nice little chat about telling us where she is going before she walks out of the house!  Gretchen is still obsessed with Ziggy, she loves him so.  She is currently in a rough sleeping patch, Richard and I think it has to do with Rachel's broken leg.  She is our only child to go to Richard in the middle of the night instead of me.  She is still dancing and learning the piano.  Her favorite activity at home is still to run back and forth to music.  :)  Love her.  

Marshall, fifteen, holy smokes, my heart.  On Wednesday morning we take him to get his driver's permit.  What?!  I remember getting my permit, how am I old enough to have a child doing the same thing.  Geez.  Marshall has grown in all ways this last year.  He is pushing 5'6", and it still shocks Richard and I sometimes to have him pretty much on eye level with us.  He is super proud of his peach fuzz mustache and refuses to shave it.  He has stepped into many new things for him this last year and I am beyond proud of him.  Track, cross country, FSY, young men's camp without Richard, new-ish soccer team, AP classes, cross country camp.  New situations do not come easy to him, but he has tackled each one.  He can still vacillate between being the sweetest and the meanest, and gosh he knows how to push boundaries and buttons, but we see glints of maturity and self-improvement and I am so grateful for it!  He has finally become a true teenager and decided that sleep is his friend.  He can finally sleep in with the best of them and took several naps during our summer days.  It has been fun to listen to him and Bridget talk about junior high.  He has so many questions for her about her experience, but then I think is embarrassed to see her at school.  Cracks me up, and Bridget too!  The boy has a lot of quirks, but we love him deeply!

Richard.  Richard is loyal, loving, supportive, helpful and so quick to see a need in the family and step in to help.  He manages to balance a demanding job and a demanding family!  He cares about the things his children care about and he is a cheerleader for them in all that they do.  He is genuinely my favorite person to be with and I am so grateful for his abiding love and presence in my life.  

And lastly, I have to mention Bridget in here.  It was the State Fair goat show several days ago.  My parents, Gretchen and I went to cheer her on for showmanship.  She didn't place high enough to win a prize, but she still did a great job and answered every question correctly!  The next day none of us were able to be there with her, but she and Cambria had a great time together showing their assigned goats.  The two baby goats that Bridget showed this year took first and second in their class and the first place goat (San Tanko, I believe) won Grand Champion!  She was over the moon to come with a big ribbon!  We were all so happy for her!

Okay, that is it.  The Leakes live!  We have seen better days, but our days are already better than they were two weeks ago!  

We love each one of you!

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen  :)

The Leake's Week-August 28, 2023

 Hello!

A Monday edition of the email.  I am elated to be writing this in a quiet house, with some classical piano music playing, my lunch beside me, with no one but Ziggy to interrupt me!  I have adjusted VERY nicely to all the kids in school!  Though, I will admit, I got a bit teary eyed on Friday morning watching Rachel and Gretchen take off for school.  They have walked to school every single morning, with the exception of the first day, and I love it, though Friday it did tug at my heartstrings as I watched Gretchen walk behind Rachel, her little legs and big backpack.  They grow, and my heart simultaneously breaks and leaps for joy.

We have had a great last week, the first full week of school, with only a handful of hiccups and snags here and there.  The first of which began last Monday morning at 6:00 am.  Richard and I had gotten up at 5:00 am, each working out in different spots in our house.  At 6:00 am, Richard walked upstairs to get ready for work and came right back down to tell me Gretchen had just thrown up and had diarrhea all over the bathroom.  Not what anyone wants to hear!  I dashed upstairs, and there the poor girl was.  Bless her little Bear Cub heart!  95% of the mess was contained to the bathroom (thank goodness for tile).  I felt so bad for her, no one wants to start their third day of the school year with the stomach flu!  I got her cleaned up first and she slept off and on all morning on the couch.  I spent the rest of my day cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, sanitizing anything she might have touched and doing laundry.  By early afternoon she was doing quite a bit better.  She had some energy to run :) and she and I played a game together.  Despite her telling me she was hungry, I really limited her food and she was a good sport about all of it.  Sweet girl.  She made it through all of kindergarten without a stomach bug but has had it twice in three months.  She handles it so well though and has recovered quick both times.  As for the rest of us, it was a good Monday!  Richard worked, the other three kids went to school, Marshall had cross country after school, Bridget worked at the farm, and Rachel is back to dance.  Yay!  She was so excited to go back and had a blast Monday afternoon/evening.  Just like last year, she is going to be so busy with dance, but one thing I learned about her this summer is that even though she needs downtime, she does so much better with routine, structure, and things to keep her busy with downtime here and there.  So, she is back in her element and thriving!  

Tuesday morning brought a completely recovered Gretchen who was so excited to return to school.  Yay!  I always hesitate to send my little kids back to school the day after a stomach bug (what if disaster strikes again?!) but she was so eager to go, I couldn't say no.  I sent her off, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best and that is exactly what we got.  Whew!  Marshall had his first cross country race that morning as well, so it was nice to have Grizz at school, though I did worry about her the whole time I was up in Layton.  The heart of a mother-it is in as many places as you have children!  Anyway, going back to Monday evening real quick, it was just Richard, Marshall and I at the table for dinner on Monday.  He had just gotten his cross country uniform and was talking all things racing with Richard.  It was hilarious to listen to.  I just sat back and took it all in.  He vacillated between talking like he is definitely planning to do this for four years and wanting to smash all of Richard's times, to this is the worst thing we have ever made him do and he just wants to be done!  In the end, he got some good strategy from Richard and decided his goal was to just beat Richard's time from his first race as a freshman.  I dropped Marshall off at the high school on Tuesday morning just before 8:00 am and off he went on the bus.  It was the pre-region meet, so it was all the high school's in Viewmont's region and they ran the same course they will run at region in several weeks.  All the runners, JV and varsity ran in one group, so it was all the girls first, and 45 minutes later, all the boys.  I got there about halfway through the girls race, so I was able to get my bearings and figure out the course and the best spots to watch Marshall.  I have never been to a cross country race before, and I will tell you, I got emotional watching those girls run and listening to everyone cheering.  I have never been a spectator at a sporting event where everyone is so positive!  I noticed that the parents were cheering for every single runner who ran by them, it didn't matter if they were from their school or not, they were cheering.  The boys, as they waited to race, were cheering on the girls and encouraging them on.  It was next level and I started to cry!  My goodness.  It was so cool to see.  After crying through the girls' race, I was nervous what I was going to do while Marshall was running, but with him I was just excited, though extremely discombobulated with the camera!  Marshall smashed his goal of beating Richard's first time, which was 21-something.  Marshall came in at 19:42. I was so proud of him!  Viewmont also did exceptionally well overall, taking first in both boys and girls, by a very big margin.  It was a fun morning to see, and I am so grateful Marshall could be a part of it.  The only things we had that evening were dance for Rachel and soccer practice for Marshall.  

Wednesday was also a pretty chill day.  Cross country and YM's for Marshall.  The teacher's quorum went mini golfing at Cherry Hill, but the weather did not completely cooperate and the thunderstorm caught up to them on the 14th hole, so they had to end early.  Bridget went to horseback riding and then was supposed to do water balloon volleyball for YW's, but the rain ruined that too, so she and some friends went to one of her friend's house to play games and Bridget had a great time.  Rachel and Gretchen didn't have anything going on, and it was fun to just have them home.  We enjoyed the rainstorm, the vibrant sunset when it was all done, and seeing a double rainbow!  It was a magical evening outside in the sky and experiencing it all with Rachel and Gretchen and Richard.  

Richard's work shift on Thursday was 3:00 pm-10:00 pm at home.  It was so great to have him home and around!  We have officially hired an architecture firm, and after some back and forth via email and a virtual meeting, the two architects on our project came over on Thursday morning and it was so great!  They spent over two hours here and we cannot wait to see what they come up with.  As of right now, we are planning to completely remodel our primary bathroom next spring/summer, remodel the main floor in two or three years, and then giving the outside of the house a major facelift in maybe five years...but we will see.  They are drawing up plans for all of it though and we cannot wait to see the magic they will work, especially on the main floor.  While Richard worked that afternoon and evening, the kids were busy, which means I was too!  Marshall went straight from school, to cross country, to soccer practice and then came home and did homework for approximately three hours-proud of him!  Bridget and Gretchen didn't have anything going on, but Rachel was back at dance and had so much fun, per the usual.  

Friday Richard worked 5:00 pm to midnight, again, at home.  That morning he had to take his car in for a little work and then he and I worked on our poor peach tree.  It seems we are slowly killing every single growing thing in our yard.  This year, our peach tree, I swear, produced 1,000 tiny peaches and broke four branches in the process.  We clearly are not giving that poor tree and time and attention it needs.  We pruned as much as we could fit in our dumpster and literally picked up hundreds of peaches.  The good news, it looks better, the bad news, we get to do it all again this week after garbage day!  Poor tree.  We ran some errands before picking up Rachel and Gretchen from school.  That afternoon, I spent time with Mark Erickson.  He is a disabled man in our ward, who helps with the music in primary.  His mom asked me to come over last minute to sit with him for a while so she could visit her husband who is in a care center.  I readily agreed, and once I got there Mark told me it was his parents' 56th wedding anniversary and that his father has decided to go on hospice and they expect he will pass in the next several days.  It made me even more glad that I told Joyce I could come.  Such a tender time for their family.  Richard held the fort down here at home and even helped with dinner prep.  Bless him.  Rachel and Gretchen got their jobs done that afternoon so they could both have late nights with friends.  Bridget stayed after school for the Welcome Back dance and then went to Claire's house to hang out with friends until 6:30. She came home with some wild junior high dance stories.  Gosh.  We were riveted as she told them during dinner, and inside I was also terrified.  What a world.  Marshall had cross country after school, again.  :)  All I will say about Friday night is that I brought it all on myself, it was crazy, nine girls in a house is too much, there was a bathroom accident, Richard was so glad he was working, and I was so relieved to send everyone home at 9:30 pm and fall into bed.  

Saturday dawned bright and early.  Richard was in bed at 12:30 am after work and I was up at 4:45 am and Marshall was up at 5:00 am.  I fed that cute runner a good breakfast and then dropped him off at the high school at 5:55 to get on the bus for another meet.  Richard and I left the house at 7:00 am and picked up my parents to go cheer on Marshall!  This race was a bit longer than the one on Tuesday and had way more hills.  Marshall's time was 20:45, still so proud of him!  We were able to talk to him for a few minutes after he finished and tell him good job and then we left.  He stayed for the rest of the meet and got back to Viewmont about noon.  Richard and Marshall spent the rest of their afternoon at my parents' house for the annual boys activity.  They had lunch, made pies, and played games!  I will admit, Marshall was not looking forward to going, but he ended up having a fantastic time!  He has not stopped raving about his apple pie he brought home and he even made snickerdoodles all on his own yesterday!  Ha!  A chef in the making!  While the boys were gone, the girls and I went running/walking at Freedom Hills and then grabbed lunch from Chick-Fil-A.  Bridget worked at the farm that evening and hung out at Cambria's house after.  The other kids chilled at home and Richard and I went to a wedding reception and had the best time eating delicious food and visiting with friends and neighbors.  I told Richard we have a handful of years to get our yard ready to host a wedding reception for at least one of our kids...we need to figure out how to help things grow and not die!  Good grief.  

We had a great day yesterday.  Sleeping in, church, and a pretty laid-back afternoon.  As I mentioned, Marshall made snickerdoodles all on his own, and then the girls made a second batch.  :)  Clearly, one cannot have too many cookies.  We grilled dinner and ate outside before going to a neighborhood dessert night.  

And here we are, in a new week.  It will be a busy one.  A soccer tournament for Marshall and Gretchen kicks off our birthday week on Friday.  I cannot believe she will be seven.  Another heartbreak is around the corner for me.  

Love each of you!

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)

Oh, two random things I cannot forget!  Marshall has moved Ziggy down to his room for sleeping, so Ziggy's crate now resides in Marshall's room and it is going quite well!  It is fun to see their little relationship flourish...it has only taken three years.  :)

The running bug has found its way into our family.  Bridget wasn't able to go to any XC practices this week, so I told her to just try and run twice since she is going to do a race on September 16th.  She and Cambria went running Thursday evening, but it took them awhile to coordinate that, and during all of that coordination, Gretchen decided she wanted to go to.  She even went up to her bedroom and changed into her "running clothes" and came downstairs and told Bridget she was ready to go.  It was the sweetest thing.  Bridget, being Bridget, told Gretchen that she would take her on a 20-minute run through the neighborhood before Cambria came to pick her up and then she would take her again on Saturday.  The sweetest sister.  Gretchen was on Cloud 9.  

The Leake's Week-August 20, 2023

 Hello!

Summer has officially ended, the kids have two days of school under their belts, and I ended up sleeping until 9:00 am on Saturday morning-bless Richard!

I have so much I want to write about and preserve in our memories!  I am going to try and organize this all in a way that makes sense!

First, my thoughts on summer.  This was a busy, busy summer!  The three oldest kids all had multiple things that pulled them in different directions and because none of them can drive, I played chauffeur all summer long it seemed!  But, I am so grateful for each opportunity these kids had and I am so thrilled that they chose to step into each one.  It has been so rewarding to see them grow and stretch themselves, and also encourage and cheer each other on and have a genuine interest in what their siblings are doing.  Because we have been so busy, I have come to love, really love, the times the six of us can be together (when I am not trying to get kids to do their jobs!)  They are all turning into human beings I genuinely love being around, all growing up, and it is fun to be a part of this older kid experience.  I woke up with a heavy and sad heart on Thursday morning, the first day of school.  I took some time to myself from 5:30-6:00 am, and then it was all hands on deck from 6:00 to 9:00!  Doing hair, helping with breakfast, making lunches, making sure Marshall had all his cross country stuff, family scriptures, family prayers, taking first day pictures...you know the drill!  I drove Rachel and Gretchen to the elementary school.  I usually love walking with them on the first day, but based on how I handled Gretchen's first day of kindergarten last year, I knew I needed a space to let my tears flow, and walking home with dozens of parents while I sobbed was not what I wanted to do!  Both Rachel and Gretchen line up in the back of the school, and I am so glad their lines are so close to each other.  I snapped a couple pictures of Rachel and gave her a big hug and kiss and then she was off with friends.  Then I walked Gretchen to her line and gave her a huge hug and about twenty kisses.  When the bell rang and it came time for those little first graders to walk inside, I got a little choked up, but held it together.  I was home by 9:00, and kept waiting for tears to come, but they never did!  My heart was still a little sad, but by 11:30 I was out and running errands and picked up a salad from Cubby's for lunch and realized I had it pretty great!  Ha!  I was over the moon though to have all my kids home together by 5:15 that night.  Love each of them.  

And since I have brought up school starting, I might as well detail each of their first days.  All four kids had a great first day at school!  Yay!  Rachel and Gretchen had early out that day, so it was two hours shorter than usual, but Gretchen still experienced two recesses and lunch at school.  Gretchen loves her teacher, Mrs. Hope.  She also has several kindergarten friends in class, and she has loved playing with them at recess and sitting by them for lunch.  She didn't seem phased by the longer school day, but we will see what next week holds for her.  Rachel has Mrs. Crowley, who also taught Marshall and Bridget.  We are all elated that Rachel has her too.  Rachel has most of her besties in class with her, so that is awesome.  Rachel loved learning more about Mrs. Crowley and had a great time being back with her friends.  Her only complaint is that the 6th graders come into the lunch room too soon, so the 5th graders are crowded and she does not like it!  Bridget had a fantastic first day of 7th grade!  She found all four of her classes, has first lunch with two of her best friends, likes all her teachers so far, got on the right bus home at the end of the day, and only heard one swear word.  :)  I'm calling it a win!  Marshall rocked his first day of 9th grade too!  He is taking two AP classes this year; he has one on A day and one on B day.  He also likes all of his teachers, and his favorite teacher from last year, teaches two of his classes this year!  He and Bridget never have the same lunch, which I think he is grateful for.  :)  He has seminary with his friend, Johnny, and we are all so happy about that.  He doesn't have lunch with Johnny, but I was happy to hear he ate with cross country kids both days.  Yay!  He has also recommitted himself to eating school lunch-we will see how long that holds.  He has cross country practice after school each day from 3:00-5:00 and the 9th graders warm-up is to run from the junior high to the high school.  9th grade cross country parents have coordinated a carpool to drive all their backpacks and such over to the high school.  The mom who drove on Thursday sent a picture of them as they were taking off running and it did my heart a world of good to see Marshall in that pack of runners.  When I picked him up at 5:00 at the high school he got into the van with a big smile on his face, which is not always the case for him.  He had had a great day!  Made me so happy!  

Richard was home from work by 6:00 pm on Thursday and we didn't have anything going on that night.  It was SO nice to sit at the table as a family and just enjoy a dinner together so the kids could tell Richard everything about their day, and Marshall also had so many questions for Bridget-it was so cute.  We soaked up our relaxing evening, and last minute Grandma Becky even came to spend the night at our house.  We will never have an evening that calm again for the rest of the school year I am pretty certain.  I loved it!  

Okay, back to summer stuff...

We had a great Saturday before school started, August 12th.  We all slept in and had a hot breakfast together.  At 11:30, Richard and I left with Marshall and Bridget for baptisms at the Bountiful Temple.  I had a goal to get them to the temple together three times this summer, and Saturday was number three.  I am so glad we met that goal!  The baptistry was not busy at all, and it was nice to have it mostly to ourselves.  Marshall has had another growth spurt, and it was crazy to see him standing next to Richard in the font, only about three inches separating them in height.  After we got home, we had lunch and then Richard and I took Marshall to get his haircut!  His last haircut was just before Christmas!  We have all grown accustomed to his longer hair, and I especially love it, but he was starting to get annoyed with so much hair just laying on his neck.  He opted to keep it longer on top and have the bottom trimmed up.  He looks fantastic!  And too old.  :)  We spent the rest of the afternoon getting things done around the house, the kids played, and I am sure I took a nap.  :)  That evening we went out to dinner as a family at the Old Spaghetti Factory to finally have a birthday dinner celebration for Rachel.  Everyone ate great and it was just so nice to sit around the table and talk.  I love this little crew of ours!  When we got home, Marshall finally told us all about cross country camp (more on that later) and then we watched some funny Instagram videos before sending everyone to bed.  It was just a day that did my soul good.  We weren't running in a hundred different directions and shuffling kids all over.  We got stuff done, had plenty of downtime, and just spent a lot of quality time together.  It holds a happy place in my heart.  ;)  

Speaking of happy, Rachel is now 10!  I sent my last email out on her birthday, and I wrote all about her and how wonderful she is, but I don't think I talked much about her actual birthday.  So, here we go!  She did have her friend birthday party the Friday before her big day and that was so much fun for her.  She has a great group of friends and those girls had the best time together.  Rachel's actual birthday was, no surprise, busy!  Marshall had cross country practice at 6:30 am, but we agreed that her sisters would wake up at 7:00 am so that she could open presents before Richard left for work.  She loved all the presents she received and felt very loved.  We had waffles for breakfast and Tim's eggs, and the girls got a bit of playtime together before I took Bridget to horse camp.  Once Marshall got home from cross country, Rachel opened his present to her, and it was a sweet moment they shared together.  :)  The kids and I picked Bridget up from horse camp about 12:30 and then we all went to lunch at Culver's, per Rachel's request.  It was a fun little outing.  After lunch, Marshall had band camp, so I dropped him off there and the girls had some time at home to play before dispersing again!  Bridget worked at the farm that evening, and I was there to help them (my Mom also brought my Uncle Steve to the farm that night) and Rachel had 2 1/2 hours of dance choreography that night!  She was perfectly happy though to spend her birthday evening at dance!  Finally at 8:45 that night, we were all home together for the first time all day.  We had a red velvet bundt cake and sang to Rachel and spent time outside on the deck.  It was a day!  Discombobulated and had us going all different directions, but I sure hope Rachel felt loved and celebrated.  We sure love her!

Tuesday the 8th was another day for my poor mother heart!  I dropped Marshall off at 7:00 am at the Centerville Park for high altitude cross country camp.  He was being so brave!  He has been brave all summer, but I felt like this was the culmination of bravery for him.  A three day, two night camp, with kids he kind of knows, but isn't close friends with any of them.  We got his stuff unloaded from the van, he gave me a hug, and I immediately started to cry.  I tried to stay composed until my back was to him and then I cried all the way home and for a good 20 minutes after I got home!  Man!  That kid and every new thing he does sends me on an emotional roller coaster!  Then, that afternoon Bridget had a dentist appointment to take care of a little weak spot on her tooth.  She had been practicing her breathing and affirmations in the week leading up to this, but was still very nervous.  I gave her a pep talk on our drive and we practiced some more mindfulness techniques.  The dentist we saw that day has a dental therapy dog named Murphy who is trained to lay on these kids, and he is so still, and he just lets them pet his fur during their procedures!  It was AMAZING.  He is a goldendoodle, but twice Ziggy's size, so about 30 pounds.  The combination of added weight on the kids and the kids being able to run their hands through his fur is so soothing!  Between Murphy and me standing right next to her and helping her breathe and listening to me say, "I am strong.  I am safe.  I can do hard things."  we got her through it!  She really did amazingly well and I am beyond proud of her!  Another positive experience with a deep fear of hers!  Yay!  After she got the numbing shot and the dentist left the room for a few minutes while that kicked in, the dental assistant asked if I was a therapist!  I took it as a huge compliment and told her I wasn't but I sure have learned a lot IN therapy!  Bridget did so well, and didn't do anything to slow the procedure down that we were in and out in 20 minutes.  

I picked Marshall up from cross country camp a little after 5:00 pm on Thursday, the 10th.  I was beyond happy to see him, and in true Marshall fashion, he did not seem that excited to see me!  He got in the car and immediately said, "That was awful.  I have a cold.  Everything hurts."  He came home and basically just crumpled into the couch.  That night at dinner he told us a tiny bit about the camp.  On Friday I had to take him to the school so he could pick up his computer.  On the way home he told me it was so hard, the hardest thing he had ever done.  They ran over 20 miles and hiked about 10.  He could tell on the first day he was starting to get a cold and by the time he woke up Wednesday morning it had hit him full force.  I listened to him talk, and then I told him it was really, really amazing that he was able to do something so hard!  Something that was hard anyway, and then extra hard because he was sick.  He told us a bit more on Friday evening, but by Saturday he was finally feeling better and he told us all the details.  They really did work those kids hard, and they let them play hard and Marshall had a great, great time!  Yay!  They stayed on a property in Spanish Fork Canyon.  The coaches and parent chaperones got to stay in the house, and the athletes were outside in tents.  Boys on one side of the house, girls on the other.  Marshall took our huge tent and shared it with several freshman boys.  It sounded like he was always with a group, doing something, and for that I am so thankful!  I hope he sticks with this for four years and ends up with a well of wonderful memories and impactful life lessons.  

Last Sunday our neighbors, the VanDrimmelins, invited us to join them at their cabin for Sunday dinner.  Their cabin is up Farmington Canyon.  When I was young, my Mom took us part of the way up Farmington Canyon before she decided our search of colorful fall leaves was not worth risking the lives of her family!  I have a distinct memory of her telling us to not talk or make a single noise as she drove us back down the canyon!  Richard has never been up there.  When I got Jamie's text I had many reservations, but she answered all my questions and Richard was the one who kept telling me we should say yes!  I found our role reversals hilarious!  I was stressed out of my mind, and Richard was the calm one!  Haha!  At 3:30 we made every single person in our family take Dramamine and by 4:15 we were on the road with the VanDrimmelins.  We split up between their two vehicles.  Richard and Marshall were with Brad in his big truck and three of the VanDrimmelin boys.  The girls and I were with Jamie in their suburban and two more of her kids.  It was a 45 minute drive from our cul-de-sac to their cabin.  I had complete confidence in Brad and Jamie's ability to get us up there.  Brad has been going to the cabin his entire life, and Jamie since they got married years ago.  They really did navigate everything so well, but it was all the other drivers on that narrow, dirt road that made me nervous!  So many tight corners and narrow passes.  Good grief.  But, we made it to the cabin without incident and I was so relieved!  Bridget still got a little carsick, but within just a few minutes of being up at the cabin she was feeling just fine.  Marshall got a headache from the bumpiness of it all, but they had tylenol at the cabin and with tylenol and dinner he was doing much better!  Anyway, we spent probably two hours at their cabin.  The kids played and explored and we had a delicious dinner.  It really is a beautiful setting up there.  After dinner and cleaning up, we drove about five minutes to a little lake up there and then hiked a few minutes to a second lake.  At the second lake the VanDrimmelins have a peddle boat and Marshall and Bridget had fun peddling around the lake with the VanDrimmelin boys.  The wildflowers were in full bloom and it was a gorgeous setting.  The mosquitos were also out in full force and none of us had bug spray, so that was a tad annoying.  We were home by 8:45 that evening after another safe drive down the canyon.  Richard and I are both glad we went, but we also never want to go up the canyon again!  Ha!  We are so grateful though to the VanDrimmelins for thinking of us and inviting us to join them in a place that is so special to them.  

The first half of this week was spent doing back to school nights, Charger Camp for Bridget, last minute school supply shopping, and just trying to get everything ready for the start of a new school year!  To make our lives even busier, Marshall's team played in a soccer tournament, so wonderful.  :)  Thankfully though, all the games were in Farmington and that was beyond helpful!  The first game was on Monday and Marshall hadn't played soccer in three weeks because of all of his camps!  He felt rusty and tired and the game ended in a tie.  The second game was Wednesday and Marshall played the majority of the game...yay!  Also, a tie.  :)  The third game was Friday evening and Richard was finally able to be there-yay!  They actually played his coach's higher level team, so all these boys know each other and practice together sometimes.  Tyler coached the higher team (lame if you ask me) and the assistant coached Marshall's team.  Marshall's team actually got the first goal (huge eruption of cheers) and the other team scored a goal in the second half to tie it at 1-1.  With just minutes left in the game, the other team scored two quick goals.  It was a bit defeating for some of the boys on our team, and overall it was a tough situation, but now it is done!  

Well, I think that is it!  We have a full week of school ahead of us.  Dance starts back up for Rachel, which will be so good for her, and Marshall has his first cross country meet on Tuesday morning!  We love each of you.

Love,

Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)