A week of FIRSTS

We had a busy week filled with a lot of FIRSTS. In fact, everyone in our family had a FIRST something this week.

• Jeff experienced his first time at Alabama Adventures. The kids and I have enjoyed this amusement/water park all summer long. We had season passes and usually went a couple of times during the week throughout the summer. Jeff did not have a pass, so he just got to hear about all of the fun. Well, with our season passes we did get a couple of free passes that we could use during the months of August-October, so yesterday despite a drizzly morning we spent the afternoon at the amusement park. The kids loved showing their Dad all of the cool rides and taking him on all of the waterslides. I think we wore him out, but we had a great time. Because of the rain the park was not crowded at all, which made it even more enjoyable.




Bayley had her first day of 4th grade last week. She loves school and for the last month has complained that summer is too long....we told her that we were going to remind her that she said that in a couple of years. She has a great teacher, Mrs. Crowley, who is a fellow BYU grad and member of the church. Besides those great attributes, she is also known as a great teacher. Bayley loved the first 3 days of school and is looking forward to a great year.






Kendal had her first day of 1st grade last week. Her teacher is Mrs. Pirkle, who is one of her friend's mom. She was excited that she already knew her teacher and is excited about having a great school year. Kendal gave a talk in primary today at church. She is such a funny girl. We started practicing yesterday morning because she wanted to read the talk this time around. Well, she did a good job, but decided it was too long and she didn't want to read it. So this morning we decided that she would tell the story of Lazarus from memory for her talk. She wanted Jeff to stand by her in case she needed him, but other than that she seemed ready to go. Well, we get there to watch her give her talk and the first thing she says to Jeff is do you have the paper with the typed out story. She then proceeded to read the story, with the help of her dad. So much for planning!




Trey had his first 4th birthday this week (so maybe a stretch on the firsts, but we had to make it work with the theme). We had his party last weekend at the lake so we had already opened most of the presents before his birthday, but we did do some fun things on his actual birthday. His first request was Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast. Then we went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner that night. He had a great time with his family and a fun birthday. The rest of this week he has made sure to let everyone he sees know that he is now 4 years old. He is still such a fun kid who keeps us all laughing.














Adison finally got her first two teeth this week. I think she is my latest teether, waiting until 10 1/2 months to get her first tooth. She hasn't really complained at all about teething. It is funny that when we try to brush them or feel them she sticks her tongue out and covers them. She definitely hasn't let the lack of teeth slow her down from eating table food. She can gnaw just about anything we put in front of her. Tonight the kids were excited that they taught Adison a new trick (they are loving teaching her new things). We were eating cookies, which Adison of course liked, but before we would give her another bite we made her sign "more". It didn't take her long to figure it out and not only was she signing "more" but she was also saying it! She was loving her cookie and the kids were loving her new trick!


Finally, my first really starts tomorrow as I begin the journey of training for my first FULL marathon. Leigh, my sister-in-law, has talked me in to attempting to run the Memphis Marathon in December. I am excited about it and am ready to check running a full marathon off of my list of "thing to do". We found a training schedule where we only will have to run 4 days a week, with Saturdays being our long days. I'm sure the training will get old quickly, but crossing that finish line totally makes it worth it (at least I am hoping).