Fantastic Fall

I think I've mentioned before that fall is my favorite season. Just a few of the things we've been up to so far....

Football Frenzy
It feels like a frenzy, indeed. Every evening (except Monday) the boys have 1.5 hour football practices. It would be easier if they were at the same place and happened at the same time, but alas, they aren't and don't, so Sean & I are perpetual chauffeurs between the hours of 5 and 7:30 pm. The payoff is watching our sons play football every Saturday.

Tristan's on a first-year coaching team, as well as most of the boys playing for the first time. They've struggled for W's this year, as their final game is tomorrow and they've yet to see more points for their team than the opposing one. Although most of the season they've seen very few first downs, and even fewer points on the board, I think Tristan's enjoyed it. After seven straight weeks of this, he's missing his free time, though, and will be glad for a break after Saturday.

Tristan began the season starting on the offensive line, and ended it by starting on the defense. He's an X-man, meaning that he's on the line, blocking and tackling. It's been fun. Yea, #46!

Jamison really lucked out last year, his first year playing in Layton, to be on what we feel is the best team possible. And out of four teams his age, he managed to land on the same coaches' team this year. The coaches are excellent, great examples of teaching and coaching--and the added bonus is that they know how to win games! None of the opposing teams have scored a point against them yet this year. They haven't had a very hard schedule, unfortunately...tomorrow will be the test, as they play Morgan, the most challenging team so far this season. (Morgan beat us last year, so our boys are ready for payback this time around!) And since his team is undefeated, they will go to the playoffs as either the first- or second-place team in their division. We're excited for the next few weeks--hopefully we'll see a mini-bowl win from them!

The most notable difference between last year & this is the weather. Last Saturday for the first time all season we had some off & on rain, but otherwise it's been sunny every week. Last year it snowed two Saturdays before Oct. 1!

Jamison has played on the line as well--one of his coaches told us he's the best blocker they have! He's played both offense & defense, and even got to carry the ball in the Logan game, and nearly scored a touchdown. Yea, #41! (My picture taking is sorely lacking. It wasn't till I started typing this blog that I realized I don't have an pics of Jamison playing this year. Good thing he has a few more games to go!)

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Canning Craze

For the last couple of weeks I've been canning salsa. Since we have no garden yet, we've bought all the stuff from local farmers and I've put it up. There's nothing like homemade salsa! Yum! Although it's very labor-intensive, it's soooo worth it!




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Yard work

We've been spreading the top layer of premium topsoil across our soon-to-be grass areas. We want to seed our grass--we've had several neighbors try it with great success. Hopefully we'll get the seed down soon. Have you read about our life of nonstop football? We're lucky we have a spare minute for anything else!

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Subbing

I've been substitute teaching every Monday, which becomes more fun each time I go. The kids are great, and it's fun to be teaching again. However, I'm so glad I'm not doing more than just subbing! It feels so wonderful to walk away and not have to plan the rest of the week, or grade papers.

I've also subbed in a few other classes. So far, so good. Again, it's nice not to have any more responsibility than one day for them.

School Starts!

OK, I know I'm behind, but it's been crazy since school started! It started Aug. 25, a week ago Monday. Sabra's in first grade! She has Mrs. Hoff, and so far loves it. Her favorite parts are eating lunch at school and having three recesses.


Tristan started 4th grade with Mrs. Byers & Mrs. Johnson (job share). He still seems too young to be in 4th grade; I'm having a hard time remembering he's not in 3rd grade still! But he also is having a great year so far, and can't decide which of his two teachers he likes best.


Raleigh's in 6th grade! Although she's one of the shorter 6th graders, she is enjoying ruling the school, and is hoping for height this year. Her teacher is Mrs. Payne--the first female teacher she's had in a couple of years!


And Jamison started 7th grade! His jr. high is the largest in the state, with over 1000 kids attending, so we went the week before school started so he could walk through his classes without a billion other kids in the halls. He got it down after one try--apparently he doesn't take after his mom in that regard. (As I recall, I spent weeks in both jr. high and high school figuring out who was in my next class and following them (with no stops at my locker, or I'd be completely lost!) to the correct room.) So far, so good with his jr. high classes & teachers.


I started school as well, on the first day! This year I'm going to be a permanent sub in a 4th grade classroom every Monday. It's not at the school my kids attend; it's about 10 minutes away, which is the biggest drawback. Although I feel the adrenaline rush being at school with the kids, I am so glad I'm just the sub and don't have to have the extra responsibility of everything else. Since then I've also subbed one other day at my kids' school (not any of their classes), and am going to sub tomorrow for a neighbor of mine. I like that it's very part time and low-stress.