Catch Up...Again

So my ambitions for getting back on this blog to update sooner rather than later have fallen flat.  Oh well- today is another day and I am here to update so chalk one up for me I guess.  I think I left off with Cole's birthday in my last post. A couple days later, Sadie and Drew started school.  It is so weird to send them back the first week of August, but that is how we roll in AZ.  They are still at the fabulous charter school down the street from our house.  Sadie is in 4th grad this year and Drew is in 1st.  They both have amazing teachers whom they love.  Drew is motoring right along, already passing off the first and second groups of 200 sight words for his grade.  He tells me every morning that he needs to bring in his own chapter books because he has read all the books in the classroom.  His teacher was gone for three days this last week because she was getting married.  I think Drew has a secret crush on her so he was less than thrilled with her absence and the reason for it.  Sadie is loving 4th grade with her teacher Mrs. Taylor.  She has lot of friends from previous years and has made a few new ones too.  She just figured out that a couple of girls in her class are in our stake and they will all be attending the big stake activity days activity this Saturday at the church.  Next week the entire 4th grade are going on an OVERNIGHT field trip.  Ahhhhh!  I have to admit that when I first heard of this field trip, I was racking my brain for something we may have going on that would keep Sadie from being able to attend.  But, as we have received more information and I have talked to her teacher and other parents, we feel comfortable with her going.  They will leave on a Thursday and get back on Friday by the time school is out.  They are going to a nature preserve and will get to do all sorts of fun activities.  The school does this field trip every year with the 4th graders.  Sadie is super excited and I am trying not to project any of my nervousness of having her away for a night on to her. I had to keep the tradition my mom started years ago for the first day of school.  After she got us all off, she rewarded herself for surviving the summer by getting a diet coke and some peanut m&ms and going for a drive.  I had to modify it a little since I still had two kids home with me.  But I did my best to carry it on.  A few days before school started, we had our annual back to school dinner in lunch boxes.  We played the drop the pencil in the jar game as well as some others, and had a fun fashion show with everyone's new clothes.  Shortly after Labor Day, Brinlee started preschool.  She goes two days a week for 2 and 1/2 hours and she loves it!! She asks me everyday if it is a school day yet.  She is the only girl in the class, but that is not a big deal to her.  She gets to go on a field trip to a grocery store bakery in a couple of weeks and she cannot wait.  We found this cute desk cabinet on craigslist a few weeks ago and I am so glad we snatched it up.  It is the perfect color and size for our house.  We rotate who gets to sit at it to do their homework each day.  It is definitely a coveted spot.

My parents called a couple of weeks ago and let us know that they would be making a quick weekend trip down to visit us in a few days.  They were here this past weekend and it was so fun to have them.  They were so sweet and brought us two big packages of turkey steaks(you can only get this particular kind in Utah and we LOVE them).  They had packed them in some dry ice to make sure they stayed frozen.  Drew had a great time carefully playing with the excess dry ice in the sink. We had big plans to hang out Sunday and have an early Thanksgiving dinner since we weren't sure when we would see them again.  That all came to a screeching halt when we received a call late Saturday night asking us to meet with a member of the stake presidency the following afternoon.  The next morning during sacrament meeting, we found out that our ward boundaries were being realigned and that we would need to attend a special meeting that evening to find out what ward we would be in.  Brad was currently the Elder's Quorum President so that left us even more confused as to what we would be meeting with the stake about.  Thank goodness my parents were here and were able to watch the kids after church while we went back for our appointment.  We met with the Stake President and he released Brad as the EQ President.  Then he immediately called him as the EQ President, but wouldn't tell us what ward.  He said when we came back for the special meeting that night we would understand more of what was going on.  So, we came back home still pretty confused.  I went ahead and made our Thanksgiving dinner since I figured our meeting would only be a half hour or so.  We went back to the church-thankfully without the kids since my parents had them still- at 5:00 and didn't get home until 7:30.  Our current bishop got released and called as the bishop of a new ward which we are now in.  Half of our ward moved with us and the other half stayed.  We have also gained some people from surrounding wards in the stake that were realigned as well. Immediately following the meeting, we went to a smaller room and Brad was set apart as well as the Bishop, his counselors, and the clerks.  Other than that, no one in this new ward has a calling. It will have to be staffed from scratch.  It was a hard pill to swallow.  We have been in this ward for 6 years- almost the entire time we have been in AZ.  Since we don't have any family here, our ward had truly become our family.  A lot of people moved over to the new ward with us, and we are so happy about that.  But, some very dear friends didn't and that is something that has taken a while to sink in.  So it ended up being a very long Sunday.  We were so grateful that my parents had been there and were able to keep the kids home all day so we didn't have to bring them back and forth with us.  We enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner a little late- but it was still very yummy.  They stayed Monday and then headed back up to Utah on Tuesday.  Always hard to see them go, but fun to have a visit with them.

So, there you have it.  I really am going to stay on top of this blog better so I don't have to write a novel each time I post.  I am hoping our temps here start to go down soon.  I have decked out the house in fall decor in hopes of feeling a nip in the air.  And by nip I mean somewhere below 90 degrees!