Besties Reunited!

We are apart of an awesome community here. I love it! We went to Xander's Police night and Nick was able to see Joseph again! These 4 jump right in like no time has passed at all. I love these little friends!

 

Xander and his broken leg

When I picked Xander up from school on Monday he told me he broke his leg at school. I thought he was just being funny so I told him I would take him to the doctor. Xander then let me know he was just kidding - and he was fine. A few minutes later my phone dinged and it was his teacher letting me know he was complaining about a hurt leg in class today. I had to go to concessions to restock things and he kept up with me walking back and forth - although he was limping a bit. Towards the end he told me he would just relax and watch me instead of walking with me.

The next morning, he wouldn't even bear weight on his leg and had me carry him everywhere. I decided it was time to take him in. After a few bumps getting him into an urgent care that had a working x-ray machine AND would x-ray a 4 year old we found out he didn't have an obvious break, but could be a hairline fracture. 

Today (day 3) he was walking on his leg, but limping. I think tomorrow he will go back to school. Still no word if he has a hairline fracture or not.

 

Dinner with Chris and Ligaya

Before I start this post I must mention that Chris and Christopher CAN NOT take good pictures! Ugh! My phone was out of battery and I should have charged it = especially after seeing these shots!)

It has been a long, busy summer. School has started and we are finally getting back into a rhythm. We were able to head up to Chris and Ligaya's for dinner and catch up with life. They surprised the little boys by remembering their birthdays and giving them the most amazing flying airplanes and rocket launcher! It is so fun living next to family!

Can you keep a secret?!

There are definitely some perks to having Kallie serving in the San Bernardino, California mission—and one of the biggest is that Christopher travels to California often for work. The timing worked out perfectly on one of his recent trips, so he reached out to Kallie’s mission president to see if he could take her and her companion out to breakfast on their P-day.

To our delight, they approved it! There were just three conditions: she couldn’t tell other missionaries about it, they had to stay in their area, and the conversation needed to stay upbeat (apparently that can be a challenge sometimes!).

Before anything was set, I wanted to make sure Kallie felt okay about it. I was honestly worried it might be too hard for her to say goodbye to Dad all over again. She said she’d think about it—and after a little time, she decided she’d love to see him.

They had such a great time at breakfast. Christopher said she looked so happy and completely at home in her role as a missionary. I just love that.

I got to talk to her later that day, and she said seeing Dad was wonderful—but saying goodbye again was harder than she expected. I think it helped that she’s past her halfway point (10 months down!) and in a really good place emotionally and spiritually.

Oh, how I love and miss this girl of mine!

 

Starting School Year 25-26!

Yay! School is starting again!
We have so many exciting milestones coming up at the end of this school year! Ben will be graduating with his degree in Mechanical Engineering, Kallie will be coming home from her mission, Andrew is graduating from high school, Zack is finishing middle school, Nick wraps up 1st grade, and Xander is graduating from preschool!

We’re also so excited that Ben gets to be here for the first two weeks of school!

We kicked off the first day of school with a fun Slurpee run to 7/11, and had an extra special surprise when we saw Joseph at Xander’s pickup!

What a wild and wonderful year it’s going to be!

 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Competition

We feel so lucky to live where we do—I honestly don’t know how we got so fortunate to land in this ward with such incredible people, but I’m so grateful!

This week, our amazing friends decided it was time to settle the ultimate debate: who has the best chocolate chip cookie recipe? Everyone brought two dozen cookies, and we held a blind taste test. I was already feeling sick after cookie #5... but I powered through all 12 like a champ!

We didn’t take home the win, but with friends like these, we’re absolutely winners in the ways that matter most. And we will crush it next year!