First Days!

First day of school for these kiddos! 

Nate was the first one out the door.  He is big man on campus now in 8th grade.

He's looking forward to orchestra and PE.  Those are his favorite classes for sure, but he's pretty happy to be going back to school.  He likes seeing his friends and having that routine.

Allie headed out next.  She didn't have to leave at 5:30 for practice, so she got to sleep in and get ready at her own pace. 

She performed in an assembly so she had to wear her cheer uniform and bring her clothes to change into.

She's looking forward to cheering at the games and making fun memories with her friends for her senior year.

Jason was the last to go. It's his second year on the bus without Nate and this year there were tons of kids at the bus stop.  It's crazy how things fluctuate in the neighborhood.

Jason is looking forward to being one of the oldest kids in elementary.  He also thinks it will be fun to change classes for the different subjects.  They rotate teachers to start getting used to having lots of different classes in middle school.

I had a dentist appointment right after Jason left, so I rushed off to that.  I didn't have any time to be alone in the house before Allie was back home for lunch with a few of her friends.

I made them sandwiches and listened as they talked about the first day.  They're a cute pack of girls.

I made Allie pose again so I could document the clothes she wore after she changed out of her cheer uniform.

Lily and Isabelle were good sports to pose with her.

Last year for all of these girlies!  I won't get emotional about it all.  I'll just be excited for them. I loved my senior year and have memories that I still look back on with happiness. So I wish that for all of them.

I hope all the kids have a great school year.

They're capable of doing well and they're such good kids.  I'm proud of them all and so grateful that they're mine.  I'll claim any friends that I can as well and look forward to watching them accomplish awesomeness.

2024-2025 school year is starting out great! Life is good.
 

Update on the Smoot House

Allie had Tuesday morning off from cheer so we burned up to Star Valley to see if we could get some work done on the house.  I feel like we're getting through some of the worst of it and now we're close to being able to make things better.  It was encouraging that when we walked through the door, it didn't stink. (We are crossing our fingers that we've fixed that problem).

We tore out the carpet in the back bedrooms.

It wasn't pretty.  Years and years of spills and mouse poop.  Ugh.

But underneath the carpet was a beautiful hard wood floor. The red oak floor has many different colors of paint and it tells the story of the family who lived in it.  We're hoping to be able to strip it down and save it.  Mike's called a company who will come next week and sand it down.

So we spent today pulling tack strip and nails from all over.  It's not finished, but we got started.

Allie pained Joe's room.  She's good at just getting in there and getting it done.

The boys pulled nails and were great at the heavy lifting of old nasty carpet.

I spent the day helping where I could, but I was also sorting through Joe's old clothes and other things.  I set aside some shirts and I'll make some pillows with them. He's funny...when he found a shirt that he liked, he bought several of them. Same size, same color. So now I know why it seemed like he was always wearing the same shirt...he was.  :)

I got emotional when I went through his hospital bag.  He went to the hospital so much in the last 6 years that he had a bag already packed with everything he'd need and he just had to take it along when he went.  I miss him and wish he could see what we've done with the place.

He was content living here and didn't think things needed to be fixed up, but we're ready to clear the place of mice and mouse poop.  We'll see what we can do to make it feel clean and welcoming.  I'm sure he'd be happy with the end result.

It wasn't all work for Allie.  She got to take off and go fishing.  Nate did too.  This is the pic Allie sent me. She caught a few and Nate blamed her when he didn't catch any.  Never mind that he went 2 hours after her, he blamed her for scaring the fish off.  :)

It was a quick trip up and back because Allie had to be at a game and the boys had practice.  We stopped at the landfill and added more to the pile there.  I hate knowing I'm contributing to all of that, but I guess that's the price of making the house more beautiful.

I hope we have some awesome "after" pictures to share soon.

Update on the House

The framers are finished! 

Tonight, when we got to talk to Jake on the phone, Mike did it from the comfort of the upstairs. 

We love going up there to see the sunset. It's been fun to have easy access with the stairs.  We don't have to ride in the scissors lift anymore. :)

The most exciting part is this...

 Topper came over and wired in the ovens so I can bake as usual this week. It's plugged into the same outlet as the air conditioner so we can't run them both at the same time, but I'll just cool the house off as much as I can and then bake.  Should be awesome!  

People keep asking when it will be finished. I feel like I did when I was 9 months pregnant. Everyone wants to know when the baby will be here and you just don't know. No one wants that baby here more than the momma who feels how uncomfortable it is to exist with a baby who seems to be gaining weight by the day.  

Our house is uncomfortable. We are stuffed to the brim with garage stuff. We had to re-arrange the food storage room and take out all the stuff that we had stored under the stairs. So we are just stuffed to the brim with junk. It's going to be so nice to be able to put it all away and clean things up. But for now, we'll just be patient. We'll keep walking past the mess and try to ignore how annoying it is to have electric scooters charging in the hall next to our bedroom.

We just feel so lucky to be able to do all of this.  It will be so nice in the end.  And now that my ovens are plugged in, I can just chill out and be patient for the rest.

Jason's Game

Jason's game was next.  It was a little less exciting.  They have a big team and they were subbing out the line a lot so he didn't get as much playing time as he has in the past. He's on the o-line and he is a force to be reckoned with.  I always look out there and see that he is the biggest kid out there by far and feel bad for the kids who have to go up against him.  Jason is number 97.

He wants to play defense and he works so hard in practice to earn a spot.  It's a huge team though, so he didn't get the chance to play d-line this game.  He was able to get a great tackle though!  The other team got a pick and Jason went after the guy and tackled him without any trouble at all.  It was pretty exciting to see.  I had my camera out but didn't take any pics until this one because I didn't even know what was going on.

  

Seriously, it's going to be hard getting past Jason.

The game felt long. We went all game with no one scoring.  Then, when there were 8 seconds left, our QB threw a long pass that hit its mark and the cute kid ran it in for a touchdown and a seriously last second win.  

They all walked away happy.

 Allie was there to cheer him on and tell him how cute he was in his uniform.  Looking at this picture, I think he's almost as tall as her! Let's say he's standing on a hill...

It's never going to be easy for me to watch my boys get tackled or be disappointed if they don't get the playing time they want or if they make mistakes.  It can be hard and it can be sad.  But they're learning great lessons along the way and I'm proud of them.  It's fun to see "Schwab" jerseys out there and know that those two handsome boys are mine. 

Here's to a few more months of our lives being governed by a little brown ball!

Nater's Game

We're back into football season!  My boys love to be active and back working at something that they love so much.  They ride their scooters down to practice and back and it's so nice.  I have to make sure I've got food on the table before they go and that's tough with our lazy summer time schedule.

Nate's game was first today.  It was so hot outside.  I forgot how hot it gets on those bleachers.  The sun reflects off the surface and it just gets so hot.  Mike always goes into the press box to hang out.  This year, they've got a swamp cooler up there.  It's pretty nice!  

My only complaint is that you can't see out the window if you're sitting down.  Not the best planned out window placement, but I don't mind standing up when the boys are on the field and I'm taking pics.

Nate had a catch in the game today.  We were shocked when the QB lobbed one over to him and he caught it and started to run.  He didn't get far because there was a kid who was waiting to stop him. but it was so exciting for us to see.  I was even more excited to see that the camera I drag around everywhere, actually got some great shots!

He's number 21.

Allie went right up during half time to tell him he had an awesome catch.  She's a great cheerleader to the boys. We stayed in the press box, but she went out in the heat because she wanted to be able to hear what was going on down on the field and she wanted her brothers to be able to hear her yelling for them. :)

Nate also plays in the kick offs.

 Their team ended up winning 36-0. It was a fast paced game and one to remember.

Sky Diving!

Allie and Lily talked about going sky diving together when they were really little.  Today is Lily's 18th birthday and it was the day they picked to follow through with the dream.

They originally planned to go down with friends, but things fell through and I begged them to let me go with them. We drove Sharla and it was bringing me back to all the days we spent car pooling to dance.  Lily was in the seat she used to ride in (because the car seats were in the other spots) and listening to their excited chatter and the music they chose to stream was making it all so nostalgic. 

The ride down was hilarious.  We got there super early and they were both talking non stop of the "what if's".   They had to pee a million times and we took a few pics before they went in.

As time went by and we watched more and more successful jumps, the nerves went away and they were just plain excited.

I kept getting a bit emotional.  I miss Heidi all the time.  I miss all the things she was in my every day life.  But one of the things I miss the most is talking to her about our cute girls and all the things going on in their lives.  I remember walking over to her house and seeing Lily the day after she was born.  We were both so excited that we'd be raising little girls together.  We have pictures of our girls together on a blanket when they were just a month or so old.  They've been in each others lives as much as people who aren't siblings can be!

I was just missing her today.  I know, as a nervous flyer, she'd have been freaking out. In fact, I'm sure she'd have done her best to keep Lily from doing it at all...but as they were determined, I'd like to think she would have stood there with me and delighted in the new experience they were having.  We would have laughed and talked way too loud and had a great time with our girls today.   

 

Their tandem dive partners knew that they were friends and made it so they could stick together a bit in the air.  They both did gainers off the plane and got to float together a bit on the way down.

It was so fun for me to watch them come down and be so thrilled.

It was a great happy birthday event for Lily and they will both remember this for the rest of their lives.

Later that night, they were out on the field cheering their little hearts out.  It was a day packed with fun adventures. So glad I could be a part of it.