Back to School!

Oh summer, I’m glad to see you gone!  It was a hot one.  I love the anticipation of going back to school.  Dallin was so excited!  Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to start the same time as Anna, which drove him nuts.  We had a back-to-school night where we met his teacher.  She’s an adorable, young, full-of-life, fresh from student teaching, specimen of a kindergarten teacher.  There are only 12 kids in his class, which is really nice, especially considering it’s all-day-kindergarten.  I’m sure he’ll love it!  Anna’s new boy teacher is pretty cool too.  He’s a huge fan of star wars and his classroom looks like a gift shop.  Last year, her 1^st grade teacher was obsessed with Disney.  It’s a funny trend going on here.  Anyway, Anna and Dallin are able to ride their bikes to school by themselves, which is super awesome!  I love where we live!  Now I’m down to JUST 2 at home, little Drew and baby Tommy.  I’ll still be working a little until the snow falls, which I’m praying is soon!

Sataquin: the edge of civilization!

We went to visit cousin Amy and her family in Sataquin!  Sure, it's as far south as you can go before you get to the "country", but they live in this amazing neighborhood with kids and a park with a splash pad right across the street!  They’re landscaping their backyard, so David was busy with a bobcat and a dump trailer.  I can’t believe how much they’re doing themselves!  You know how much I'd charge for a job like that?!  They're landscaping rock stars!  It made me appreciate my own tiny, boring, flat yard.  Theirs is going to be fabulous!  We had an early dinner of ice cream on our way out of town and the kids slept the whole way home.  It was the best way to spend a Saturday!

End-of-Summer Fun

Oh, what do you do in the summer time when you can’t wait for school to start? We walked to Ridleys/ 7-Eleven almost every day for cheap goodies. I’m still peeved that the Shasta machine now charges 50 cents, vs. 25 cents last year. And ice cream cones are now 99 cents, vs. 50 cents last year. Robbery! We had a lot of neighbor kids come and go. New move-ins, Eddy and Seamus, are perfect buddies for Dallin and Drew. And then there’s Samantha and James, Chevy and Bently, and of course Ryder! For not living in a real neighborhood, we sure have lots of friends close by.

On Monday, we went to the trout hatchery for playgroup. We were there once before, when Drew was a baby and Dallin wore the harness. They have about 1.5 million fish right now! It was so fun. The kids were so fascinated with the giant tanks and were even allowed to feed the fish. Can’t beat that!

That afternoon, we traveled to Centerville for one last party with Sharon’s family. The cousins played while I basked in a nice air-conditioned house. It was nice. Allen invited us to his complex for swimming and grilled hot dogs. We had to scrounge for floaters, once again, wishing I put more priority into swimming lessons. Oh well. The cousins were very helpful with the littles and everybody had plenty of fun. It was sad to see Sharon and her kids go. It’s always a non-stop party when she’s in town. That means that summer is almost over. Oh, I am so glad! Anna and Dallin are begging to go to school everyday. I’m ready for it to cool down and slow down, especially at work.  The leaves are already changing above Midway.  At the least the maples have the right idea!  Bring on fall!

Tanner and Ciara's Wedding!

When I first met Ciara, it was actually at her bridal shower.  Shame on me for not getting to know her sooner!!!  All it took was one conversation to know how perfect she is was for Tanner. I couldn't wait for their marriage!  We were excited for the road trip and the kids were excited they got to stay in a hotel, instead of camping (for once)!

We set off Friday afternoon, after Bevan and the kids met me in Park City.  The drive went by surprisingly fast, and we didn't even need to stop until outside Burley.  I thought we turned a leaf with our good little travelers!... until the last 2 hours to Meridian.  I actually had to sit in the back seat and try with all my might to keep Drew and Tommy from screaming with every distraction known to man.  They were so done!  Bevan drove extra fast and we got there in record time.

On Saturday morning, we had some time to kill before the wedding, so we went swimming.  After watching Dallin and Anna, I realized I should've chosen swimming lessons instead of summer school!  A cheap pair of arm floaties later (thank you clearance at Fred Meyer), and they were good to go!  It was super hot that day, upper 90's, so extra time in the pool was necessary.

The Meridian Temple is so beautiful!  I'm particularly fascinated with the grounds, with it's (already) large birch trees and enormous pond!  Bevan and I both got to witness the sealing of Tanner and Ciara.  A HUGE shutout to Ty, Treyson, and Tate for entertaining the kids outside.  The sealing was so beautiful and it's definitely the feeling of being in heaven!  She was so radiant and Tanner was grinning the whole time.  I don't think any of us wanted to leave the temple, it was just so peaceful... and very-well air conditioned.  Outside the temple was a huge party.  The lovely photographer kept us in the shade for pictures, bless her heart.  It was toasty!  We later walked around the pond with Beverly and Lloyd and noticed how much cooler it was.  I secretly wanted to jump in the pond.  We had a little bit of time before the luncheon.  Ciara was able to get a couple babysitters for our kids, which was awesome!  They really needed a break, and so did we.  Luncheon was at the Scentsy Corporate tower.  The food was amazing!  We really soaked up the time without kids.  The reception was at Ciara's home in Meridian.  They had dancing, donuts, and custom drink station.  The whole neighborhood is an equestrian-agricultural area so Drew wandered off immediately.  A couple times to the barn and once to the neighbors tractor.  That boy always keeps us guessing!  Anna and Dallin were busy dancing with the other kids and teenagers.  They really got the moves!  Soon, Tanner and Ciara left and the party started to break up.  The kids were all asleep before we turned off their street.

It was sad to leave on Sunday morning.  We actually left ahead of schedule, for once, and even had time to stop in Mountain Home for some sacrament meeting renewal!  It was interesting to see that part of Idaho in the daylight.   It's not particularly pretty, or green, or mountainous, but we were still glad to see it.  Until next time!

Ackerson Family Reunion 2018

You know, every year I think about how amazing our reunion is, and how it’ll be hard to beat next time. And then the next reunion happens and I think the exact same thing! And so on and so on. This year, Nora planned a spectacular reunion at Pineview Reservoir. We had group campsite right on the lake, a short path to the beach! It was so beautiful! Sure the bathroom facilities were a little primitive and there wasn’t any electricity, but it kept the teenagers (and some adults) off their devices and encouraged a lot more action. There were trees to climb, hammocks to swing in, bikes to ride, lawn games to play, and a huge lake to swim in! Anna and Dallin had a blast with their cousins… and Drew kept wandering to the neighboring group campsite. Some things never change. “Carly” was so nice to keep bringing him back.

The reunion started Thursday night and of course we were the last to arrive! We found a real good spot under a Russian Olive tree. Benefit = shade… drawback = bird poop! I still need to scrub our rain fly. The kids were so wound up they didn’t fall asleep until almost midnight. It was a great start.

Friday was lake day. Good thing we didn’t have to travel far! Nora rented a 3-person wave runner and everybody else brought their water toys. There were lots of paddleboards, kayaks, floaty-beds, and… life vests. Dallin was cruisin’ on the kid kayaks and Bevan took Anna and Drew for rides on the wave runner, along with almost every other kid on that beach! I chilled in the shade with baby Tommy, a lot. It was fun to see them all playing together. It’s how reunions should be. They stayed on the water until the very bitter end! Let’s just say, the kids did not feel like staying up all night again. They crashed hard!

The next morning, I went on a bike ride around the reservoir with Vanessa, Nora, and Bentley, with John in our support van. It was so beautiful and hardly any cars on the road! I opted out of the climb towards Monte Cristo and headed back to camp for French toast. Allen cooks it so well! The teenagers headed back for the lake while the littles visited a local petting farm in Eden. It was fun to see goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, and very lethargic kittens (what the?....). After lunch, we headed to Snowbasin for a gondola ride and hike to the ridge. It was very scenic. Let’s just say that after skiing Deer Valley for so long, I’ve forgotten about craggy cliffs, steep drop-offs and extreme terrain! The skiing must be amazing! All 50 of us started up the dusty trail, our large party stretched out almost the entire mile!…with Dallin leading the way. The top was pretty, but couldn’t see much due to the smoke from California. John’s buddy was soaring along the ridgeline in his glider, so that was exciting. On the way down, Tommy fell asleep, Drew lost his will to walk, and Dallin beat us all, again! As soon as we got back from the gondola, we headed back for dinner and more time on the lake. Once again, there until the bitter end! We all crashed just a little bit earlier that night.

Our checkout time on Sunday was a generous 1pm, so were able to eat breakfast, go to sacrament meeting in Huntsville, come back, eat second breakfast, and pack up at our leisure (which was a good and bad thing). Sometimes you need a deadline to get you moving! We didn’t leave anything behind, that’s for sure. I loved being only an hour and half from home. It was such a great location and great reunion. I vote for that spot again next year!