I feel like life keeps piling on. Steve has been slammed at work (they are down 3 employees; 2 due to cuts then right after that another employee got a better job yet they are still expecting the same output). Andrew wants to tryout for the high school pickleball team so he's been doing some clinic at The Picklr which means they haven't been attending mountain bike practice. Marcus had basketball tryouts for a little comp team. Andrew's comp basketball season is starting to gear up. We are also gearing up to start VEX at the elementary school and have been building the fields and organizing the desks in the portable.
After school VEX practices have also started at Jr High which means I'm there once a week for 1.5 supervising teams and I happened to get the busiest day of the week with 10 teams signed up but usually 12-15 come. They are actually really good kids.
I'm also teaching again this week and managed to pick up a cold which I'm totally bummed about because I had a girls pickleball weekend in Bear Lake planned but I bowed out so as not to get anyone else sick and I was exhausted. So that gets us to Friday, September 18th. It was an A day so Lila was home early. It had started to rain but just as I went to pick up Marcus from school it started hailing lightly. I decided not to take the new car and took the model S since the windshield is already cracked on it. It started coming down harder and harder. It was really scary. I had Marcus video while we were driving but the video doesn't do it justice. As soon as we got home we got a severe weather alert for a tornado. CRAZY!! Google Layton Tornado on September 18, 2026 there is some wild footage.
When Andrew got home I asked if everyone cell phones went off during class with the severe weather alert. He said, "yeah, it was crazy!!" Our science teacher just kept saying ignore it and keep working. His friends said they were in band with a skylight and the hail was so loud they couldn't hear each other or keep tempo but the band teacher just kept leading. We obviously do not practice tornado drills here! 😂I told the kids if they ever experienced one again to move away from windows and go to a basement if they can.
Andrew had a couple of friends over for a D&D night so I took Lila homecoming dress shopping. We ordered a couple online but have not found anything quite right. Thank goodness for Ross we found the cutest dress for $17. Then we came home and convinced Steve to go to Farmington Station with us so Lila could get this faux leather jacket she wanted. After shopping a couple of neighborhood boys knocked on the door asking for Andrew so they joined the party.
Lila headed over to a friends house for a bit since we were the tween boy hangout. 😂
Saturday, September 19th Andrew went to pickleball tryouts. They had a lot more people show up than they anticipated. I originally asked them about the developmental team and they said come to tryouts. Then at tryouts they were saying if you want to do the developmental team you don't need to tryout. Andrew wanted to stay and I'm proud of him for putting himself there. He didn't make it and one of his friend's older brothers who was on the team last year didn't make it either (heartbreaking). We hope to keep building skills so that eventually he can play on the team, we shall see. I was hoping to drive up to Idaho that afternoon. My brother Jake came down Thursday and took Steve to see a vehicle he wanted to buy and after the hailstorm I was worried about it sitting out in our driveway but after the few morning errands I was exhausted. I showered and cried and realized I was still really sick and my body needed rest so we took it easy.
Then Sunday, September 20th we went to Porter's homecoming. He did a good job. Andrew had started not feeling well so we left him home. We came and checked on him after the meeting then went to the park to enjoy lunch with his family. His Dad smoked some delicious pork for sandwiches. Porter was wearing this great wood bow tie, I took a picture of to show Andrew.
The following week we started meeting with the elementary kids in the VEX Portable.
Tuesday, September 22nd, Lila had her day date for homecoming and they had a blast at a golf place in Clearfield similar to Top Golf. It was raining but they still had a blast.
The boys had orthodontist appointments. I scheduled them on late start Wednesday for Andrew but it turns out it was early out for Marcus due to parent teacher conferences so he had an extra short day. Oh well.
Then Thursday, September 24th, I met with Marcus's teachers who we just love. I took them their favorite Fiiz drinks as a thank you. I also dropped off some Diet Cokes at the front office as a thank you for helping us get going with VEX. I even helped with the PTA dinner. I was feeling really on top of things for a moment. That afternoon I was able to see Andrew's team bot in action while I was volunteering which was fun. Seriously that kid has an engineering mind.
Friday, September 25th was homecoming at Layton High. I knew senior night was the next Friday and I did not want to attend 2 high school football games in a row so I decided to go the homecoming assembly that morning. Steve came with me. It was fun to see a high school assembly, it has been a while for us. The girls did good for the assembly but they crushed it at half time their outfits were great with the hip hop.
It was a good thing we skipped the game because I was prepping big time for a baby shower I was throwing the next day for my cute 2nd cousin once removed (her family just moved from down the street from us so I wanted to show our love and support). It turned out to be a lovely afternoon. We socialized, plays some games, and Ema opened presents. I was wishing I had taken some pictures, we had cute decorations and a yummy yogurt parfait setup with sweet breads. Thankfully they shared these pics with me.
Meanwhile Lila was getting ready for homecoming and her date picked her up with a crowd of ladies onlooking. 😂
Ellie took their pictures you can see them here, they turned out cute.
See see how I could feel like I've been dog piled on. All good things! I don't know what I would cut and I'm truly grateful for the tender mercies I've felt through it all and Steve's help when I know his work load is crazy. We will survive!