Indiana Jones Is Soooooo 5 Minutes Ago!

Hallowen and Birthday Mayhem!

Here are the official PICS from Halloween. Dan was Indiana Jones. Brit wanted to be a donut, so we were up late getting a costume ready on Sunday night (Oct. 30th). It's amazing what you can accomplish with some fabric, foam, and a hot glue gun (no sewing required!).

You all know the birthday drill at our house this time of year. We have birthdays three Saturdays in a row, beginning with Dan on Saturday, Oct 22nd, then Mike on Saturday, Oct 29th, then Brit on Saturday, Nov 5th (her actual birthday was on the 7th). It's sugar overload...with Halloween too!

Great Pic From Last May!

I've meant to post this PIC all summer, but....... you know how summer is. So, here are the cousins in all their glory! Beck brought her people here in May so I could look after them while she attended a conference in Washington D.C. (while Jason was in Afghanistan). One of you needs to move to the Seattle area because we need cousins nearby!

School Days....

It's official. We can now say that each of our children has had a visit to the principal's office at some point during their public school education. UGHH! Dan was our latest casualty. He got into a little tiff with a couple of kids who wouldn't let him climb up the ladder after they did. Not such a big deal in the scheme of things, but it really takes the wind out of your sails to get "that call" from the principal,..... "Mrs. Hepworth, I have your son Dan here in my office...."

On the upside, I guess Dan can hold his own. Brad had several visits to the principal's office as a little elementary school boy, defending weaker (or rather, more fearful) kids from bullies (Brad wasn't exactly a towering giant--- he just thought he was). And, yet, despite this, he somehow grew up to be a respectable adult.

Brad's older brother, Mike, probably spent at least 3 days a week at the principal's office after fighting or pulling various pranks or shenanigans. At one point, Brad's mom, Dee, told the story (and Mike confirmed), of Mike climbing the school flag pole all the way to the top (quite a feat in and of itself) so none of the teachers or administrators could make him come in from recess. He remained up there for about an hour until they finally called Dee to come and get him to come down! I can't imagine one of my kids doing that, or even being capable of doing that. On another occasion, the yard duty tried to chase Mike down to make him come in from recess until she had finally had enough and called for back up. Again, Dee had to come down to the school (as she did every week) and threaten his life to get him to come in to class. It was all just good fun for Mike, but Dee had her hand's full. And things were different in the 1950's, when Mike was in grade school. In today's public school world, Mike would be expelled from school and an entire team of psychologists would be called in to try to figure out why Mike doesn't want to come in from recess. Ironically, Mike grew up to be a respectable adult and a Junior High School principal, to boot!

Brad's dad, Chuck, wasn't in trouble in school as a kid, but his brother's, Brad's uncle's, Merle and Ralph spent much of their youth pounding each other and anyone else who wanted to mess with them. Uncle Merle, Brad's favorite uncle, grew up to be a high school teacher and an All-Forces boxing champion during WWII.

I recall mom telling us about her various hijinks during grade school. At one point, she wouldn't talk or respond to the teacher and sat completely silent, ignoring her when she was spoken to. Access Denied! The teacher had to call Grandma Gentile down to the school for a swift end to this. I also recall hearing about how either mom or aunt Ann lit a fire in the trash can in the classroom as a little diversion to the day's lesson. Mom was also feared, as well as revered, in the neighborhood for pounding the neighborhood bully (think A Christmas Story) after he had terrorized many of the local kids for so long.

Mom grew up to be a respectable adult! She also grew up to be a fearless defender of her children against the school system. Mom spent many a day marching down to the school to kick some serious butt on behalf of John, Dave and me (I can only assume this continued to the same extreme with Jenni, Liza, Becki and Ami). One day, I was "talking back" to a yard duty, who had blamed me for something I didn't do, when she got really mad at me and threw a ball at my face. It was just a red rubber playground ball, but it hit me in the face nonetheless. I was also asked to go and sit in detention for the remainder of the day. I made a little phone call home at the beginning of my stint and that was all it took. Mom came down to the school and ate that yard duty for lunch, so to speak. She never worked in that town again! Mom also has the claim to fame of getting several of our elementary school teachers fired (for good reason, I might add), as well as possibly the principal. Of course, that was back in the old days, when school district or government employees could actually be fired for poor performance.

Dad, from what he has told us, was in trouble more at home than he was at school. I remember dad telling us that one time he decided to run away from home and he ran away to................. HIS SCHOOL! Go figure!?! (did I mention that his school was right across the street??) And dad grew up to be a very respectable adult!

Oh the joys of being a parent!

First Day of School....

Dan was so excited to head out the door this morning. Dan's first day was a shortened day....more like a meet the teacher and hang out at the classroom for an hour :-) Tomorrow will be his first REAL day of school. He's in full-day kindergarten and goes from 7:50am to 2:10pm. He'll love it!!! One of his best buds is in his class-- J.R! They were in preschool together for two years together. HOORAY!



Brit got three awesome teachers this year in 6th grade. Her homeroom teacher is her math teacher. Brit loves math, so she was delighted! She has some good friends in her switch classes, so that's good too. Brit is still intent on taking piano and is playing flute in school band class, too. Soccer starts tomorrow! It's all good :-)





Mike would be happy to have 6 more months of summer. He's already in the thick of football this season-- they've been practicing 2 weeks already. He's playing on the defensive line and sometimes fullback. Mike LOVES to smash things, and since people count as things, he's loving smashing people, throwing them around and sacking the QB on a regular basis. Mike's still growing. He's 5' 11"+ and about 210 lbs. Seminary starts tomorrow, bright and early at 6:30, so that will be a shocker again for the a few days until Mike gets readjusted to his new schedule :-)

The Last Bits of Summer.....

Mike spent the last days of summer on a 50 mile hike with the scouts. He had a lot of fun and ended up carrying another kid's pack for a good part of the hike, in addition to his own pack. The other kid hurt his ankle. If you look closely here, you can see Mike sandwiched in between a pack on his back and a pack on his front :-) It builds character (and big muscles).....







































Brit spent the last few days of summer learning how to use Brad's sewing machine (vintage 1945-ish). Brad showed Brit how to sew a tote bag, to start with and next week she'll start using patterns :-) Perhaps it's time to invest in a newer sewing machine (ha!)


Dan spent the last few hot (80 degree) days of summer out blasting bugs with his mega-squirt gun :-)

Butch and Sundance...

These two will miss each other so much this June when Bill goes off to Provo for summer term at BYU. They do everything together!! Bill will be at BYU-Idaho for fall and winter and then he'll head off on a mission. By the time Bill gets home, Mike will be in the middle of his senior year in high school (March 2014). They'll have about 6 months together and then Mike will head out on his mission! We'll see if either one can survive without the other :-)

Last Night's Eagle Court of Honor...

I'M EUNICE BURNS!!!

I caught myself today as I was talking to the kids and realized that I've evolved into Eunice Freakin' Burns! How did it come to this?? Just substitute the name "Howard" instead of Bill, Mike, Brit and Dan, and you know the drill. UGHHHH! I'm her!

Finals Week!

It's finals week and everyone is stressed and exhausted....that includes the parents of the students in the Hep household.

Mike has his biggest finals in math and science. Other than that, he is home free! He's going out for track and field after wrestling is over. He's probably going to do the 200 meter and the shot put. We'll keep you posted. Mike has been skiing every chance he gets. Since he is JV in wrestling, he gets to ski every time there is a Varsity tournament (YAHOO!). He and his buddies have been going up to Crystal Mountain. They like skiing there the best.

Bill's worst final is AP Government. Why he signed up for an AP class this semester, I'll never know. He had to send his transcripts into colleges long ago, so who cares about AP classes now? Bill is having a particularly tough time, given that he has MRSA once again and it is in his eye this time. His left eye is completely swollen shut. UGHHH! Bill was out about a week and a half ago with the flu and missed three wrestling matches because of it. IS HE JUST NOT GETTING THE MESSAGE?
We're thinking maybe boils or elephantitis next.... any wagers? For Bill's last tournament (Saturday), they actually made him wear a mask (that was before his face got so swollen). Masks are reserved for the leper
colonies in wrestling--those with massive staph or MRSA on their face. Bill said it was horrible and he had a hard time seeing. he kept having to
try to adjust the mask while trying to wrestle at the same time. Needless to say, it wasn't his best performance. He also felt like he looked like Nacho Libre :-) He should have worn a big cape to complete the look! (HA)

Brit is busy reading a ton to complete her reading points for the month. She's been pulling many late nights lately. Right now she's reading a book called "The Name of This Book is Secret," by Pseudonymous Bosch. She's enjoying it. She is hoping to pick up spring soccer or maybe sign up for swimming. She is hoping to get up to the slopes more this winter. It's hard when you don't drive and have to rely on mom to take you skiing!

Dan The Man is doing his usual schtick. He builds a fort in our family room nearly every day, using all the blankets pillows, couch cushions, upside down chairs-- you name it, he's using it to build. I love that he is creative, but I'd love to have a clean and "put together" family room just for ONE day! Dan loves preschool wishes it would last longer each time. I'm thinking of putting him in all-day kindergarten next fall. It would be a first for our family (all the other kids did half-day). But Dan has grown up with a house full of older people. He will lose his mind if he only has a half-day with lots of people. PEOPLE........people who neeeeeeeed people.......

Cheese Stickers Anonymous...

I am addicted to the cheese sticks (pictured left). I cannot drive past the Pane D'Amore Bakery without stopping to buy some. I often do not drive past the bakery because I know I will become lured in. My kids are quickly becoming fans, too. I have become such a regular cheese stick customer, that the baker came out to personally introduce himself and offered to sell cheese sticks to me by the dozen in their frozen, unbaked dough form. We now have our own cheese stick bakery happening at home :-)

Wrestling Season is Nearly Over....

So Bill is down to 150 lbs from 175 lbs for his weight class and Mike is down to about 168 lbs from 190 lbs for his weight class........

....As bad as that may sound, it's a good thing that wrestlers today are given a bottom line minimum weight that they cannot drop below for their own safety. In this photo, circa 1975, Brad, who looks completely emaciated, had dropped from 160 pounds to 115 lbs! Yikes! ...and I think his hair made up about half of that weight!

I will be glad when the season is over.

Let it Snow!....

Houston.....We Have Lift Off.....

Hooray! Bill got accepted to BYU Idaho!!! He is still waiting to hear from BYU Provo (his first choice), but he's delighted to have a spot :-)

We'll keep you posted!

Spiderman, Dracula, and the Skeleton....

Dan's favorite Christmas present.... new pens and markers...