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 :-)