Cathey Ellsworth had been telling the kids that she would let them ride her horse when her daughter Austin got home from school and Friday night was the day! She picked them up, fed them pizza, and then let them ride while DJ and I went out to dinner. She is THE BEST!

After dinner, DJ and I went over to the Vanderpool’s where Cathey keeps the horses to see how things were going. Carter was playing on the playground while Raine and the Moyle girls were riding Doug. I asked Carter why he didn’t want to ride and he said, very matter-of-factly, “because I don’t want to die.”

After MUCH coercing and a little bribery, he agreed to sit on the horse if I stood right next to him. The horse moved a bit while Carter was on him and Carter was NOT a fan!

Raine, on the other hand, loved every minute of being on the horse and didn’t mind at all when he trotted.

The first week of school I flew down to San Antonio for a conference. Daddy and the kids drove down Friday afternoon for a little weekend fun. That night they just swam in the hotel pool. The next morning I skipped out on my conference and we walked along the River Walk.

We walked up to the Alamo and looked around for a while before heading back along the River Walk to the hotel.

Raine and Carter swam one last time while I checked out of my conference and the hotel room.

After lunch, we hiked the Natural Bridge Caverns, Hidden Passages Tour. The caverns were FULL of amazing formations. It was really neat.

August 20 was the first day of school. Carter started 3rd grade.

He was ready for school wwwwaaaaaayyyyyy before Raine was even close, so he rode his skateboard around while he waited for her to get ready enough to take their sibling photo.

Raine’s first day of 5th grade.

It started to sprinkle just as Raine walked out the door, after spending at least 20 minutes curling her hair!

I made them take another sibling photo after school, just because I think they’re so cute!

For documentation purposes, because this was hilarious . . .

Last Wednesday was meet the teacher. It started at 4:30 — not an ideal time for working parents. I rushed through my hearings and sped home, getting there with just enough time to walk over to the school with the kids. This is what greeted me when I walked in the door:

Me, shocked and confused: “Rubes, it’s meet the teacher.”
Raine: “I know. I’m ready”
Me, confused about why she looks like she’s going to a cocktail party: “How come you’re so dressed up?”
Raine: “Because you only get one chance to make an impression.”
Me, still confused and looking at her feet: “How are you planning to get there?”
Raine: “Walking.”
Me: “In those shoes?”
Raine: “Yes, they’re fine.”
Me, still confused about what kind of impression we will be making but out of time: “Okay, stand there so I can take a picture real quick.” (What I was really thinking was, I’ve got to show my legal assistant, she’ll never believe me tomorrow when I try to describe this!)

Carter, on the other hand, apparently didn’t care AT ALL about impressions because he trotted over in a grey athletic shirt, grey athletic shorts, and scooby-doo flip-flops!

UPDATED 10/4: School pictures

Daddy’s birthday was the day after Carter’s baptism, so Grandmas and Grandpa were here to celebrate with us.

Friday night, before Carter’s baptism, we took everybody to an escape room and we made it out!!! It was a lot of fun!

This had nothing to do with Daddy’s birthday, but Grandma and Grandpa helped us serve lunch to economically disadvantaged kids through the Feed Our Kids program on Tuesday before they left.

August 11 Carter was baptized. Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came from Arizona and Grandma Dewey came from Utah to support Carter.

The baptism witnesses were Grandpa Anderson and Evan Eastman. Carter was baptized twice because Grandpa said his leg came up the first time. The confirmation circle included Daddy, Grandpa Anderson, Bishop Glassman, Evan Eastman, Brian Boyer, Brad Grubbs, and Bruce Crandall.

During sacrament meeting on Sunday, Bishop Glassman called Carter to the front and told the congregation about Carter — things that Carter had shared with him during his interview. Some of the things that I thought were interesting was that his favorite food was orange chicken from Pei Wei, his favorite subject is science, and he wants to serve a mission in China.