Haley Got a Job!

Can you believe Haley is old enough to get a job? She worked for her dad a little bit this summer - but that does not count because she did not have to interview for it. Last week she decided she wanted to get a job - a real job. She and her cousin Rachael headed out and collected applications at any place that would hire 15 year olds. She only ended up turning in 1 application, to a place called Craigo's Pizza. She got a call the next day for an interview. She was hired during her interview Wednesday and started training tonight. She was only supposed to work until 7, but I guess they said she was doing such a great job, they kept her until 8:30. She ended up getting $17 in tips too - which was completely unexpected (it is a buffet so there really are no waitresses - just kids who bring scones to the table). Her manager said that they usually do not get that much money in tips so that made her happy.

She said yesterday that she was terrified to go to work today. Once she got home tonight I could tell her fears had faded and that she was pretty proud of herself for doing such a good job. Next week she works Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. Unfortunately she has to work on Halloween, but she is too old to trick-or-treat anyway. Good job Buggie - we are so proud of you!

First Snow!

Can you believe that it is only the beginning of October and it is already snowing? It was over 70 degrees last week, and today we get this! I do love how beautiful and quiet it is when it snows like this, but I am just not ready for winter yet.... we just started fall.... :(

Homecoming Duchess

Our Haley was voted Homecoming Duchess this year! The kids in each grade nominate 5 or 6 kids and then they vote on the nominees. The Seniors with the most votes are named King and Queen, the Juniors are Prince and Princess, Sophomores are Duke and Duchess and the Freshmen are Lord and Lady. Haley received the most votes for the Sophomores and was crowned Duchess. Her very best friend (also known as a boyfriend) Chris, was the Duke.

Her "Duchess" duties made for a long day today. The pep assembly was at 11:00 this morning at the school where the winners were announced (we were notified on Monday that she was the winner - but it was to be kept a secret until they announced the winners today). Each winner had someone escort them through the sword line. Haley had her cousin Seth escort her. Chris had his second cousin as his escort - who was completely adorable by the way!



After the assembly, we had to get her into her dress and head over to a church parking lot a few miles away where the parade would start. Each couple rode on a convertible and threw candy to all of the elementary school kids who line the streets to watch the parade. It was FREEZING today of course - its been in the 70's until this week - we are even supposed to get snow this weekend!



Once the parade was over we headed home to start doing her hair for the football game this evening. It took about 2 hours to get it all curled and now I am not sure why we bothered - by the time we got home it was almost completely straight again - good old Brackett curl.



At the football game, they again rode on the back of the convertibles onto the field at half time. Dave and I got to escort her through the swords as they read a brief paragraph she had written about herself. It was even more freezing than it was today and she was a trooper and made it through the half time show with no coat. We stayed and watched the rest of the game (we won - yeah!) and then got MOSTLY defrosted on the way home in the car. Next time we will definitely remember to bring blankets and wear more clothes!



The Homecoming Dance is tomorrow night. She is NOT going - for 2 reasons. The first is that she says "I don't dance - so I don't go to dances", and the second is that she is not 16, and therefore can not date yet. It seems kind of a waste to spend so much money on a dress for her to wear for a total of about an hour - but she looked beautiful. Hopefully this will be one of her very happy High School memories!

Canada is Gorgeous in the Fall!

We just got back from a wonderful 4-day weekend in Edmonton. We have been there several times before, but our trip has always been during the summer months. With Dave's crazy work schedule, this year a summer vacation was just not possible. The kids were out of school on Thursday & Friday, so we left right as school got out on Wednesday and headed up for the long weekend.

Boy did I need the vacation. It was very nice just to spend some alone time with the family. No instant messaging, limited texting (no service in many of the areas), no emails (I did not check them the whole time we were gone!) and on top of that, I turned off my cell phone.

We spent the majority of our time at the West Edmonton Mall. For those of you who have never been there, I would HIGHLY recommend it! It is huge, and has an indoor amusement park, indoor water park, mini golf course, 2 theaters including 1 IMAX, and countless stores and restaraunts.

On the way home we drove through Cardston, Alberta - which is a very small town just on the Canadian side of the border. It was settled by early Mormon pioneers who migrated up there and built the first Canadian Temple. We met a friend there for lunch (a guy that Dave works with is actually from there and was there on vacation also), and then headed to Waterton Lakes National Park. It was beautiful! The leaves were all changing and it looked so gorgeous.


In the park there is a cute little tourist town. We stopped just for a minute and noticed that there were deer wandering around town. It was really weird - they must have been almost tame. They let you get really close to them before scurring away. Reagan, of course, thought that she would be able to get them eat right out of her hands, but that was not happening!



It was so wonderful to be able to spend time as a family and I am grateful for the chance to get away (the shopping wasn't bad either!)