St. John Family

Sunday August 23, 2015
Dear Cassidy -

It seems strange to say its still August. I go through this every year...as soon as school starts I start thinking its September. Anyway - it is still in fact August. The first few days of school are done and gone. I'm happy to report that everyone has done well. Colten is very excited about his Anatomy class that's at ALC. There are only about 8 kids in the class and it's done through Weber State Univ. He also is very excited about his internship which will be at the hospital in Provo and will start in a couple of weeks. It was a bit of a scheduling struggle to get him situated in all the classes he wanted/needed this semester but Mrs. Bond, his counselor has been pretty great to work with. And Mrs. Dunn has been great as well getting him going in the internship.

Hadlie started 8th grade and I'm happy to report did in fact finish all of her Honor's English reading before summer was over. Small miracle. She seems to like most classes except science in which she has a new (not nice) teacher. She's already experiencing the joys of honors classes. She's got a test already next week in History on all the states & capitols. Things are quite different now than when you were in Jr. High. All of her classes have a texting service that they want the parents as well as students to be enrolled in. So already this weekend I've gotten several texts from teachers. AND, to study things like states and capitols - they automatically just look for an app. And of course there's several to help with that.

River began 6th grade and I'm thrilled to announce has had the best first 3 days! She REALLY had a tough year last year and I'm super hopeful that this year will remind her 1. how much she loves to read, and 2. that you can like your teachers, and 3. that you can have a lot of FUN and still learn. She reminds me so much of you. She's been busy this week collecting papers and things to make her "caps" and pictures to decorate her notebooks!

As for me - it's been a pretty good week. With the kids going back to school I obviously have a little more time. (I haven't heard anything about going back to work yet) On Thursday I went and took care of the horses by myself since Hadlie was in school. It was weird to be there alone. I've also spent my fair share of time organizing carpools, getting piano and gymnastics set up for the Fall, grocery shopping, planning menus for dinners & the ever popular sack lunches. School is a lot of work for everyone involved! But it's good for us all. Katelyn had her bridal shower this Friday night which I wasn't able to go to so I took her present over to her at her and Luke's apartment. It's in Lindon - really close to Grammy & Papa's. It's a little apartment with everything that you need and has nice carpet and air conditioning, etc. But the bedroom! It's hard to explain, but it's a triangle as in the floor angles up and the ceiling angles down! It's crazy! You can't stand up in there as the floor isn't flat. They have a bed in there that sits on two wooden boxes at the bottom and the regular floor at the top. It's funny!

On Friday night Dad and I went to the Bluebird Café thing at Sundance. It was beautiful weather this time - no rain! The show was good, but it wasn't one of our favorites. Last year's was better even though we got soaked.

We also had Kortney Jackson here on Friday/Saturday as her parents were out of town at a Relief Society retreat for their ward. Did I tell you that Karron got called to be their new Relief Society President??! Anyway - Saturday morning Hadlie, Kortney and I went to the Farmer's market and then to work at the horses. I think Kortney had a good time. Even though she had to scoop some poop:)

We had Stake Conference this weekend. I also like that! Remember last year - you spoke at it! My favorite talk this time was by President (old bishop) Kay. He talked about Orca whales and their family structures in relation to us as parents and how we teach our kids. It was really good. We had a visiting general authority - one of the 70 which I think makes Stake Conference seem a bit more serious than it is sometimes.

By the way - Grandma Bonnie had a birthday this week turning 76 and Papa has a birthday coming up on Tues. turning 68 I think. And Grammy & Papa came home from the ranch and headed straight out on a trip with Becky & Bob Smith. They've been going all over watching the St. Louis Cardinals play baseball. In a week's time they will have been in St. Louis, San Diego and Phoenix. I'm sure they'll tell you more about it!

Well - as always I loved your letter last week. I again am so thrilled that Lucy got baptized and you got to participate in that! I'm sorry the day was sort of stressful for you. But I'm glad you got to enjoy it a little by the end. She seems very happy!

The rest of your week sounded great, hot and tiring. I'm so happy that you have very busy, filled days!

I love you so much! Can't wait to hear from you tomorrow!

Love - Mom