A Whole New World

On the way to a Phillies game....GO PHILS!!!

Well, it's officially that time of year where things start to cool down and the schedule starts again. The schedule is always hard to get back into, but everything else about fall...I LOVE!! It is definitely my favorite time of year. This year has a lot of changes to get used to. I am now setting the table for five (maybe six when we can occasionally talk Meredith into eating breakfast with us after seminary.) It's pretty weird. But since we have downsized our table, we are at least not dealing with empty spots. Even though it was hard to see Emily and Stephanie go to Utah, I am so glad that they are out there with Janelle and her family and are able to spend time together there.


Around here we are trying to get used to school and seminary. It is a whole new world for Evan. He started kindergarten this year and is really loving it. Our school has an extended day schedule where the morning and afternoon sessions overlap. He is in the afternoon session so he catches his bus at about 10:40 and gets home a little after 3:00. I think it is the perfect length of time for him. He loves taking or buying his lunch.
His bus driver is the same woman who has driven each of our kids to kindergarten. She said, "I saw that last name on the bus lists and said...' I have to have that route...I have driven all of their other kids!'" Good old Mrs. Esch. If you ask Evan what he did that day when he first comes home, he usually tells me one thing like, "we went to gym" or "we had art". But as I watch and listen to him during the rest of the day, I hear him singing new songs or telling Nate or Meg about someone in his class. He was so ready to go to school...it is so fun to see him enjoying it so much. Here are the traditional "first day of school" photos.

A Family Reunion of Sorts

As is quite often the case, times of transition and change bring about family gatherings and celebrations. Our trip to Utah was one of those times. Although we were missing a big part of our immediate family, there were a lot of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents there.
Emily, Stephanie, Steve, and I made the trip to Utah on August 26th to take Emily and Stephanie to BYU. Megan and Nate were troopers and stayed home with Evan and Ginny for the six days we were gone. With the help of some good neighbors and friends, they got to where they needed to go and did just fine. Thanks guys. We got Emily moved into her dorm on the first day (well, kind of) and ended the day with an eventful trip to the Springville Wal-mart that will not soon be forgotten. Gotta love road construction.


The next day, as Emily got started with her new student orientation, we got to work looking for an apartment for Stephanie. We checked out a number of different places and she decided on The Enclave. She is renting from and individual condo owner and the apartment has four girls in it. Each girl has her own room and the bedrooms and bathrooms are on the floor above the main living area.


We also got to spend some time with Janelle, Scott, and Alan each of these days. What a sweet little guy his is. He is now smiling, talking, and just plain a lot of fun to be around.


Friday morning, Janelle, Stephanie, Steve, and I went to the Provo temple to do an endowment session. What a treat!! It had been years since Steve and I had been to that temple and it was so nice to go there with our two daughters. Emily stepped up to the plate and watched baby Alan so that we would be able to go. Thanks, Em.


That night, Janelle and Scott went to a concert for Scott's birthday. We also had been invited to a picnic at the Allen home in Orem. Brother Allen had served as our stake president years ago in New Jersey, and invited all the NJ folks past and present to come over and have a bar-b-que. Since there were so many people taking kids to school, etc., it was quite a good amount of people. We got to have Alan there with us for a while and it was fun for everyone to see him. This was also the first time many of the people had seen Stephanie since she had returned from her mission.....Lots of hugs.
































































Saturday was spent moving Stephanie's stuff in. She had stored some things at Janelle's, but the majority of stuff was at my sister Jeri's home in Idaho. She and her family drove down and brought it all for us so they got that stuff moved in too. In fact, the whole Idaho crew came down for a little family reunion in Utah. Grandma and Grandpa Tucker, Jan and John and their whole family, Brian and Annjennette and their kids, and Jeri and Frank and their kids. Also, Bruce and Jenny and family and Jake Himes came from Highland and Provo too. We spent some time together Saturday night where the kids swam in the pool at our hotel, and the adults/older kids visited.
On Sunday, we gathered at Janelle's church for Alan's blessing. Lets just say we filled up about 5 center rows in the chapel with all of our crew and also quite a number of people from Scott's family. Pretty impressive for one little guy. He was a very good boy during his blessing and he looked so nice. Good job, Alan.



Afterwards, we had a picnic style lunch in the yard area in front of Janelle's apartment. Everyone just visited and had a nice time. Even though it was a short get together, it was so fun.

Bruce, Brian, Dad, Mom, Jill, Jan, Jeri

Jake Himes, Bruce, Jenny, and kids

Jeri, Frank, and kids

Jan, John, and family

Brian, Annjennette, and kids

Austin Strobel, Jan's oldest son that just returned from his mission to Brazil, also drove down that morning. Very fun to have our two recently returned missionaries at the party.


We missed having the younger kids and Geoffrey with us, but it was a very special time to see lots of family and get our girls settled in. Now it's time to get the new school year started. Whew!!!