Football, Football, and more Football

     September brings the start of another school year and football season.  It is the time of year that Lon lives for.  We spent the month attending Mason's games (High School) in Declo and surrounding towns and all of the home games in Kimberly; Chandler's games in Magic Valley (Jr High) and Gideon's games in the Boise Valley (Jr High).  It kept us on the road at last 2 times a week, usually on Tuesday evenings and Friday nights.  Three grandkids, three different teams, three different towns and Boise State and BYU!!!  It is hard to believe that we had time for anything else!  But we did!  Ashton is playing soccer so we had Saturday mornings for his games in Twin. And we were worried about coming home and having nothing to do!!  Silly us!!

Game at Buhl

 Chandler is #45.  He played on special teams and was disappointed that he didn't play much.

                           Gideon also played on special teams and didn't get to play much.

Gideon played his heart out and loved every chance he got to play, but was disappointed also.

 

         Lon and I golf Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.  The weather is wonderful and the trees are beginning to turn.  We haven't been able to enjoy the fall colors for a long time.  We need to go camping before it gets cold!

     We loaded the camper and borrowed Tracy's 4-wheelers and headed to the South Hills on Labor Day.  We passed camper after camper as we went in and they all came out.  It is nice to be able to camp after everyone else has to go back to work.  We pretty much had the hills to ourselves.

 We camped at Walstrom Hollow.  It was so dry and the yellow jackets were awful.

We have turned into pansies cause the evenings and mornings felt cold to us and it was in the 60's!  Everything in the camper works great except we have no hot water.  The pilot stays lit on the water heater but no hot water in the tap.

 

                        We spent all day on Tuesday riding the trails.  Lon checking out the hill.

                                    The South Hills

 

By the time we got done riding, we were so dirty because of the dry conditions, and having no hot water we decided to head for home instead of spending one more night. 

     The shower felt sooo good and we were able to get everything put away before our shift on Wednesday afternoon.  It was a great breaking in trip for the camper.  We have a few things to figure out before we go again.

     We began our new shift at the temple on the 22nd.  We now serve on Tuesday am, we leave the house at 5:15am, and on Wednesday pm, leaving the house at 3:15pm.  It is a nice schedule cause we have the rest of the week to play.

     We picked tomatoes at George's and Sister Shewmaker's and made salsa and vegetable soup.  We picked apples at the Bingham's and made apple pie filling.  Lon is learning just how much work canning is but is enjoying it.  After doing it alone all those years, it is so nice to have a great helper.  The cupboards are looking better all the time. 

     We got to visit with Jenny and Ralph Wolverton, and the twins, Aunt Ellen and Aunt Helen when they came up to visit at Jenny's house.  These ladies are Esther's half sisters. 

      Ellen lives in Layton, Utah; Jenny in Jerome, Helen in Oklahoma.  The twins are 92.

     On the 24th, we loaded up the 4-wheelers and headed to Trail Creek Summit and Wild Horse to explore with George and Kim.



 

We have never been in this area of Idaho before. We about froze as we started out on the 4-wheelers.  It was only 40 degrees.

                       The longer we road, the warmer it got as the sun came out.

 The fall colors are so amazing.  El Salvador and Guatemala never had fall colors, or fall.

                   Is that really snow that we see on that mountain?



It sure is.  We really need to get one more camping trip in before the winter comes!

We had a wonderful day with good friends.  We love seeing the beautiful mountains that our Heavenly Father has given to us. 

Another month has come and gone in the twinkling of an eye.  I have been taking Mom to doctors and hair appointments so that she will be ready to leave for Yuma in October.  She is really getting excited about going.  It is getting cold here in the evenings and mornings so she is ready to go.  Between the 4-wheeling trips, the football and soccer we have been blessed to serve in the temple.  We love this calling and it fills our lives with purpose and direction.  Lon continues to enjoy his Primary boys and I still have no calling in the ward.  I do go Home Teaching to 2 families with Lon as I am not even a Visiting Teacher yet.  We love living close to Tracy and his family and enjoy being able to drop by or have them drop by to visit.  We are learning that "yes" there is a life after a mission after all.