Back to school!

The summer just flew by for us! It seems like we were just celebrating the end of school but the kids headed back on Tuesday (and Matt on Monday). Overall, it was a very successful week with everyone making it to where they needed to be on time (well mostly so we will take that as a win!). Nola is enjoying volleyball, and Brenner is getting in about three hours of work after school each day. That helps with his monster gas guzzling with all the driving around!

Brenner resting up on his last weekend of freedom before school starts. He worked Monday (and Jim worked him late!). 

I told the kids that I wanted to get a first day of school picture the night before school started because they don't leave the house at the same time. They agreed this picture should be taken instead so posted with permission!

Our Student Council President ready to head off to her last first day of middle school! So. Many. Bags. We were also a bit relieved that the bus and school settled on a 6:25 am pickup. Not ideal but she made it work!

Brenner - Junior year. 

Baylee said "Mom it is so quiet in the house! Isn't it awesome?!". Well maybe she said that and maybe she didn't!

Our maple trees are getting sporadic dead branches. Not sure what is going on - very perplexing!

Matt decided (well with some encouragement from me) to get the front porch finished. The railing has only been down for 14 months.....the work will coincide with the soffit and gutter replacement. Let's go!

My breakfast burrito making station on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully, this will fill morning stomachs and my mom heart feel better that they aren't eating something out of a package.

Random score - $1.50 soap sale for off season soaps. I LOVE a good deal!

I finally got their first day (Saturday) of school picture! Boys are all about the signs. I said what does it even mean and am told "nothing". I don't believe it so if it is rude, I apologize!

Throwback - Brenner heading to first day of kindergarten (2013).

Brenner decided that if he wanted to wear his new white nike shorts then his truck would need to be cleaned. I don't think there is hope for it but.....at least he was out there cleaning it! 

Trip to Oregon/TLEF

I had a great trip to Oregon to attend the Tribal Lands and Environment Forum. The weather was fantastic, and travel went smoothly. Bonus that I got to catch up with a former USGS colleague (Greg) before jumping on the plane back to MO! 

I went to Eugene on Sunday. On Monday, I did a field trip to a local wetland restoration. It was really interesting to listen to a Kalapuya storyteller and learn about their history. 

This beautiful mural was discussed by the artist! 

We then went to a City of Eugene native plant nursery. 

It was small but mighty. 

And it was right next to the Eugene Community Garden which brought a smile to me as we were just back from The Big Garden in Omaha!

I participated in 4Rs panel with these amazing women to share communications best practices; including how the "4 Rs" - Respect, Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Relationships - can build, strengthen, and protect relationships and fundamentally change environmental outcomes. We got so much positive feedback which was encouraging!

The TLEF had a section at the minor league baseball game. Work colleague Becky and I attended....for a while. I was kind of tired with the time difference!

Found this gem on one of my morning walks! It was really refreshing to be in a city that is so focused on the environment and green infrastructure (which I didn't take pictures of!). 

One evening Becky and I drove to the Willamette National Forest. It had wildfires several years before. 

Some small but pretty waterfalls were found. 

Oregon kept it weird. Now this hot spring was recommended to me by one of the panelist members (and I was told it was clothing optional). Boy were there some characters.....and the spring itself was pretty dismal compared to others that I have been to! 

I just took a picture of my feet......we did learn that Thursday mornings they power wash all the pools......was super glad to come on Thursday afternoon....

Just a neat picture!

I got home Friday night and Saturday we went to Gannon's 10th birthday party (pool par-teee)!

Kid shenanigans. No Brenner. He didn't want to come but gave Gannon a pricy Pokémon card that caused envy from his friends. 

Singing happy birthday! It was a great day as I started it off with a phone call to my best friend from college, celebrating Gannon with family, and then dinner with my best friend (and her hubby and Grandma Val) for dinner. All day win! 

Oh - and Lynn and Chris let us pick apples. I couldn't believe they were ready already!

Thanks, ya'll!

Meanwhile, at our house, some larvae/something is out in force. This happened while I walked to dump the compost. 

See the slime on the stalks. So gross! 

Nola started fall basketball at PBA on Sunday. She was super excited that three of her teammates were there too! After practice we headed to mall to get school supplies - yes I so waited until the last minute. We got most everything although colored pencils still need to be purchased. We also had to buy volleyball knee pads as practice started the next day! I am usually more prepared than this!!!!

Throw back to 2014 - Brenner and Nola meeting Gannon!!!!!

The Big Garden Mission Trip

I was really proud to lead a youth/family mission trip for our church. I felt God calling me to do it after returning from the Navajo Mission trip last summer. While I really missed attending the Navajo trip this year, it was great to have all twelve of our team experience their FIRST mission trip! Nola was super jazzed as some of her friends were going. Brenner not so much but he stuck it out! He was a bit grumbly having to take three days off work at the Veggie Patch to volunteer in a garden! 

The Big Garden started in the early 2000s when United Methodist churches around Omaha turned their lawns into community gardens. The organization has now branched out and isn't directly funded by the UMC but still displays its roots. Yes - pun intended!

We left Sunday at noon to make the 4.5 hours drive to Omaha. Our car was packed tight!

We stayed at The Water's Edge United Methodist Church. They specifically built facilities last year to host mission teams. It was soooo nice. I don't think the kids realized how nice but it was good to ease them into mission trip concepts with nice showers, bathrooms, etc. Boys in one room, girls in another. Air mattresses galore! The church is still working out kinks....the first night at 1:30 am the lights came on...the motion sensors were picking up movement. With the help of church staff, we got crafty with aluminum foil for the sidelight window by the door and coffee filters to cover the central detector. The rest of the nights were much better!

Some of the girls ready for their first day!

Nola decided to nap along the way....

Getting a tour of TBG headquarters.

Brenner definitely had some opinions about how they were doing things. We had some good convos on how his job is for profit and TBG's main function is education. So the approach is different. 

After the tour, we got to work cleaning up a garden at a nearby school. It was a bit overgrown as you can see!

The girls tackled the sunflowers.

We found this big root vegetable. We think it was daikon. 

Wow - look at the difference 13 people and 90 minutes make!

Mondy was hot (heat indices >100) so we had shaded projects in the afternoon. Matt, Brenner, and I got the best gig collecting collared green seeds in the A/C. It did get a bit tedious as they save the outer shells for craft projects.

The girls washed crates and another team pealed tape off of cardboard boxes to be used as a weed barrier. 

We hit the outlet mall near our lodging. The kids had a good time. 

The girls played chameleon before dinner. They were laughing and joking but this picture was serious. The kids led morning and evening devotional with the meal and were also in charge of washing dinner dishes. No complaining at all. Brenner had to take the lead on washing dishes for Team Boy....the other two had no clue lol! 

The girls made us laugh nightly with their Just Dance dance parties (did I mention how nice the church was - no roughing it here- rooms had netflix and youtube). Anyway - they danced the night away!

Tuesday morning was actually chilly! A cold front had moved through. More weeding....

....and seeding.....

We then headed to another farm to do weeding and mulching. Everyone just kept pitching in. You could see friendship growing which was amazing to witness. Here is the before....

I found this mamma spider as I was weeding.

...and after! We ran out of mulch or we would have kept going!

Last stop was a community garden at a senior center for refugees. 

Yes - I was there working too!

Brenner was the planting and tomato tying master!

Okra flowers - the only thing good about okra!

Dr. Bob couldn't come on the trip but he donated money so we could have ice cream! So Ted and Walley's was a stop at the end of Tuesday. Only two work days is what TBG allows- but probably enough for the kids!

The church has this cool prayer path that has plants that are found in the bible. The big cross was a beautiful symbol. There was also a firepit, cornhole, playground, and sand volleyball (which the girls loved). The church creates an outdoor space for anyone to use in hopes it will draw them in doors. Love that.

Our last morning - it was an amazing team. All but Brenner said they would go on another mission trip. Yay! The girls were already asking where we would go. God is doing wonderful things in them!

We had breakfast at Cracker Barrel on our way home. This picture is for Grandma Val! Matt and Brenner headed on home as Brenner wanted to look at a car in St. Louis. 

The rest of us went to Worlds of Fun! I hadn't been in 20 years - it was a good time and the weather was perfect. 

Well it did get a bit hot waiting for the fury of the nile. 

I refused to go on the swings that take you 300 feet into the air. Nola was nervous too but she did it!

The mamba! The fastest roller coaster there I think. I also enjoyed the Timberwolf but didn't remember it be so jerky! Several roller coasters were running which was a bummer but we had a ball overall.

Thursday it was back to work for me and Brenner. Nola showing off her new shoes and jeans. 

We had some excitement Friday night. Brenner and his buddy Drystan were driving on a gravel road and were in an accident. Luckily, neither of them was injured but Drystan's car was likely totaled. (They did assure us they were driving 15 mph....I don't think so). Brenner did lose his glasses, and we found them the next day. Thank goodness for 1-hour glasses and our awesome optometrist Dr. Birdsong who answered my call for B's Rx!