On the way into school on the first day. Yeah!!!

Ali and Sophie our neighbor waiting for their turns to be tested. They won't be in the same class this year but maybe next.


Ready for school! The boys are heading off for their first days. Ali has testing today but not actual school until next week. She as very excited though to go in for her testing and get to wear her uniform. She LOVES her uniform.


We are missing Friday school and heading up to Jackson for the weekend. My family has been there the whole week but with Carter starting junior high I thought it best to let him adjust the first few days. He wasn't thrilled with missing Jackson though. We headed up for a long weekend and rushed nearly everything into the few days we had. They ran the snake river, did the tramplines, climbed rocks, hit up the candy store, did a little hiking. We missed the horse riding day and the trip to Yellowstone but we did pretty good at smooshing a whole weeks worth of fun into a few days.

Jackson Hole Playhouse night. Ali and I went with a bunch of the girls and Jake to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Jake was our stalwart man. The rest of them were babysitting all the kiddos. At least that is what they claim when they opt out of the playhouse evening. Ali loved the play. All of it right up until the point she fell asleep. She is really big into boyfriends and all that stuff. She tells me about what her first date is going to be and who it will be with and where they are going....SO, she is going to go to Nielsen's Custard with Sam Yost and she is going to drive. She is only five....how do I put a stop to this? We all had a great time. We even had chocolate milkshakes during intermission. Ali kept asking me, when do I get that milkshake the whole first half. They take orders as you come in so she knew about it from the get go. Probably not the best parenting tactic in the world. You can have a milkshake in about an hour, just sit here and wait. We all had fun and really enjoyed the show.

Guess who had a birthday? Papa turned...I can't say it....well lets just say he's not 60 something anymore. As you can see from his present given to him by his two oldest grandchildren there was a little razzing about the new decade mark he just entered. Yes, you read that title correctly. There must much laughter and well, lots of laughter....

This is the reaction of my Mom to the above book. She laughed hard for many many minutes.
Rachel thought up a little birthday surprise for Papa. At some point during the present opening all the grandchildren ran up the stairs to the loft. The adults were like, what's going on. Then a shower of balloons and a chorus of laughs came floating down to us. With a big "surprise" at the end of it all. It was really cute and sweet and it actually looked super cool to see nearly 30 balloons float down from the loft. Everyone loves their Papa!!!

You have never seen a birthday cake more fully surrounded than this one was. I decorated it with the candles to say 70 but somehow they got rearranged to 19. I guess that is how old my Dad wishes he were turning. Don't we all wish we could turn 19 again. He did have lots of help blowing out the candles. Which is good because when he was helping me blow out the fire that was billowing out of the oven earlier that evening I didn't feel like he was that much help. We did manage to get the fire out, though the food did not fare so well. No, the fire was not my fault!!! The readers who actually know me from my younger years might thing so, I walked into the condo on arrival to find Joey with poop all over him....(I called his Dad Jake to the rescue) then I rounded the corner and the oven was on fire....hello, did we get there just in time or what. How did they survive the first half of the week without the Pollan's? Or maybe we just bring disaster wherever we happen to go. I don't know.

Byron pulled off a little scam here at his favorite restaurant Bubbas. So he loves the biscuits and gravy and by loves I mean LOVES. The only trouble is he really likes the blueberry pancakes as well. So he ordered biscuits and gravy, Ty ordered biscuits and gravy, Carter ordered biscuits and gravy....Byron is panicking a little, Ali orders a pancake, so Byron tries to convince her to order blueberry pancakes...no way she refuses, plain pancakes for her. I ordered an omlete. Byron turns to Carter and they negotiate a quick trade plan so Carter switches his order to blueberry pancake. Phew!!! Byron gets to eat his biscuits and gravy with a side of blueberry pancake...and the universe is restored into it's full order again. The good news is we all had delicious and wonderful breakfasts. We also didn't eat again until seven that evening. Now that is some breakfast.

Any trip to Jackson just couldn't be complete without a trip to Bubba's.

The piece de resistance. The candy store!!! How do my kids love the candy store, let me count the ways....taffy, butterscotches, everything gummy and sour, bit-o-honey, jaw breakers, bubble gum, fudge, sour squirty things, etc. etc. etc. $25.00 later we exited the candy store with happy smiley kids, soon to be happy smiley and hyper kids!

This is our newest tradition up in Jackson. We love the huckleberry picking hike. We have a secret location we go to. I guess once you found a huckleberry picking place it is mandatory to keep it secret since nobody will tell you where theirs is. So we have our secret place and we go out into the woods and pick the yummy berries. We did pretty good this year. We brought back a taste for everyone but still not enough for a pie.

Ali is on a butterfly craze this trip. Everywhere we go she catches butterflies. It is like they are tame or something. She catches them and then carries them around like they are her pets. She is having lots of fun with these wild butterflies that seem more like domesticated cats.

Tyler on our hike showing us which way we need to be heading.

Byron is diligently looking for huckleberries. He was the king this trip and found more than anybody. He was especially generous in the beginning when he was the only one finding them. He kept sharing with us all to try and keep us excited about looking. It took a while but we finally found a patch that hadn't been picked over by other hikers.

Tyler was planning on flipping but when he got up there he said he had forgotten how high it was and did not care to do any flips. Can't say that I blame him.

Bungee trampoline time!!! Carter Ali and Tyler love flying high on these trampolines. Three minutes of jumping, flipping and soaring in the clouds. They really love it!

Carter flipping on the tramp. With some quick advice from his trainer he was flipping like crazy. His hat finally flew off.

Playing in the snake river shallows. Lots of rock skipping and target practice on any sticks that happen by. We did a little splash practice on Ty as well when he got out pretty far. He got a little wet and I was the only one to actually pelt him with a rock. My aim is not so good, probably not a great idea to try and splash your kid when you have no aim. Lucky it was a little rock and I just got yelled at a little, no tears.

Tyler took his shoes off but when it started to rain we had to head for the car quick. So Carter graciously said, hop on I'll give you a lift. That worked well for a couple yards and then Ty's mightiness got the better of Carter. So I handed Carter the shoes and carried Ty the rest of the way. Man that kid has put on some lbs since I carried him last. I have a bad back and a bum knee so I don't carry my big boys very often. We made it to the car and all heck broke loose from the sky. Giant drops of rain and a minute later large chunks of hail. Seriously sheeting from above so we could hardly even see to drive. Man were we glad to be in the car and not out on the rocky open shores of the snake river.

Chortney and Baden ready to slide.

Byron assisting with Joey since Marie is PREGNANT with twins and can't make the slide herself this year. Did I mention she is pregnant!!! We are all so excited for them. We are pulling for a little girl, just one please! Well two would be okay too but at least one little princess for their family!

My brother Jake and Tommy ready to bust out of the gates. Watch out Tommy as far as slide records go the only surprising thing is that they still let Jake buy a ticket. He has been know for ramming, jumping that tracks, scraping up his whole body, etc. etc. I guess being a Dad slows down the race a bit. Let's hope for Tommy's sake that they make it down still on their sled.

Ali and I with the majestic view in the background. You could hear us girls screaming for joy the whole way down. For some reason Ali loves to scream and she likes me to scream with her. So when she says one two three scream, we do. We were going really fast and it does feel a lot like a roller coaster without seat belts. Really though Ali just likes any excuse for a good loud scream fest. She is such a wild one!

Byron pulling is neck trying to spin Carter around. He started with Ali, then Tyler wanted to try and then Carter pretty much goaded him into a swing by telling him there was no way he could still do that to him. So, yes he can still swing Carter around but it wasn't easy!

Alpine slide, a favorite Jackson Hole past time. This slide is fast and pretty long.

The conquering heroes up top the great wall of rock!

Ali doing an awesome climb to the top.

They put in this awesome new rock climbing wall at one of our favorite parks. So fun! There were climbs for all skill levels. Carter and I did make it up a medium hard climbing wall though. I was very proud of him for showing me where it is and how to do it. Then Amanda had to tutor me again but I got up the thing. I also bruised my knee on the ledge where you get onto the top but it was awesome! We all had fun on the walls.

Byron and our kids!!

Schwabacher's Landing hike. There are beavers out here who have created a little pond in the middle of the river. We like to go out and see the reflection of the Tetons on the pond. Ali found us a snake, a leach swimming in the pond, and lots of butterflies. She loves to catch butterflies!

Ali our front before she heads off to Kindergarten for her first real day of school. Last week she did a testing day but today it starts. This is big time and she is so excited she can hardly stand it. All morning it was how much longer till school starts, how many cartoons? She understands time according to cartoon length. So, two cartoons equals one hour. We made it on time, took her to the bathroom and she was just set to walk on in all by herself and not even look back. I did steal a kiss though on her way into the classroom. This girl is SO ready for school!

Ali and I went to Nielsen's and had sandwiches and custard before her first day of Kindergarten. We showed up in style riding our cute green scooter. It really was so fun. She was so excited to get in there and had absolutely no trouble leaving me behind. This was good because if she had a hard time I probably would have just told her she can start next year. She is loving it and already has two little new friends she is talking about. She has three teachers in her class and she loves all of them.

After her first day of Kindergarten. She loved it but man was it ever tiring! She said they went on a gingerbread hunt and followed clues all over the school till they got to a treat at the end. I think she loved it!!! The next day she said they played games the whole day. When she came home she had a lot of actual work with her so somehow they are tricking them into thinking their work is a game. Sounds fairly genius to me.

The Ruesch's decided to move to Utah! Baden got into Legacy Prep this year, that's the charter school my kids go to. Deborah did the lottery just for kicks and he got in. 900 kids applied this year. So they called her on the Friday before Jackson that was like Aug 12th and by Aug 13th they had decided to move to Utah. Chortney already has a new job lined up but it doesn't start until around March. He will finish up his old job and then move on down with them, hopefully after their house has sold. So that was huge and exciting news. Baden and Ali both have afternoon kindergarten but different teachers.

The family went out to Apollo Burgers to celebrate Chandler's birthday! The kids are dressing up in clothes made out of the tissue from the presents. Luckily the restaurant was nearly deserted because we were a noisy bunch especially with those chair legs scraping on the tile floors. I could have pulled my hair out listening to that scratching noise.

Rolling into Fall....

We decided we needed one more trip to the pool before we officially kissed summer goodbye....again.

We had a great time playing and learning new tricks. Ali can now swim all the way across the pool. Carter was doing flips off the low dive and Tyler was cartwheeling off the low dive. They really have a great time hanging out at Northcrest. Ali is such a shy and quiet child...we really wish she would come out of her shell a little. (wink wink)

We were so lucky to get tickets to the Lion King. Carter came to his first Broadway show and boy was it ever better than Madame Butterfly that I had to suffer through as a child. Not that I can complain too loudly since I also saw lots of other shows but The Lion King is definitely the way to introduce a young one to Broadway. He loved it. He was on the edge of his seat, literally the edge nearly toppling off at parts. The animals were amazing. It really was a sight to see. The elephant was my favorite, Carter really liked the elephant and the giraffes. Such an experience.

We had such a blast on our last little excursions of summer. Tyler is getting ready to let his Dad load up a fishing hook. By the look of his dirty little face you would think he was going to eat the worm. He didn't! We have just been camping for four days....it gets you a little dirty. We were very excited to join my family at the condos in Jackson after our freezing but fun camping trip with our friends at the West Yellowstone KOA. We rented a little fishing boat and took the whole family out onto a lake near West Yellowstone for a picnic and a little fishing. Lucky for us we brought lunch because the fish didn't bite.
School started once again. Yeah!!! Mom was so excited to drop the boys off on their first day. I can not express how blessed I feel that my boys are able to attend their charter school. They are learning and thriving and doing so well.

Yes she is sitting there with a beautiful butterfly sucker that any girl in her right mind would be so happy to have....but the little teardrop in her eye is priceless. She dropped her sucker and it cracked and there is nothing sadder than a broken sucker. Yes it still tastes the same but when you fall in love with looks....so sad.
How many times can you ride the musical express at Lagoon without loosing your breakfast? Ali and I did it three times in a row before I had to call uncle. Seriously why is it that kids just don't get dizzy? We had fun riding the musical express while the boys rode Colossus but when they got back they wanted to ride it with us so we went again....let's just say I was grateful for the bird show so I could take a minute to unspin.
We went to a little gold rush town in Montana and caught gold fever. We got it bad! The beauty of the gold panning is that we actually did find gold. Eight little flakes total between the two pans we panned. The kids had a great time and we got to pick out garnets as well. It was an adventure worth the $30 we paid for it even though we got maybe a buck of gold out of it. I can see how you could be swept in the gold rush frenzy....it was a little addicting.

If you can believe it, we started a new tradition in Jackson Hole this year. I have been going to Jackson since I was 8 years old. Byron and I have been going every year since before we got married, 13 years now, and we yet again discovered something magical and fun to do there. We went out on a huckleberry hunt. This year, as opposed to last year when all we found were service berries.....this year, we got huckleberries. They were so delicious!!! We found a little patch just off the highway down through the pass and did pretty well. The locals all had their idea of where to hunt and we walked around in town asking a few shop workers where we could find some. We even had a grumpy old man tell us we couldn't pick huckleberries. We found a good spot though and have officially added it to our list of Jackson Hole activities. Did I mention how delicious they are.

So, Ali wins the cute cowgirl award. She loved horseback riding and can't wait for next year when she can drive her own horse. The past few years she has been walked around on a lead. She looks fairly comfortable on a horse now though and will be ready for the big ride next year. Our wild child Ali is just to much fun to have around. If you need a pick me up just call her and she will brighten any day. She thoroughly enjoyed herself on our vacation. Even when we were just driving around Yellowstone looking for animals she made the best of it by being a dog with it's head out the window panting in the wind. I think she actually enjoyed it as much as a dog would have too.

A few Highlights from the end of summer!!

So, yesterday I got my haircut. It is shorter than it has ever been but I am liking it. I keep surprising myself whenever I pass a mirror. It is a big adjustment. I haven't even washed it yet and I know it is going to feel so super short when I dont have to use hardly any shampoo. Byron hasn't really weighed in yet, though he did say, you have been threatening me for years you were going to cut your hair. Yes, I have been and it is about time. I gave him plenty of time to get used to the idea.

You are wondering....what's the deal with Byron and the plate of food. Is he so surprised that I actually cooked a real meal so we took a photo, maybe....is he shocked to see fruits and vegetables at the same time, most likely....but really the photo is about the meat. Or should I saw fowl? Byron went hunting and shot two chuckar's...This is a photo of the hunter eating the hunted. Congratulations on the successful hunt honey. We cut off the breasts, pounded them out, (found a few be-be pellets from the shotgun), and marinated it in teriyaki sauce. So we ate Teriyaki chuckar and wild rice. It tastes better than you would expect it too. The hunting dog does continue to dig and destroy my backyard....I still don't know what we are going to do about her. Is the damage to the yard worth a couple of meals....not adding up for me.

So, school has started!!! Below is my boys photos on their first day of school. We have switched to a charter school this year. Our kids got in, luckily, in a lottery with 900 other kids. Whew! We feel very blessed to be at Legacy Prep Academy. I am the Assistant Builders Coordinator this year, it is what Legacy calls their PTA leadership. I have jumped right in at the new school and am right in the thick of things. It is interesting to learn how a charter school is operated. I have been to a couple of board meetings and love it that the administrators answer to the parents, (the board is made up of 8 parents from the school). Our school is expanding into a high school so there is a lot going on. I also started a chess club this fall. We hired a chess master from the Utah Chess Association who comes and teaches the class for an hour after school once a week. The kids are loving it and with the research that backs the participation in chess club you should all get your kids involved in a chess club. It is not that just smart kids play chess, it is that playing chess actually makes kids smarter. Look into it I was surprised by the research. They are actually making chess into a core curriculum in a lot of lower income communities because the benefits of chess are astounding.

Don't you just love the boys uniforms!!! They look so handsome and it is so sweet that my boys match what they wear every day to each other. It is so cute, are we wearing red or blue today, should we wear shorts or pants???

The photo above is from our family Lagoon day!! We went to the BYU Idaho Rick's day at Lagoon. My sister got us some discount tickets and we met the cousins and grandparents there. It was fun, way fun!!! I finally rode on Wicked and it was WICKED. I loved it. It is so fun to be able to be near our family and share in the joys of familyhood!!! I know I just made up a word but we have such a great time when we are with family; both sides.

Here is Ali with our sweet kitty Lucy. We went on a vacation and left our cats with enough food and water in the garage (they have a kitty door) to get them through the three days. When we got home Lucy was gone. We looked at the pound for her and nothing. She was gone about four days and then she came back home. We don't know where she was but I was so happy to see her again. She is such a sweet thing and is so nice to Ali. Plus we had lost Tiger Lily, our little wild cat earlier in the summer, (she got ran over.) I just couldn't deal with Ali loosing another pet. She still talks about Tiger Lily and makes me hold her hand whenever we approach the street so she won't get dead like Tiger Lily. We were all so happy when she just showed up!!!

If any of you out there know my family you will get a laugh at this photo. This is my Dad wearing a BYU-Idaho shirt....why you ask would a red blooded Ute wear a BYU t-shirt??? His grandkids won it at Lagoon and gave it to him. Being the good grandfather that he is, he always wears everything he is given by his kids/grandkids at least once so they can see he appreciated the gift. Well, we got a photo of him in the BYU shirt so we could always remember the day he switched sides. His granddaughter, Amanda is laughing and having a grand old time teasing him about the shirt as she is heading off to the Y herself. She is there now actually, loving every minute of it, as she should. So, I am no longer the black sheep in the family as my niece has finally joined me in my Y alumni status!!! Well, she is not alumni yet but she will be soon enough.

So, Ali joined a soccer team. As you can see from the photo she is really into it! No, just kidding she actually is really fond of soccer. She runs around out there until sweat is literally dripping down her cheeks. At her last game she even scored her first goal. It was a break-away and she made it all the way down the field and into the other team's goal. Dang it! We all cheered her anyway and she ran over for hi-fives and hugs. It was right after half time and they had just switched sides, dang those rules. We got her turned around and she was no less excited about her goal so mission accomplished. We even went to 7-11 for slurpees after the game.

Nana Pollan came for a visit! Byron and I were supposed to go out of town in August so we flew in Nana to come and have Nana Camp. She came loaded with stamps and paints and treasures and lots of ideas. While the trip fell through due to Byrons work the kids still had an amazingly fun week with Nana. They did more painting projects than the rest of their life combined. We have beautiful windsocks hanging in the backyard, I have cute hand stamped planter pots on my front porch, and personalized aprons for the kids in the kitchen. The kids made the banner above them in the photo to welcome Nana to town, it says We Love You Nana. They are delighted about seeing the Pollan's again this fall. We are once again on the countdown to Nana time.

We are so thankful for all the blessings we have had this year. I am so happy our kids are in a better school and are thriving!!! They are learning so much and actually really enjoying it. Byron still has a job, cross your fingers on that one. He works for CIT bank and if you read the wallstreet journal you will know it is nothing short of a miracle we are still getting a paycheck. Byron likes to say, "We have lived to fight another day." I am just so relieved every time they make it through what seems like an impossible obstacle. I am still managing the art at our friends restaurant. We just did a complete and total art rehang. It was a big job but hopefully art will stop jumping off the walls. Let's just say the sticky things really can't hold much weight. :-( School is keeping me crazy, chess club is not less stressful that it is up and running. Preschool is in full swing for Miss Ali. The Enrichment calling I have at church is challenging me but hopefully we can get that under control fairly soon as well. Life just keeps rolling along. Sometimes I handle things well and some days I have meltdowns but on we go anyway. For some reason the world never stops turning even though I wish it would, just so I can catch my breath at least. If there was a way I could figure out how to fast forward through the Utah winter that is now bearing down my neck I would. I keep planting bulbs and thinking....I am doing this because I know spring will eventually come and it will be warm again. If I can just live through the cold winter months we will be okay.....oh, that reminds me. Ali is going to learn to ski this year. Watch out Alta....here she comes. She may look small and sweet but really she is a tiger in a cub's body. Clear the way she is coming through.