We made it to the lake with just our family! And Grammy!

We love taking friends, but sometimes it's nice to be together.

One morning I started getting text messages from Austin, who is a Mesa Police officer
 telling me there was a bomb threat at Mesa High.
 Normally it's a hoax, but they were
starting to think this was a real deal.
Not going to lie, I had a good hour of panic while things were unfolding. 

Lane was in his first hour in the main building.
He wasn't responding to my texts.
Austin said not to worry because they made the students evacuate and had to 
leave all backpacks behind. He may have been rushed and not had time to grab his phone. 

It didn't help that the school had not sent ANY information to the parents.
I was relying on everything Austin was updating me on.

Word started getting out and I guess it was a mad house of parents rushing to the school.

They evacuated everyone to the football stadiums.
Even though it was September, it was still a hot day!

Then they decided to bus them to Mt. View High school.

I took screen shots of the fb live.

Any by now I had heard from Lane, so my fears eased.

Snipers and all.

It took Lane 2 hours to make it on a bus.

Once they arrived at Mt. View they put them in either the gymnasium or auditorium.
Lane was in the gymnasium.
They had plenty of water but he only got 1 uncrustable to eat the whole time he was there.

Hours kept ticking by with the most vague updates from the school, basically saying
DO NOT come get your kids. They are not allowed to leave.

They dismissed the Mt. View kids to go home but Mesa kids had to stay. 
Lets just say frustration levels were high with kids and parents.

Oh, and apparently FBI agents came in the gymnasium 3 different times to arrest random
students. Thanks to phones, and teenagers,
of course there were videos on social media left and right of it!
One kid who got arrested was sitting right next to one of Lanes friends!
It was wild.

It was now 4pm well after school normally should have ended.
Parents decided to go to the school anyway,
and they were starting to let them get checked
out to go home. Que mass chaos. 
I got stuck in the longest line a couple of miles away to the entrance of the parking lot.
My friend text saying she was at the front of the line and would get Lane for me and to 
turn around and go home.
Not 1 minute later they shut down the line and said they were not releasing anymore students.
Lane made it out in the nick of time!!

I felt terrible for the ones still stuck inside!
It was now 9 hours from when this all started.
To make it worse, they announced they were loading them back on the buses and taking
them back to Mesa High.
Whaaa????
The poor parents had to get back in their cars, fight insane traffic when their child
was right there. 

My friend didn't get her daughter until 8pm. 8pm!
And they were not allowed to get backpacks.

What a day.
I haven't heard recent updates, but apparently the bomb threat came from
another state. The description of the campus was spot on, so it was an old employee or student.

Miss Olive got baptized!

The girls and their tiny water cup creations were all over my house.

And helps wash down Taco Bell!

I went paddle boarding down the river one morning with my friends!

A couple of my friends sent me pictures of Lane from the sports assembly at the school.

Go golf team!

Rusty got to do baptisms for the dead for the first time!
Only a year after he got his recommend. 
My friend invited him to come with them.
The thought never crossed my mind to set up an appointment for him. Oops.

Grateful for people who are way more on the ball than me!

I was leaving my parents and was on 24th street turning on to Southern.

Hey, that guy on the tractor looks like Casey.

Oh wait, it IS Casey!!

LOL!

Only in Gilbert...

Aaron our neighbor got married.

The girls were SO excited for the reception.

They danced their hearts out.

We FINALLY were able to get the Evans to the lake with us.
We tried a couple of times but rain squashed our plans.

 

Extension of Summer

Even though the kids went back to school, the weather permitted
water activities well into the Fall months!

After preschool we would go to swim lessons with Ms. Kim.

August is my favorite month of lessons.

They have been in the water all Summer and are super confident
and strong in their abilities .

Casey smoked pizzas for the neighborhood!

Lake day with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa!

My favorite scene after a long day at the lake.
Freshly bathed kiddos with sun kissed faces all tuckered out.

Lane started to the golf team so our backyard turned into a practice putting green!

Grandma Ann had a rough bought with getting old.
I don't know how else to put it, lol!

She went to an assisted living facility for a month.
I went to visit a couple of times and cut her hair for her!

I love the stuffed animal tucked in tightly and deep concentration. 

Saturdays are my long run days.

I wake up early to beat the heat and try to get 10 miles in.

The morning sunrises are on point.

We love having Ruby over to play!
These 2 are twins a couple of years apart.

Nothing like going back to your old high school
 for parent night for your own child who is in the same  high school!

We had an adult only day at the lake.

Let me just say, it was AWESOME!!

No whining and fighting... can't beat it.

Sunsets on the water are sure beautiful.

Lane has a ton of friends in my parents neck of the woods.
Kind of fun to see your grandparents at their ward party!

 

It's that time again!

Casey and I were at Girls Camp for meet the teacher night.

Luckily, Grandma who was babysitting, is all about that kind of stuff!

She was more than willing to take them in our place.

This was Rusty's last meet the teacher, as he is growing up all to quickly

and moving onto Jr. High next year!
His teacher is Mrs. LeSueur. 

Lindi got Mrs. Gershkowitz!
Such a mouthful for third graders, haha. 

I have met both teachers, and they are absolutely lovely.
It's funny how each child always receives teachers that they need
personally to help them accomplish their best.

Meanwhile, Lane was at Mesa High being all grown up at his Freshman
 open house, without his mother!

HOW did this happen?!

I have an adult sized child. 

It's wild. 

Quite a bit of his friends have older siblings who take the "freshies" under their wings.
Because of this, and older neighbor friends,  Lane is just as close to Sophomores and Juniors
as he is kids his own age! 

It's a wonderful thing, and the perk to ride connections isn't so terrible:)

They showed them around campus and helped them scout out their classrooms.

Then drove them to Chick-fil- A for lunch afterwards. 

 He is SO ready for High School!

I try to spruce up the kitchen the night before school.
You know, to try to make it seem more appealing.

And it's my only morning with a legit breakfast.
Because lets face it, early mornings are rough. 

Lane was the first to leave with  A hour seminary.
He is a busy boy this year.
He leaves at 6:30, and because of golf, doesn't come home until 5-5:30. 

I was lucky to sneak this picture of him before he slipped out the door. 
He rides with Collin and Emily Rudd to school. 
Bless the teenage drivers in our neighborhood willing to take him!!

He said he wasn't nervous for his first day of high school.
Weirdly, I wasn't, either.

Next wave was the elementary kids!
Now the nerves were coming.
I had a pit in my stomach and praying everything would go smoothly for them
after their previous year off from public school.

6th and 3rd grade, here they come!

Driving them a short distance to the bus stop was not so terrible:)

This little munchkin is enjoying having the house and tv all to herself again!
One last year of preschool with Ms. Suzy before her world gets rocked at Kindergarten.