A Lot Can Happen in a Week!

 Last weekend Victoria was still here,  Kade wasn't planning on going to Homecoming, Austin was on JV, Erik's soccer team was down, and everyone was healthy.

This weekend, Victoria is back in Idaho, Kade went to the HOCO dance last night, Austin ran for Varsity yesterday, Erik's team was ahead and played much better (though it ended in a tie), and everyone, except me, has a big bad cough (it's pretty much what goes around at the beginning of each school year- we call it the PCEP Plague.)

Victoria worked her last day at Red Bell on Thursday when I was there too. We didn't work in the same room, but I saw her around, which was fun. It was a little sad when she said goodbye after spending over a month with some of those kids. She has grown a lot as an employee at Red Bell. She has been getting over her cough for a few weeks now, so I don't think she had the PCEP Plague. 

Last day!

Downtown Plymouth Dairy King!

The Kishs came over last Sunday for dinner.

Kade went with his best senior friends to the homecoming dance last night. He had stayed home from school Friday when he had the worst of the "plague", but was feeling a little better yesterday afternoon, which was good since we had just bought tickets a few days earlier. They went to Applebee's beforehand and about 4 additional kids came over afterward to hang out in our basement and eat popcorn and chips. It was a happening night since Jason and Erik were watching the BYU and Nebraska games and Austin was out at a friend's watching the BYU game. I was in bed!

Lookin' good!

Austin was promoted to run with Varsity since he had the 4th fastest time in the team, among Varsity and JV, from last week. Since he woke up still sounding awful from his cough, Jason and I fully expected him not to set a PR. I thought he might have an okay race, but I didn't think he could go faster than last week. I was at Erik's game at 1:20 in the afternoon in the 82-degree weather with sunshine and high humidity, thinking, "There's no way Austin's going to do well with his cough and this extreme heat" during the moment he started running. Less than 20 minutes later, Jason texted me that Austin had come in sub 17! His time was 16:57, whereas last week it was 17:12. The amount of time he cut-off again is unbelievable! He was the second of our varsity runners to come in and is now the 3rd fastest runner on the team. He placed 21st overall in the meet out of 157. They're Division 1. I'm totally shocked he did that. I'll now put my plug in for healthy eating: he has been so mindful in his eating lately that I think it's really making a big difference. He needs a tad more sleep, but it's not bad for a 15-year-old boy who goes to early morning seminary!

It was a tough course, too!

He's right behind Jack, another freakishly fast Sophmore. 

Getting their medals.

Erik's game was also in that heat and he has a small cough, but not near as bad as Austin or Jason (who of course has the worst cough). He played really well in their first game, not counting the cup from last week. The team worked well together and scored their 3 points right at the beginning. Unfortunately, the opposing team caught up by the very end, but I think the boys felt more confident since their last game. Thanks to Jason, Erik has been eating some little hamburger patties, which will definitely help him grow more and gain more strength for his xc and soccer. Erik has liked sausage patties for a while (thanks McDonald's) and Jason has been formulating a plan to make a look-alike patty out of ground beef that has a similar flavor to what Erik likes in the sausage patty, making it healthier for him and something he can eat more often. Another benefit to Austin's improvement in running and his change in eating habits is that Erik is noticing. While he is still pretty particular with what he eats, he wants to eat more of his favorites that are more nutritious, like eggs and my smoothies with spinach in them. Look out world, here comes Erik!

(I don't have pics of Erik's game, but I do have some of his first xc meet!)

Erik came in 14th place on his first xc meet for the season.

His time was 14:46 for 2 miles. Here he is passing the one in the yellow just before the finish line!