August 04 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

Whew, time flies!!!! August came and went and it's well into September and I'm still trying to figure out what happened to the whole summer!!

The kids have been in school just over 2 weeks now. They are in portable buildings until the school gets built (sounds like it will be 2 years in the portables). Their teachers are fantastic and we are really feeling blessed that they could get into the charter school program. The main teachers only teach the basics like reading, writing and arithmatic but they get 1/2 hour of Spanish every day along with art, computers, science all from specialist teachers. It is really fun! Jarom is just struggling with the lack of playground area. They only have a small patch of grass for all the students.

Thank goodness for Football. If Jarom wasn't in Football I think we'd all go crazy. His first "real" game is this Saturday but he's been through nearly 4 weeks of practice and they have a jamboree at the BSU stadium where they play 6 minutes of offense and 6 minutes of defense against another team. Jarom plays running back (Y back) and scored the only touchdown!!! Lareen went balistic in the stands and I was pretty proud down on the field (I'm the trainer since I know a little first-aid). Anyway his team did really good and he LOVES football. He is quite good too, if I do say so myself. He's 15 pounds heavier then the average back and he is faster than anyone on his team. He really knows how to lower his shoulder and give a "crack" when he needs to as well.

The biggest news is that Hannah turned "8" and was baptized!!! It was really fun for her to have a big birthday bash with all of her friends. She had a beach party and they rode the horses and played in all of the sand we put around the stream in the back. They then, roasted hotdogs over the fire and we had a really fun time. The weather was perfect. That was in the middle of the month and just this last weekend we had the baptism. My parents came and so did the Griffin's from Logan. The Griffin's even brought the little kitty "Tuxedo" back to visit her siblings. It was a real pleasure and of course all of Lareen's family except for the twins were here for the big events as well.

One other highlight for the month was the opportunity to learn first hand from one of the Quorum of the 12. Elder Scott came to reorganize the Caldwell Stake. It was a real treat and our family is still at a higher spiritual level because of it. I just don't want to lose the feelings he gave us and left with us.

I've gotta run, thanks for all of your prayers in our behalf. Lareen is feeling some better - it appears as though she has a handle on some of her issues and will be back to her healthy best in no time.