September

Adam's sister Bethany and her family stayed with us the weekend after our niece's wedding. It was Labor Day weekend so we took them to Wellsville for their "famous" Labor Day parade. If you are looking for a small town experience with all of its charm this Labor Day parade never disappoints.

Adam, Bethany, Britton

One of the houses on the parade route had a Bison fenced up in their yard. A little random to us, but maybe not so much when you live in a small town??

It just happened to be Easton's 10th birthday so we had our neighbor Cara whip up a Birthday cake for him and celebrated with cake and ice cream after the parade. Then the kids all went to the Aquatic Center to swim outside one last time this year.  

Yummy! The cake was a hit.

Cousins: Easton, Kaly, Jameson, AJ, Ashlan, Jenna and Britton

The beginning of a new school year is full of fun activities when you have high schoolers. Ridgeline Homecoming was the second week of September and it was a full week for Britton and Jenna.

Britton, Collin and Adam

Britton and other Exec Officers making a pancake breakfast for the students before school.

Britton asked someone to Homecoming with a poster that said, "On a scale of 'one to America' how FREE are you on September 14th for Homecoming?" He put American flags and patriotic streamers all over the front lawn of her house. I thought the way she answered him was hilarious. She left this poster:

And then had Union Jack Flags and everything "Great Britain" in the yard. It was pretty funny and such a clever way to respond after he asked with patriotic American stuff.

Jenna got asked by Josh, a fellow cross country runner on the team.

He filled up all of the cups with water and even got all of the neighborhood kids to help him since he knew Jenna was with all of the other girls at an event. "I don't want to go SOLO. Will you go to Homecoming?" Clearly Josh made the poster all by himself. 😀

At 10:30 p.m. on the Sunday night before Homecoming week, Britton and the other Exec officers and some of the art students went down and painted the street at the intersection leading into the school. It's a tradition and I always wondered how they did it every year. Now I know that they do it in the middle of the night before Homecoming week.

They finished at 1:30 a.m. and then went to Denny's for breakfast so he got home around 2:30 a.m. Fortunately he planned ahead and took a 4 hour nap on Sunday to prepare so he felt pretty good at school the next day.

The Homecoming parade was on Wednesday evening and even though it literally "rained on their parade" we had a lot of fun and saw a beautiful rainbow. The high school Homecoming parade reminds me of how much I love living in a small town. 

 Britton and Jenna had a XC race across town that afternoon that was postponed twice because of lightening. By the time they finally were allowed to run in the freezing rain the entire team had to rush back across town to get to the parade on time.

Britton was on the Exec float.

And Jenna was right behind with the Junior Class Officers

Britton was in the first truck, Jenna is walking behind the second truck.

After the parade Jenna played with the Juniors in the Powder Puff game at the High School.

I remember playing in the Powder Puff game at my high school during Homecoming week, but no one actually showed up to watch us play. At Ridgeline the Power Puff game is a big deal and EVERYONE shows up to watch the game. They even have someone announcing the game and have refs and everything. In fact the stands were full and there were over 1,000 people in attendance to watch the Senior girls beat the Junior girls in the last minute of the game. Just before half time I saw a bunch of boys lined up near the side of the field. After looking closely I said to Adam, "Wait, is that Britton??" Yes, it WAS Britton. He neglected to tell us he was going to dance as part of the "Hawketts" during half time of the game. We would have missed the whole thing if we were weren't already at the game to watch Jenna play! When I asked him why he hadn't told us about it he simply said, "Oh, I didn't tell you? I guess I just didn't think about it." It makes me wonder how many things we have missed over the years because he didn't think to tell us about it.

I really wish I could post the video of their dance. It was hilarious! And Britton looked great. They got a standing ovation for their mad dancing skills. The whole thing was very entertaining.

 The Senior Boy "Hawketts" and the drill team members that taught them the dance. Britton is on the left standing with a white bandana on his head.

All of the Exec Officers at the Powder Puff game.

Both Britton and Jenna had a great time at the Homecoming Dance on Saturday night.

Jenna and Josh

Britton and Maleia

While they were at Homecoming the rest of us were at a fall neighborhood party enjoying dinner and wagon rides with our friends and neighbors.

The Kirks also had a few neighbor get-togethers in September for dessert and games while the weather was still good.

Cross Country was in full swing during the month of September and Britton and Jenna had some really great races. Mostly they loved hanging out with the team. They both have a lot of great friends on the team.

Jenna on the girls bus. Ridgeline fills 2 full buses for every race.

Britton also continued to play soccer with his club soccer team.

We sat through a VERY wet and chilly game on September 28th. Grandma P was able to come and see him play. Can you say Brrrrrr??

Adam, Britton and Jameson went down to SLC for the last REAL Salt Lake game of the season. Jameson even got to go on the field before the game and hold the big flag.

Jameson lined up with other kids to go out on the field with the flag

Britton, Jameson

Jameson has been playing both soccer and flag football this fall so he can decide which one he likes better. Much to my chagrin football has been the clear winner. 😓

AJ goes to all of the games and does a pretty good job of entertaining himself. He obviously likes it  better when there is a playground at the park where Jameson is playing.

Jameson playing soccer. He scored several goals during the month of September.

Jameson in a football huddle with his teammates and coaches. 

Jameson was always the fastest kid on the field and it wasn't even close. He scored a lot of touchdowns because no one could run him down. Yeah, this is probably why he likes football more than soccer right now. I wish I could post a video of him, when he turns on the jets he leaves the other kids in his dust.

I love everything about the fall, especially where we live. The kids are back in school with schedules and activities to keep them busy and it feels like the start of new things. We had a great September!