Ainsley took drawing ll this past trimester and one of the assignments was to take a picture from a magazine... cut it in half and then recreate the other side with color pencils as the medium. I am in love with how this turned out...

She is a true artist. She was down to the wire working on it... it was never "finished" it always needed a bit more tweaking on it.  It was only worth 10 pts in the grade book and she had another assignment... her final that was worth 100 pts, but to her it was a process and she wasn't able to "let it go" and move on until it was just right in her eyes.

Ainsley got a new phone upgrade which meant a super duper awesome camera on it! I'm so in love with these pictures the girls took at school. I think this could totally be some sort of teenage clothing ad!!

This past week Walker had District Honor choir where selected individuals were chosen from all 4 middle schools and they worked together with a director to put on a choral performance in 2 days. He was a tired Bug being gone all day singing til 9 pm both days! If you ask him if it was a good experience he'd say, "NO I wouldn't recommend Honor Choir to anyone!" He got frustrated with the boys that don't have the same maturity level as him... they ended up cutting one of the songs because no one would get their act together... it happened to be the one song he was most excited about!

Ainsley's choir experience happened just a couple days later and she along with a handful of Highland students were asked to participate in an event at ISU. 600 students from all over Idaho working together all day to put on a performance that night. She had an amazing experience and really hopes she is chosen to participate again. Ainsley and friend Elise talked non stop at the lunch break about what an amazing choral director they had. His advice seemed to resonate with them and they both felt like their voices had grown stronger during the workshops. We were not able to record their performance but it was streamed on YouTube. (link below) This year they've moved beyond choir robes and onto The Great Scots choir outfit...

Their performance was pretty awesome to experience in person... especially in such an amazing acoustic location!

She is right under the "y" in her name that is labeled.

https://youtu.be/lu6IOvUO1s4?t=1h58m58s

The past couple of weeks have been all about music. First off there was the kiddos Fall Piano recital. Walker this year did a duet with the piano teacher and I was so glad to finally hear the outcome after just hearing his part for the past few months.

I loved Ainsley's piece and she did too since she practiced with out nagging!! A win... win for all! :)

This is Ainsley's go to pose when sending Snapchats...

I guess she's been perfecting it for awhile...

This boy has had his phone reset by itself so many times over the past few months that all pictures he had taken are gone... if only he would have listened to my constant reminder to send me pictures of the scout outings... hanging with friends etc!

So while his picture existence on the blog and scrapbooks is nil at the moment I did get a picture of a quick dinner out the other night. This boy can eat... constantly and after eating Dave's triple burger meal from Wendy's he still had food at home later! If only I could convince him to play football... he'd totally rock the line!!

Friday nights in the fall are all about Football games!  This is so Ainsley right now... friends and school spirit!! I love that each game has a theme... this one was camo night... they were snake hunters... since the other team's mascot is a diamondback snake.

I write and document to remember life... the good and the not so good moments of this craziness of daily life... it's also therapy for me when I feel the weight of life pressing around me.  It's a way for me to freeze time and see a snippet of life more clearly.

This summer was an emotional roller coaster as we entered the next stage of teenage life... dating!  How do you turn off those "mom feelings" of trying to fix and protect?!?  That is what I struggled with and continue to struggle with in letting our kiddos grow... learn... and have new experiences in life.  I am a fixer... a worrier.. a "want to make life all rosy and better" person especially for those that I love. It's probably why a bunch of new gray hairs popped up this summer! Ha.  Sometimes I need to let things settle in my mind before I can write about them... which brings us to why it's been so quiet on the blog for the summer.

The first emotional roller coaster had to do with dating and following the "Mormon rules"... who knew that first, not everyone follows the same rules and second, for those that do abide by those rules, they will also enforce those same rules on your family even if you are not Mormon! I really struggled with this... while Ainsley was accepting and went along with it probably because it's more "normal" for her in her life experiences... especially based on where we live.

All her bff's are Mormon and I love them like my own kiddo and thankfully they love, support, appreciate and accept her for the wonderful person she is. I have always been open to having her support her friends too... if they ask her to church because they are playing the piano or she has a friend that is giving a talk... I encourage her to go and support them. I feel secure that we have given her a good religious background to draw from. Her going to the LDS service isn't going to change her and if down the road when she is an adult and decides that is the path for her, then it truly will be HER path and HER journey.

That being said, she spent the summer sending 22,000 texts and talking 182 hours on the phone (thank goodness for unlimited phone plans) to her first "real" boyfriend... meaning someone we met and talked to on a regular basis.

But while they were "dating" his family followed the strict Mormon rules.  Don't date until you are 16, only go on group dates and don't go on a date with the same person more than a couple times.  And lastly don't be exclusive until after your mission.  Those rules/guidelines I think make it tricky on the heart ..especially in Ainsley's case where she had a "boyfriend" who also went on dates other people?!? And while his parents were fine with inviting her to their family cabin for the weekend she wasn't able to go to the Homecoming Dance with him because she wasn't 16. He asked someone else but they were still "dating"? It has been different and hard to understand especially since all her friends' families don't follow the same guidelines or only adopt some of them. So yes... I had a few Mama Bear moments of "What isn't my kiddo good enough?" Thankfully in those moments I am able to call upon my wonderful friends in my life to help me understand other views... thoughts... and beliefs!  And just when you get things figured out... they are onto "dating" other people and another roller coaster begins!

This is the summer of hammocking. All the girls have birthdays within a month of each other and for each birthday Ainsley's friend Mercedes (in white) gave a hammock as a present... how super cute of an idea is that!?!

Their goal for the summer is to find the "perfect hammocking spot".  Majority of the time they usually just end up in our backyard or Mercedes backyard with an extension cord draped across the yard charging their phones while they laugh... chat... and eat food!

Trying to take a cue from Ainsley this summer to just live in the moment for a time or two. It's hard for me to not make lists and plans for today... tomorrow... or the future.  It is just who I am... I crave schedule and control and when the two things don't go hand in hand I feel it in every ounce of my being.

The passing of 2 teenagers a week ago to a horrific car accident (Ainsley knew them both) has me thinking about life and the life of my own little family... it's hard with a new driver after this event to NOT pull hard on the reins and hold her tight forever.  It's hard to not let your own thoughts and feelings cloud your teenager's thoughts, dreams and ideas.  You want your kiddos to have experiences where they learn and grow but loosening that umbilical cord is super hard when you just want to protect them from life.

Ugh... this parenting gig is H A R D!  The sleepless nights... newborn cries... and the "terrible twos" are nothing compared to guiding your young adults into being productive members of society!

Here's to the summer of living in the moment... a little more!