The Ritters

Now that the kids are in school all day I had expected to have more time to blog, but of course that isn't true. Volunteering at the school, working on business ventures, church activities, as well as so many other things have kept me running since school started. And since there's no reason for me to sit down (ie, reading to or playing with one of my kids), I don't do it very much. That's something I didn't think about before Birch started 1st grade: having kids at home makes you stop and sit still now and then, and engage in meaningful situations and conversations. It makes you put your projects to the side and read a book or just cuddle and talk. I love picking my kids up from school everyday to see how their day went. I miss them. But I am super productive during the day, which is great.

Oakley built this tower a few months ago and it's still in his room, ready to fall over at any moment. I've knocked the top 1/3 off several times and tried to reassemble it, but Oakley doesn't seem to mind. I wonder how long he'll keep it there. I'm pretty sure it's as high as he can make it!

Paddleboating over Labor Day weekend. I have a funny story about this. Roo and I were together on a boat, and at one point during the hour we decided to explore one edge of the pond. We got there and hung out for a minute, and then something made a huge splash behind us, just barely missing the boat. When I looked down I saw that it was white, and then looked up and saw a heron I realized we had almost been pummeled with heron droppings. A long, long stream of them. We laughed about this for a while.

I keep a lot of the kids' artwork on the kitchen wall, but now and then just snap some photos of things the kids have made when there's not much wall space. I love this selfie Oakley made of himself fishing.

Eric decided to take Aspen up to the cabin when 6th grade started. So now the kids get to go on an overnighter with him before 1st grade and 6th. They had a great time fishing, swimming, eating pancakes and hiking.

This year has been a bit rocky with Aspen and her classes. She has ADHD, and having to manage 6 different classes and homework and assignments from each one has been a challenge for all of us. Eric and I are trying to understand how Roo's mind works, which is of course difficult. We recently reached out to the school so the teachers will be aware of how they can help her succeed, and we are continuing to learn how to help her. I'm definitely ready for Thanksgiving break so we won't have to talk about homework for a week!

The kids and friends making Halloween crafts. This may have been mid-September......I like to get a head start on the holidays!

Scentsy fireworks show. We do this every year so I've posted many photos like this before ;) It was amazing as always.

💜

Carrots from the garden. Parsnip carrots, and boy were they big!!

I bought a new Fall wreath for the door and spray painted it black. I really like how it turned out.

Birch really wanted to be Spiderman for Halloween, so when he found this hammerhead shark costume and wanted it I was surprised, but oh so delighted. Look how cute it is!! And he rocked it. O had to make a fist during this picture to represent the dark side.

Some photos of Eric and his buddies during their annual man weekend in the mountains.....

They checked out a new trail in McCall while they were there, and Eric grabbed some nice shots of the cabin for me.

I was outside picking raspberries one day and I stopped and looked at the view. We live in such a beautiful place! I'm so grateful we found a lot with large trees all around; truly a blessing from God that we came here.

I took the kids to the temple one day after church while Eric was in meetings. Wasn't hard to get some cute photos of the kids with such a pretty backdrop!

Aspen took this one for me. I'm so grateful we have a temple so close to us! Now that the kids are in school I'm able to go more often.

Oh fireplace mantle; how many ways do I love thee. The centerpiece of our living space; the only place I have to display anything! 😜

B at an agricultural expo he went to with his class.

So every year I run the FitOne 10k in Boise with my pal Leslie. Last year Oakley ran the 5k there, and said he wanted to do the 10k this year. I was a bit skeptical, I have to admit, because he'd never run that far before, and as the race got closer he wasn't training for it. But he still wanted to do it. So Pete signed up to run it with him, though we all started the race together. Oakley was so excited to get up early for it; not sure where he gets that from!!

During the race I got a phone call from Pete. I thought Oakley had collapsed or worse; why else would Pete be calling me? Instead Pete told me that Oakley had run ahead and wasn't running with his Papa anymore. Pete wanted me to keep an eye out for him at the finish line!

Eric was there with me when Oakley finished, and my heart was swelling with so much pride as he told me how tired he was; how sick he felt because he had run his hardest. I was one pleased mama! I told him that was the joy of running; it might hurt now but would feel oh so good later.

It was once again a great race! I found out later I'd placed 2nd for my age group.

O's race results. !!

I think these are Birch's. I guess my boys like to fish.

Getting some time with Papi on his last visit. Dad likes reading to the kids, and they love books so this was a sweet moment.

Sometimes I see this squirrel on the side of one of our planters. It likes to hang out there for some reason. I left a chestnut on the planter the other day to see if the squirrel would grab it, but it was still there a few days later. Maybe the squirrel already has its food storage for Winter ;)

At the airport on the way to DC Aspen had some fun with my phone. We were excited to head out there, just Roo, Eric and me. We only had four days there but were ready to get in as much as we could!

Roo took this just before landing. We got in super late.

I'll just touch on some of the things we saw. The first morning we went to Ford's Theater. Amazing

and we had a good view of the booth Lincoln had sat in. The park ranger had written an amazing monologue explaining things from a soldier's point of view. It was very well done. Good thing for us

Aspen loves history and had just learned about US government and history in 5th grade so she had anticipated seeing many of the things on our trip for some time.

At the Smithsonian

The ancient Egypt exhibit was by far my favorite; I took a photo of this mummified crocodile to show the boys.

On the steps of the Library of Congress

My dad says we came here during our trip back in '98 but I don't remember it at all. Which is crazy because it is an impressive structure. We didn't have too much time to spend there but my eyes soaked up all the architecture; it was really something.

Jefferson's library.

We rode some of the scooters and bikes available to ride around the city. Aspen really knows how to ride a scooter; she was a natural. And Eric has spent so much time there (he comes out each year for a conference) that he knew how to get around really well.

Eric had told me for years about this burger place called Good Stuff Eatery, so we stopped there for dinner one night. Their shakes were delicious!

The weather was just perfect; warmer than Boise and with amazing sunsets.

Didn't do a White House tour, so here's our sorry photos

On Sunday we decided to go to Arlington Cemetery. It was a good choice, especially since we weren't making it to church that day. I really felt the Spirit there, which I hadn't anticipated.

Afterward we headed out to Mount Vernon. What a beautiful place!! I had remembered some things about seeing it before, but definitely forgot how amazing the view is. Aspen started to get a bit worn out I think!

So gorgeous! Honestly if Virginia weren't so humid, I would love to live there.

After Mount Vernon we headed to Burke, VA, where some of our friends we met in Cambridge now live. Of course I forgot to snap a photo, but they fed us dinner and we ate outside on their back porch while Aspen hung out with their kids (they have a daughter Aspen's age that adores books, so they instantly hit it off). It was a beautiful night, great company, and such a fun addition to our trip. After dinner we drove to the DC temple, which was closed but all lit up and very pretty.

Monday and Tuesday Roo and I had girl time because Eric was in meetings. So we went back to the Smithsonian, and also checked out the National Archives.

On our last day we had a capitol tour, and met Eric there. We found this cute little neighborhood on the way and had fun taking photos ;)

We also passed a pumpkin patch, which popped up out of nowhere, right on the side of the sidewalk! I guess you use space when you find it.

at the Capitol

Our hotel; saying goodbye

I have to tell you this story about Giordano's pizza. There's an amazing pizzeria in Chicago that we love called Giordano's, that serves delicious deep dish pizza. We had a layover in Chicago on our way home, so Eric ordered delivery and picked it up just across the street from the airport. I have been gluten free now for about 2 1/2 months as I write this, and lucky me Giordano's serves a gluten free pizza! When Eric reached the delivery boy he found out the restaurant had messed up our order and my pizza wasn't gluten free. You know how it is when you're anticipating a meal you love, and then you don't get to eat it. Well I was so disappointed. The delivery boy was very nice and offered to run back and fetch it, but there just wasn't time. So I sadly snacked on a boiled egg and some nuts instead :(
I decided to try being gluten free to see if it helped my headaches go away. So far it has worked so well that my plans are to stay gluten free. So I'm very happy about that and so grateful!

We asked Leslie to make us a Nestle Creek sign with her etcher; she is so talented and it looks just how Eric sketched it!

Eric has wanted me to go mountain biking with him the last few years on his birthday. We had a lot of fun this year and he took me to a really beautiful trail. His dad happened to be close to the trail earlier in the day and left this sign to surprise him.

💜

This is what happened when I told Aspen that the baby her Aunt Kaylene was going to have was a girl. This breaks the chain of EIGHT boys born in a row to our family. Finally another girl!

views from a run

BYU flag Dad and Lisa got Eric for his birthday. The day he put it up I was teasing him because BYU wasn't playing so well and had a game against BSU (Boise State) that day. "You sure you want to wave that thing?" I asked him. He mumbled something about true fans sticking around when their team was losing, and lo and behold that day BYU beat BSU in football for the first time in years!

I was reading to the kids and look at Jones, all interested.

Picking pumpkins

So heavy they had to roll them!

Eric has keys to the church building we go to and told the boys there was an attic, so they started begging to see it. We went over there one evening, and it was so much fun we went back the next day with one of the boys's friends, who had also been begging to see it. The attic had the same footprint as the floor below it, so it was huge, and fun to explore. Love those experiences that make you feel like a kid again.

We went to the cabin recently and got to spend some time there cleaning and doing some other projects.

The kids found this cool lamp in the shed; I'm excited to get it fixed up!

putting up bistro lights

Talked the kids into posing for a few photos...

and got one of all of us

making dinner; teaching the kids how to make sushi. We're lucky they're fans!

We went to a football game while we were up there (high school) because we have some friends up there and the husband is their coach. It was so fun! We may make that a tradition.

The kids after our church primary program; they each had parts and sang. This was Aspen's last because next year she is turning 12 and will be with the other young women of the ward during class instead of primary. She wrote a talk and gave it to the whole congregation and did a wonderful job.