In a 'fall'en state . . .

Greetings! I'm hoping the rest of you are feeling better than I am this week. I seem to have brought home a cold from Oregon--nifty souvenir. I am so loving the changes of fall, though. We drove the canyon on Saturday and the leaves are gorgeous! I must be an old fuddy-duddy because those types of things really float my boat. This week is Homecoming for Box Elder, so we're still ballin'. We're desperately trying to finish Krystle's room in the basement. Then I can have an office/guest room in her old room. She's chosen "Green Banana" as the main color with one wall striped green, pink, purple and turquoise. We're plastering the place with fun frames and pics--it'll be cute. Krystle and I are saving our dough for the choir trip to Washington DC this spring--that should be a blast (although she says we'll need a chaperone for me). She's doing well in school (being a senior hasn't totally gone to her head), featured on a billboard going up soon and working on an article for the local newspaper. Dougie hates it when I brag about him, so we'll see if he actually checks up on what I write here--This man is my hero! He is one of the most selfless and generous people I know. He is there for so many people. His insight into the problems of others and his willingness to follow the spirit in helping them find solutions is absolutely amazing. I worry if he gets any more 'perfect,' he'll be translated!

I'd like to brag a minute about my first-born child as well. Kacey is so back on track! He is dating a spiritual giant (Lanae Hunt--Dougie set them up) and they are quite serious. He's talking temple, folks! He's installing cement curbing again with our good buddy Kurt and also delivering pizzas at night. He plans to start at USU in January. Life is GOOD!

Oregon

Hey--I'm up in Portland for a few days at a research seminar. I stopped in at Deli's for a couple of days and then took a drive along the coast (stayed in Seaside--way cool!) and now I'm in Portland until Wed. I haven't been too terribly lost, thanks to Doug's GPS (and thank goodness they don't program those things to say mean things and smack me in the head when I screw up). Doug's holding down the fort at home and missing me intensely, I'm sure. I hear that Kody forced a fumble to save the Bees from going down six points and Keaton had numerous "pancakes" in his game. Kacey is back around and went with Krystle and her friends to a concert (Stray Light Run and others) on Friday night. Watch for family photos on the site soon--they're waiting for me when I return.

Peachy Times

Kacey left for Calgary Sunday morning (boohoo), but we had a very eventful week with him around. He hooked up for raquetball and tennis a few times, caught a movie with Krystle and me, met the girl of his dreams, and stayed up late playing games and chatting with the girl of his dreams. He'll be back in a month to pick up where he left off (and hopefully get into school).
Kody's JV team won this week, but the varsity lost. He didn't get much playing time for jv since he had concussion earlier in the week, but he had a great solo tackle in the varsity game. Keaton's team lost a close one on the "pasture" at West Haven (seriously, the worst field ever) and Mo's team got creamed again. We played games with Dave and Brett until late on Friday night and unfortunately Doug got lucky and edged out the win in Acquire (he always picks the lucky stocks). Krystle and I attended the Peach Queen pageant and cheered for the winner, sweet Celeste Wouden. The annual Peach Days event was splendid as Brigham City welcomed 80,000 visitors (Note to self: don't try getting a Scuba burger right after the parade ever again).
I'm heading for Portland, OR on Wednesday for a week. I'll visit Dad and Judy and my high school buddy, Becci Carr Battaglia. Then I'll attend a research prevention conference focusing on preventing underage drinking. The Youth Empowerment Team (a BC coalition I'm been helping out with for a few years) is footing most of the bill, so I'm very excited. I'm still teaching an online psychology course for Stevens-Henager College and they've asked me to participate in selecting new textbooks and updating the syllabi for social science courses--just one more project to keep me out of trouble, right?!

So, this is what blogging is all about, eh?! Pretty schnazzy, I must say.
This version of Ayottes is doing just splendid. School is back in and the house has come to order. Yippee! We currently have three boys in football, two teens driving, one pet fish, one house guest, no kids in braces, three fantasy football teams, five ringing cells phones, six blasting stereos, one psychotherapist and a partridge in a pear tree (okay, I lied about the bird).
Life is busy, but great. Kacey is home visiting before heading to Calgary, Canada to install more security systems. Krystle is a Senior in high school and making every second count. Kody gets plenty of playing time on the JV, despite his frequent injuries. Keaton grew four inches taller this summer and found his new love, football. And Moises is thrilled to be in fourth grade, Cub Scouts and football. Doug cheered on the Broncos in a pre-season game against the 49ers and wishes there weren't so many delinquents in Brigham City. And me, I'm just therapizing (yep, it's a word) the town and honing my Guitar Hero skills.