Fall Break in Puerto Rico

 

A few things...

We've had a few things going on.  

I jammed my finger playing basketball and it immediately turned blue on me.  Not likely it's broken right?!

General Conference was a highlight of the weekend and along with that, of course, is the Lincoln Log build that we do.  Desh made a house with a large train track running around it.  

We had Nolan and Chad in town for a day or two and made the most of their time here!  We met for dinner a couple times, took them to a BYU game and let all the younger boy cousins think they were THE COOLEST for being able to hang out with Nolan

Beck is a master at making breakfast, along with Liev who loves making german pancakes whenever possible

We took out our dead tree in the front yard and left a huge hole, ready for a new tree at any moment

Life just keeps living...and we're doing our best to keep up!

 

1st quarter - Desh

2nd grade at Herriman Elementary has been good for Desh!  He had a teacher switch after the first month (goodbye to Mrs. Towery was rough but hello to Mrs. Wimmer made the tears go away) and has loved being in the same school as Beck.  We're still waiting to get into the spanish immersion program but if not this year, next year for sure!  

 

1st quarter - Beck

Beck has loved the move to Herriman Elementary and loves his teachers even more!  His english teacher, Mrs. Nelson and his spanish teacher, Senora Felipa, are both amazing teachers and he has adjusted to half days in spanish.  Love this boy and all his hard work!

 

1st quarter - Keen

Keen is finishing off his elementary years at Butterfield Canyon.  He loves being the oldest in the school and recently got the Principal's Pride award.  He is a hard worker and charms his teachers and classmates.  Big things are in store for this one!

 

1st quarter - Liev

Liev is in 7th Grade at Fort Herriman Middle and so far has loved being a "Sev-y".  He's adjusting to life back in Utah and learning in english again.  He worked really hard getting his assignments done for all 8 classes, which is a big adjustment for a 12 year old.  Can't wait to see what this guy brings to the world!

 

1st quarter - Rhen

Rhen is living the dream as a 9th grader at Fort Herriman Middle School.  She just received the Diamondback of the Quarter award which is a huge honor.  The teachers all love her and her friends can't get enough Rhen.  She is quite a girl! 

 

1st quarter - Rease

11th Grade at Mountain Ridge High for this beautiful girl and she just finished her first quarter with a place on the Honor Roll.  So proud of her and all her hard work!

 

Lip Sync

Our family participated in the 2nd annual Lip Sync Battle in our ward.  We were one of the 15 acts that performed that night and we decided to go Puerto Rican with our song and outfit choices.  We made a short medley of some of our favorite reggaeton songs and then choreographed a 2 minute dance to go along with it.  I'd have to say we actually KILLED it!  Everyone went for it and a couple of the kids  only felt slightly embarrassed a few times.  Mostly though we just had fun and showed off our Puerto Rican heritage!  

Oh and Josh was the MC for the night and went all out with a pink jacket, wild shirt and long black wig.  No one could have pulled it off like he did!  

 

Some busy weeks...

We've had a busy few weeks and lots of things happening in the comings and goings of the Beutler house.  Here are just a few:

Tilly still hasn't gotten used to the Utah weather and finds her way to the sun whenever she can

Rease loves her band friends

The boys have been training with Josh and I to run a 5k in November.  They are pretty dedicated (unless its a cold morning) and have even learned the importance of stretching before and after a run

Desh came home sad one day as his favorite teacher Mrs. Towery moved to the district and left these darling kids in tears.  He is pretty sad about losing his teacher

Rhen has fully embraced being 14 and a "freshman".  She loves everything about friends, football games, late nights and scary movies

Rease, Rhen and I camped out for a few hours to wait in line for a warehouse sale on our favorite swimsuits.  Nani suits do not disappoint!

Liev has watched one too many scary movies lately and now can't sleep without his light on

Josh and I and Caleb and Hayley went to see our friend Casey Elliot in Joseph at the Eccles Theater.  It was nothing short of AMAZING!

We had a great cousin sleepover

Beck and Desh worked with Papa to earn money for their "fun razor" at school

Can't beat those few weeks!  Phew!

 

School Art

Desh has a Great Artist teacher come in and help them with painting and artwork. They've been able to do some really fun art projects so far this year!

 

Jamfest

I got to play in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament this weekend with some ball friends of mine.  It was super fun and competitive and we ended up with 2nd place, which I don't think is too bad for a handful of old ladies :) 

 

Scones and Pickleball

It wouldn't be the end of summer without the Labor Day neighborhood pickleball tournament! It turned out to be a perfect day to play outside, a little drizzly in the early morning but then cloudy and warm the rest of the day.  We sat outside for hours and enjoyed the game and the good company.  Tay and Burk ended up winning the tournament and the Pickle Platter continues to make its way around to new people every year!  We love this neighborhood time we get to spend together!

 

Kennedy's wedding

Our cute niece Kennedy got married this weekend, so we took off for a short trip to Washington to be there for the festivities!  It was a fun, fast trip but so dang good to be with family and celebrate Kenny and Marty and their new life!  We LOVED every minute of being there and can't wait to see what life brings for them.  Love this happy new couple!

 

First day of school

I'm not sure how it happened, but school snuck up on me and the kids all started today!  We had a summer of fun, jammed packed to the brim with all sorts of things that we had to/wanted to do.  Now it's time to settle into our routine and get back to learning!  The kids are super excited (and so am I!) and weirdly we have kids at 4 different school this year.  Rease is a junior at Mountain Ridge High (mommy sob...), Rhen and Liev are together at Fort Herriman Middle, Keen is finishing off at Butterfield Canyon Elementary and Beck and Desh are starting new at Herriman Elementary in the spanish immersion (DLI).  There's a lot new for us and we're ready for it!  Bring on the brain power. 

 

Amazing Race

One of our favorite events of the year got postponed just by a few months until we got home.  It wasn't even a question of cancelling it, just deciding when would be the best time to do it now that we're back!  This weekend it finally arrived.  We had the biggest crowd yet and the most teams I've ever had to put together, but of course that just means more fun!  We had some weather in the beginning (a downpour just as we were about to send the teams out the door), a few teams that got lost (what's new?), and it ended in a not-so-close finish with Kelli Anderson's team winning (again!!) for the third time.  I'm not sure what that girl does, but she sure knows what to do to win!  

What a blast we had this year.  

 

This week

This week has been a busy summer week! The highlights:

I went on a birthday night out with two of my fav friends who have August birthdays - Stephanie and Melissa.  We spent the night eating, laughing, sitting in a salt cave and talking into the night!

The boys LOVE riding their bikes and have made trips to the gas station a multiple-times-a-week event

Night games with all the neighbor friends

Beautiful sunrises from our kitchen window

Cousin time

Talking to old friends (Liev and Angel over facetime)

And we met up with our dear friend Greg who we haven't seen since he visited us in PR!  

So many greats this week I had to document...

 

Keen's Birthday

We celebrated Keen's 11th birthday today and I can't hardly believe he's that old!  He shares a birthday with some pretty important people (Uncle Caleb, Melissa) so it's a day that he doesn't mind sharing.  Keen is sweet, passionate, fun, loud, careful and a boy through and through.  He loves to play football, eat a lot, and watch movies.  We love Mr. Keen and are so happy we got to celebrate his birth today!

11 year old stats:

Height: 5'3" - 99%

Weight: 108 lbs. 4 oz. - 89%

 

A new car

Well now that we’ve been home a month and a half and have had plenty of time to do our research on vehicles, we finally walked away with a new car today! We've gone back and forth between getting another big van and another truck or getting something like a suburban that fits all of us and can tow like a truck.  We've gone from one end to the other and in between it all and still didn't know what to do.  We test drove a couple of suburbans that we really liked but were just so dang expensive.  Finally we decided to test drive a little older suburban with a few more miles than we had originally hoped but it was much more doable on the price.  We took a drive down to a small dealership in American Fork to drive the suburban and a couple weird turns of events happened that made us realize that we were not meant to drive or own that suburban...First, the guy handed us the keys to test drive it and as we tried to start it realized that the battery was dead.  Bad sign right off.  He went to get another vehicle to jump it and after we got the suburban started, I jumped out of the drivers seat to go out and make sure we were good to go for a drive still.  As I closed the door to get out, the doors locked behind me and just like that, the keys were locked inside the suburban that we had just got running!  Worse, both sets of keys they had were linked together and so there was no other set to open up the car.  Um...so crazy.  So before we knew it, he handed us the keys to another vehicle for us to drive just so we didn't make the trip down and not be able to at least drive something.  I ended up being a Ford Expedition Max, which is the same size as a suburban.  I had never really looked at them at all, but when we drove it, we loved it!  It's comfy and roomy and has a few upgrades that we weren't really looking for, but are nice extras to have.  And best of all, the price was better and fit much more easily into our budget.  So the next day we drove back down and got it!  And just like that, the search is over!  We're so happy to not be spending time looking for cars anymore.  

The kids think it's great and lovingly named it Kingpin...

Welcome to the family Kingpin!