Not much has happened since last post, but since this has become my only form of contact with Alex (Elder) Zollinger, I decided to post a couple of pictures that may not make sense to anyone but him. The other picture is to show the colors in our backyard. Last week they were all bright green, and in no time at all, shazam!

Ashlyn is recovering nicely, and should be back to full activity at the gym this week. She used the injury to its fullest, coming home at least once from school, because of soreness in the chest and neck. If I was still in private practice, I'm pretty sure it was a very serious "soft tissue" injury, and that it will have negative lifelong effects. Since I'm not considering a lawsuit however, and whiplash isn't conducive to a career in gymnastics, I guess the excuses will have to end.

Abby believes that while Ashlyn was lounging around, she has become significantly better at the uneven bars, and she expects to put the smack down on Ashlyn when next they are in the gym together.

Addison is still working at the golf course, but he is now responsible for placing the holes each day. I personally have lost only a little of my affection for him, but there are golfers in town lately that if they could find him, they would give him a serious beat down. What kind of crazy golf course manager allows a kid who doesn't play golf to choose the hole locations? Any of you that have found yourself cursing under your breath (or openly) while at the Teton Lakes Course in the last several weeks. Addison can be found in his room most afternoons playing sadistic games on the Xbox. (This may explain his need to inflict pain on those who choose to recreate in the great outdoors.)

Cari and I have been trying to harvest all of our crops before the serious temperature drop. For those of you who just took a double take at the thought of us growing any type of a crop, you're not alone. Don't worry, we aren't grinding our own wheat and drinking powdered milk yet. We grew some tomatoes, cucumbers, apples and one huge cabbage. We don't have any idea what to do with the cabbage, but man did it grow well. We have also been serious about organizing the garage and the shop before snow flies. Unbeknownst to me, it is not much fun to wake up in the morning and scrape snow off the car. Cari believes that if we have three drivers, and a three car garage, there should be no need to scrape ice and snow. (Personally I think we risk spoiling Addison if we let him park in the garage, but we'll give it a try.)

Alex is still loving his mission, and we are coming up on the one year anniversary. He will undoubtedly begin taunting us again as our temperatures go down, but we will find something fun to do in the cold whether. His birthday is also coming up on October 8th, so if you are reading this and want to make an Elder's day, send him a note. His address is available at Mandi's blog mossposse.blogspot.com.

I seem to have missed last week, but I was busy at work all weekend. The events that took place week before this consisted mostly of a house full of little boys for a change. Heidi Zollinger Nielsen stopped by for a few days with her 3 boys, technically it was to visit Grandma Z, but we enjoyed her boys and seeing the action figures in use by someone other than Addison.

This week was a bit more eventful. We started off with a fun ride in the Ambulance with Ashlyn. After completing all of her spectacular flips and twists, she was sitting next to one of the pieces of equipment doing leg lifts when a mat weighing 100+ pounds fell on top of her and left her refusing to move and having difficulty breathing. My first instinct was to pick her up and let her sleep it off, but when she refused to even consider moving, the Emergency Services people were summoned and they determined that an x-ray would definitely be in order. After several hours of being strapped to a back board, Ashlyn was ultimately diagnosed as having sprained her neck, and bruised her ribs. She is doing somewhat better, but still has to wear the neck brace for a little while each day.

Tuesday, the Mayor of Rexburg announced his resignation to take a job in Utah, and put the City Offices into a tailspin. I spent all week running around trying to put everyones minds at ease, I believe things will go on, and in about 1 month, I'll know who the new boss is.

Friday night brought us another moment of excitement. Addison and his friends left the house around 12:30 a.m., and as a parting gesture, one of them lit a homemade firecracker. One of the neighbors thought it was a drive by shooting. I answered the phone to a very concerned police officer that was one of 8 surrounding the house. He asked very careful questions about my well being, and I assured him it was not gunfire. When I opened the door, it was like you see in movies, police cars lit up like Christmas trees lined the street, and 3 officers with their hands on their guns were cautiously standing off of my porch. Addison was forced to rat out his friend, but once the excitement was over, they let him off with a warning.

Cari has been home all week with a very bad cold, and we have all been avoiding her in hopes of avoiding the bug. So far, Abby is the only one following in her mother's wake, and we hope it remains so.

Alex got transferred, and will be celebrating his birthday and one year anniversary in what he referred to as a truck stop town across the river from New Orleans. His current address will be posted on Moss Posse blog after he writes tomorrow.

Last week when I agreed to handle the Blog responsibilities, I thought it was for that week only. Apparently, the last person to touch a blog is responsible until another person agrees to take over, and currently, there is nobody in this house coming anywhere near the blog. I'll have to see if I can exert pressure at the appropriate time to change their attitudes.

There isn't much new that has happened since last week, but I will fill out the details a little bit since last week was a maiden voyage on the blog, and it didn't seem as fulfilling as I thought it should be.

With Summer coming to an end, the girls are both back in school. With the 15 hours per week of gymnastics, piano lessons, and homework, it seems they aren't around very much, and that seems wrong for a 9 and 11 year old. Abby reminds us regularly, that she will be 12 in just a few weeks, but that doesn't really change the overall perception that they are growing up too fast.

Addison continues to work at the golf course every morning at 6:00 a.m., and sleep all afternoon. Him I see, but only in the wee hours. He spent last weekend in Island Park, and he maintains that the scars from the last two summers working there are still deep, and that it will take time for them to heal. He seems to be enjoying the extended summer, but will be happy to start school in January.

I don't think I mentioned his adventure while we were in Illinois. Our 5 pound bird dog Miley (a purse dog of the Yorkshire Terrier variety) captured a full size Crow and shredded it in the house and then presented him with the prize to clean up when he got home from work. He apparently didn't fully appreciate her gesture, because he locked her in her room for an extended period. She responded by leaving him a small present at his bedroom door every day. Hasn't happened since we got home, so we only have Addison to believe, but the dog does seem to truly have it in for him.

Alex is loving his mission, and will likely come home a rabid fan of LSU football, and cajun cooking. He seems to have the makings of a very good missionary though, and if the worst thing that happens to him is a drawl and a changing of allegiance in NCAA sports, I guess we'll continue to claim him. We are a little concerned about the keepsakes he sent home so far. Does anyone know what the appropriate decorating use for alligator heads and turtle shells is?

Mandi, Jake and Kempton are settled back into their routines, and Mandi maintains a much more entertaining blog than ours, so no further comment is necessary.

I continue to find time to golf as you can see from the slide show, and Cari continues to find ways to make all of our lives better.