Catchin' Up.

At the risk of sounding like everyone else on Facebook...where has summer gone?
My oldest turned 15 last week.
He also received his very first paycheck:

This is good for many reasons.
He will be driving soon, and he will need money for things like gas, and insurance, and gum.
You can't go trolling for chicks with bad breath.
Jayden still dabbles in Skateboarding.
These shoes were purchased exactly one month ago:

Granted, they are an off-brand (and apparently those off-brands just don't wear as well.)
But seriously.
It is always the right shoe only.
I can't keep this kid in shoes.

I also can't keep enough cold cereal in the house.

We have been spending a lot of time in the water.
Squeezing every last bit out of summer, before Utah decides to dump snow on us again.
The cousins:

A little slip and slide action:

Doesn't Mikayla look happy?
Yeah, well she is grounded.
For a week.
I am not messing around this time, I wrote it on the calendar so I wouldn't forget and everything.
We have ONE rule at our house.
One.
This is because that is all my children can handle.
And even the ONE RULE proves to be too much for them.
The ONE RULE is:

"Tell Mom where you are going."

That's it.
You would think it would be easy, but no.
It is not.
We have this rule, because I do not care to look like a dumb crap on a regular basis.
I do not like to call/walk the neighborhood looking for my offspring.
Mikayla has really been struggling with this rule.
This past week, I realized it had been a while since I had seen her.
When I really got to thinking about it, I could not remember seeing her at all.
Did she eat breakfast?
What was she wearing?
I dunno.
Before you start judging my incompetent parenting skills, remind yourself of the fact that I have five kids of my own, and an indeterminate number of neighbor kids or cousins over at any given time.
I did the smart thing, and offered all the kids in my yard a package of Starbursts if they found Mikayla.
So the search was on.
I heard them hollering her name, while I searched the house to make sure she didn't fall asleep under a pile of molding beach towels.
We looked for an hour, and then I started to panic.
She literally, could be duct taped into the back of a window-less service van bound for Mexico.
I got sick inside.
We all kept looking, neighbors joined in.

And then, two minutes later, she came skipping out of a house in the neighborhood that had barely been moved into.
I don't know who lives there.
I have never met them.
Not cool.

I refrained from beating her butt all the way across the street.
She was crying.
I was (almost) crying, with relief.

I sternly reminded her of the family rule.
Nope. I take that back.
I was screeching at her for violating the only @$#%! rule we have!

As punishment for making me sweat it out looking for her, letting my mind wander into dark and ugly places, FOR AN HOUR I made her write in a college rule notebook for an hour.

"I will not go places without telling my mother."

She filled six pages, single spaced.
She was sitting at the kitchen counter, and I was cleaning the kitchen.
Periodically, I would walk past her, and swat her with a fly swatter.
(Hey man, it was a brand new gut-free swatter.)

I hope she learned a lesson.
My heart can't take that kind of drama.

And in other news:
I have been working on more scrap stuff.
These two are for Core'dinations cardstock.

That last layout?
The photos were taken yesterday.
I am happy to report that Mikayla is smiling again, in spite of the swatter abuse.
And I also know where she is.

She asked if she could have the bag of Starbursts, cause technically she "found herself."