The Mierins clan had a great week. We learned that except in math, Matthew has all A's in his classes so far. We are extremely proud of him and have seen some significant changes in him which has us all very happy. Nikolas continues to be on his "island" and while he hopefully will soon return to the "mainland", he has problems getting his assignments done. He is not sure why. Overall, the boys are doing well and Nikolas' new interest is being in the band, which has his Mother quite proud.

Gail has begun working on this year's production of "The Forgotten Carols." Auditions were this week so that kept her quite busy. Andy had both Municipal and Justice Court in Wendover, so he was gone all day Wednesday and Friday. Thankfully Saturday has come along and he has time to get caught up on the projects at home. He fixed Nikolas' bike using some of his Grandfather's tools which would have made him proud. Overall, life is good in northeastern Nevada. Until next week.

It is hard to believe our little Matthew is now a teenager, but it is true. Matthew turned 13 yesterday and we cannot believe it. He had a great day. He invited two friends over and had pizza and a movie. It was great seeing him have a great time.

The boys are continuing to have a great start to the school year which is a relief. Each has seemed to adapt to their new school.

Andy and Gail continue to keep themselves busy. Gail is the music director again this year for the "Forgotten Carols" which is getting ready to start up rehearsals soon. Andy was gone quite a bit this week. Wednesday he was in Wendover and then Thursday he left to attend a conference for public defenders put on by the American Bar Association in Las Vegas. He returned on Sunday and we were glad to have him home. He reported it was a great conference. While in Las Vegas Andy got to see a friend from law school which was great.

We hope you are all well.

Elko County Fair weekend has arrived. This means one important thing....four day weekend. The boys had Friday and Monday off, while Andy had a half day on Friday. We enjoyed a great Friday afternoon together. The weather has cooled off a bit as well.

School continues to go well for Nikolas and Matthew. Nikolas still cannot understand why he is on an island in class (this means he has to sit at a desk by himself). Interestingly, there was clarity once Gail received an email from Nikolas' homeroom teacher. Matthew has had one of the strongest starts to a school year and after two weeks has shown an easy transition to his new school. We are all so glad.

Gail and Andy continue to be busy as always. Andy's first week of teaching went well and he thinks this is going to be a great semester.

We hope you all are well.

School has begun and the first week has thus far been a success. There were no complaints and each boy reports he likes his respective new school which is a great relief. Matthew is excited about science club and Nikolas is talking about band. Hopefully, Week Two will go just as well.

The rest of the Mierins life is pretty much the same. Gail is enjoying the quiet of the day. She is still teaching voice and practicing with her singing group which takes up a good amount of her time. Andy's office had an attorney retire the end of August and thus his work has increased slightly. He also starts teaching his college classes this week and is excited to begin. Essentially it has been the same routine for both.

Matthew and Andy enjoyed a fun trip to the Twin Falls Temple Saturday. Each is looking for many more opportunities. The temple certainly serves as a strength and how grateful we are for them upon the earth.

We hope all is well.

The end of summer for the boys has arrived. In about 12 hours Matthew begins 7th grade and Nikolas 5th Grade. Friday was spent touring schools, getting supplies and preparing for a new school year. It has been a quick summer, but we did quite a bit of fun things. The boys seem excited and ready to begin school.

Monday and Tuesday of this week were spent in SLC. Matthew had his annual checks ups with his doctors at Primary Children's. Everything seems good, which we are glad. We did get to go finish some last minute school shopping.

Gail continues to be quite busy with her singing and students. Andy is about to begin a new semester of teaching next week. He spent a good amount of time getting ready for his two classes; Introduction to American Politics and The Nevada Constitution.

We hope all is well.

We just returned from a nice visit to Boise for a family reunion. We left Friday afternoon. The reunion was Saturday and it was nice to become acquainted with members of Gail's family. We then got together Saturday evening with Gail's brother and his family to do some swimming at our hotel and then some dinner.

Otherwise it was a normal work week for us. The boys start school in a week and it is hard to believe our summer is almost over.

We hope all is well.

We had a fairly quiet week. Matthew spent the week in Idaho with his grandparents. He reported having a good time, but was glad to come home as well. The boys have had a busy summer and it is amazing to think that in two weeks school starts. Nikolas had a great week ruling the house. He will not admit to this, but he missed Matthew. Nikolas and Gail played about forty games of Yahtzee. Mom was the champ.

Andy and Nikolas continued projects around the house. Nikolas is a great assistant. Gail and Andy had typical weeks of work. Outside of work, nothing to spectacular occurred. We hope all is well wherever you may be.