October Life #4

PING PONG

My cousin Callie was selling her ping pong table and we quickly jumped on the opportunity!  It has been a great source of entertainment for everyone....especially the neighborhood boys.  It is so fun to hear shouts of glee coming from the basement!

DATE NIGHT

Speaking of the basement, Tim and I have a standing "date night" down there on Sunday nights.  We put the kids to bed, make popcorn and catch up on our favorite shows.  We both agreed that its our favorite kind of date!  (So sad that Breaking Bad is over...not that I'm promoting shows about cooking meth....but it was spectacular!!)

GEORGIA

Georgia lost her first top tooth.  I'm really grateful that it happened AFTER family pictures.  It is her rite-of-passage into being a big kid.  Oh those funny smiles.....

She was a stinker one day at school.  I happened to be there and witness it.  I'm thinking this is the only time someone has acted out at school...so hopefully it won't happen again.  But she did have to write an apology note and give it to her teacher.  Georgia was NOT happy with me and hopefully realized that consequences do happen.

Georgia always loves to write the bar codes on the tags when we purchase stuff from bulk containers.  I sure appreciate the help at the grocery store!

GOOD TIMES

We have had lots of good time just playing around the house this past week.  No electronics and minimal fighting!

October Life #3

PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES:

We recently had our first parent/teacher conferences a few weeks ago.  I always stress about conferences.  I feel like it is a direct reflection on the parents.  How long and hard you work with your children that boils down to a 10 minute conference.  Everyone had their certain areas that they need to work on, but thankfully everyone is respectful and a good class citizen.  Only 6 more months until I feel like a loser again.

VOLUNTEERING AT THE SCHOOL:

Now that Georgia is in Kindergarten, I have more time to volunteer at the school.  I'm there 3-4 times a week working in the three different classrooms.  I can honestly say I LOVE spending time there.  I helps me know all the kids in the various classes.  I can benchmark where my kids are with math facts and reading levels.  I get to know the teachers and they know me.  I love when my kids mention things about their classmates, I know who they are talking about.

CANNERY

I had the opportunity to serve at the cannery a few weeks ago.  I love going there and seeing the church  "in action".  There are so many opportunities to serve there and I appreciate the efforts of the service missionaries.  It is the "go and do" of the call to serve.

Several years ago, I took my kids to Welfare Square in Salt Lake where the temporal affairs of saints were live in action.  I guess I really love seeing service in action.  I love seeing people wanting to make a difference.  I hope I can serve a mission there someday.


FALL AND RUNNING:

Fall is by far my most favorite season.  I get giddy when we have overcast days.  The mountains look majestic right now.  The trees in our yard are starting to shed their leaves.  I've been making a lot more soup and rolls for dinner and we've been turning our fireplace on in the mornings.  I'm one happy girl!

I also love "crunchy leaf" runs.  I headed up the canyon this morning and time felt like it stopped.  The trail looked like a Nike Poster with a canopy of trees and leaves covering the ground.  I had a smile on my face for the entire run.  I was sad that my 10 miles were over.

Running has been going well.  I haven't been racing lately and my next big race won't be until 2014 (except for the turkey trot...but that won't be big).  It has been nice to just run with no major race pressure.  I haven't had any major injuries and have continued with  my strength training.  I've been training with some amazing gals and I'm grateful for their insights and company.

I've been writing a few blog posts about my recent running journey.  Running is such a huge part of my life and I feel like I still have a lot to learn.  Writing about it helps me sort out my thoughts.  Someday I will posts those thoughts...but I still need to polish them up.

October Life #2

FALL BREAK FINALE

On Monday of fall break, we went to Hee Haw Farms.  The kids loved it but I think I'm growing weary of the place.  They had fun riding the slides, playing with animals, going on a hay ride and hay bale jumping.  Glad its over!

October Life

GENERAL CONFERENCE:

We were thrilled to watch General Conference the first weekend in October.  I thoroughly enjoy staying in my jammies, eating monkey bread, and listening to all the general authorities.  Weekend bliss!

FALL BREAK:

We had fall break and decided to head up to Park City.  The drive up Parley's Canyon was absolutely majestic.

We did a little shopping at the outlets, went to Main Street and swam lots at the hotel pool.  Though I'm still not a fan of sleeping in the same bed as my kids, we survived the night!

On Saturday, we went swimming again and enjoyed the hotel breakfast.  I wish we had gone on a hike to enjoy the fall colors, but the kids were itching to go to the movies.  We saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2....it was really funny!

FAMILY PICTURES:

After the movies, we had our family pictures.  I always think it is crazy that we get all gussied up for a picture.  We never looked that neat and clean.  Except on family picture day.  So when you get our Christmas card...please know we never really look like that!!  Pictures wore us out, so we went to Mcdonalds for dinner.  Yuck!

GARDEN:

I TRULY love the change in seasons.  I love when fall comes and it is time for yard work to come to an end.  I  thoroughly enjoy working in my garden, but after months of weeding and picking, I am always ready for a rest.  I cut down all my raspberry canes today.  Those thorny canes cut me up good! All that is left in the garden are the potatoes, carrots and onions and they can all handle cooler weather. I'm excited to not have the "picking the veggies" chore lingering over my head every Saturday.  But come March/April, I'll be primed and ready to plant!!

September Stuff #2

BMW CAMPOUT:

For the past four years, we have gone on the BMW campout.  BMW - Barlow, McCann, Wilson families (the Macdonalds used to go with us but they moved to St George, so the McCann's took their place).  Our kids talk about this campout for MONTHS!  It is one of their favorite traditions ever.  All the kids are the same age and everyone gets along.

We went up to Mutual Dell in American Fork Canyon.  It had been snowing that weekend, so we went up just for dinner.  We had a roaring campfire!  The boys were typical pyro's and the girls decorated the picnic tables with leaves and acorns.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.  We had the famous Snipe Hunt.  The kids were all very sad that we headed home after dinner.  But it was definitely the right decision...it was FREEZING and it would have been a very long night!

Everyone came over to our house for breakfast in pajama attire.  The kids played and played all morning.  Then they had 2nd breakfast and played some more.  Everyone was sad to see the "campout" end.

FOOTBALL:

Carter started playing flag football.  He is definitely not as excited about it as soccer, but all his friends are on the team.  We'll see if we do it again next year.

GYMNASTICS:

I really have encouraged our kids to do a sport to keep us active!  I don't care what they do...just so long as they do something.  Abby really wanted to do gymnastics.  I was super excited she wanted to do this.  She is such a skinny-ninny and needs to get stronger.  She has really liked it and I can see progress every time.  We still have awhile before we make the olympic team, but she is putting some meat on her bones!

September Stuff

4th GRADE FIELD TRIP:

I got to be a chaperone on the 4th grade field trip (considering I have three 4th graders, it's a given I will be a helper on a field trip!!).  It was a science day at a local park.  Each kid went to different science stations.  I helped run the finger prints station.  But the most popular station was the snail racing.  I know almost all the 4th graders!

SOCCER:

Fall soccer is finally over!  Georgia was not loving soccer this year and it was a fight to get her to go.  Thankfully, she had a great coach who let her be goalie a lot.  She liked the treats though.

Annie was the best runner on her team.  She ran her heart out and had lots of great kicks.  But the poor thing never scored a goal.  She did a great job and I love watching her run!

Carter's soccer skills exploded this year!  He was by far the best soccer player on his team (he was also older and much taller than everyone else).  He could out-run everyone and his foot-skills got better with every game.

I've never been a huge soccer fan.  Actually, I would make fun of soccer players.  But I've had a major change of heart.  Though it is not my sport of choice, those kids are working hard and getting better with every practice.  I think we will try to put Carter on a more competitive league in the spring.  I secretly hope will continue with soccer (which includes lots of running!!!!) until he gets into jr high.  Then he can run with the high school running teams.

SUPER SATURDAY:

Georgia has been bugging me for weeks to take her to get a pedicure for her super Saturday.  I finally gave in and took her.  She was over-the-moon excited and picked out a lime green color.

She's already been asking when we can go again.  I think I've exposed her to a life of luxury!