GIVING THANKS

This is the time of year to be thankful.... sometimes it is hard to see blessing when you are in the midst of a trial.  But the blessings are there.

I don't want to say much about the trial we are going through, but I do want to say a lot about the blessings we have received through dear friends and family who care.  When you look, it is easy to see the hand of the Lord.  I am so grateful for dear friends at school who have done so much to help me.  I am also thankful for my neighbor Marie-for being in tune and for being there.  Her cheerful disposition has brought me joy.  I'm grateful that my family members are also my friends.  They let me vent and cry and they give me so much support, both physically and emotionally.   I am also grateful for other caring, kind ward members.  I feel very loved.  So, thank you everyone!

A Happy Halloween!

We couldn't have had better weather for trick or treating. The kids had great fun. Anth and I took Elli out, but the boys are too old and too cool to hang out with us. Andrew went with his best bud Marcus and Anthony had a party to go to. Andrew recycled two old costumes to make this new skeleton pirate and Elli wore the cloak my mom and I made her to be little red riding hood.


The kids, like always, enjoyed carving pumpkins. Once we finally could agree upon which person got to use the skeleton pattern, we all got along and had a great time. We missed out on going to Hee Haws or pumkinland this year, but still had a good time picking out pumpkins and carving them.

Andrew's Last Game

Andrew really enjoyed the football season. It was fun to see him get better at each game. We had a breakthrough at the last game-Andrew got an injury, but didn't cry. And he stayed in the game to help make a QB sack on the very next play. We were super proud of him.

UEA WEEKEND

Since we had a few days off, we had to have some fun.  Anthony Jay went camping with the scouts at Goblin Valley where his highlight was catching a frog.  Me, Andrew and Elli went with my mom and dad to St. George to see Russ and DanaLee.  We hung out and had a good time.  Elli said the best part of going to St. George on a little trip is "not cooking".  I would have to agree with her.  Anth's big highlight of the weekend was staying home and working at his new job.  It sure is good to see him happy.  However, he had us take him somewhere "fun" and cheap when we got back because he missed out on all fun.  So we drove up to Gardner Village and checked out the witches there.  What a cool place!

DAD

After many years dealing with CADASIL, Dad had a very bad stroke.  He's been in the hospital all week, but today seems to be coming out of it.  I spent an exciting and long night at the hospital with mom. (broken hospital bed, buying Snickers bars, waiting for the Valium to work)  About 2am he woke up and was able to speak and read.  He remembers the stroke starting and wants to go home very badly.  We are hoping Monday we can bring him home, then we we'll see how he is and where to go from there.  The best part of this experience is that Erick's mission president gave him permission to call home as much as he needs and gave Mom his number.  It was very touching to listen to Dad talk to him this morning.  We are taking the kids up tomorrow and Dad will walk to the waiting room and see them.  The last thing the doctors want to do is the lumbar puncture with x-ray assistance- that is supposed to happen Sunday.  We are grateful he is still with us and we're so blessed that we all live close and can work together to support him and mom.

Fall Drive

We took a Sunday drive through Alpine loop.  It rained most of the trip, but we were able to stop at one point to take some pics.  

CUTE ELLI

We still love having a little girl at our house. Although, she sure isn't little any more. Hard to believe she will be 5 soon.

Flag Football

Since Andrew is now in 3rd grade he started flag football. Unfortunately, they have named themselves the Broncos, which is almost a cuss word at our house. But we just call them the orange team. His good friend Marcus is on the same team and my favorite thing to watch is how they congratulate each other after good plays (like hugs, and chest bumps). His favorite thing to play is defense. He loves the glory of pulling off those flags!

My First 10k

I did it!! If anyone would have told me even 5 years ago that I would run in a 10K I would have told them they were mad. I have done a few 5k races and wanted to stretch myself a little. So I started training and ran in the "Love Your Body" race for women only. It was a bit more hilly than I'd hoped, but I did it. And I finished 1 minute faster than my goal. (I also won a free sports bra!)

Camping

Our super summer vacation was a weekend camping.

We drove for about an hour on a dirt road near Strawberry Reservoir looking for the "perfect" spot.... didn't think it would ever come.... but we found it. No one was anywhere close to us and it was just about perfect. My only request for camping in the back country was for a private facility to use the potty. So Anthony dug a hole and hung up a sheet. It was not quite what I was hoping for . Next year he said he'd buy a port-a-potty for camping. It wasn't actually me who had as much trouble as Elli- it's hard to teach a little girl how to squat properly.

It wasn't expensive or fancy, but it was just what we needed-time together.

My Birthday Hike

We hiked to Timp cave as a family. Our legs were sore the next day!!! It was quite steep. It was beautiful and I hadn't done this since I was about 7 years old. The kids were very good sports and absolutely loved the cave. Our favorite part was the squirrel who waved at the camera.

Happy July 4th

We started the day with a breakfast outside in our backyard. We had all the family over- except for Russ and DanaLee. We ate pancakes (green apple with apple syrup, YUM!) and eggs (mountain man breakfast) cooked in the dutch oven. It was perfect weather and the food was great as well. The rest of the day was spent swimming and visiting with family, then fireworks. We even finished the day off with a swim until midnight playing water volleyball. It sure is nice to be close to family.

Summer Fun in St. George

We had a blast at the park in St. George. The kids loved the fountains that sprayed up when you were least expecting it.

Summer so Far...

The first two weeks of summer I was busy teaching summer school and presenting at a few conferences. Now I am home trying to catch up on all that has been neglegted over the past few months.
Anthony had surgery the first week-of course, he has to fulfill his yearly quota for surgeries. He had his carpal tunnel fixed along with another tear in his wrist. As he was home healing he came up with several home improvement projects that I am working on because he can't-he only has the use of one hand for a while.
We put new carpet in the front room, office, hall, and stairs-- it looks much better. I'm also in the process of laying hard wood in the upstairs hall-this is NOT a fun job. (which is probably why it's not done yet.) Then, I'll just need to redo the door frames and baseboards and hopefully be done for a bit.