Happy Halloween!

The Cutest Jack Sparrow Ever!!!

These two--this is why we keep remembering that Halloween is fun-for the little guys!!!

Dracula's family-and a pirate for good measure! I was so impressed that Uncle Dave got dressed up! Little Josh was so excited!

Emily started out as The Corpse Bride but ended up also looking like the Adams family Mom!

We are so glad that we live in a little town where we know all the neighbors. Our kids go door to door and all the neighbors just love having the kids come. When Justin came home and spread out his loot it was amazing to see the candy! It was all really good stuff! I think he had six full size candy bars and the other two thirds was good chocolate bars.

I have to keep reminding myself that the kids just love the entire thing! Mitch had some friends over and ate pizza and played video games!

Pumpkin Carving

Dave is such a good sport about pumpkin carving. However, for the past four years he hasn't had to actually do any carving! We did them at his ward activity and then last year Tim came and helped us again! With Tim getting married and moving far away it was just us again. So-out came the power tools. I thought I got a shot of the saber saw but I didn't! Is has been probably thirteen years ago that he decided to pull out the power tools to carve the pumpkins. Makes quick work!


EewwH!!! Pumpkin guts are gross!

The Pumpkin Patch!

Saturday we headed out to Patch's Pumpkin patch! We have always picked up pumpkins for Emily and Justin. Usually from a farmers front yard where they are laid out in huge mounds. Sometimes we have picked them up at the grocery store.

This year I wanted to take them to a field where they can wander and pick their own out of thousands of choices. I remember taking Mitch and Ashley when they were really little.

These two little boys were so excited when they saw the acres and acres of pumpkins to choose from!


Little cousin Josh is starting to really hang out with us a lot. They all call him Joe! He was almost overjoyed with all the pumpkins. He really took his time selecting just the right one.

We told the kids that they had to be able to carry the pumpkin that they chose. Josh picked one but couldn't quite pick it up. He and Justin had a team effort to carry it to the cart.

Justin had no trouble carrying his pumpkin of choice.

This shot of the two of them pulling that pumpkin cart just melts my heart. I think I know what a certain Grandma is getting for Christmas!

Beautiful Miss Emily-not such a little kid anymore!

Pumpkins are just such a happy plant! That bright orange color popping out when everything else is turning dead and brown. Pumpkin orange is one of my favorite colors!

These two little boys, both little bonus babies on the end of our families. We are both pretty lucky to be able to have little people around a bit longer.

Fall Break-Sand Hollow Oct 20-22 2011

Even with his cast Mitch caught some good air!


The sun was so amazing during the "golden hour" before it gets dark!




Em's getting better and better!





It is still very surreal to look up at that big boy and realize he is MY CHILD! How did he get so big? I was having trouble getting the board off the boat and into the water-he just picked it up and dumped it in!

Nothing graceful but I was up momentarily!!

Ash is a natural at the slolum ski!

Remember when you were a young tween and you wrote in your journal-"I haven't written in a long time"? That is where I constantly feel I begin here. I recently read a post over at 71 toes about how she has had to only allow herself fifteen minutes on her blog posts because she has so much to do. Perhaps that is what I need to schedule myself. Perhaps fifteen minutes, just enough to get the details. I guess that I can always do fifteen one day and fifteen the next finishing the photos! They seem to take forever to upload.

Our family went to Southern Utah last week for Fall Break. It was absolutely gorgeous weather! We could not have asked for more beautiful or lovely conditions. We went to Sand Hollow Reservoir and just had a ball. Miss Ashley came over from college a couple of times and we took her to dinner once. It was good to see her. She is loving college life. I don't know how much she is loving the actual "college" part but she certainly is enjoying the single life. I am certain she hasn't gone to bed before midnight(being conservative) since August 15 when we left her there!

Mitch was able to go wakeboarding! We had requested a water proof cast when he got the full one changed to a half cast.

I never did write about his half cast--He was able to play the last two games of the football season!! It was so great!! I will add some pictures of that later!

The temperature was lovely! The water was a bit chilly for me, about 66 degrees but it didn't slow Mitch and Emily down. I actually did put on the full wet suit and tried wakeboarding!(imagine a European swimming athlete--not so pretty!) I had only tried one other time about four years ago before we got the smaller girls board. I crashed and crashed but I did finally get up for a few seconds! I will have to try again more often. I just have to suck it up and put on the wet suit!

Little Justin is like me, he gets so cold, so he was in the water but not as much as when it is warmer.

Emily is starting to get better at the wakeboarding. She really struggled to get up this time. She has done it numerous times. However, finally after about ten tries she finally did it! She will probably start to be a natural next year.

I took over two hundred shots of Mitch jumping the wake. It is so hard taking moving pictures! I get so frustrated because I just don't understand the connections between aperature, shutter and exposure! I am trying. This is the winter that I am going to just really focus some time on learning to shoot in manual and figure it out!! I did get a few(maybe ten) awesome shots of him in the air.

We had to leave Hollie dog home. She is allergic to Southern Utah. We don't know what it is but she has gone with us two times and about died. She just can't breathe--it is horrible to watch her suffer. She stayed with Grandma and Susie dog!

Letters

Oftentimes I feel like I want to write and then I just don't make the time to do it. This week has been one of those weeks. Numerous things have happened that I have felt I should write about.

A week ago my sweet friend and neighbor Michele's sister passed away. She was only 37 years old. It was sudden. There was no illness or accident. She played with her family during the day and that evening told her husband she hurt and then was gone.

I am blessed to know Michele and her parents. I have met this sister a time or two. However, this loss has just shaken me. I really didn't know Natalie. Yet I know that Natalie has left behind a husband and three very young children. The youngest is only two.

My heart just aches for these little children. Will they ever truly know how much their Momma loved them? Will they always wonder what she felt about them?

A few years ago when Anne Peterson died I had many of the same feelings. Her family was so young. They knew she was going to die, however. I wonder if that made it so that she thought about saying those important things. I know that she made a point of having pictures with her children.

If I died tomorrow would my children know how I feel about them? Would they know that I would do anything to help them? Do they know that I love them more than life itself? Would they be able to find a picture of me with them? All the little stories that are locked inside my heart-are they written down anywhere? I have work to do.

If I am very honest I don't think that my children would really understand how I feel about them. I don't know that a child can understand that until they have children of their own. However, during this last week I have had the impression more than once that I need to write letters to my children. These are letters that I will not give them now. Hopefully, they are letters that they can all have when I am old, old. I am going to start writing my children letters and putting them into a special box. I hope that they don't ever have to grow up without me, but if they do, I want them to be able to have a letter from me telling them what treasures they are to me.

As I write this I feel like maybe I should write them more letters that they can read now. The problem that I have with this is that often my children look at me like I have lost my mind when I talk about emotions and feelings. They also react to me telling them what I feel is important by saying I am preaching to them.

Not quite sure what or how, but I know that I must write down these feelings for my children. I know that I would love to have one letter from my Dad that told me how he felt about me.

For now I get another day with my children and husband. Every single day needs to be treated as a blessing. These people in my life need to know that I feel that THEY are MY BLESSINGS.

Justin is 7!!!!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Justin stayed home from school with a fever. A bit sad because he was planning to go with Grandma Janet to Salt Lake to Build a Bear. He will get to do that later!
After a few hours he started to feel much better and was able to go outside and try out his new bike!

Justin picked out his cake yesterday--loves some football! He was excited to have friends and family over to celebrate with him!

Happy Birthday, sweet boy. Don't get too big to give me hugs and kisses! Love, Mom

1. Justin loves Lego's.

2. Justin loves listening to music at night.

3. Justin is learning to read.

4. Justin is a sweet morning boy-lots of loves and kisses.

5. He thinks his big sister Ashley is pretty special-misses her while at college

6. wants to be a lawyer when he grows up!

7. His favorite colors are blue and hot pink(perhaps his big brothers cast helped him decide!!)

Happy 7th Birthday! Sweet Justin

Happy Happy Birthday to you!
October 10, 2011
Poor little Justin. As I was showing his VIP poster at school he got sick. He didn't even get to enjoy his raspberry filled powdered donut! He was sick again in the car, at the store and then many more times at home. Poor little guy! He got out of bed long enough to open his presents. A new bike!!! Lego's and hot wheel cars as well.

His birthday cake will have to wait!(it is waiting patiently on the counter)

General Conference

Twice a year our church has General Conference where all the members get instruction and guidance from our leaders.

We are blessed to be able to watch the sessions of conference on television. This year however, Dave was able to get us tickets to attend in the conference center. We hadn't been for over 20 years and never in the new center.

We took the kids( Justin was too young) and Parker. The Sunday morning session is preceded by the Tabernacle choirs "The Spoken Word". It was lovely.

I always enjoy conference but it was wonderful to be in the room with our leaders.

As we were leaving the building we ran into Elder Perry. I was shocked at how big of a man he is! He shook Mitch's pink casted arm and asked him if it was from football! He asked him if he played the line and told him "tough guys play the line". It was a neat experience.

Another Birthday! September 30th

(1972-my 4th birthday)

I had a birthday. September 30th. I am now 43! It looks strange to see that number but not terribly strange to be it! I am at that point in my life that I remember very vividly my parents at these ages. How am I old enough to now be there myself?

I now have a child in college, high school, middle school and elementary school. I have been married the same amount of time I was single(moving to the other side of that), I have lived in my "new house" for ten years and every wall needs painted. My Dad has been gone for 23 1/2 years. I have clothes older than some of my children. My sweet husband buys me new camera lenses and takes me to dinner.

I don't really have a hard time with birthdays. I don't really get too worked up about getting older. However, it is still a very strange reality when I look at all the experiences I have now had in my life.

Strange to remember that I was ever that little girl in the picture with the little Thumbalina doll(which I still have), with all my brothers and sister and my Daddy in the picture.

Still more to do!

Out of my 30 some odd posts that I put up earlier to fill in I still have at least 10 to finish! I guess I better get to work!

I also have numerous new ones to post!

"just do it"

This must be my motto! Focus, focus, focus!

Anyone want to come and help me with my other projects?

Funny

"you all need to learn how to peel your own peaches" as I peeled the fourth one.

"but you do it with love, mom!" said Justin.

Ok then!

Rain

It is raining.

I am not entirely in love with rain. I feel cold, wet and slow. It seems to make everything feel like I am trudging through vaseline. Just super slow and demanding.

I have things that I want to write about. But my thoughts are running slowly. If I write them down I would want to find a picture, then I would want to edit the pictures but I don't know how to do that. Then I would spend three hours editing two pictures.

Once again--everything feels slow! I hope that the vaseline brain doesn't last too long because my house and everything in it feels like I have been in a five year coma. It is like I just woke up--I don't have time to go back to sleep!!!!

Showing up!

I started a new exercise program at the end of December. Crossfit. It has been the hardest exercise I have ever done. Every single day is hard and totally out of my comfort zone. I am often the oldest in the class. We often do a workout that is timed in some way. I am usually last. We have recommended weights to RX( as prescribed) the workout- or the goal. My weights are always lower. RX is rarely behind my name when I finish.
It is now almost October. I am the only one of the group left that started together. I am still often last, my weights are still usually not RX and I still can't do a pullup without an assistance band. However, I still go. I am faster than I started out. I can now do some double under jump roping( it took nine months). I am on a blue band instead of a green for pullups. I improved my deadlift weight by 95 pounds. I finish every single workout. I have lost no weight yet dropped 2 pants sizes.

I found this graphic today and I really liked it- It describes me. I hope I can remember it.

Happy 15th Birthday! Mitch!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Happy 15th Birthday Mitch!!

Mitch was so excited when he came upstairs and saw a new wake board! The he realized that he couldn't use it because of his arm!! He also got a family present-of an xbox. For him and everyone else!

Hard to believe that this big kid is my little man!

Remembering 9-11 10 years later

Remembering 9-11

The Elementary School did an amazing program in commemoration of 9-11. The songs were very patriotic and written specifically in honor of those lost. I was right at tears the entire program.

I look at this sweet little angel man and he wasn't even born when this tragedy happened. Emily was eighteen months old. I will always remember answering the phone in our hall and Dave telling me to turn on the t.v. Planes were hitting buildings in New York City. I remember asking if this was the end of the world? I turned on the t.v. and then called my own Mom. She hadn't seen it yet.

Ten years have passed before us. Ten years since innocence was lost. In truth I know that I live in more fear than I did before. I know that the problems our economy has been facing is a result of this act ten years ago. I am not as trusting as I once was.

However, I am trying to not live my life in fear. I am trying to not let those evil men take the goodness out of my life. I am trying to stay patriotic and proud to be an American. I want my children to know that I am proud of being an American.

Our roads all shifted that day. We will never again be able to go back to the road we were on. However, it is the goal of myself and others to keep making this road a great place to be.

Flaming Gorge- Labor Day weekend 2011(Sept)

This is the sixteenth year we have gone to Flaming Gorge for Labor Day Weekend. The first time we went I was due with Mitchell in fifteen days! It has become a huge tradition for our family.

We have always gone with Wayne and Annette Peterson. They have had others that have come off and on. We have often had Dave's parents with us. In the last few years Paul and Paulette Barnes have started coming with us. Now some of their children are coming.

It is something that our children look forward to all summer. This year was a bit different without Ashley. With no Ashley and Mitch out of commission with his arm it was a different experience, no wakeboarding or skiing. Not sure why Em didn't go out?

We had planned to go over to Manila to church on Sunday. Well, we all totally forgot our church clothes! So, we all went to Sacrament meeting in our regular clothes! Never have I gone to church in my shorts before! Better we are there than not there!!

On our last day Mitch decided that if we double bagged his arm he would go off the cliff. So Dustin Barnes stayed with him to make sure he got up there alright. Mitch then took one leap!

He tucked his arm tight and all was well, however, the pressure popped the outside bag so he was holding up his arm so his cast didn't get wet. He did great, only a little water got inside. He stuck the tube pump in the cast and turned it on to help dry it.

Not too exciting going through Horseshoe canyon!

Emily got on the tube with Dave going through Horseshoe canyon. Just an easy SLOW ride.

Justin is getting so brave! He got on the lower ledge with Emily and didn't even hesitate!

His little face in this picture just makes me smile! Holding his breath and closing his eyes tight. I also love the little Indian crossed legs!!

Em always loves the water!

Real- right now

Every single morning after all my babies head out the door I walk around picking up the pieces that are strewn about the house.

Every single day I find this in the middle bathroom! Justin's toothbrush and paste and Emily's brush and hairspray.

It doesn't matter that every day they pull them out of the drawer- they never go back in!!

Real

Where have I been?

I just realized I haven't changed my children's school pictures on the wall for FIVE years!

Reality!!!

If I eat the cookie dough I must be able to handle the effects on the scale the next day!!

Cookie Dough

Sometimes I just have to eat the cookie dough!

Just wondering

I often wonder why I buy bananas! They often end up just like this! Brown and spotty- maybe I will have to make some banana bread!

Fading bits of summer

As I looked out my kitchen window today I noticed my hollyhocks. They are beginning to fade. They have been glorious! They are such a happy, happy flower.
I am not ready for fall. Fall is not the problem, it is just the beginning of the short, dark days of winter.
Hold on a little longer, my lovely hollyhocks!

Ordinary Day

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in search of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while i may, for it may not always be so. One day i shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all in the world, your return.

{Mary Jean Iron}