Kicking off the Holidays

Winter is here even if it's not official. The last week or two we have been hit with a few storms and super cold temperatures. Here, Erin built a snowman with the first snowfall of the season which, luckily, was perfect slushy snow for building a snowman. Utah generally has light, powdery snow - great for skiing but not so great for building snowmen. I'm glad she was able to build this little guy before the real snow fell.

This year's rivalry game between BYU and University of Utah did not disappoint. Well, it did me but not the Ute fans. BYU was the better team that day but it came down to a couple bad breaks and a big play by Utah in the final seconds that secured the win for the red team. Boo.

Hope y'all are having a good start to the Christmas season! This year I want to really feel the true meaning of Christmas more than ever. Less hustle and bustle and more love and gratitude. Less tinsel and gloss and more Savior and substance. May you all truly find what you are looking for this Christmas season.

Hoops

Basketball is off and running. Alex is playing on the Fairfield Jr. High team while Ben is playing comp basketball in a couple local leagues. We have four games a week, not to mention all the practices. Good thing these boys love to play. They play hard. I'm proud of them.

On a side note, I am trying to perfect my basketball photography. It's tough to take a good picture in a gym. You need a quick shutter speed to catch the action, but then you don't let enough light in. I'm thinking I need a much better flash. I will have to write that on my wish list to Santa...

Our Utah Jazz have had an amazing run this last week. They overcame double digit deficits to win the last five games. So fun to watch them play. If they are playing, the game is guaranteed to be on at our house. Big Jazz fans here.

Ben created this from a picture of himself. I thought it was pretty cool and would throw it in:

Lastly, I signed up for the Boise Half Ironman for the second time. This was a super fun race. My training program will start in February. I love having the motivation for a big race.

Halloween Weekend

It was a busy weekend. Basketball, strep, and Halloween. (More on basketball later). Thursday morning after Erin's birthday she complained of a sore throat. Friday her tonsils were large and spotted. Nice. So, we went to the doctor and strep it was. Although I tried to convince her to get a one time antibiotic shot, she would have none of it. Why is it so hard to convince a girl who can barely swallow, has a terrible headache, and who is running a fever of 102 to get a shot? I don't know...so, 10 days of amoxicillin. Good thing that stuff worked fast enough so she felt good enough and was not contagious for trick-or-treating.

Saturday we were still pulling costumes together. I had already taken Austin to Savers for his costume (Al Capone/gangster - his idea). Erin wanted to be a mummy and I hadn't really thought about it until then. I ripped up a sheet and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

The older boys decided to be stick people with glow sticks. Not bad for a $6 dollar costume. They looked really cool out in the dark. I have a cool video I took but blogger won't upload it for some reason. This picture doesn't really do it justice.

Dinner.

Erin with her loot. Our sweet, elderly neighbor gave us a loaf of his famous homemade wheat bread. The best treat of the night!

Our Baby Girl is 7

Could it really be seven years since our little girl was born? Where has all the time gone? This little blessing to our family has brought so much joy. When I had Austin, I just figured Bill and I were destined to have only boys. I was perfectly happy with that. Then little Erin Elizabeth came along bringing with her a beloved pink (now grayish) blankie, jewelry, dolls, and make-up (for now it's only play make up..). Thank heavens this girl loves sports, fitting right in with her brothers! She is doing wonderfully in school, loves her friends, loves dance and soccer, and is always busy on some sort of project.

When I first saw this painting years ago, called "Denim and Lace" by Greg Olsen, I hoped I could have a girl just like this one. I think I got my wish!

We love you, Erin! Happy Seventh Birthday!

Fall Fun and Glasses

Last week we decided we had better head up to the mountains to see the colors before all the leaves fall. We drove to Snowbasin (ski resort) and we weren't disappointed. It was about 3 or 4 in the afternoon and the sun was on it's way down. Perfect for taking pictures. This one was taken by Ben with my iphone. Not too shabby!

Another with my iphone:

The pictures of the kids were with my Nikon:

Alex hates getting his picture taken so I had a hard time getting a good one of him - you know, where he actually smiles...

This was with my iphone as we were driving by Pineview...

...driving through Ogden canyon, again with my iphone.

Some more pretty shots with my Nikon. I believe Alex took these for his photography class at school.

On another note, this last week I have had to wear glasses. Doctors orders. So when I went in yesterday for my follow-up, I was whole-heartedly thinking I would get that contact prescription in my grubby little hands and be wearing contacts by 10:30 that morning. Not so. Apparently, my corneas are too "irritated" by dryness and allergies and other such nonsense and two more weeks (possibly more!) will do the trick. Ugh! It's about the worst sentence a girl like me could get. I don't think my eye doctor thought it was funny when I told him I would just have to find another doctor that would give me my prescription for contacts. I was sooo kidding, but he didn't think I was, hehe. My kids all keep asking when I get to wear contacts because they like me better without glasses. Kids are too honest. Oh well. So, I just remind myself to be grateful for the fact that I can see at all and glasses aren't the worst thing in the world to have to endure.

Falling for Fall

Ah, my favorite time of year. I've always loved autumn. Although summer is nice and I'm sad to see it go, I'm always happy to see fall roll around. Here in Utah the colors are especially bright and vibrant. The days becomes cooler and the nights crisper. One of my favorite things in fall is going for a run in the cool, moist air and smelling smoke from chimneys. Also, instead of the regular scentsy burner, I splurge and light candles. Hmmm, nice and cozy.

Football is finally over for my older boys. Both made it to the playoffs but played tough teams and got eliminated in the first round. It is bittersweet. Austin and Erin have one more game to play in soccer. Now we move indoors to basketball. Actually, both older boys have already had practices and Ben's first game is next week. Never a dull moment...

I've never made caramel apples with the kids and so last weekend we made some with the neighbors. It was easy and the kids loved them.

Happy fall, everyone!

Time Stand Still

The other day I was listening to "Time Stand Still" by Rush during my run and the lyrics really hit home. Time is moving too fast. My kids are growing up much too quickly and we are so busy that time is just flying by.

"Summer's going fast, nights growing colder.

Children growing up, old friends growing older.

Freeze this moment a little bit longer.

Make each sensation a little bit stronger."

Here are a couple of recent pictures that I like of each member of our family:

Ben with his cousin, Parker.

Austin saving a goal.

Alex playing Clearfield

Bill and Erin at Applebees.

Just a little word of advice today: enjoy the moment!