Making Some Changes...

New rug

Old rug

 

Carter's Birthday Cake, Birthday Suit, Birthday Dinner, and Birthday Present

Carter's official birthday was November 10. After the excitement of the zombie hunt birthday party, a nice Sunday birthday was perfect for this little man. He read a story at school that included a recipe for a cake. He copied the recipe from the book and announced that, "I am going to make this cake for my birthday, I need everything on this list plus whipped cream and strawberries."

 

While the cake was baking, Carter got ready for church. He came strolling out of the bathroom and announced, "I'm ready for church!" I told him that he needed his whole suit, not part of his birthday suit.

Carter's birthday cake turned out awesome! He also requested that Christian grill him his own steak and that no one cut it up for him.

After dinner, Carter opened his presents and was overjoyed by Luigi's Mansion. I can't believe that this little fella is already eight.

 

Putting on the Whole (Homemade) Armor of God

Cali's Family Home Evening lesson resulted in Caleb putting on the whole armor of God. Her lesson was well planned with the each piece of armor representing the spiritual armor of God.

You can follow along in the Bible in the book of Ephesians 6:10-12, but ours went something like this:

The Helmet: The bike helmet of salvation.
The Breastplate or Righteousness: The Thor costume of righteousness.
The Sword of the Spirit: The tiny Yankees bat of the spirit.
The Shield of Faith: The tiny toy Captain America shield of faith.
Feet Prepared with the Gospel of Peace: Feet prepared with the soccer shin guards of peace.

Ready for Battle!

 

...and Just Like That, Summer and Fall Were Over

 

This is what the first weekend of October looked like for us this year. Luckily it was still warm enough and the snow was wet enough to make some serious snow men and snow balls.

A Fall Weekend

The frost hit my garden way earlier than I expected, which resulted in the harvesting of about 100 green tomatoes. We ate a few fried green tomatoes and then I packed the rest in paper bags and waited for them to turn red. Sure enough, slowly but surely, they turned red and we've been eating fresh tomatoes ever since.

That same weekend Brandt, Alexis and Kate came to our house to wash some windows. Brandt and I took a little run on Saturday morning, and he was too cold to resist the Utah sweater. It's one of my favorite pictures, and he was a good sport to let me post in on Facebook and make fun of him.
 

 

School Carnival Fun

 

Lots of friend and lots of fun at the annual Sage Elementary school carnival. The kids enjoyed the bouncy houses, sack races, donut eating, and ring toss. The kids ran wild with their school friends and loved seeing their teachers outside of the classroom. It was a really fun night!

Karate!

At the moment, Carter is pretty consumed by all things Ninja. So of course, he signed up for Karate! He loves this new sport and is constantly "practicing" his moves on his siblings and friends.

When some older kids were mean to him and a friend, he used his new found skills to, "never back down". It may or may not have been his first neighborhood squabble, and he was pretty proud that he got in one good kick.

 

 

Grandma Zora's

While I was recovering from the 13.1 mile extravaganza, my kids and siblings went on a walk to Grandma Zora's house. I had every intention of joining them, but my hip flexors had other plans.

 

13.1

After six weeks of training, and a lot of anticipation, I finally ran my first half marathon.

We drove to Castle Dale the evening before the race and I picked up my race packet in Price. We stayed the night in Castle Dale and then got up bright and early to meet at the park in Huntington to catch a ride to the starting line.

My brother Brandt, always good for emotion support, ran the 10K and I was so glad to have someone to make me laugh and calm my nerves on the way to the starting line.

After a short bathroom break and a warm-up time it was time to the hit the road. I came out pretty fast with a decent pace and then first five miles blew by.  By mile six I was on pace to run my fastest 10K time ever at 51:00. Mile seven, eight, nine, ten, and ten and a half all came and went a steady pace. Then, to my dismay, somewhere right before mile 12 something happened. I approached the aid station at the mile marker right at 2:00:00, a little disappointed, I pressed on. I actually wanted to finish the entire race in 2:00:00, but figured I'd be within 2:09:00. What I didn't anticipate was that the last mile was uphill, in the heat, and I wasn't prepared for the fatigue.

With about a half mile left, I could see the finish line. I told my legs to move, but they didn't respond as quickly or as effciently as they had earlier in the race. In addition to the finish line, I also saw Cali and Brandt coming toward me. Cali was with my dad waiting at the finish line, and Brandt was done with the 10K and waited around too. They both ran about a quarter of a mile with me. Brandt kept saying, "you can do it, keep going, go faster". I really wanted to kill him and thank him all at once.

About 2:15:00 after I began this journey, it was over, I crossed the finish line. Thanks to my sister in law, Alexis for capturing these precious moments for me!
 

 

 

I also have to mention that Brandt's friend Jared came from Provo with Brandt to run the marathon and hang out in Castle Dale. Jared is one of the top NCAA 10K runners in the nation. I'm sure you can tell spot the elite athlete among the regular people. Anyway, Jared received permission from his coach to use the marathon as his work out for that day. Since he was already scheduled for a 26 mile workout, it seemed like a natural fit. He had instructions from his coach not to race, but just workout. Well, Jared finished the full marathon in 2:42:00. The next closest finisher was a full hour behind him.

 

 

It was a great experience. I will probably do it again, now that I know what to expect.

 

A New School Year

So far 5th, 2nd, and Bears is going really well for our three children. They are growing up so fast, and it's so fun to see their abilities increase!

 

First Day of Fifth Grade

 

First Day of Second Grade

 

 

Farewell to Summer

All good things must come to an end, or so they say. We bid a fond farewell to our beautiful summer by meeting up with friends for a Labor Day weekend adventure. We took a nice ride on the Hunter's pontoon boat, and tried to take a decent picture... pretty close!

Kurt towed the kids on an inflatable tube around the lake. Cali and Carter were both terrified at first, and then loved it. Caleb on the other hand, was screaming at Kurt to drive faster so he could tip over. Our youngest son lacks a reasonable amount of fear.

The end of summer also brought a pretty decent harvest from my little garden spot. A lot of zucchini, a lot of peas, a few crook neck squash, and a bunch of tomatoes that I had to pick while green due to the frost. 

However, I did get one pretty juicy one before the frost set in!

 

Run for Fun

I spent most August mornings training for a half marathon. I wouldn't say that I got the point where I like to run for fun. But I did see a lot of beautiful skies that I would not have otherwise seen. This being just one of the skies that I was greeting me on my journey.

Cali's Dance Show

 

Today is a chilly and windy day in Rock Springs, so before I forget the warm summer and green grass, I have to mention the dance show that Cali and her friend Meagan created this summer. They listened to countless songs, choreographed for several hours, practiced for days, and finally created a production (complete with a concession stand).

 

They invited the entire neighborhood by sticking flyers to the mailbox at the end of the street. They charged an admissions fee, and after paying their bills, made about $20.00 each!

Caleb's Fourth Birthday

We celebrated Caleb's official birthday on November 3. It's not very often that your birthday falls on a Sunday, and we found out pretty quick that four year olds (who already have an aversion to church) don't take kindly to going to church on their birthday. Christian made (from scratch sauce and all) a 400lb. lasagna and I made him a Ninjago cake to try to make the Sunday birthday more bearable.

 

Our friends the Hunter's came over to help eat the giant lasagna and cake after church, and then there were presents and now I have a four year old!