Thanksgiving 2013

 We had a great Thanksgiving with the Pollastro family in Bountiful this year. With so many crazy kids running through the house, Christian and I went to the local KMart to pick up some games and fun activities for everyone. We returned from our shopping as heros with games galore. We kept the kids entertained for most of the day as the adults cooked and visited. 

We tried to get a good picture of all the cousins, but it's next to impossible. I'm sure someday we'll look back on these pictures and laugh and reminisce about how cute and funny. However, at the time, it's pretty frustrating! 

  

Kolby with the one handed face grab!

In the late morning we decided to head to a local park for a game of kick ball. Some of us were definitely better than others, but all in all we had a great time. Plus, great food!

Carter's Baptism

On November 23 our sweet little Carter was baptized. He is such a good boy and looked forward to this day for a long time.

He was baptized by his dad and was fortunate to share this special day with his friends Brynn and Chandler.

Grandma Gwennie made him a special baptism afghan in his favorite colors.

Grandpa Neal and Grandma Gwennie had to get back to Castle Dale for a play that grandpa Neal was directing, so they had to leave right after the ordinance, but not before we snapped a few cute pictures.

Our attempt to get a really solid family picture is usually hindered by one kid or another. In this case, I think Christian's face made this picture super precious.

The Pollastro's  made the trek to Wyoming too. It was so great to spend the day with so many special friends and family.

One more family picture attempt... Thanks Cali!

Grandma Vicki had this special towel made just for the occasion.

After the baptism we hosted family and friends at our house for some sandwiches and cookies. Carter got his own cake, and he seemed pretty happy about it!

A Cute Cousin Bath

November 2013 was a very eventful month for our family. We welcomed Bethany and Brock as our permanent (for now) house guests. This arrangement has resulted in many late night chats and numerous cousin-style baths. This is just one crazy bubble bath that captures these two cute little cousins and the new dynamic they bring to each other's lives. 

My Favorite Fall Purchase

As far as I can tell, no one likes to buy tires for their car. It's a necessary, expensive, and annoying purchase. The Honda Pilot's tires were looking pretty bald, so it had to be done. Caleb and I spent (what was scheduled for a 45 minute service) almost two hours at the tire store. Wait, to be fair, we walked about a mile twice to a convenience store. But that adventure was done before they even took my car back to the shop. The next hour was spent jumping in and out of tire stacks. At first I tried to make Caleb sit down, play my phone, watch a movie, watch the mechanics through the window. Finally, I let him run wild. I actually thought they might hurry it up just to get us out of there.

 

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.