Poinsettia Bowl

I REALLY don't think BYU deserved to go to a bowl game this year; BUT, what a great excuse to fly to San Diego and spend a night with some of our best friends! 

Whenever we're together we laugh so hard it hurts.

We scored great tickets, but were on the San Diego side 

and the people sitting around us weren't too happy to see us. 

However, we are mellow BYU fans, especially when not much happened 

for 3 quarters of the game. 

All the better because Me, Tiff and Phyllis could talk and laugh and weren't missing anything happening in the game. (Not that it would have mattered. I see sporting events as an opportunity to go out with friends, talk, laugh and eat sporting food--like kettle corn.)

Riding the train from Old Town to the game.

Marty babysat. And he did great! We left after the kids went to school and we were able to see Nick's Christmas program. Then, the big kids didn't have school the next day, but Nick did. Courtney's friend Christmas sleepover was that night so Marty offered to babysit instead. Before he got up, Chris was already helping Nick get ready for school. We were home at lunchtime. Not sure the kids even noticed we were gone!

I'm so grateful for friends who know us so well. 

We've done BYU, Business School (not the same school, however), 

Investment Banking and New York together.  

Babies, long nights when husbands are working NY hours, 

fun trips, kids growing up and lots of laughs over the last 20 years. 

Love you guys!!! 

Early Day Fridays

Oh how I used to dread Fridays when my kids were younger! 

Fridays meant early day. And while the kids love getting out of school at 

1:15 and hanging out with ALL their friends until late into the night, 

it was a nightmare for moms of young babies!

The kids would arrive home just about the time 

I'd gotten the baby down for a nap. 

I was constantly shushing and quieting kids running down the hallway 

past the baby's room and nagging the kids to not 

slam the front door as they went in and out.  

And I was so extraordinarily tired! 

If everyone was home at 1:15, that meant I didn't get 

my much needed nap, making shushing and trying 

to be kind to gaggles of kids that much more hard!  

I don't miss being SO tired! 

But now that the kids are older and I'm much more rested, 

Fridays are FUN again! 

And to make this Friday even better, 

we had our first snowstorm of the year! It's been snowing all day! 

We have lots of winter clothes and friends can all find something to keep them warm. 

When I got home from Nicholas' carpool, 

Christopher's friends had clothes warming by the fire. 

They were inside for a while but now they're outside again 

building a jump and a snow fort and having a snowball fight!

Welcome Winter!

The Day So Many Have Been Waiting For...

 It's finally here!!

Halo 4 

Well, at least this is the special event that Marty has been waiting for on this day!

Dan took him and 3 friends to the Midnight pick-up. 

It was all very exciting--waiting in a long line with your friends and lots of other Halo Fans. 

Similar to how the "Twilight" midnight premiere is for girls.

Marty and Dan had an agreement that if he got

straight A's this term he could take a day off of school. 

And when it was discovered grades came out the same day Halo 4 came out...

well, you can imagine the excitement. 

He was motivated to work hard all term.

So Marty got his reward -- to stay home all day and play his new game.

Best. Day. Ever.

(Until I told him he still needed to go to tennis.  

Just wait until he finds out he needs to do his practicing too...)

And in other Marty news, he also got his school photos.

Earlier in the year I noticed that both 7th and 8th grade he was wearing a green shirt.

I told him he needed to make sure to NOT wear a green shirt on picture day.

But of course, it was too perfect for Marty to pass up.

7th Grade

8th Grade

9th Grade

Halloween Day 2

Christopher and friends had early day Thursday 

so they dressed in costumes from our costume closet

 and went for another round of trick-or-treating.

They came home with quite a haul! 

They said everyone was thrilled to get rid of their leftover candy!

Makes so much sense!

Happy Halloween!

Me as an Evil Queen, Nicholas as the Knave of Hearts and Christopher as Luiiiigi. 

Perfect fall weather! 

This is our 9th year in Utah and we've had warm weather on Halloween each year except for one!

The whole Mario crew!

Courtney going on safari! Amazing what she can come up with in 5 minutes!

Marty had a party with friends and Courtney had a party at our house. Christopher went trick-or-treating with his own friends so that left Dan and I with Nick while Courtney manned our door at home.

Mad Hatter, Alice and the Knave of Hearts. The Queen of Hearts wasn't able to come with us!

We took a couple of Nick's friends out with us. We started at 6:00 and I'm pretty sure we were the first ones out! But within 15 minutes the streets got busy!

After 2 blocks Nick was tired of his wig and then his sword. By the end of the night he was just wearing knickers, a black under armor and his cape!

This Halloween I wanted to try to recreate this:

Need I remind anyone that I'm not an artist nor am I too adept at make-up? 

It's still difficult for me to get a straight line when applying eye-liner!

So even though it was tricky and didn't turn out perfect, it was sooo fun!

My supplies:

Step-by-step instructions from Martha Stewart Magazine:

The end result!

I had fun shopping every aisle of Michael's looking for supplies for my crown!

All found at Michael's: 

purple headband that I turned black with tape for cut flowers

Black and Clear jewels I applied with glue gun

Pieces of decorative twigs from Christmas department

Night is over, the evil queen is ready for bed!

Mother's Day

Today I got to spend the morning with Nick at school. Each October, his school hosts "Mother's Day." We spend the morning doing the activities they regularly do each day which is so fun to get to see what his day is like.

Reader's Theater: "Owen"

Nick's part was "Father"

At recess we played Monkey in the Middle with a couple of friends.  I got my first grass stain in years!

Each of the mom's names appeared in the math problems we worked on.  I loved helping him put his words in alphabetical order during Reading. And in art we made scary monster rocket ships! 

At lunch he said, "I wish you could stay longer!"  So sweet!

It was the Best of Times...

Today was going so great! 

Ran 3.5 miles, went to New Testament class, 

laundry was in the works, Courtney's senior photos came...

And then I got a great idea! 

Add Courtney's Senior photo (the one with the white background) 

to THIS wall!

And then in a FLASH, after the Great Idea, came the Great Remembering--

that she will be moving away... 

and the tears came as they so often do at the most unexpected times now. 

Sigh.

Perfect Fall Day

What a beautiful fall day!!  The wind was blowing hard and the trees and leaves were being blown all about. The temperature was perfect for being outside.

This afternoon Christopher and his two friends were jumping on the tramp and Nicholas and his friend were throwing the football. I went outside to start picking up chestnuts. A job I don't really mind when the weather is so nice and I'm wearing thick gloves to protect my hands from the spikes.

Then Christopher said he'd pick up chestnuts if I'd teach his friends how to do a back flip on the tramp. So I did. And when I demonstrated, one of the boys said,

"Wow! I wish my mom could do a Backflip!"

I felt about as proud as the time I did a double-flip. (Oh, yes I did -- when I was 10!)

And after working with them for 30 minutes, I taught both Matt and Zach how to do backflips by themselves. And then I taught Lucy and finally Nick. But Nick isn't ready to do it on his own yet.

The boys were actually excited when their moms said it was time to go home because they could go home and show their families how they learned how to do backflips!

Then I helped Chris learn how to use my camera on the tripod so he could light off firecrackers many times over and try to take a photo for his Reflections Entry, "The Magic of the Moment."

All this while dinner was cooking.  So today I was a pretty amazing mom.

Tonight for Family Home Evening we picked up more chestnuts and filled two curbside garbage cans. But then had to stop because we were out of room in the trash cans.  Everyone worked hard and happily because it felt so good to be outside -- even if it was work. 

Weather is forecasting a whole week like this.  Yay!

Mom of Boys

My sweet Christopher played the piano in church for the first time on Sunday. Marty was teasing him a little bit before he got up to play -- trying to psyche him out as older siblings are sometimes known to do...  But Christopher had really practiced and it showed! He played perfectly! 

As he walked down the aisle looking so handsome in his white shirt and tie, I was beaming.  He scooched into the pew next to me and I gave him a proud squeeze. Then he leaned over me to get closer to Marty and loudly whispered, "Suck it, Marty!" 

Yes, so very proud.

Roadshows!

I'm a Mormon, He's a Mormon, She's a Mormon, We're all Mormons!!  

Wouldn't you like to be a Mormon too?!

Annabelle

When Marty was in 1st grade Annabelle was in his class.  She wore cute glasses and her hair was braided in pigtails with ribbons at the end. She was often caught whispering and giggling with her neighbor.  I'll never forget the morning she ran in two minutes late with a big smile and her teacher said she couldn't come in the class until she'd checked in the office for a tardy pass.  She looked so crestfallen. The teacher was following school rules, but Annabelle, who was only 6, looked so confused I wanted run after her and put my arm around her and walk with her and tell her I knew all about being late and it really was no big deal.

When Marty was in 4th grade he was excited to go to sleepaway camp with his whole class at Mill Hollow.  That night before camp we got a phone call. Annabelle had had a seizure and was in a coma. They didn't know what caused it.  I woke Marty up to tell him. That day as they headed off to Mill Hollow, Annabelle's classmates went fasting for her.  Most of the kids were 9 years old.  I told Marty it would still be fasting if he fasted for breakfast but ate at lunch.  Most of them fasted through lunch too.

Annabelle was diagnosed with Vanishing White Matter Disease.  It's rare.  It's a hereditary gene defect and there is no cure. There isn't any medicine.  There are only two doctors studying the disease -- one in Amsterdam and one in Israel. She was told she'd probably die within the year.  Her mom was told if she could keep her alive for 5 years, there might be a cure by then.  Annabelle lost her ability to walk and lost her ability to talk clearly.

It's been 5 years and Annabelle is still here.  She has a big beautiful smile and a fun sense of humor. She can text, gets around in her power wheelchair and she can swim.  But there's still no cure.

Her parents set up a foundation to bring patients and families together and to raise money to support the two research institutions working VWM.  Annabelle was excited to raise awareness about the foundation and set a goal to swim 300 meters on her own.  When she was diagnosed with VWM, her parents put a pool in their yard. At first she sank. But over the last 5 years, Annabelle has learned to swim with a coach. She loves the freedom the pool offers her!

Last Saturday we cheered Annabelle on as she swam 6 full laps! VWMfoundation.org to learn more.

Bells Canyon

I went hiking with friends on Friday. Beautiful Colors!!  

The trees think Fall is here, but it hasn't really cooled down too much.

Doesn't quite feel like Fall yet...

Olympus's Homecoming Football game was Friday night as well.

Fit 13 of us in the car to get to the game. Seven 15-year-olds and four 11-year-olds plus Dan and me.

Good times!

Dinner at the Mine

Dan recently joined YPO.  He's excited about the business camaraderie and forums providing opportunities to learn from other businessmen and women. Plus they do cool activities.  Several of their activities over the year are for the entire family.

This month was a tour and dinner at Kennecott Copper Mine. Several Rio Tinto/Kennecott employees were available to answer questions and teach us more about the mine.  It was super fascinating. A lot more than copper comes from Kennecott.

Gold and Silver bars mined from Kennecott

Gold was worth $80,000, silver was $30,000. Brought up that day.

Boys and toys! These trucks are 2-stories high.

See Christopher down there with the truck towering over him!