Merry Christmas!

Kynda's Birthday

Megan wrote a sweet poem for my birthday, which I had to share.

Happy Birthday, Mom! :)

You know a mother loves you

When she hands you a coat, but

You think you're too cool to wear it,
So, you don't.

You know a mother worries about
You, when she gives you a kiss and says
"Sweetie, be careful, don't fall and hurt
Your head.

You know a mother knows you
When she elbows you in the side
"Hey, look there's Jackson."
At the youth fireside.

Your mother certainly knows your
Weakness when she grounds you
For spending too much money at Bath 'N Body
Works.

You know she stands for truth and
Right, when she's always teaching you
How to walk in the light.

A rebellious teenager is hard
To have for a daughter, but
"Don't worry, Mom I'll try a lot
Harder."

Holiday Fun

Just a few holiday highlights. Since we had a "wind day" and school was cancelled, we had time to do a gingerbread house this year. I had forgotten how much you can get done on a weekday. Too bad we had to make up the day later in the month!

We added a berry garland and some fun lime green ornaments to our tree this year. Cameras never do the tree justice. But I think we finally got it perfect!

I love Pinterest! I got this fun gift idea by combining ideas from a couple of different pins. I gave these to the fun ladies I work with. I loved the look so much I even made a jar for myself! I'm thinking of filling it with treats and putting it on a shelf at work.

A holiday scent jar is one of the my favorite neighbor gifts. A cute neighbor gave one of these to us a couple of years ago. This was the year I made it for the kids' teachers. So easy to make: slices of lemons, limes, oranges and cranberries layered in a jar of water. Tie on a small baggie with cinnamon sticks and whole allspice. To use, just pour the contents into a pan, add water to cover and simmer for a fruity holiday scent.

Julie's Birthday

Julie celebrated her birthday this past week. We now have another teenager in the house!

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. A man was creating balloon animals while we were there, so of course we needed to get some creations of our own.

Trick or Treat!

Come and Trick or Treat, if you dare!

Meg decided to go for the Gothic look this year.

Julie's our only fun-loving Trick-or-Treater this year. A giant M&M, my favorite!

Hailey's our littlest vampire.

Josh is frightening as the Grim Reaper.

Alpine Loop

Tom took Fall Break off so we could have more time together. One of the things we did was drive the Alpine Loop. The leaves peaked a few weeks ago, but there were still plenty of areas of beautiful golden aspens.

Happy Fall!

Sleepy Head

This is a regular occurrence. Poor Hailey! She was the only child in our family to take a nap almost everyday all through Kindergarten. Now the long hours of first grade, added with the craziness of our lives has Hailey falling asleep everywhere. Sometimes we'll find her on her bed, but most times she's somewhere in the house patiently waiting for bed time and sound asleep.

Julie's Guitar

Julie finally saved up enough money to buy herself a sweet guitar! Now she has two challenges; finding someone to help her learn how to play and keeping Josh away from it!

Lost Tooth Fun

Hailey finally lost her first tooth on Labor Day! She'd been hoping for a while that it would come out soon. She wanted to be the first kid in her class at school to lose a tooth. Hailey was very careful how she put her tooth under her pillow; she didn't want it to get lost before the Tooth Fairy came. At 6 am the next morning, Hailey woke everyone up so she could show us the dollar the Tooth Fairy left her.

The Tram at Snowbird

We started our long weekend with a trip to Snowbird to ride the tram. We didn't realize today was the first day of Oktoberfest, so the resort was much more crowded than we expected. But we did get to listen to these musicians at the top of the mountain.

The tram quickly took us to the top, elevation 11,000 feet. The views are breathtaking.

We also took time to ride one of the ski lifts. It was so quiet and peaceful as you left the resort behind. Although, next time we'll take jackets.

Soccer Time Again!

This is Hailey's first year playing soccer. Last year was crazy in our family and the thought of evening practices and Saturday games was too much!

I love soccer when the kids are this age! They're so cute as they try to learn the game and how to work as a team.

School Time!

It's that time of year again! There is a Staples comercial where they say this is the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year." For the most part, we all feel that way. It's hard to believe that Megan is in the ninth grade. She's excited to wear her new clothes, have a locker to herself, and go to seminary.

Julie's in 7th grade! Luckily she's gone to summer band, so she knows her way around the junior high. I'm going to miss her help at school every day!!

Josh is a 4th grader! He's not exactly excited for school, but it will be fun to see all of his friends again.

Hailey's a 1st grader! She's so grown up. Hailey loves school and is excited to be going again. Plus, she's in the portable next to me so we'll get to see each other during the day.

Girls' Camp

Megan and Julie had a great time at YW Girls' Camp. The theme for the year was "Cruise Every Nation". The girls were part of the "Celebrity Cruise Line." Love the glasses!
Megan and Julie are in the front with the rest of their friends. They had "ports of call" in Mexico, Polynesian Islands, and Africa. At each stop there was a guest speaker.

By the way, Julie got glasses. She has awesome hula-hoop skills.

Megan prefers to play with her food before eating it.

Scout Day Camp

Josh and I got to spend the day at Camp Kiesel. The obstacle course is pretty fun, but Josh loved shooting the BB gun best.

Yes, that's me in the canoe. They wanted two adults per boat, so I was the lucky one chosen.

Although no one fell in, we were all drenched thanks to a little water fight started by one of the camp's youth scout leaders.

Family Vacation at Lake Powell

As a kid we used to go on family vacations to Lake Powell with many of my aunts, uncles and cousins. We decided to make the trip this year with my brother and sister and their families. The kids had a blast hanging out with their cousins for the weekend.

We did have a series of unfortunate events, including a flat tire on Steve's boat trailer, Steve's boat being broken into (and Jerry chasing down the thieves until the police caught and arrested them) and Julie cutting her big toe at the marina. Because of the kind of cut it was, she didn't need stitches. They did tell us to keep it dry. Yeah, right. We're at a lake. We made our best effort though so Julie could still have some fun on the water.

Josh is pretty cautious, but on this trip he finally got the courage to try something daring. Seth and Van were always trying to stand up in the tube and Josh decided as long as we had to go slow because of Krya, he could try it too.

More of Lake Powell

Boating up Cathedral Canyon. Jerry's boat is fairly wide so many places were a tight squeeze as we went up this narrow canyon.

Hailey loves being on a boat. She's pretty laid back about the whole thing. The only time she got nervous was on the way back to the marina on a stormy evening.

Any time we go boating with Steve he takes time to teach Josh how to drive a boat.

Josh & Hailey

Not much has changed. This photo was taken on our trip to Mesa Verde this week. Josh is nine and Hailey is six.
This photo was taken April 2007 at Jensen Pond. Hailey had just turned two and Josh was almost 5. Hailey's pretty lucky to have such a great big brother watching out for her.

Four Corners

Four Corners Monument is a short drive from Mesa Verde, so we made a quick stop. Josh loved the idea of being able to travel from Colorado to New Mexico to Arizona and to Utah in just a few seconds.