Canyon Fun

I'm not a fan of winter. I HATE being cold, and once fall hits, I'm generally cold until about the 4th of July. So to make it through the winter, I have to find ways to enjoy the cold and snow. I'm still working on this, but I can generally find a way to enjoy the season in Millcreek Canyon. How lucky am I to live just minutes away? We make good use of the canyon year round: hiking, biking, running, snowshoeing, and of course, cross country skiing.
Shawn and I managed to squeeze in a short ski over the weekend. It was cold, but it was so beautiful. Picnic anyone?

If the snow keeps falling, I plan on doing more of this.

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. It is definitely one of my very favorite holidays. I love that it is just about family and gratitude. (And mashed potatoes with gravy.) Nothing else required.

Thanksgiving started at the stake park with the annual ward Turkey Bowl. It was full tackle in the snow and cold, but I don't think anyone minded. (I apologize for the poor quality phone photos, but the real camera is still MIA.) This is the first time that we've made it because we are generally out of town for Thanksgiving.
It always ends with hot chocolate and warm cinnamon rolls, so what's not to like?
Then we were off to Highland for Thanksgiving dinner at Shawn's uncle's house. Once again, there are no photos of the people or the meal. (I know, what sort of sad representation of Thanksgiving is this?) But I guarantee, we all had a great time. Good food, good company and a beautiful view of the mountains. Kids to play with and lots of fun things to keep them all busy.

Best of all was the post-turkey, pre-pie swimming. The kids burned off their excess energy,
and Shawn worked off some Thanksgiving calories. (Definitely a fan of the pool treadmill.)
Peter probably loved it most of all. For a kid that is usually pretty happy, he threw a MAJOR fit about getting out of the water. Fortunately, we were finally able to distract him with pie and he recovered.

And of course, in keeping with our family tradition, all the kids got a new Christmas ornament.

Family Ski Day

Not a single photo of the actual skiing. 1) because I can't seem to locate the camera. (Some child around here is responsible but no one seems to remember where they put it.) and 2) It was so C.O.L.D. - COLD that even if I'd had the camera I would not have dared to unglove my fingers to take a picture any way. Instead, I have this visual reminder of the joys of ski season.
And I'm pretty sure this isn't all of it. The pile's not nearly big enough.

Looking for a laugh? Read more about our adventure here.

Something I Want for Christmas

I would love to win the silhouette from any of these sites for Christmas:

www.theidearoom.net/

infarrantly creative

grosgrain fabulous

thrifty decor chick

tatertots and jello

shanty2chic

love stitched

karaspartyideas

tomkatstudio

decorchick

be different...act normal

house of hepworths

crazy coupon mommy

The Dance-Off

At the end of the day on Saturday, the house was in need of a bit of clean up since Shawn and I had been in and out all day, so we cranked the music and had a family dance party, clean up thing going on. (That's just how we roll at our house.) Somewhere along the way, Samantha suggested a contest, sure that she could out dance anyone. Shawn took the challenge and the dance off began. (Personally, I know better than to go up against Shawn in this sort of a thing. There's no question that he would beat me.) Seriously, non-stop dancing from these two for about 2 hours. Shawn was literally dripping sweat. The smack talk between them was pretty funny, too.Shawn announced, "Samantha I rode my bike 13 1/2 hours while throwing up the last several, there's no way I'm giving up on a dance off!" And so it went. Toward the 2 hour mark, it evolved into a spin off. After a few minutes of watching them spin, I stepped in and called it a draw because I knew someone would either throw up (Samantha), or fall and crack their head on something. (Shawn was looking like the more likely candidate for that one.) If I had to officially declare a winner, it would have to be Shawn. When Samantha was getting tired, some of her "moves" got a little questionable as far as actual dancing goes. (Sorry, Samantha - tapping your fingers on the counter just doesn't count.)

And this little video is Peter showing off his dance moves. Mostly it's just because watching him dance makes me laugh.

Something They Can All Enjoy

Nothing brings a family together like a good toy catalog.

I remember doing this as a kid, too. We loved to look at the big Sear's catalog. We would spend hours poring over the pages and then circle the toys or fold over page corners to mark all the things we wanted for Christmas.

Bigger Puppies

My kids have been asking multiple times a day if we can go and see the puppies at the neighbor's house and we finally found time today. They are almost 3 weeks old now and I can't believe how much they have grown. They all have their eyes open and our 10 minute drop in ended up taking almost an hour because everyone wanted to hold just one more puppy, just a little bit longer.It was all I could do to keep Peter from climbing right inside there with the puppies. He just wanted to touch all of them and pick all of them up. He was really good at petting them nicely and hugging them, so it was all right.

Amelia and Samantha are still hopeful that we will get a puppy despite the fact that I keep reminding them that we already have a dog that they don't love enough. And don't worry, their cuteness isn't swaying me a bit.

The Pony Tail

This may look like an ordinary picture of an ordinary pony tail, but it isn't. This particular pony tail represents a HUGE victory for me.
You see, ever since this day back at the beginning of June, (yes, June - 5 months ago!) when Samantha's hair looked like this:
and then following much discussion, bargaining and a large monetary gain on her part, she had 8 inches cut off and then it looked like this:
Mind you, she was all a part of this and decided on the amount to cut off herself. But I digress. Ever since the day in early June when she got her haircut, she has worn her hair in a bun every day. Yes, every. single. day. (Oops, sorry, after much battling, I got her to wear her hair down for picture day at school, but only highly curled so that no one could see how "short" it really was. So every day, but one.) Really, truly, she has not left the house without her hair in a bun or maybe tucked up in a hat for over 5 months. The girl still has long, beautiful hair. This has been making me absolutely crazy, because I think she is so lucky to have the hair she does and she keeps it hidden every day. So, you can see why the fact that she left the house with her hair in a ponytail - exposed, where everyone would be able to see how "short" it was, was a HUGE victory. Of course, she considered whether she would see anyone she knew before agreeing to it, and it went back inside a hat later in the day when she went out, but still, I will take the victory no matter how small. We have fought and fought and fought, until one day when I realized that I had let Jonas have hair like this:and like this:
without any bit of a fight at all. Did I think he looked a little ridiculous? Absolutely. He essentially looked like he had a lion's mane around his head all the time. Yet, I never fought with him about it, because it just didn't seem worth it. It was only hair after all. So I have been trying my best to not battle with Samantha over her hair anymore. I still ask frequently if she will please wear it down or in braids or ponytails or anything different, but I am trying not to fight about it. Mostly I feel sad that her identity is tied up so much in the length of her hair that she doesn't want anyone to know that it is shorter. If I had known it would be this hard, I would have only had 3 or 4 inches cut off as per her usual haircut, but I can't change the past, so I am just hopeful that I don't have to wait until all 8 inches have grown back before I get to see her hair down again. (She is going to be furious if she sees this post because, of course, she doesn't want anyone to see her short hair. So please, don't mention it to her and I'll have to bury it under some other newer posts and hope she doesn't find it.)

In case you were wondering.....

There should be no question where our allegiance lies. GO UTES!!!

Just For Fun...

...because I'm ready to look at something new. (I know, I know, the picture at the top is of Halloween, but I have so few pictures where everyone is looking at the camera, so it's here to stay - at least for a little while.)

On this day in history: November 3, 2006.

This was clearly back in the day when getting the kids to "work" wasn't nearly as painful as it is now. Amazing how much they've changed in 4 short years. I would post a "now" photo, but I haven't managed to get my kids out to rake leaves yet. And really, most of ours are still in the trees. I guess I can thank the beautiful fall weather for that.

Jonas - 8, Samantha - 5 and Amelia - 2.

I think this is my favorite because this is really what raking leaves is all about.

Just look at that determination. If only we could find some of that now.

Happy Fall!