Harvest time...

November 22

I love Kade's class so much. I love the sweet faces of the Kindergartners. I love their sweet stories (especially in the lisp that most still have.) I love their hugs and smiles when I come to help in class. I love their obedience and LOVE for school. I love that everything is still exciting. And I love that Kade loves for me to be there. This year I got to help with their Harvest Feast and program. Here are the kids quietly listening for instruction on what's going to happen next.

My favorite thing in these pictures are the many faces Kade is pulling. That is so him. He's not often serious, and loves to be funny. Almost every picture is a different face. 

For their feast they had 10 different items to put on their plate. As the plates when around they had to take the indicated amount on the paper. They received 1 roll, 2 pieces of turkey, 3 cheese cubes....etc. This helped the kids with their counting.

 After the feast they put on a little program. I was so excited to hear and the see some of the things they had been learning. Kade is very quiet about sharing things that happen during the day. I was so sad because he was embarrassed and distracted by all the people. He sat pulling faces, watching people, and playing with his hair. There was only one song that he actually sang. Little turd. I should have expected that it would have turned out that way. Kade only does things his way.

TOFW

November 18-19

Time Out for Women is by far one of my very favorite weekends. This year I was lucky enough to not only go, but to go with some fabulous friends! I loved the theme for this year, Choose to Become. Over the past year I have really been putting this into motion (thanks to Personal Progress.) I loved all the talks and music that helped emphasize this statement.

Friday Agenda:

*Head downtown around 3:00

*Checked into The Little America

*Ate some YUMMY food at JWong's

*Went to the Salt Palace for some wonderful messages from Hilary Weeks, Sheri Dew, and Brad Wilcox (The nice thing about TOFW is you don't have to be as reverent as you are at church. We still giggled and had girl talk about "breaking the barrier" and other important topics during the breaks.)

*Went back to the hotel

*Decided we were hungry...again. Went to Chili's until after midnight. I have not been "out" that late in so long.

*Hung out in the hotel room and laughed and laughed and laughed.

*"you are so dumb."

*Realized the roof was outside our balcony...and it was snowing. How can resist doing snow angels at that point, even if your in your jammies and  have bear feet.

*Decided around 2:30 that morning was going to come really quick.

*Tried to go to sleep....

Saturday:

*Woke up around 6:00 so we could alternate showing and getting ready

*Tried to cover up the bags under my eyes...no luck there.

*Hit the buffet breakfast at Little America

*Go to Salt Palace to claim seats

*Spend the day being uplifted and spiritually fed with wonderful talks, by wonderful people, surrounded by good friends.

*Lunch. Most of the group went to Red Rock but My Mom, Jamie and I decided to stay out of the cold and ate at the Salt Palace. It was really good.

*4:00 Our Time Out was over :(

 Front: My Mom, Me, Jamie, Mitzi, Rachel, Jenn, Becky

Back: Lynette ,Steph, Heidi, Sheri, Janae, Becca, Krista, Mandy, Staci, Kristie

Thanks Jenn for making sure to document the washing machine that we brought along in our travels. How we would have missed it if we left it home. (You had to be there to know why.)

I am seriously so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing women. They are each an example to me every single day. I feel honored to be among their influence. We had a wonderful time and walked away feeling better and hopeful of the things to come. This was a much needed time out!

Kaylee Tanner Dance 2011...

Each year at the kids' school they do a session with Tanner Dance from the U of U to help reinforce something they are learning in school. In November Kaylee's class had the opportunity to perform there interpretation and knowledge of "simple machine's." Kaylee loves expressing herself through movement.

Fall leaves...

11 years...

November 10, 2000 was our wedding day. We were soooo young and naive. We had no idea what the future would hold for us. Through all the ups and downs it has been fabulous! I wouldn't change any of our challenges or trials. Mike has made me smile and feel like a million bucks EVERY SINGLE day! So happy for this journey we have had together.

I really, truly am so grateful for Mike's dedication to our family. Over the past little while my health has not been great. I'm tired, I don't feel good, my head hurts, my stomach aches. I know I haven't been the wife/partner he deserves. He has never criticized me for that. Instead he encourages me everyday to just keep doing my best. He is so patient with me and accepts my faults. He picks up the pieces when I fail. His positive attitude truly amazes me each and every day. He is such an example to me.

November 10, 2000

November seemed like a particularly busy month, so we decided to keep things pretty simple for our anniversary. For us, having a quiet weekend together is perfect. We ended up finding sitters for the weekend, and Mike and I just stayed around locally.

The week of our anniversary I was one of 20 people (or so I thought) that won a VIP ticket to attend a grand opening event at H&M. I was super excited, but it was held the night of our anniversary :( Mike being the supportive guy that he is, totally was up for it (even though he was going to have to sit and wait outside while I shopped.) He even surprised me with shopping money! We went early and had dinner at Brio then went and waited in line at H&M. They had camera crews out, people were showing up in limo's, people were all decked out!...and there were HUNDREDS of them. I really dislike being in crowds! I was feeling SOOO out of my comfort zone! I am the type of girl that loves to be in my sweats, cuddled in a blanket, and drinking a hot chocolate.
At this point I was ready to bail, but decided to stick around for the experience. Once we got to the doors, they ended up letting Mike through with me (which is a huge bonus cause I actually stuck around to shop.) I received a couple perks by attending VIP night

*25% off entire purchase

*Free drinks while I shopped

*Free appetizers

*First dibs on all clothes

*Didn't have to sleep out over night in order to go on opening day.

*The best people watching anybody could every ask for!

As soon as we left, we hit the closest Kneaders. We sat by the fire with a piece of pie and a hot chocolate. I sat on the bench with my legs crossed and just enjoyed the stillness for a moment. H&M was a little much for me. It was a reminder to me that I like things simple. I don't need to try and be something more. Shopping and getting all fancied up is OK and fun for some people, but for me, right now....not my thing.  

Saturday we slept in, started some Christmas shopping, saw a movie, ate good food, and went to bed early. It was absolutely perfect! We were able to pick the kids up Sunday afternoon all refreshed.

I like "Us."

Has it really been 4 years already?

It's not right that my kids memories are fading. It's not right that you're not here to play and tumble in the fallen leaves with us. It's not right that you're not attending soccer games with us. It's not right that Grandma Sonia is alone. It's not right that you're not here with us. We miss you way too much. We can't believe it's been 4 years already. We will continue to honor your family name, can't wait til we see you again. We miss you Grandpa Bill

Nov. 9, 2011

In The 30's....

Mike entered into the 30's this year. It's always nice that he gets to try things out before me:) For his birthday we took advantage of his free meal at Tucanos. We met some family and friends for a great night of delicious food and great company.

People that came: Selma, Sonia, Brayden, Mike, Kade, Kaylee, Papa Kenny, Derek, Lindy, Me and Mike

Sonia brought this yummy Brigadeiro Cake and we opened presents.

When we got home we realized Kade had left a note for Mike....

The Farm....

Kade had been looking forward to this day FOR.A.LONG.TIME....His first field trip!!!!

He kept telling everyone he was going "to da farm." The morning of the field trip I woke him up and before his eyes opened, between a yawn, he exclaimed..."I so 'sited to ride on da bus!"

It was so fun following the bus and having all the little kindergartner's wave at me (No, I did not take this picture while driving.) 

Here was my group at "da farm."

Pathetic but I want Kade to have a crush on this little blondie....DARLING! She huged me about 50 times throughout the day. Everytime I go in she still gives me the biggest hugs.

After our group was done with our tour we had some time to kill. We found a few really big trees that had dropped a ton of leaves. We decided to see if we could make a gigantic pile. After they were tired of that I decided to do a little math with them.  We found big and small, tall and short, dark and light, fat and thin...all sorts of leaves. After they were tired of that, well....we had a leaf fight. Let's just say I became the target and found leaves EVERYWHERE when I got home. I.LOVE.KINDERGARTENERS!!!!

We had so much fun. 

After the farm we ate and went to a park. The kids played and played and played. First field trip was a success!



Collin Raye...

Ever since I was really young I remember listening to Collin Raye. Every road trip we went on, we would play CD after CD. At that time in my life his music became a comfort to me. His word are so inspirational and his voice so soothing. This past month has been rough for our family. We have had to come together as a family united. My little brother came to us after a really tough time and said "Let's all go see Collin." I knew that was exactly what our family needed. Unfortunately we weren't all able to go but, it was so great being with my little brother, my Mom and Kenny.

My Mom, Kenny, Me, and Ryan

Mom and Kenny eating yummy dinner before the concert.

Thanks RyRy for being an awesome date. He even made sure I got an extra roll when the waitress was hesitant to give me one.

Desert Star Playhouse was such an awesome venue for a concert. The place is really small, so even though we were on the back row, our seats were awesome. We sat and sang every word to every song. I came away from the night feeling uplifted and renewed. I have a new sense of hope that everything is going to be all right.

Halloween 2011...

I was such a bum this year for Halloween. I didn't want to spend money on costumes. We didn't see the witches at Gardner Village. We spent about 5 minutes at the pumpkin patch...and no pictures.

Mike and I dressed up as bikers for a Halloween party...no pictures. We did go to the Haunted House by Sonia's house and LOVED it as usual. And, Mike and I went to a "REAL" Haunted House...Castle of Chaos. It was fun, but not as scary as I remember them being in high school. But when it came time for trick or treating, I was so excited. I really do love this holiday, but I've had too many other things on my mind to enjoy it. .

Kaylee pieced together a costume of a candy corn witch/zombie. Grateful to our neighbor for lending us the dress.

Kade got a really cute vampire costume from his friend. But the night before Halloween he decided he wanted to be a clown (he has to do everything Brayden does!) He ended up wearing aunt Adrianne's costume from about 20 years ago.

Brayden has heard so many people say they are scared of clowns. So this year he wanted to be a scary clown. He actually looked really spooky. He wore my costume from about 25 years ago. He was so excited this year because we let him go trick or treating with a few friends. He loves when we loosen the reigns a little.

We had this monster/guy sitting on our porch all month. The night of Halloween, Mike put on all the clothes to scare kids. This was by far the highlight of Halloween for us. The kids were so apprehensive to come up to the door. He got kicked in the shin a few times by kids trying to prove he was "fake." Many kids chose not to risk it, and just went to the next house. I wish I could have gotten video...so funny! Hopefully no kids were scarred.

The boys finished early, so they could count and trade candy. Kaylee continued to do a few more houses. Seriously this much candy makes me sick!