A Must Read...soon,very soon...

The Night Circus

I loved it.

I beautiful story of enchanting and magic.

Such vivid description and detail.

In my mind everything now should be black, white or red.

Nothing else.

 Celia & Marco

Poppet

Let me know if you have read it. 

Red Hot Birthday

It really wasn't hot at all! Cold, bitter cold. I was such a good sport. I surprised Ben for his birthday with University of Utah Football Tickets in Salt Lake City.  He loves football. Some of you may not know that he played Defensive End at BYU ID. He was nicknamed by fellow players "the flying viking". He was great at getting the sack.  He would work out hard and eat a lot. Our tight newly wed budget could hardly manage all the food he would consume. For example, eight to ten french toast with peanut butter for breakfast with whole milk to drink. Protein shakes. Triple cheeseburgers. More protein shakes and a whole roasted chicken for dinner. Even with all of that he still had a hard time maintaining a defensive end weight. Anyway, Happy Birthday to great guy. Your simply the best. It was so much fun to cheer on our Utes together. 
                         Show me them U's! Go Utes...Go Utes.

Over the River and through the woods

To Grandma's House

we go.

Everyone did really well. It took us a total of eighteen

driving hours one way. Thirteen hours to our first stop to see Grandpa and Grandma

Southam in Grand Junction, Colorado. Denver greeted us with snow.

 Vail pass was closed

for a short time. We hung out in Village Inn in Silverthorne. We took grandpa and grandma

to lunch and to cruise the mall.  We love hanging with them.

Next we went to Montrose to see our great friends.

We hit the hot springs in Ouray, Colorado.

The kids hung out with some of their friends.

Ben worked at Smiles 4 Kids.

I tracked down some friends for a movie and dinner date.

We got back in the car. Hit the red box and were

off for Provo, Utah. We have monopolized the company

of cousins, grandparents and Uncle Cool.

We are thankful for all the fun.

Sunday we will again say our good byes

fill up the tank and buckle in for the Mid West.

Can anyone beat my thirty six hours of Holiday Travel?

Tough as Nails

Thats my girl Sierra.
She had a trampoline accident on Friday night during a play date with a friend.
I'm not sure that moms friend will let her come here to play again. I hope so.
She caught herself and heard her elbow make a loud crack and then incredible pain.
Meg called me and said to come home right away. Sierra has broken her arm.
I thought...AGAIN!

She broke her arm at the wrist two years ago. Only she didn't cry like she was Friday.
I knew it was bad if she was full on crying big tears. The ER at St. Lukes made her comfortable.
She was medicated all weekend. We expected a cast on Monday from the orthopedic surgeon.
BUT NO.
Surgery to repair a torn ligament and a screw or two to put back her elbow into its socket.
WOW!
That was shocking. And it needed to be done asap...how about Wednesday? Then a hard cast for
three weeks. Then physical therapy for six weeks.

She was extremely brave. She was calm and under control. Just amazing. The nurse told her she was star patient of the week. I agree. No throwing up. walking around and had an appetite for dinner last night.
SHE IS A ROCK STAR!
Thank you, friends and family for your prayers and help through this tough time for her. You give her wings that I cannot.

What did you learn from this post?
To live securely under a rock and to not buy a trampoline for your kids.
Did I mention that Ian broke the living room window the next night with a football.
And the next night I did the heimlich maneuver on Easton because he choked on a dry apricot.
WHAT A WEEK!

Construction Zone

Ever since Easton could talk and move we have been having "Construction Zone Lunch".

Occasionally while out doing random things we will spot a work site. We stop what we are doing and grab a snack or lunch and pullover to watch the big trucks. He loves to watch the trucks dumb and smooth the dirt. He loves how massive they are. He waves to the guys driving and they are happy to wave back. I think they like the attention from a little man. Someday I may be coming to the construction zone to have lunch with him. Him the driver of the big yellow dirt mover. You never know.

My Grateful Top Ten Thurs.

1. My knowledge that I am a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father. He knows my name and cares for me deeply.
2. My Heritage and loving patient parents.
3. My One-of-a-Kind best friend and husband, Ben.
4. My Happy, healthy beautiful children who are straight from heaven to be my angels on earth.
5. My chocolate lab who has taught me more life lessons than I thought possible. 
6. This life. No regrets. No complaints. Complete contentment. No needs. Peace.
7. Friends...you all know who you are. You make life just a little bit sweeter.
8. Okay if you must know...chocolate.  It may be the single most disappointing thing not to have in heaven, thats if I make it there.
9. My age. I am loving where I am. Older adults respect me and some younger adults admire me and I can still act like a kid when I want to. It's a great place.
10. My senses. Eyes that see beauty, ears that hear kind words, arms and hands that can give and receive, a nose that can smell kitchen smells, a mouth that can speak and gives me personal texture.                                                     

November

Old Mr. Winter you have been elusive.

But now I see

 you are back to bother

Me!

Okay I have to admit there is a small part of me that gets

excited about it getting darker sooner and getting colder .

It becomes quite outside like we are all waiting for the

opening act to an anticipated play.

I pull out my wool socks and my very unattractive UGG boots.

both make the mornings more bearable.
I schedule all the mini series I want to catch up on.  I usually find a new book
 too. I also get caught up on all the books on my book list.
And one of the sweetest parts of winter is getting good old fashioned mail
from friends near and far during the month of December.
So, savor a cup of candy cane tea and curl up with your latest read.

Slow down. Stay warm.
Eat lots of comfort food.
Watch lots of films.
Spend as little time as possible
with your washing machine.
Stay hairy until spring

Mr. Winter ...Carry On.

Girls Rule...Boys stayed home with the kids!

         Ok so the boys rule too. They rule because they do the laundry and cook the meals and read the good night stories while the girls go to Denver together. 

It was so much fun. Seven Girls. Four Days. Three nights. Lots of laughing. Lots of good food.

We hit Lion King at the Buell Theatre. The costumes were incredible. The acting superior. Nice job Denver. We went to the Denver Temple. We shopped smart. I still am thinking about the great mushroom soup at Macaroni Grill...It.Was. so. We ate at Melting Pot which is said to be haunted.  My roomy is one of my favorite people. We have known each other for 10 years now. We both cry when we stay up too late.  Two a.m. is late and so is three a.m.  But neither one of us cried this trip.  This trip is better than a whole year of therapy. The laughing was the kind from deep within. Good times. Now I can be such a better mommy.

 Down Town Denver

 Going to the Denver Temple

 Shopping

 Resting from Shopping

 Trying the Furniture in IKEA

 Happy holding DSW shopping bags

 More Happy

More Happy

It was "out of your seat" fun! These girls are some great girls. Looking forward to next year.