Halloween

Here are a few pictures from Halloween.  As always it was lots of fun and way too much candy!

Family party with the cousins.

Andrew: Darth Maul, Kaitlyn: Ariel, Jared: Obewan Kanobi

Obiwan and Darth Maul in a light saber battle.

Cute Kids

Here are some new pictures we had taken of the kids.  They didn't want to cooperate with the photographer very well as you can see at the end!

I Love Fall!

Fall is my favorite time of year!  I'm not sure if that's because I was born in the fall, or because my two boys' birthdays are in the fall.  Maybe it's because of the cooler temperatures and beautiful colors.  Maybe it's because I know it's the start of a fun few months of holidays.  It's probably all of those things.  One day I went to Snowbasin for a trail run with my friends.  I commented that on such a beautiful day I feel like I live in the best place in the world!  The only thing not good about fall is that it doesn't last long enough!  I've been posting a lot lately because I'm trying to get caught up on everything before our trip.  Every time I get one post done it seems like there's another one waiting.  Here are some pictures of the spectacular fall we have been enjoying!

Jason, hiking with Jared and Kaitlyn at Snowbasin

All of us at Snowbasin.  Andrew biked with me while I ran the trails.

American Fork Canyon

More fantastic colors!

What an amazing picture of Mt. Timpanogos!

Jared and Andrew at the deer hunt with their cousins.

Last week Kaitlyn was so excited to have here first field trip in kindergarten.  I wasn't planning on going but she really wanted me to so of course I did.  She loved having me there and wanted to hold my hand and have me right next to her the whole time!  I wish I could just keep her this age forever!

Kaitlyn was thrilled to ride a school bus for her first time!

Class picture with Kaitlyn's teacher, Mr. Miehlke.

Breakfast with a Witch

My sister-in-law, Jana, invited Kaitlyn and me to a fun girls outing at Breakfast with a Witch at Gardner Village.  They had a cute program with lots of silly songs, dancing and jokes.  The girls liked getting the witches to sign their autograph sheet.   Here are some pictures!

Jana, Morgan, Kaitlyn, Mother Goose Witch, and Brooklyn

Jana, Morgan, Brooklyn, me and Kaitlyn

Morgan, Nancy and Kaitlyn in the fun witch hats Grandma bought.

Brooklyn and Kaitlyn with Mildew Rose.

Shopping at Gardner Village after breakfast.

More Construction Pictures

Our phone line has been cut.  The electrical line to the pump for the sprinklers was torn out.  The electrical line for the timer for the sprinklers was cut.  And the sprinkling system itself is a disaster with broken pipes all over the place.  You've got to love construction!  On the other hand things are really starting to take shape!  Concrete should be poured next week and I can't wait to see the finished project!

Almost ready for concrete forms!

Surprise!  Footings from our foundation that come out five feet from the house.  Nothing a lot more concrete and money can't fix!

French drain to hopefully get rid of our "swamp."

Jared's 9th Birthday

Jared turned 9 last week.  We celebrated both the boys birthdays with a family party a couple days before Jared's birthday.

Jared knew exactly what was in this present because he picked it out.  For some reason that made it all the harder to wait to open it up!  He asked every five minutes if he could open it after his grandma got to our house!

Just what every nine year old wants for his birthday!  A kiss from Grandma!

Cheering after blowing out all his candles on his cheesecake.

Things Jared likes at 9: Lego's, Lego's, Lego's... (any guesses at what was in that present he was dying to open?), Star Wars, Harry Potter, playing with his brother and sister, baseball, basketball, football, riding his bike, cheesecake, anything with sugar, camping and fishing with his dad.
Things Jared doesn't like at 9: cleaning his room, waking up for school in the morning, homework, and practicing piano.
Some of the things I love about Jared: his laugh, his imagination, that he still likes me to walk him to and from school, he's smart, and he's sensitive to other's feelings.  It's hard to believe nine years has past since he was born and that in another 9 years he'll be an adult!  Time is passing way too quickly!

St. George Marathon 2011

For the third year in a row we headed to St. George the first weekend in October for the marathon.  Jason had been training with our coach, Paul Pilkington, all summer and was in the best shape he had been in for years.  I was so excited to see him race!  Just like last year, we were in the middle of a heat wave.  Add on top of that, the emotions from the previous week when his grandpa passed away, and it didn't turn out to be an ideal weekend for him.  While it wasn't his best race, he did an amazing job finishing in 2:52, just two minutes off his best time.  Marathon running can be so challenging because even though you do everything you can to prepare for the race there are so many outside conditions out of your control that affect your performance.  As runners we always want to run a PR but a lot of times the only thing we can say is that we gave it everything we could that day.  I thought he did a great job and he was excited to place 8th in his age division.

The kids had fun making signs while we were waiting for him.

The night before the marathon I took the kids to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn.  We left home later than we had planned and hit traffic a good part of the drive and I started to worry we would miss the play.  Once we got there we all had a lot of fun.  The kids loved it although Kaitlyn was a little scared of Ursula.  Here they are with Scuttle after the play.