Nov. 5-11

This week has been busy and went by rather fast.

For starters, last Sunday we had a very entertaining evening...

After church clothes come off, Joseph will often get dressed in whatever makes him happy. And to be honest, it often puts a smile on everyone elses face as well.

 This week, Joseph's outfit inspired a production of Santa's sleigh in the middle of the living room. For some reason, Santa's helpers were extremely overweight this year...

It was a fun night!

Also this week, Max started wrestling. He's wrestling over at the high school, so that makes it fun, but also frustrating. Fun for him, but frustrating for me. He loves the coaches and the camaraderie of the team. He also loves how much he is learning already. It frustrates me because they practice early in the morning and after school. Not only do I get to drive him there and pick him up both ways each time, but we also had to move our scripture study to 5:30 instead of 6:30 (a.m.) This is frustrating because it was already hard getting everyone up for the 6:30 session, now it is harder. Everyone has been pretty good about getting up to support Max, so hopefully they can keep it up.

Also this week Isabel started real practice for basketball. And Joseph started Wrestling.

For Isabel, we had previously been going to open gym over at the high school, and now we have practice 3 days a week at differing locations.  As for Joseph, we finally found a place for him to start learning how to really wrestle. He goes 2 nights a week, and has the option of doing more in different locations if we want. We'll see how it goes. So far he is loving it, and because he and Max wrestle a lot already, he is picking it up pretty quickly. I do a lot of driving my kids around, but really, what else do I have to do? 

Tuesday morning after playing basketball I got to go to the temple. I really try to go once a week, because I love the peace it brings to my day. In fact it brings a little bit of peace to my whole week. This Tuesday I noticed the contrast of the gloomy skys in the background of my peace, so I decided to take a picture of it...

Another part of my week that helps get me through the business.

Wednesday night we had mutual. It was a combined activity with the Young Men, and they had prepared a really fun, "faith factor," activity. The kids got to try to answer questions about the gospel and if your team wasn't the first to answer correctly, you had to send up a representative to compete in a challenge.

 

 The woman shown here in this last photo is our YW's president. Her name is Kathy Minster and I absolutely adore her. She is Kind, happy, patient, and a tremendous example to me of how to love. I'm grateful to be able to serve with her. 

Lastly, I'm not sure if I've mentioned, but 3 days a week I drive up to alpine to "work," helping a friend of mine take care of here day to day. I also do some organizing around the house. It's an awesome way to make a little extra money so that I don't feel guilty using all Reece's hard earned money. 

When I'm not working, serving, or driving kids to sports, I'm either playing basketball or doing this:

Thursday, DaNae and I drove up to Bells Canyon just at the mouth of little cottonwood.

We had never explored this trail this late in the fall, but luckily we got a beautiful day, and were able to enjoy a few moments of majestic beauty.

 The water was powerfully stunning, and the fact that we were up there without anyone else made it that much more wonderful. There is a closeness to the spirit when you can just walk a trail and stop to hear the wind blow while breathing in the beauty of the view in front of you.

FANTASTIC!

 And to make this week even sweeter, I got off work early on Friday and called up my DaNae to see if she would like to get in a quick take of one of our favorites, Horsetail falls. 

This shot was up above the main falls. There are a bunch of smaller falls up there that kind of cascade into little pools before they hit the main falls. Very serene, and enjoyable.

There are not many people I would like to enjoy my serenity with, but this dear friend is one who is always welcome.

To finish off this week we had a very eventful Saturday. Actually on Friday night we finally finished the puzzle we had started on Sunday night. 

 It was quite the project. One of the most frustrating puzzles I've ever worked on.
But... we persevered! We did it.

So Saturday, we drove down south to see the Cedar City temple before it was dedicated.

 It was beautiful, as all temples are. This one had lots of unique touches to tie it to the surrounding area. Including Columbine flowers and juniper berries throughout.

We got to go with my dad and mom and they were watching Sharley's kids.
It was lovely!

After the temple we went to my parent's house to change clothes for our next adventure.
Usually the week after Thanksgiving we go hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. This year my mom suggested we do it a bit early since we would be in town and there hadn't been any snow yet. I was hesitant to get a tree so early, but we said sure and off we went.
It's amazing how much more ground you can cover when it isn't buried in snow!
We were able to find an amazing tree and all helped in sawing it down. (Then we made Reece drag it up the hill and to the car.) We had a great time, and it was fun to spend time with family!

 This was my parent's tree. My mom wanted a shot with it and all the littles.

Sharley and Jonah couldn't make it out but the kids came along

And this is the only shot I got of our tree...

At points during the almost 3 hour drive home I thought the tree might fly right off, but I prayed and we still have our tree.

Like I said earlier, it was a busy week with lot's of fun packed into just a short time.  I wouldn't change any of it for anything different.  I love my family dearly. It doesn't matter what we are doing, we always seem to have a grand adventure.

Max's Last Football Game

Max's Freshman football team went undefeated this year.

Their Championship game was yesterday, and they finally ended their streak.

So proud of him, and all the hard work he put in.

Proud of all the boys on this team and am excited to see them play together for the next few years.

He hates when I show him too much love on the field

Also, and especially awesome, my parents and my sister Mavis and her kids, came to support him.

They are super awesome, and Max loved having the extra support here. 

Halloween

So, after basketball this morning I had a friend offer to take me Mountain Biking.

I was hesitant to go, but decided it could be fun.

 In the end, I only ran into a few trees, my legs only cramped up a few times, I managed to get across the bridges without falling in the stream, and the brakes on the bike worked. So... I guess I had a good time.

I won't mention the soreness I felt the next day from sitting on the seat too much.

Halloween night was fun!

We had a ward party. I made some white chili. The kids had plans so we left the ward party before the trunk or treat. Isabel went out with a few of her friends. The boys wanted to sit on the porch and scare kids. Unfortunately we didn't have many trick or treators so they abandoned their posts and went to collect candy.

Upper Falls adventure during fall Break (Oct. 23)

My kids told me that hiking wasn't their thing...

so I told them we were going on an adventure. 

I think they bought it.

 

Once we got to the base of what is known as upper falls, we ventured off to the left of the falls and followed a trail up to the middle section.

Once we got to the middle section we noticed some old ropes off to the side that let to more trail. I wanted so bad to keep going but was afraid for the little people.

I let Max go up because I trusted his strength to use the rocks instead of the frayed ropes.

He loved it! 

 And I loved watching him!

 I loved this Pano. shot of the kids on a little rock outcropping.

 And this one of just the boys lovin' each other.

Snapped a few of the kids on the trail, it was pretty steep, but they all did super well.

And Max was a great leader. He was careful to make sure Joe and Isabel knew exactly where to go.

Adventure complete!