Best. Tradition. Ever.

Sometimes traditions cause a groan, or the desire to run away screaming.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a firm believer in tradition.  But some traditions are definitely better than others.  And this tradition is the best one of all.  Notice that I'm already calling it a tradition, even though its the first time we've done it. I have faith that due to the enjoyment of the activity it will be repeated every year for the rest of forever.  With my dad in charge I'm sure this will be the case as he is the king of all things tradition.

What did we do you say?  Well, we rode on a bus to Temple Square to see the lights.  So what, right?  Lots of people do that....Wrong!  Nobody does a bus like the Spjutes/Binghams do a bus.  We had a bus come to my dad's and pick us up.  That's right, kind of like a taxi, or a limo, but it was a bus.  And this wasn't just a short bus.  No way.  Spjutes/Binghams don't belong on a short bus.  This was a full-sized, real-life school bus.  Big.  Yellow.  Did I mention big?

the bus parked in out front...big right?

The kids were so excited.  Let's be honest, some of the adults were as excited as the kids.  My dad was so excited waiting for everyone to show up that I thought he might explode.  The most exciting part of the ride?  Going down the big hill by my dad's house.  It was like being on a roller coaster without the seat belts.  We all put our hands in the air and screamed.  Good times.

Sage loving life

The kids at the back of the bus

On the way to Temple Square we sang all kinds of Christmas songs, and of course included "Wheels on the Bus".  When we got to the horn on the bus Clarence, the bus driver, even honked the horn.  So cool.  Then we were dropped off right at Temple Square.  That's right, no dealing with traffic, no stress of where to park, no walking from the parking lot.  Just dropped off right there.  We were super cool.

Sage riding in style

Zack and Kate

Kate and Sage

So we walked around and enjoyed the lights.  Or at least the ones we could see through all the people.  Still beautiful though, even with lots of people.  Zack's still trying to figure out exactly how many lights there were.  I'm sure he'll be able to tell us next year.

Sage...mouth full and hot chocolate in hand

On the bus ride home we listened to Polar Express, ate cookies, and drank hot chocolate.  We went so slow up the hill to my dad's that we were hardly moving.  I thought the bus was done for.  Especially because there was a strange buzzing sound like something was going to explode.  Anyway, we made it home and all was well.  My kids were exhausted, but happy.  We're going to have to re-visit our other traditions so they maybe stand a chance against The Polar Express Bus...

Derby Time!

Zack's car being set in place

The car and the scout

Since Zack turned 8, I've entered the world of scouting.  And quite a world it is.  I feel like its a strange secret combination complete with special handshakes, cheers, vocabulary, the list goes on.  I know nothing about scouting.  I'm not sure I really want to know about scouting.  I have learned, though, that some people take scouting very seriously.  Very seriously.  There is to be no joking about scouting.  This is serious business.  Like I said, secret combination...

Anyway, surprisingly, Zack is loving scouts.  He loves every activity they do and could spend all day doing anything related to scouts.  This could be challenging for me if it wasn't for my wonderful hubby.  Jake loves doing all things scouting with Zack.  Who knew?  So now my husband and son get great bonding time, and I don't have to do scouts. This is definitely a win-win situation.

Last night we experienced our first pinewood derby.  I have a fading memory of my brother Greg coming home after his first pinewood derby with a blue ribbon for first place.  I'm not sure I ever remember my dad being so excited.  So when Zack's derby came around I figured this was a big deal.

Zack designed the car on the computer, and Jake cut it out per Zack's specifications.  Then they painted it.  Zack decided on a shark design (not sure where this came from) and the number 80 (?).  I was proud of Jake for letting Zack do the work.  When it came down to speed we weren't so fast.  Maybe we should have done a little more research on this aspect.  However, Zack had a good time and didn't seem phased by his slow car.  If Zack's happy, I'm happy.  Who needs a blue ribbon anyway?

Turkeys, Lights, and Stitches

Cute Sage

Watching the fountain show

An eventful week for sure.  Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We gathered at my dad's and ate until we couldn't move.  I decided the reason you get so full at Thanksgiving is that all of the foods have large amounts of carbs.  Major carb overload for sure.  We decided to go to the fountain at Farmington Station after dinner so that we could make room for pie.  The kids had good fun.  Really, they had good fun all weekend with their cousins.  Kate and Megan are bosom buddies and spent their time putting on plays for grandma and grandpa and playing with American Girl dolls.  Sage loves Max and Sam and follows them both around.  I think they're not quite sure what to make of her.  Zack plays with whoever is willing to build with him.  I wish we lived closer so they could play together more.

Feeding the scary geese

On Friday we decided to fit everything fun into one day.  We started by feeding the ducks at Farmington Pond.  Ducks and geese I should say.  Quite aggressive they are too.  There were moments when the kids feared for their lives due to the hissing geese.  Following this, we promptly devoured all leftovers.  The best part of Thanksgiving.  Then we hurried to the Bountiful Bubble to swim our guts out.  My poor non-swimming kids tried their best to keep up with their fish cousins.  After swimming it was on to see "Wreck It Ralph".  Super cute show for sure.  By the end of the day the kids were exhausted, but happy.

Jake dangling from the roof

Yesterday was spent doing all things Christmas.  We got the Christmas decorations up.  Not that this is a huge feat at our house.  I have maybe half the amount of decorations most people do.  Oh well, we all have our things, right?  Just not sure what my thing is yet.  Anyway, we also took a deep breath and proceeded to put up Christmas lights.  This is no easy task with our tall house.  Poor Jake dangles 20 feet in the air, risking his life as our family illumination specialist.  It's all worth it when the lights come on though.  At least, that's what I tell myself.  Not sure Jake agrees.

Sage's stitches

We added a little drama to the day yesterday.  I was outside working with Jake when Sage came out crying.  She pulled one of the stockings down, along with the heavy star that was holding it in place.  Apparently the heavy star landed on her head.  This isn't too surprising considering the size of her head.  It would have been more surprising if it had missed, really:)  Upon closer examination I saw that there was a big gash in her head.  Off to the doctor for stitches we went.  She got three stitches and was a trooper.  I realized this is the first experience we have with our kids getting stitches.  Guess our time was up.  By the way, our stockings are now on the floor.  No more heavy stars waiting to fall and smash my kids.

Anyway, deep breath, that was our weekend.  Busy, fun, good times for sure.  Now a really deep breath for Christmas....Ready, set, go!!

Snow!

Sage was ready to play - she kept her goggles on the whole time:)

I can't get up!

Hallelujah!!  My kids actually love playing in the snow!  No more taking 20 minutes to get their snow clothes on, only to have them play outside for a whole 5 minutes.  They played in the snow for hours last weekend.  Hooray!  Now we are set to really enjoy the winter:)

ps - We do have other kids besides Sage.  Guess we only got pics of her this time though.

I Choose Hope!

I just finished watching Zack's third grade program.  I found myself getting emotional through a lot of it.  How embarrassing.  In my defense, the program was all about America and what a great country we are.  It was soothing to my soul after the turmoil of this week.  How can you not have hope when you see a hundred little kids singing as loud as they can about our great country?  Sometimes I think we need to be reminded of what our country is about.  Of what our flag really means.  Of all of the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our country.  I would also like to state that I was not the only emotional person in the audience.  I think a lot of people were touched, and reminded, of what's really important in our country.

So I'm choosing to have hope.  I admit that my heart sinks when I think about the elections and how things turned out.  I know it doesn't bode well for our country.  But I've been surprised at how many people seem so willing to write our country off.  Its over.  We're doomed.  That seems to be what everyone's saying.  But I'm not ready to say that yet.  Now, I'm realistic.  I'm not denying that there are hard days ahead.  That is a known thing.  But I also realize that there are still a lot of really great people in our country.  And I have hope that when its time, all of those great people will stand together and fight for our freedoms.  I have hope for my kids' future.  I'm not writing everything off to doom and gloom yet.  Probably not ever.  Because I know that even though its going to get really hard, and is really hard, in the end the good will win.  This time the bad folks are going to get kicked out on their rears!  So I'm to teach my kids the best I can in my house.  I'm going to teach them pride for their country.  And I'm going to teach them what our country is really about. 

p.s. Sorry to get on my soapbox.  Guess if I'm going to do it I might as well do it here.

p.p.s.  I did take pics of Zack, they're still on the camera and will come later...

Annual Witchy-Poo Party

Cute Sage Witch

serious bingo playing

rock climber Zack

cutest kids ever!

Witchy-Poo party....check.  It would not be Halloween for my kids without the Witchy-Poo Party.  We've been doing it for as long as they can remember.  Its ever evolving, but always great fun.  This year we added some extra games and crafts.  Even more fun for the kids to experience.  But I think the highlight is always the witches brew.  The kids get magic wands and they get to help add the ingredients.  This year's witches brew was actually edible, as opposed to years past where we had real teeth or yummy slobber added to the ingredients.  Good times were had by all.  Now on to the rest of the holidays!

St. George....Again

Zack would hike every day if he could

Cute Boy

We did a lot of this

weeping rock

The narrows with my girls

Me and my jacket:)

Kickin' it on the shuttle

Big Bad Zack

Crazies

Fall break was last week.  So of course, we headed to St. George to invade Greg and Tracy at their house.  St George is seriously the place of choice for my kids.  They love it.  We had hoped to go camping, but the weather didn't cooperate.  Rain isn't so fun in a tent, so we decided to live it up in St George.

It was a really fun trip.  Jake and I snuck in a mountain bike ride.  After we finished he told me I should stick to Cross Fit.  Always knew I wasn't cut out to mountain bike:)  We did some shopping, went swimming, and just relaxed.  On Saturday we spent the day in Zions.  It was the first time the kids had been there and they all really liked it.  They were troopers too.  We hiked to the Emeral Pool, Weeping Rock, and to the start of the Narrows.  It was super pretty, but packed with people.  Kind of like turning the wilderness into Disney Land.  I want to go back to do Angel's Landing when the kids are older, but otherwise I think we'll stick to more of the back country options if we go back again.

Anyway, I think St George seems to be a favorite for our family.  Someday I'd love a condo or something down there.  Getting away during the long winters is really nice.  A girl can dream, right?

The Haircuts...

I have two dear, sweet girls.  Most of the time that is.  Last Sunday Zack came in and told me Sage had cut her hair.  Fabulous.  She came in to show me the damage.  She cut it really short in two places but somehow managed to not cut full chunks out, so its really not very noticeable.  Okay, disaster averted.  Or was it?  A couple of days later I was doing Kate's hair and realized that she had cut her hair too.  Seriously?!!  My six-year-old didn't know better than to cut her own hair?  Kate's is much worse than Sage's.  She cut a big chunk right in the front of her hair.  And she had even been saying she wanted to grow her hair out.  That's going to take awhile now.  She cut it so short that I don't see any way to fix it, so I left it.  Of course this happened a few days before school pictures.  Lovely.  The best part about this whole episode is that when I got mad at Kate for cutting her hair she started getting mad at me.  Yes, because I was getting mad at her I was ruining her life and am the worst mom ever.  Kate is quite the character.  When she gets upset or embarrassed she lashes out with her tongue.  And quite the tongue she has.  That is why there are no pictures, she would have freaked out if I had even suggested it.  Finally, a couple of days later, she calmed down enough to apologize.  And yes, perhaps I am a bad mom for not disciplining her more.  Pick your battles is my motto, and I decided to run away from that one.  I think its consequence enough that she has to stare at her really short hair.  Good times, good times.

The Hills Are Alive!

No, these aren't leaves.  Just my cute girls:)

Sage taking a break on Jake (poet and didn't even know it!)

Its that time of year...fall.  Love it!  The air just has a crisp, clean feel to it.  The days are a perfect temperature and the nights cool off nicely.  I don't love that it means that winter is coming.  Oh well.  You take the good with the bad, right?  The leaves have been red above our house for over a month now.  Kind of crazy, but I'm not complaining.  I think Guardsman Pass is one of the prettiest drives you can take in the fall because there are so many red maples.  You get to drive right through them.  Breathtaking, for reals.  If you haven't seen it before you should definitely give it a try.  So of course, here are some pics up in our beautiful Midway mountains.  I know I post some of these every year, but I can't help it.  They're just so darn pretty:)

Days of Plenty

A couple of weeks ago me, Mel, April, and my dad went to see Little Women at the theater in Centerville.  Such a great show.  I'd never seen it before and it had been a while since I heard the music.  Little Women has always kind of been my family's theme book.  We love it and quote from it often.  One of the last songs in the show is called 'Days of Plenty'.  I've included the lyrics below.  They're amazing, and I've been thinking about them a lot lately.


In the show its the mom that sings this song.  Obviously my mom can't sing this, but I think everyone in my family can.  This song totally makes me think of my mom and Linz.  I know they want us to have days of plenty.  I know they're cheering us on and hoping for the best in everything we do.  I want to have days of plenty.  I want there to be meaning to losing two people I love so much.




On Saturday when I ran my marathon I was of course thinking of Mom and Linz.  I think of them often, but especially when I do things that are kind of big and scary.  For almost my whole marathon I felt them with me.  I felt like they were right there cheering me on.  I started to get emotional a few different times just because it felt to good to know they were there.  I know that a big reason I did so well in my race is that they were with me.  I'm sure that they're with me, and everyone in my family, far more than we'll ever know.  Every once in a while we're allowed to really feel them close.  Its interesting that after I feel them close like that my heart hurts a little more than normal.  Its like I'm reminded of how it felt to have them near and when they're gone again my heart hurts a little more than normal.


So yes, we've experienced some hard things.  We miss Mom and Linz, a lot.  But we can do hard things, especially with them by our side. 

I know there are still lots of hard things to come.  Let's face it, every day has hard things.  But I like to think that there are a lot of good times out there too.  So here's to the days of plenty ahead...

I never dreamed of this sorrow,
I never thought I'd have reason to lament,
I hoped I'd never know heartbreak,
How I wish I could change the way things went!
I wanted nothing but goodness,
I wanted reason to prevail,
Not this bare emptyness.
I wanted Days of Plenty.

But I refused to feel tragic,
I am aching for more than pain and grief.
There has got to be meaning,
Most of all when a life has been so brief.
I have got to learn something,
How can I give her any less?
I want life to go on.
I want Days of Plenty
You have to Believe,
There is reason for Hope.
You have to Believe
That the answers will come.
You can't let this defeat you.
I won't less this defeat you.
You must fight to keep her there,
Within you!

So Believe that she matters!
And Believe that she always will!
She will always be with you!
She'll be part of the days you've yet to feel!
She will live in your bounty!
She will live as you carry on your life!

So carry on,
Full of Hope,
She'll be there,

For all your Days of Plenty

I Did It!

My jacket!

The end of the race - finish line in sight!

Super cool plaque:)

I finished all of the races in the Triple Trail Challenge!  Got my jacket!  It's a nice jacket too I might add.  A black Marmott that's actually fitted for a girl instead of being all big and bulky.  Now I'm anxiously awaiting cold weather so that I can actually wear it:)

So the last race of the series was on Saturday.  It was the Mid-Mountain Marathon.  There's an awesome single track trail that goes all through Park City, and the race was on that.  You start at Deer Valley and finish at the Canyons.  The race actually went really well.  I started out nice and easy, which I think helped me in the long run.  The whole race has lots of ups and downs in elevation, but miles 15-20 were pretty brutal as they were pretty much all uphill.  That's a hard part of a marathon to have be uphill because you're pretty tired at that point.  I was tired, but I didn't let myself walk.  I knew that if I walked it would be hard to get going again.  So I just put it in low gear and kept trotting along.  I only walked up one pretty steep hill that was right at mile 20.  Who puts a steep hill at mile 20 anyway?

The last five miles were actually pretty fun.  Usually this is the part of the marathon where you think you might die, but for some reason I was loving life.  These miles were all downhill, but last time I did this race I was so tired at this point that I didn't go very fast.  This time I cruised down the trail.  It was awesome!  I was passing people all over the place.  I had a negative split, which means that I ran the second half of the marathon faster than the first half.  Let me tell you, that's the way to run a race.  Its way more fun to pass people at the end than to be passed for sure.  It ended up being a pretty hot day, so I spent a fair amount of time at all the aid stations.  In true Spjute fashion, I overheat quickly.  So at every aid station I drank like 3-4 cups of water and then dumped one over my head.  I'm sure everyone thought I was crazy, but you do what you gotta do, right?

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that I fell.  That's right, tripped and slammed the left side of my body into the mountain.  Super cool.  Don't worry though, people were falling all over the place.  When you trail run there's tons of rocks and stuff to step over.  When you get tired it gets a lot harder to pick up your feet and you end up taking a dive.  I saw like four people fall and one lady told me she herself had fallen four times.  So my whole left side is bruised and my right leg feels like it was sprained or something.  Good times.

The results of this race?  I cut 10 minutes off my time from two years ago and finished in 4:25.  Nothing super fast, but I'm happy with it.  I got seventh in my age group for the marathon.  But here's the big news.  I somehow placed second overall for the girls who did the Triple Trail Challenge!  That's right, they announced my name and everything.  I have a plaque sitting on the table in the entry way.  I might leave it there forever.  Feel free to come by and see it:)  No, actually, none of my times were crazy fast.  Apparently though there aren't a whole lot of girls who sign up for the whole race series, so the competition wasn't too tough.  However, I passed two of the girls who were in the running to place in the last two miles.  Suckers!:)

Okay, I'll stop telling you all (the two of you who read this blog) how fast I ran.  It was a good race series and I'm proud of myself for doing it.  Before this year I wasn't one for trails.  Going uphill for long amounts of time was hard for me.  I worked hard though, and now I have my jacket:)  Will I do it again?  Probably, but not for a while.  Too many races that made it so we couldn't do a lot of camping or anything else as a family.

Anyway, I'm off to try on my jacket again....

Swiss Days!

Chaos in the kitchen

The kids chowing down

The goat kept everyone entertained

Jake's family enjoying some good bbq

I love Swiss Days!  Some people hate it and leave town, I just think its fun.  It cracks me up how many people come just to shop at boutiques.  Craziness.  Every year, early Friday morning, I run the 'tour of Midway'.  This allows me to see all the crazies getting here at 6am.  I also get to see all the crazies already fighting over stuff.  I love it:)  I must admit that I do love walking around the booths to see the goods, and I usually end up buying something.  I would like to think that I would not be one of the 'crazies' if I didn't live here.  I also love working at Swiss Days.  There's just something cool about working together with fellow Midway residents, knowing that none of us are getting paid for our time.  This year I helped the youth with their assignment of cleaning off tables.  I ended up being on my own during the lunch hour.  It was pretty crazy, but time definitely passed quickly.  I even got to wipe off President Uchtdorf's table.  It took me a second to recognize him dressed all casual.  Good times.

A side note about Swiss Days.  It is put on by the church.  Thus the reason its not held on Sunday and there's no alcohol served.  Half of everything made by the food booths goes to the church.  And let me tell you, this is not a small amount.  So next time you spend lots of money on a swiss taco, you can feel a little better about where your money goes:)

To finish it all off we had our annual Swiss Days BBQ.  This year it was bigger than ever.  Both of our families came, and it was fun to have everyone here.  My neighbor made his super yummy smoked pork for us so I didn't even have to worry about too much food.  We all ate tons and then the women headed to swiss days while the men pulled kid duty.  In case you were wondering, Saturday evening is the best time to go to Swiss Days.  Way less crowds, and sometimes the vendors will even lower their prices.

So, another Swiss Days gone.  The end of summer.  And an end to our annual Swiss Days BBQ I think.  Its too busy of a weekend to ask people to come up here who wouldn't do so otherwise.  I think in the future we'll just open our house up to anyone who decides to come shop.  Hopefully everyone will stop by to say 'hello'.  Those of you who wouldn't come to Swiss Days without the BBQ can now truly enjoy your labor day weekend:)  Now, I'm off to enjoy a dinner made up mostly of things from our garden.  You gotta love fall:)

Baptism!

Zack and Jake

The three oldest cousins (Marcus, Zack, and Megan)

The grandparents (of course I forgot to take a pic before Zack changed)

Zack got baptized last Saturday.  Craziness!  I can't believe I have a kid old enough to be baptized.  It was a great day.  He was able to be baptized at the same time as his cousin Megan.  That made it extra special I think.  We had lots of family there and it was just a good day.  The Spirit was strong and I'm sure there were lots of extra people there we couldn't see.  After the baptisms we went to my dad's for yummy cinnamon rolls made by April.  It was fun to sit and visit with everyone.  Thanks to everyone who came!

First Day of School

Cutie Kate

Big-Z

Look how big they are!!

School is here!  Yay!  A week ago I had mixed feelings about this.  I've kind of enjoyed sleeping a little longer and not having to kill myself every morning to get everyone out the door.  But then last week happened and boy was I ready for school to start today.  My kids suddenly went crazy, I went crazy, and we were all ready for school to start.  Very ready.  Its interesting how that happens every year.  It seems like there suddenly comes a time when summer needs to be over.  We need to get back into a routine.  Something.

This year Zack and Kate both go to school all day.  Crazy, I know.  Zack is in third grade, Kate in first.  I totally remember third grade.  I can't believe he's that old.  Sounds like the day went well.  Kate loved her teacher, but said it was a long day.  I don't blame her.  These poor kids suddenly go from a couple of hours of school to lots and lots of hours of school.  Zack liked his teacher and class, at least from what I got out of him.  He doesn't offer up much info about things like that.  When he describes his day he uses super descriptive words like 'stuff' and 'things'.  Very helpful.  By 3:00 Sage was on her bike outside, waiting anxiously for her brother and sister to get home.  She gave them both big hugs when they got home.  Poor thing.  Stuck with her mom all day.  Good thing she starts preschool in a few weeks.

By the way, this year I have five hours per week of no kids.  That's right, no kids.  I'm sure I will lay on the couch eating bonbons the whole time....right.  What I'm sure of is that the time will fill up quickly.  Still though, maybe I'll actually be able to run or bike during the day once in a while instead of crazy early in the morning.  I can always hope, right?