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