Happy Thanksgiving!!

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to all my Peeps....Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I have so much to be grateful for. It's great to focus on whats most important...the things I usually take for granted on a daily basis. To have a Husband who is so good to me, a healthy baby who brightens every second of every day, incredible family members and the BEST friends in the world, a Testimony of Jesus Christ and the opportunity to get to know about the restored truths of His Gospel...I have all I could ever need and more! I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday and may we all take time to reflect on all we have to be thankful for.

Picture Tag

I'm Horrible at actually doing tags, but this one was easy and quick so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Barb tagged me...you take the 6th photo from the 6th photo file in your computer, post it and write about it.

This is a picture of my little buddies Danny & Israel. Chad and I went back to Guatemala in May of 2006 for a few weeks to visit all of the people I grew to love while I taught English there in College(2003). We tried to make it a sort of humanitarian trip and our Ward & Friends were kind enough to help us round up old missionary suits , shoes, and church clothing for kids and young men. (Many of the young men there go on missions without suit cases, suits, or decent shoes) We had three large suit cases filled! When we got there we found my old Guatemalan Bishop and asked him which young men were preparing for missions that year and they all came over and we fit them in the suits...Then we dispersed the other church clothing to those who needed it most in the ward I use to live in. IT WAS SO AWESOME!!! They were incredibly Grateful....I could go on FOREVER about the experience in detail.

Danny(on the left) was only 2 or 3 when I lived there and he use to pretend to be a little Mono (Monkey) to make me laugh, (He'd scratch under his arms and go "ooo eee aaa aaaa" like a monkey) so when I went back to visit, I brought him the toy monkey that is hanging around his neck. He wore it and protected it from the other kids the whole time we were there. Israel (in the blue) and Danny are Brothers. When we lived there, Some of the other Volunteers and I each invited a kid from our little Village (Patzicia) and took them to Guate City to a Movie and Pizza. Israel was one of those kids that came along with us and none of them had ever been to a movie or out to eat or to the city....You can imagine how funny it was to see there faces when they saw the escalator at the big shopping mall where the theater was, and to see their faces light up at the movie screen! I felt like Daddy Warbucks taking Annie out to the movies. Anywho...(like I said, I could go on forever) ...Living there and getting to know and Love those people is probably one of the best things I have ever done and I cherish all my memories. If it was safe or reasonable to do so...I'd move my family there for 5 years and build an Orphanage or something.

These two kids are near and dear to my heart so finding this picture of them in their new church clothes made my day!

I know this picture will make Kayla & Korbi & Micah Smile

Turkey Trot

I managed to talk Chad into doing the Turkey Trot with me this year (swaying him from his usual sat. morning flag football game is no easy task)...and he even pushed Bridger the whole way! It's a fun 5k run that the city puts on every year before Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful, warm morning and a great way to support the local food bank and win a turkey too!

Savoring the Season

I have a Love-Hate relationship with Fall. I love the smells and the soups I get to cook and the colors of Fall, but I cringe at the thought of what comes after it...WINTER! I hate winter so much that I take it out on Fall! I know, I know...If there were no winter then I wouldn't be able to appreciate the summer...no joy without sorrow...yada yada..I get it, I just think some people are built for different climates, and there is definitely a reason I live in a sunny and warm place!

That being said...I DID get to work on my relationship with Fall earlier this week when some friends invited me to go up to Springdale (right outside Zions) with all of our kids. And I have to say that it was very nice to be able to build positive memories. Thank you ricki and Gals!

You might think that taking all these kids to play in the leaves for a few hours would be a nightmare...(Maybe for the Mom's that had more than one kid to chase around it was)...but I thought it was a GREAT way to spend an afternoon!

(plus, I was desperate to get out of the house that day...We're doing the ONE car thing until we get the one that's broken fixed)

Bridger was a little bumbed that he couldn't ruin the big kid's pile of leaves...at least while they were looking that is.

Going Private

I decided to make my blog private by Dec 1st, but this doesn't mean that I want to boot anyone out from being able to check in...so leave your e-mail address on this post so I can add you.

Muchos Gracias!

Butch Cassidy 10k Run

( mandy, me, ricki, ricki's mom)
Today I ran the 10k race in Springdale (right outside Zions National Park). I'd never ran a 10k before this. I'd never even ran over 5 miles before today. All I have to say about it is...that it was fun, hard, I'm annoyed that I didn't push myself harder, I had GREAT running company, and I'm slow. How did I do?...slow, that's how i did. I ran it in 54 min (8.4 min/mile=Slow)

As I ran past the 5 mile marker all I could think was "Why on earth am I doing this???I don't even like running. I could have totally bought a cute new shirt, or gotten a pedicure...But no, I Paid to do THIS?" But then as soon as I crossed the finish line, I was thinking about how I can train to run it faster next time.

It's an unexplainable addiction.

We had a GROOVY Halloween!

I got to meet Mrs America at our Trunk-or-Treat! (Ricki really fits the part)

Us and our Friends Casey & Meridee

I don't know why I Like Halloween so much. I think it's because that no matter how old I get...I can still dress up. With other Holiday's, once you get old, you have to move on and let the kids enjoy the festivities. But not Halloween, it's awesome! I love seeing everyone's costumes, I get such a kick out of the whole thing.

Sad Pumpkin

This is what our pumpkin looked like after just a few days in this heat...I mean FABULOUS weather! I think it looks like an old man's mouth without his dentures