THANKSGIVING

This year, my family (minus my two brothers, who we really missed!) all got together in Cokeville. This was the first time in a LONG time that we had all been together, and it was fabulous!

The first day, my brother's friend, Michelle, took our family's pictures. She had them back to us by Friday, which I was thrilled about! They turned out so great! I already have one as my blog header, and new pics of the kids on the sidebar, so I'll spare you the entire shoot and leave it at that.

In addition to a fantastic feast on Thanksgiving Day, we also had fun playing basketball (although us has-beens got pretty sore), coloring and crafting, playing cards, sledding, and decorating cookies. The cousins all got along great. I can't wait to all get together again--hopefully sometime soon!

The kids showing off their fun snowman cookies

Climbing up Test Hill can be a pain . . . (although Mariah was really a trooper!)

. . . but it's totally worth the ride down!

Sisters!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, my sisters and I got together for a fantastic weekend! We did a little shopping, had dinner at Olive Garden, then headed to our hotel suite for "spa night", complete with lots of laughing and reminiscing. The next morning, we enjoyed the hot tub and hotel breakfast, then hit the town for some more shopping.
After we were all shopped out, we headed to the BYU campus where we saw a wonderful production of "White Christmas." All the kids in the play were very talented, and we had a great time there. We then finished off the weekend with some dinner at Cafe Rio--Yum!

I feel so blessed to have so many sisters! (And a wonderful mother as well, who, if you don't look closely enough, just blends right in and looks like another sister.) Like the song in the play . . . "Sisters, sisters, never were there such devoted sisters." I've had that stuck in my head periodically ever since!

"Bah-la-bah"

Translation: VOLLEYBALL

Today Mariah wanted to play some "bah-la-bah." It was so funny to see her interpretation of the sport. Of course, she was very concerned about having some time-outs: "You gotta say, "TEAM!" Then go to the sides and listen to the coaches. Then you run back out!"

And her favorite thing to practice was the sprawl: "When you trip, then you gotta get the ball up." Very true, although it should be slightly more graceful than tripping!

And for you volleyball players/coaches/fans who understand a bit about the game, you gotta love the work on transition and approach in the next clip. Made my day!

Define WEIRD

Yesterday was our stake conference. Of course, two hours for kids can get pretty long and boring. But Connor stayed busy doing several pages of this:

Aside from the fact that these are football plays, can any of you other moms understand this?

Last year, Tony worked one on one with a kid in Connor's classroom for a little while. One day, he told me he thought all the boys in Connor's class were really weird. He went on to explain how they are all really into strange cartoons, superheros, and making weird noises. I came back with, "If you think they are ALL weird, maybe Connor is the weird one!" And here is further evidence of that fact.

Workout Buddy

Normally, I get up at 5:30 and Tony and I work out together. But today I slept in and worked out after Tony and the kids had left to school, so this was my workout partner:Getting a drink is probably what she is best at. We did a little insanity, and here she is doing some switch kicks!
And if Team Beachbody wants to pay me pretty well, I may let them use this pic for their next ad campaign. I mean, wouldn't you love to have calves like these?!?

Some things I never knew about 8-year-old boys

So, I've been a bit perplexed with Connor for the past month or so. There are some behaviors that have changed that I was totally unprepared for! Sure, I've known 8-year-old boys before, like my brothers, but when they were 8, I was a teenager, so I really didn't pay that much attention! No offense, guys.

For one, you know those things he's been wearing his entire life, but never really noticed before? Well, now he cares about them! It's weird, having him tell me how much he loves a certain item of clothing, picking out clothes for his dad to make sure he stays looking sharp, and asking me for new clothes?!? The short list right now is a suit for church, a big belt buckle, and a tight Under Armor shirt.

He LOVES his scriptures. He takes care of them like a prized possession, which they really are. And several times this fall when I've asked him what he would like me to read to him at bedtime, he suggest that I go get my scriptures and we read from the Book of Mormon together. I knew he'd be excited about having his own to take to church, but I thought it was just so he would look big. But it's more than that. He truly loves them.

My Connor is NOT a morning person--never has been. And so during the school year, we've struggled every day getting him up and moving. This year, he suggested that we buy him an alarm clock. I didn't see the point, since we're up anyway and can just wake him up, but Tony thought we should give it a try. We haven't had to get him up once since. He sets the alarm, and every morning within a minute of the alarm, he comes stumbling out, scriptures in hand, ready for family scripture time. Amazing!

I never realized that 8-year-olds were capable of making lunch (sure, it's just quesadillas, but still!) and are happy to do it.

Although in many ways, Connor is more responsible since turning 8, I can't figure out what has happened to his bedroom! He used to take pretty good care of his stuff, but now every item of clothing just ends up on the floor. I've told him, and told him, and eventually he cleans it up, but today I decided to start treating him like the big 8-year-old he is. I did laundry, but only washed his things that had actually make it into his laundry basket. Maybe when he runs out of clean clothes, he'll decide that it's not such a chore to throw them into the basket rather than onto the floor. We'll see . . .

So, I knew all these things would come eventually, but maybe a few years down the road. Luckily, he still has no interest in girls. Major sigh of relief.

4 Random Items

Random item #1:
A couple weeks ago, at Connor and Mylie's school, the kids earned a "crazy hair day." Mylie was especially excited about this priviledge (despite the fact that most days her hair already looks a little crazy.) This was the result of our crazy hard work on her hair. She was pretty proud of it.
Random item #2:
When you live in a coaching family, sometimes family night looks like this:

At least everyone is engaged, right?

Random item #3:

Although I really am a scrooge about decorating for holidays, I did do one simple thing this year. I bought three cute little pumpkins and let the kids each draw a face on theirs. We then put those up on top of the entertainment center and called it decor.

(Disclaimer: Although Mariah is shirtless, her hair is a bit unkempt, and she has marker all over her arm, I really do love her!)

(No, they didn't do another crazy hair day at school.)
Connor was pretty proud of his finished product.

Random item #4:

Mariah learned a new trick this Sunday. Pretty cool!