November

We have been recording our daily gratitude in individual notebooks and sharing them with each other since October....we started a bit early because our family could use a heavy dose of gratitude.

So here is ANOTHER November gratitude practice..... family blog style....

A double dose of gratitude is always good.

Every once and awhile good weather and an unscheduled hour collide and I get to rush up to the hills.  This was my fun fall hike where I ran into wild turkeys.

Miriam was invited to a breakfast birthday party at Kneaders...so grateful she is making friends at her school.  Since I was driving her 15 min away early Friday morning I took the opportunity to introduced the boys to cinnamon french toast.
They hare now huge fans. Grateful for sweet breakfast foods.

The Grays had their annual pie party right at the hight of leaf falling season, which is perfect because the kids entertain themselves by jumping from their ginormous tree into a huge pile of leaves.

I am grateful Miriam made this pie for us to share (under Darin's supervision). Grateful for long time friends who knew us waaay back when, and for all the deliciousness we enjoyed that evening.

It snowed!! Just the tiniest bit but the boys caught those first flakes of snow...I am grateful for their enthusiasm...they make life so fun. Another thing I am grateful for is Byron's enthusiasm for whatever he is into at the moment.  Ever since going to Grandpa's car show last summer it's been cars.  He and Soren have memorized all the makes of cars and will shout out everyone they see. So imagine driving around to this "Honda! Ford! Toyota! Honda! Honda! Dodge! Scion Cube, are you kidding....I love those things!!" Admittedly it gets old, but I also love those dudes  so I have a high tolerance for their games.

Grateful for Miriam's first ballroom competition of the year.  She had nice dance partners and enjoyed herself immensely.

We all enjoyed watching her dance....it's just that the boys enjoyment has an expiration time.  Luckily we had cousins who came to watch, we had a fun lunch out for Pho, and we all got to hang out with those wonderful cousins for an hour or two afterwards.

Halloween 2017

The boys and I were done with school/work at 3:25, ran to get Miriam by 4:00. Home by 4:15...started the annual mummy dog and veggie dinner. The boys wanted to be out Trick-or-treating by 6:00, Miriam needed to be at a party 15 min away by 6:15. We were still assembling costume supplies, searching for saftey pins, lighting pumpkins and getting the hidden candy out of the basement.

Thats when a panic text went to Darin "If it's okay can you come home early?"

And bless him...he did.  Darin took over lighting the proton packs so he and the boys were out ringing doorbells close to 6 and I got Miriam to her Halloween party just a few min late.

The boys LOVED their costumes.  Spontaneous singing occurred as they walked around.  They blasted all the ghosts they came across. They came home with over 4 lbs. of candy each (I know because we weight it...buy it from them by the lb so we can eat what we want, and then send a piece in their lunch everyday till it's gone). Solid Halloween.

Miriam had the best time at her party...I am glad she has made some friends at her new school, and was brave about going to the pary. So happy she had a good Halloween. 

The trees are almost bare, there are deer jumping fences between us and our neighbors and, on my jaunt up into the hills this morning I was startled by WILD TURKEYS. We scared the heebeegeebees out of each other, I screamed and they took off running. 

All signs that Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

The Carving

Halloween is in 2 days. 2?! Costumes are not ready.  Luckily I don't work tomorrow (but am hosting a Star Wars Club meeting for Byron's friends)....it will get done, it always does. 

I have not been great at documenting my life but I do have a few events I want to get down before the Halloween photos need to go up.

We got to babysit Parker right before Fall Break

My camera was cloudy for the first few photos....

But I cleaned it off before dinner time. We loved hanging with that guy for the evening. 

 STEAM night!

Miriam and I got to volunteer at the Good Samaritan House in Salt Lake with the Young Women.

Such a good experience! We want to go back with the whole family.

Miriam's Musical Theatre class is pretty unbelievable.  They are BIG on the class bonding! A few Saturday's ago they had a big scavenger hunt which the team Miriam' was on won (the team I was the driver for came in dead last).  As the winning team Miriam's team got to go see a local high school's drama performance, and then had a steak dinner together. Feeling all sorts of grateful for the good teachers Miriam has had this year.  It takes a village....

Mandatory Family Fun

Byron's turn for lunch out with Mom. This is not mandatory, it is a very much anticipated event. I am amazed how much my boys can eat! Miriam gets her share of mom lunches as well.

Family Hogle Zoo Trip.

It's been so long since we have been there (except for Byron- he went last Saturday with his scout troop).

We basked in the glorious afternoon sun while the boys ran around the playground and Miriam tagged along.  Best part of the day. Fall afternoon sun is the best....next to winter afternoon sun.

Quick over night trip to Price.

We gathered cousins aunts and uncles for a hike to Gordon Creek Falls. Not mandatory but so glad they came with us...especially since I don't think I could have found it without Erik.
It was a beautiful afternoon! 

If you look closely you can see cute Hazel was there getting all wet in the waterfall.

There was no way that little girl was staying dry.

Then we stopped by to see Great Grandpa Young in the rest home where he is recovering from a fall.
He is not loving communal living....I had secretly hoped he would fall in love with having people around, and meals provided. No Dice. He wants to go home.

We fit in some playdates, a late night, and that about did it for the long weekend.

Now I seriously need to get Halloween costumes ready!! 

The Facts of Life

"You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...."

Soren can sing that theme song even though he has never seen the TV show....we have been singing it lately in response to life...with all it's surprises.

The boys caught a tarantula walking up the street.  It's been such a bright spot in Byron's life.  He and Soren have spent so much time watching, feeding, holding, and habitat building for it. Byron even convinced his teacher with a "9 reasons why" list to be allowed to bring it to school. I can't believe I am allowing this arachnid inside my home, but oh my goodness, when your child lights up with excitement and curiosity how can you say no?

My green eyed boys.

Darin had a week long business trip to Minnesota.  We celebrated his return by going to see the Shanghai University Performers at Kingsbury Hall.

A chilly autumn hike with friends.  We hit it just right to see the beautiful colors of fall!

I was so excited when Darin spotted some of his published research in an engineering magazine!

That is MY D. Ray listed above.