Thanksgiving 2013

The Monday before Thanksgiving we always have our traditional family home evening where we make a thankful tree and list so many of the many things we are thankful for.  Here is our tree for this year:

 And let's look a little closer:

We started out Thanksgiving with the Turkey Trot.  Ben and I did the 10k, and Kate did her first ever 5k.  I thought that Ben and I might run together, but he left me in the dust after just a couple of minutes, finishing several minutes ahead of me.  I had a great run, however, and even though I didn't beat my time from two years ago by much, this time it wasn't nearly as hard and I wasn't even really sore.  Kate ran with some friends and I was so proud of her for doing something new.

We had plans to go to our friends the Andrews for Thanksgiving, so we came home from the turkey trot and started cooking.

But we soon found out that the flu had broken out at the Andrews house, and they didn't much feel like eating.  So at the last minute we ended up hosting Thanksgiving dinner.  Our friends, the Huillets, picked up the turkey from the Andrews and came up to our house.  We had a great day together, hanging out and eating.

A weekend of concerts

It was a weekend of concerts for Rachel.

First she had her house concert for piano.  This is where she plays all the songs she has learned for level.  She played 16 songs, all memorized.  I think it is pretty amazing to be able to memorize and play so many pieces.  She plays beautifully.

 Afterward, her teacher presented her with a little gift.

She had friends and family come to listen.

A couple of days later, Rachel had her violin concert.  She has dramatically improved lately, and I love hearing her play. 

A couple of days after that was Sarah's band concert.  Her school has a great band, and I honestly enjoy the concerts immensely.  All except Jazz band...I can't say I'm a fan...but the rest of the bands play such great music.  Sarah is band council president this year and absolutely loves being a part of the band.  You can see her in the front row on the middle right side of this not-so-great picture taken with my iphone.

Another round of concerts and performances to come in another few weeks...

50 years

Fifty years ago today my mother and father were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. 

It was a cold and snowy day in Idaho as a young couple and their family set off towards the temple.  The shock of the previous day's news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy was still fresh.  Amidst the turmoil, a beautiful farmer's daughter and a handsome young school teacher met to celebrate their love.  Sealed together by the power of God, with promises of eternity, this couple started a new life together. 

Fast forward fifty years.

The school teacher turned college professor became a father and grandfather and then graduated from this life and moved on to a better.

The beautiful farmer's daughter became a mother and grandmother and herself a teacher.  She is one of the most kind and loving people that I know.  She wanted to celebrate that special day fifty years ago. 

We spent the day in the temple, remembering blessings of forever promised to those married there.  It was a perfect tribute.

And to celebrate, she showed off her stunning dress from her wedding day.  Yes, she still fits in it!  I told you she was pretty incredible!

 Although she did admit the shoes were a bit tight.

Happy Anniversary Mom!  We miss you Dad, but are so grateful to know that we will all be together again!

Irony

Ben made it through an entire football season fairly unscathed.  But a few days after the season ended Ben managed to dislocate is elbow and get a small fracture in his arm while doing the dangerous activity of.....

clearing the table.

Yep, you read that right.  Ben was doing his dinner jobs and clearing the dishes off the table.  But, football was over and he had some extra energy, so decided it would be a good idea to run around the table and through the family room between each trip with the dishes.  On one such side trip, he jumped up on the ottoman, but only caught the corner.  It flipped over, and down he went, catching all his weight on his right arm.  He came up screaming, his arm hanging in a very unnatural way.

I was not home for this.  I was at the high school for a band booster meeting.  Luckily David was home and took him straight into the hospital for x-rays and a reduction. They were gone several hours.

Ben wore a sling for a week.  After that he was supposed to start using it some.  But it has been a slow recovery.   During that week it was no piano, no cello, no orchestra, no euphonium, no PE, not to mention any other sports.  It was a rough week.  Since then it has gotten a bit better--he can now eat and write with his right hand and play the piano again,  but still no PE or orchestra.  We are all hoping it will continue to heal so he can have full use of his arm again. 

Girls 40th Birthday Celebration

I grew up in a small town in Washington state.  It was a great place to grow up.  Everyone was mostly middle class with good values.  We lived in a nice safe neighborhood and rode our bikes everywhere.  I had the same group of friends from elementary school until we graduated from high school.  Good, nice girls with good families.  Oh, we may have had some drama during those crazy middle school years, but our friendships continued.  We've kept in touch off and on since high school and had the best time ever last year at our 20-year-high school reunion.  We decided then that we didn't want to wait so long to get together again.

A few months ago we realized that we would mostly all be turning 40 this year (except Rebecca who is just a young 'un and only turning 39!).  And that seemed like a good reason to get together and celebrate.  So one Saturday recently we did just that.

Jenny, Michelle and I met up bright and early and ran the Fowl Fun Run 5k.  Michelle, who is the cross country coach at her kids' school, took off ahead of us and ran like the wind.  Jenny and I opted for a more leisurely pace, and ran together chatting the whole time.   What a great way to start the day!

 Michelle's cute daughter Abby also ran the race. 

After the race, we got cleaned up and met up with the rest of the ladies for lunch at this super cute restaurant.  We had a little room all to ourselves and sat and ate and visited until mid-afternoon.  It was so great to catch up with everyone.  I can't say enough good things about each one of these women.  So strong, capable and kind and doing so much good in the world. 

 After lunch it was mani/pedi time! 

That evening Michelle's husband was throwing her a party since it really was her actual 40th birthday.  We were supposed to come wearing clothes from past decades, so we all broke out our old prom dresses and formals for the occasion.   I think it is pretty awesome that we could all fit into them!  Even Linda who is five months pregnant found a dress that worked.  It was just like old times as we all put on our dresses and got ready for a dance.  We tried ratting our hair and Linda and Karissa even did a side pony tail.  Seriously great fun!  We had to redo our pose from all our high school dances.  One of these days I will dig some old photos up and add them in here.

Michelle's husband had put together a slide show with pictures from her past that we were all enjoying, especially the ones we all showed up in--with oh-so-fabulous outfits and hair. 

 Love these ladies!

Happy 40 years to all of us.  It is amazing to think that we've been friends for almost all of those years.  Here's to 40 more!

There is nothing like old friends. 

An Art Party

We had an art party for Kate's birthday.  Our resident artist, Rachel, and her friend, Maya, gave the girls an art lesson. (Sarah was going to help too, but ended up having another commitment.)  First they learned about shading and drawing things three-dimensionally.  Then they started on their painting.  They had the choice of several still life objects:  a vase of flowers, a cup of paint brushes, a bowl of fruit, and a stack of books. First they sketched, and then they painted.  We took breaks for food, fun, and playtime along the way. 

 William sat at the counter and made his own masterpiece. 

 Rachel was very sweet with the girls and tried to help each one individually. 

The palette cake:

 The girls and their masterpieces!

Nine is Fine

Kate loved being eight.  All year long we've been able to say, "Kate the Great is Eight!"  I mean, does it get much better than when your name and your age rhyme?

But her birthday came nonetheless, and she was excited as ever.  We decided, in fact, that even though eight was great, nine would be just fine.  Better than fine, really, but we needed a good rhyme.  Kate can do nine just spectacularly I think.

I picked her up a little early from school and we went on a little ice cream date during Sarah's flute lesson.  We had a great time!  She had a hard time deciding from all those flavors of ice cream, but finally settled on a new one for her, Daiquiri Ice.  

Later that evening we had our little family celebration.  For her birthday dinner she picked steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and rolls.

She decorated her own cake, as family tradition allows. 

 And managed to blow all the pesky candles out, although I think it took her about 9 tries.

 She could not wait to open those presents. 

 She's been eying that shirt at her dance studio all year long.  

 She especially loves those little red boxes.   This one held a dog for her doll.

Kate also got a pair of jeans, a bathrobe and slippers for her doll, and a bathrobe and slippers for her. 

Happy Birthday Kate!

Here are 9 things about Kate:

1.  Kate has always loved shoes and clothes.  After years of putting together cute outfits, lately she's turned into a t-shirt and jeans kind of gal. 

2.  Kate is a great friend.  She treats her friends so nice and tries so hard to keep everybody happy.  Sometimes her friends try to make her choose favorites, but somehow she navigates these tricky circumstances and is kind to everyone.

3.  Kate likes to play the piano.  But getting her to practice every day is a bit of a challenge. 

4.  Kate is very obedient.  She tries hard to do what she is supposed to and to please her parents and teachers.

5.  Kate likes to read.  She sneaks off with a book whenever she gets a chance.

6.  Kate wants to do everything--play soccer, take several dance classes, do gymnastics, drama, singing lessons, piano and orchestra.  Having to pick and choose from so many activities and only do a couple is hard for her.  She wants to do it all!

7.  Kate takes good care of William.  When I am gone, she is often the one who gives him a bath and reads him his bedtime stories. 

8.  On the other hand, Kate and Ben...well, let's just say, they don't always see eye to eye.  Um...like every day. 

9.  Kate loves to eat pasta, homemade bread, fruit, pizza, chocolate, and funfetti cake!

We love Kate and are so glad she is in our family!