Talents

Phil and I have an ongoing discussion that started one FHE while we were teaching the kids about the parable of the talents. We have talked about how we continue to develop talents throughout our lives. Phil believes wholeheartedly that anyone can develop every talent if they work hard enough. Being a person that got A's in art class not because the apple looked so much like an apple, but because the teacher knew I worked really hard to make the apple look as close to an apple as I could. I am also the person that in O-chem had to use the 3D models in order to draw out the dash, line and wedge for the molecules. I cannot see things in my head and tell my hands how to put them down on paper. Phil believes that is because I don't take the time to practice and I believe it is because I do not have this capability. Sometime I wonder how I married an artist and a guy who really can do all things. I guess it is nice that he really believes I could do all things if I really wanted to, but loves me despite my half-hearted efforts to develop these talents.
I have been trying to help my kids develop their talents and since Phil is such an artist and I see the kids really loving drawing, painting and creating I have been trying to provide the opportunities for these talents to grow. We have taken our trips to the craft store for drawing supplies this Christmas vacation and Cannon is loving his sketchbook. Lyla asked me to draw a cat the other day...then she said that doesn't look like a cat and she would ask dad to draw her one when he got done with work.

Oh, December

Well we got Jamie to do our family pictures again this year and love the way they turned out. We have been super busy with things going on this December and we got a new computer that I have yet to figure out how to get the pictures off the camera so I thought I would post these family ones and once I can get the other ones off I will post later.

We started off the month with Miya's 9th birthday and she loved having a party with some of her friends. Then Phil and I headed out to California for his company Christmas party. We were able to see Ashlee and enjoy some sunshine and time at the beach. We got home in time to pick up the kids and head down to Oregon for a few days for one of Phil's office parties. The kids got to play laser tag with all Phil's employees and they loved it. Plus they got out of school for three days and swam in the hotel pool so it was a great mini vacation. Last week we were up at the temple for two days with the Babbel's for Shleby's wedding. The sun was out and the weather was beautiful for wedding pictures at the temple.

The weather stayed beautiful for our Christmas Eve half marathon and I thought during the run that it is pretty hard to complain about the sun in your eyes on December 24th in Olympia Washington. Phil injured his knee about 5 weeks ago so he has been taking it easy on the runs and he said he was going to go slow for the half. I was secretly planning on beating him so when he took off right at the beginning I was determined to stick with him. I had no idea how fast we were going, but I was going to stay right behind him, because he was "going slow". The race was out and back and not marked well so around mile 6 it felt like and eternity to get to the turn around point. Then around mile 11 I had to make a dash to the trees...which were leafless and right on the main road in Littlerock Washington. I finally found a place with some blackberry bushes and then was back on track. Phil was out of sight at this point I was still waiting for him to "go slow". I was so tired at this point that I fell in behind this older man in a green t-shirt and I kept thinking "if he can do it so can I". Needless to say I slowly made it to the finish line (that was not really marked and had two teen aged kids with a stop watch) to find out that I beat my time from September and I was SOOOO tired because my pace was faster than I had been training for. Phil and I slowly hobbled back to the car to race home to meet the Phillip's for Christmas Eve eating and game playing. I ate too much and realized Christmas morning at I stood on the scale that running 13.1 miles does not mean that I can eat everything I want while sitting around playing cards. Phil finished the race at around (remember the two teenage kids with the stop watch and the unmarked finish line) 1:42 and I followed after at 1:44.

Happy Thanksgiving

We are heading over to Vashon again for Thanksgiving dinner and I thought I should take a moment to count my many blessings:

It isn't raining yet this morning
I get to eat an amazing dinner and only have to bring dessert and rolls
Phil is off playing football without any current injuries
It is warm and dry in my house
The kids are happily watching Pokemon in the next room
I am heading out to ride the bike while reading a book that I can't wait to finish
I live in a free country where people (even if we really don't know what they are protesting) can protest against living in this amazing free capitalistic country

So many blessings. I love a day that we really can just enjoy time together with family, eat tons of food and watch football.

Random

This month has been amazingly beautiful and sunny. Yesterday it was in the 60s and the sun felt warm on your skin. Miya had an orthodontist appointment so I got the kids out of school early. After the apt. we headed down to Chamber's Bay and walked down to the water. The kids loved watching the dogs at the dog park, throwing rocks in the water, gathering all the really cool rocks in their pockets (I made them empty their pockets just before we got back in the car) and enjoying time together. We came home just in time to head to the school for the dinner with the police department. I love having really good days with my kids. I love it when they all seem to get along and I really love when we can be outside in the sunshine.
This morning was beautiful too. I was up and running early and when the sun came up the clouds behind Rainer were bright pink and everything looked so beautiful. I can't believe sometimes how blessed I am. The last time I ran in the rain was the 1/2 in September.
Jared Kunz called last week about coming up here for an interview and was asking questions about what it was like living here. That question is always a really hard one for me because of course I love it here and yes it is gray and cloudy a good chunk of the year and yes it rains a lot and yes it is a bigger city and yes it is hard being far away from all of your family...I don't know if you will love it as much as I do, but hey, Phil is here (he is the biggest selling point) and I find I can be pretty happy anywhere he is. So I guess if you got to move here and be close to Phil you would love it too. He is awesome!

Halloween

So honestly, by the time we made it to Halloween I was completely sick of the holiday. We didn't take our kids trick-or-treating and there was no dressing up last night. We all sat down after dinner and watched a family movie and ate baked apples. Everything is fun for awhile, but we started the partying the beginning of October and it had to end at some point and apparently it was the day before Halloween. We did have fun going to a family rollerskating party that even Phil and I dressed up for. We had pumpkin parties with cousins over at nana's house that everyone loved and a nice evening walking around getting candy at the trunk-or-treat. It is so nice to be training for a run the end of November just to get out and have some long runs with all the food and treats around.

Flu Shots

So I take the kids in for their flu shots today. Lyla hops up on the table and gets her shot first. Doesn't even flinch before, during or after. Miya is next and does the same thing with a little more worried look on her face. The nurse looks to Cannon next and he is glued to his chair with his hands wrapped tightly around the arms of the chair. The nurse asks if she needs to go get 5 people to help hold him down while she gives him the shot. This gets him up on the table, but he won't relax his arm and starts to cry during the shot. On the way home I give them all a little packet of Swedish Fish from the Halloween candy and of course Cannon's is the one that opens with a pop and Swedish Fish fly around the car. He ends up with three Swedish Fish left in his pack and an awesome attitude on life for the rest of the ride home.

Cabin Campout

We have been promising the kids a night at the cabin for the past year and a half so once we were done with the inside we decided we should deliver on our promise. We got all the favorite camping food for a little cookout at the fire pit. After hot dogs and s'mores we gathered sleeping bags and moved the ladder for the kids to get up in the cubby. After about an hour and twenty trips up and down the ladder Phil went up to talk to the kids about going to sleep. I hear a LOUD crash and go up to find that the ladder slipped while he was on it. He came crashing down with the ladder and a broken light. Needless to say he was not super excited about having another family cabin night if it would include all of the work required to fix the light. The kids couldn't stop laughing (which I can't blame them, I have a hard time not laughing when people fall) and Phil did not think it was funny. They came down and slept on the floor in the bedroom and still thought that was fun. After the fall Phil came down to watch Jane Eyre with me because I knew it was just the movie to take his mind off all the work that now needed to be done.

Cabin Work

I love how the stairs turned out and I am so happy that they cleaned up so well.

These pictures are about a month old. Mom and Dad came to visit and we worked super hard to have the cabin ready for them to stay in. We cleaned up everything and were able to finish the floors upstairs and the stairs. Everything cleaned up really well and we even ran the washer and dryer after they left to wash all the blankets and sheets. We were hoping to get all the outside work done before the weather turned to rain, but this fall has been too rainy. On Saturday we raced home from the soccer game to caulk as much as we could before the rain came back that night. It looks like we won't be painting the house until next spring unless we have a magical turn in the weather.

Soccer

So we finally did it this year, we put the kids in soccer. We couldn't have picked a better year. Miya and Cannon get to be on the same team so we have one practice and one game a week. Plus the field they play on is super close to our house. They have really enjoyed it except the nightmares Cannon has had when he wakes up crying to inform us he is dreaming of being the goalie and all the balls are going past him into the goal. I know surprising that I would have a kid that is somewhat competitive and freaked out that he wont be the best. He was excited about wearing the gloves this weekend and did a great job. Miya keeps asking if she can do gymnastics next time instead of soccer, which I hear as "please put me in soccer again next year". Plus the weather on Saturday was fantastic in the morning for their game. The sun was out and kids were taking off some of their layers at half time.

Oh, another high point of the game came at half-time when all the parents were looking at me for the water and oranges since apparently I was in charge of snacks. I didn't ever get the snack calendar, but Phil stepped in and saved the day by racing to Albertson's for the best ever snack bags. He delivered just before the end of the game.

Visitors

The skateboarder at the fair.

Mom and Lyla on the big slide at the fair.

Phil and Dad at Chamber's Bay.

We loaded up on cotton candy before heading home.

Mom and Dad came into town last week and stayed with us for a few days. We had the inside of the cabin finished for them to stay in for a little trial run. We went to the Puyallup Fair Monday afternoon once the kids were out of school. Nothing like fair food to help with a girls diet, but it was fun and the kids loved all the rides and treats.

Phil and dad hit three different golf courses in the area and finished the rounds with a day at Chambers Bay golf course. They paired up with two Canadians that made for an interesting day of golf.

I finished off the week with the Army half marathon. It rained really hard the entire run, but I finished well ahead of my goal time. I was hoping to finish at a 9 minute/mile pace and made it with a 8.25 minute/mile and finish time of 1 hour 48 minutes. Phil and I will be running the Seattle half in November and I hope to shave a few more minutes off my finish time. The course has a ton more hills so we will have to see how things go.

Concert

Two of my favorite things are being with Phil and going to concerts. For Phil's birthday I got tickets to the Mat Kearney and Owl City concert. We were the old people at the concert, but I was totally dancing around and got nice and sweaty. We LOVE Mat Kearney and Owl City was great too. The guy in Owl City did these really funny crazy dance moves that at the end of the concert he commented on how he knows he is a weird and horrible dancer, but he can't stop dancing while he sings. He was super humble and sweet. Plus there were these kids with their dad standing next to us and they were singing all the words to every song, with their eyes closed and with feeling. Phil and I loved watching them, they were so cute.

First Day of School 2011

Well school started yesterday and Miya and Cannon were pretty excited. We did hair cuts and blessings on Tuesday and got them to bed way earlier than they had been for the whole summer. Miya really likes her new teacher and Cannon is happy to have the teacher Miya had last year. They are getting ready to head back to piano lessons next week and start soccer as well. We have jumped in with both feet and are excited to be back to some sort of schedule. I am the new Activity Days leader so Miya with actually be attending so the school year should be busy and fun.

Tacoma Rainiers

(I think Rachel and I look like we could be sisters)

We finally made it to a Rainier's game last weekend before the kids started school. It was the last night game of the season so they did the firework show and the kids loved it. This year they didn't even have to cover their ears the whole time. They also loved the cotton candy, free hats and free crazy bread. Miya had been at Wild Waves all day for Cora's birthday party so was pretty tired by the time we got home. They all seemed to be great until church the next morning.

Labor Day was fantastic. It was in the 80s and we were able to play volleyball, swim and have a BBQ. Oh, and we worked all morning on the cabin in order to truly celebrate LABOR day. The cabin is SOOOO close to getting done, but it seems the small finishing touches are taking forever. We have picked out the colors for the outside of the house and hopefully we will be able to do the outside work in the next few weeks while the weather holds out.

Cousins

With Ashlee's girls before they headed out of town.

With Tamara's and Andra's kids.

This summer we have been able to spend time with cousins and I am just now getting pictures off my camera. I love to see the kids play together and forming friendships with family. We had family reunions with everyone and the kids talked about it all summer long.

Last week of Summer

The kids have been enjoying the last week of summer and the wonderful Indian Summer weather we are having. They have been swimming and lately they got out the sleds and going down the hill of dead grass. The rest of the US has started school, but my kids are enjoying these last few moments of freedom. I will be sad next week when they head back to school and Lyla wont know what to do without someone telling her what she should be doing all day. It is time for hair cuts, cleaning out drawers of clothes that are now too small and scrubbing down this house that has been sadly neglected the last few months. It has been a wonderful summer that has flown by way too fast.

PS. the cabin is almost done and we hope to finish it this weekend with the holiday time off.