Around town.

That time of year. 

Get's pretty busy, but mostly in a good way.

Choosing the tree . . . 

Decorating for the season . . .

 And taking in a few local attractions:

 Early in December on a Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed a Tuba Ensemble that filled the concert hall.  The power of these instruments was A.Maz.ING!  I don't know if you know this about me, but I tend to be moved by music more than just about anything.  The first number began, and the tears rolled down my cheeks.  And they didn't let up for a while . . . simply beautiful.  I really don't like to cry, in public or anywhere else for that matter, but I tried to just embrace it this time and hope that maybe, just maybe, I could enjoy their performance without the tears . . . and I did after a little while.  I think the Dixie Land band at the end helped with its lively beat.

We took in the local tree lighting that included fireworks.  Yup, Christmas decorations and fireworks go great together, right?!!! Made more sense why the fire department had representatives there once the sparks began to fly, but no people or trees were injured so I'm thinking it was a success.

 

Bestefar joined us for some lights at Thanksgiving Point, and I loved that the end of the light route had the words and corresponding art work to 

This is the Season Beloved of the Year.

This is the season beloved of the year. 

Sing a rhyme; Christmastime soon will be here.

Tell the true story of Jesus' birth,

When, as a baby, he came to the earth.

This is the new star, shining so bright, 

Lighting the world on that first Christmas night.

This is the angel proclaiming the birth,

Singing "Hosanna!" and "Peace on the earth!"

This is the stable, shelter so bare;

Cattle and oxen first welcomed him there.

This is the manger, sweet hay for a bed, 

Waiting for Jesus to cradle his head.

These are the shepherds, humble and mild,

Hast'ning to worship the heavenly child.

These are the wise men who followed the star,

Frankincense, gold, and myrrh brought from afar.

See the sweet mother, Mary so fair,

Joseph, who guided the donkey with care.

See the dear baby of Bethlehem,

Little Lord Jesus, the Savior of men.

As we drove slowly through the last portion of lights, 

we sang the song together and looked at the artwork.

 And felt 

the peace of Christmas.

There's a tree in Draper that locals refer to as The Tree of Life It wasn't hard to see why.  I don't know what kind of lights they were, but the twinkling was perfect.

 And of course we had to go downtown Salt Lake to take in the lights at Temple Square and explore a bit.

 We did have to park pretty far away and hike in, but the weather was lovely, and it really wasn't bad.  Hope you have had the chance to take in some of the festive beauty around you this season, and just maybe take in some of the peace of the Season.

Just in case you haven't had a chance to watch this, I'll include it here.  Just be warned, you might just find you are moved to tears. . . 

This boy.

He sure loves to be involved in many venues. 

These past couple of weeks we have watched him perform with the Ballroom team, Orchestra, and Jazz Band (he plays the trombone part with an amp attached to his cello). 

 His school day starts at 7:00 am with Jazz Band (an hour before school), and can go to about 5:00 in the evening if he is staying after for Chamber Orchestra (an extra orchestra class from regular class that meets after school twice a week), or Mythbusters (I'm pretty sure they don't blow anything up, but I'm sure they'd like to).

 I love watching him soar.

I think my favorites were ballroom and Jazz band because I could tell he really enjoyed them. 

But oh, he is getting so grown up.  

We are at that point where I feel like I'm the parent all.the.time. and forget to be

 the listening ear, 

fun Mom

just be yourself with me Mom.

I see him slipping into adulthood, and I'm affraid I'm going to miss it:

Miss his quiet pondering, prodding eyes.

His desire to just be near me, because I'm his 

Momma.

 I sure love this boy.

And, I had a lot of fun tormenting him with 

public displays of affection while we were out seeing the lights as a family.

I know I need to spend more time laughing, tormenting, and showing him I'm not afraid to be as embarrassing as is necessary to see his 

lovely

smile.

Moves.

The room didn't have very many people in it.

There were a couple spots right in the center of the room, just one or two lines back from the teacher.

My usual spot.

He had been worried, unsure, and slightly terrified to join me on this venture, but took the space just behind me.

"I don't know about this . . . " he had said. 

I just kept giggling to myself, and waited for the music to start . . . 

Arms swinging, feet dancing, hips swishing, and the Zumba class began with my very masculine hubby joining in the moves as best as he could.  

I pretty much smiled the whole class.

For Today.

After a decent workout this morning, I got home and decided it might be nice to get cleaned up and warm up in the shower before jumping into my day.  When it's 14 degrees outside, I find hot water to be very helpful in that department.  I was just about done, and then there was the tiny fist knocking on the shower door.  She wanted to "hold me"  and I let her know I would be done in just a minute or two.  Then she wanted smiley faces on the shower door.  They didn't work on her side, so she just pointed where she wanted me to put them.  "Here, here, here, here, up here, up there. . . "  You get the idea.  During this process, I heard a careful request at the bedroom door, "Can I get the vacuum?"  Sure, I'm just in the shower, so go ahead and get it . . .  I found myself smiling.  Today, this made me smile because while I would love to have uninterrupted time in the bathroom, I know that all too soon, the smiley faces on the shower door will be gone . . .  the extra helping hands that can vacuum and help with siblings will be off changing the world for the better, and I will have a quiet, clean house with no more smudges, no more candy wrappers left all over the basement, finger prints, or tiny pleas to "hold you"  because they will be grown . . . so today, I got to see the moment and smile.

Fall-in

I have to admit, I have been captivated by the views I have seen this fall . . . 

Gorgeous.

I don't know if I was too busy getting us settled to see things clearly last year, or if this year has been full of more beauty?  Maybe a little bit of both . . .but I have definitely enjoyed keeping my eyes on the mountains as the colors emerged.   We even took another drive through the Alpine Loop, and stopped to take some family pictures, and get the kids' first of the year shots. . . 

They are all getting so grown up!  

The family pictures may not have been perfectly posed, but I love the individuality they showcase, so I'm going to go with that. 

***

This guy turned 14 on a busy, busy day.  We needed to get our foreign exchange student off so he could make his way home, and knew there were activities at night, but managed to have some personalized breakfast:  Nutella tortillas and hot cocoa, 

open presents:  including one from the exchange student (how thoughtful!), and a large bag of jelly belly jelly beans.  This boy and sugar . . . 

He watched a cooking show earlier in the month, and the entire thing was on Meatloaf if I remember correctly . . . so naturally his special birthday meal had to feature Meatloaf! (I can't remember the last time I made meatloaf, but I must admit, it was quite tasty)

 Shortly after dinner, we were ready to go to our Ward Halloween carnival.  We were complete with Dorothy, Good Witch Glenda, the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion (Though the mane only stayed on for this picture), Wicked Witch of the West, and the Scare Crow.  It was nice to remove the face paint when the evening was over, but fun to get into the spirit of things. 

***

 The night before Halloween, we went out to the front porch and picked which of the pumpkins we each wanted to carve.  Even though there were plenty of carving pumpkins, our littlest one had to have a little sweet pumpkin of course. . . 

****

Halloween day the kiddos dressed up for school, had Halloween parties, and Lil performed Thriller with all the other 6th graders.  She was completely into it, and did a great job.  

With the busy day, I decided to give the Jack-o-lantern pizza's a try so that I didn't have to worry about dinner, and we were all fans.  We had some great friends join us and some of my single siblings handed out candy so we could all go out together with the littles and my brother's family around the neighborhood.  

Benjamin went off with his friends for the night trick-or-treating and playing games, Lily met up with a friend as we were out, and so it was truly just our littles we were with . . . 

This little one would have no help with her big bag of loot.  We walked around from house to house for about an hour and a half, and only when we were back on our street, just a little bit from the house would she be carried.  I think her bag was close to 10 or 12 pounds.  She just bounded around, sometimes veering close to the edge of the sidewalk, but always determined to do it herself.  I thought it was adorable.

I think this candy is going to be around for quite some time . . . 

In the past we consolidated the lute, and would just pull it down from time to time to let the kiddos have a few. . . This year, we are going to give the each-have-their-own-bag technique a try . . . we shall see how it goes.  

Time.

In June, it was six months.  

We got together, Bestefar brought helium filled balloons and Kentucky Fried chicken.

We wrote messages on the balloons and let them fly into the blue.

We shared memories, enjoyed the fried food and fixings, and enjoyed the afternoon. 

***

Olivia brings me one of her favorite books to read:  Bestemor Loves Me.

It really says "Grandma Loves Me!" and has Bestemor's hand written Bestemor on every page.

Bestemor  laughs with me.

Bestemor  bakes with me.

Bestemor calls me.

Bestemor cuddles with me.

Bestemor plays with me.

Bestemor shops with me.

Bestemore sends mail to me.

Bestemore reads to me.

Bestemor takes me places.

Bestemor pretends with me.

Bestemor pushes me. (This one has a picture of a girl getting pushed on the swing)

Bestemor loves me!

She gave this to our kiddos when we only had Benjamin, Lily, and Grace and she spent a week watching them when we lived in North Carolina.  She flew out to spend time with them while Jeff and I were out of the country, and wanted them to have something to remember their time together.  I'm grateful that we have this book, even if lately I have not been able to get through it without shedding a few tears.  

***

Jeff was told that when you see a penny on the ground, someone who has passed away is thinking of you.  

Yesterday, he ran with me at my slower pace, and stopped twice to pick up pennies and said,

 "Hi mom."

***

Nine months now.  Almost to the day.  

Love you too, Bestemor.

Summer time . . .

Last summer, I know my kiddos didn't feel like they really had a summer:  it was prepare to move, move, get the house situated, prepare for school, and go to school.  This year, I think they had a more enjoyable time, starting with a Road Trip to my parent's house.

 Oh, the road trip . . . 

I had forgotten how much I love these wide open skies.  Early June reminded me when I took the kiddos up to visit with my parents while Jeffery was out of town.  Luckily, I had my brother Jared with me to visit with, and give a small glimpse of what traveling with four children (one about two years old) is really like ;)  

 I love seeing my kids with my parents, and how much they love being around them, even if it's while working . . . 

or picking cherries.  Just more fun with Nanna and Grandy.

 Getting a chance to spend time on the horses was something my girlies really look forward to every time we visit. 

 Nanna sent us home with a full box of cherries to do with what we liked.  I was delighted to discover that my kiddos enjoyed helping take out the pits! (Only after I'd done it for a while and had cherry stained fingers that lasted at least a week, but the dried and frozen cherries were totally worth it!)

***

 Growing up, I always knew there was work to be done before we could do other things.  Spring and early summer were spent getting in our sizeable garden and working on winning the battle against the weeds.  Through June, I would work on the garden, Benjamin and Lily worked on clearing the crab grass and weeds from the back half where gravel covers the ground.  This worked all right, but was a lot for all of us to tackle.  

By the end of June, the wild grasses were more in control, the garden producing, and the kids and I started working together on the same area at the same time.  HUGE difference!  Funny how we could do so much more working together on the same project.

 There have been many a bag of green beans that have filled the freezer . . . along with shredded zucchini and peas. 

I even made many jars of pickles.  (Fifty feet of cucumbers will inspire that to happen)

We have enjoyed having the space to plant the garden and enjoy the harvest for ourselves, and to share with others. 

I also love that by the end of the summer, the kids were asking where we were going to be working outside every morning :)

***

Don't worry, we did spend a decent amount of time at the pool, too.

***

One Evening, we decided to drive the Alpine loop that winds behind Sundance and comes out East of Lehi.  As we were driving the windy roads, the kids started to complain that they were feeling sick to their stomachs.  "Can't we go home?"  "I want to get out" "Make it stop"  You get the idea.  Jeff and I were just enjoying the beautiful back country.  We stopped at the top of the climb before starting on the down side, and took in the gorgeousness.  Somewhere after this point, Benjamin asked, "Did we drive over Utah Lake?"  *ahem, he he he (good sign we haven't lived here long enough for all of the geography to sink in yet) 

Just before we pulled out of the canyon, Jeff said, "Time to go back home, better turn around."  And then weeping and wailing ensued.  "Noooooooo!!!!"  They didn't understand why we were laughing so hard.  He was totally joking, but they didn't realize it.  I'm thinking the next time we do this loop, it will just be Jeff and I on the ride to enjoy the scenery, though it sure was fun to tease them!

***

  

This man-child of ours has taken scouts to the next level this summer.  

Two week long scout camps

Camp outs with his troop

Pack in trip that his dad joined him for, and I was very glad they made it home safely from. . . 

Let's just say, I think he is really enjoying it now, and the leaders definitely help make that possible.

***

4th of July

I made that bigger and in bold, because it's really a big deal here.  There were things we could have done all week had we been so inclined.  We did enjoy:

 *Going to see the balloons early one morning.

*Hiking to a waterfall not far from home . . . 

 *Cheering on the parade. (Benjamin was part of it, and was more than tickled to be right behind Studio C the entire route.)

*Lots of cheers and calls for Jeff's pants.  I wonder why . . . 

 *Enjoying NC style pulled pork with this bunch of Tessem's (I think this was the third time we made a variation of this meal this summer :)

*And more fireworks in our neighborhood and surrounding area than I' think I've ever seen in one small window of time.  Definitely good times.

***

We also enjoyed a lovely day on the lake with our foreign exchange student we all came to love in such a very short time period.  Thanks again Robert for taking us!

***

I know this was long, and there was more I could have included:  all the wonderful people we have been able to spend time with this summer, new friends and old, but lets just say that it was a good summer full of great friends and family, food and fun!  Hope yours was great too!