Whirlwind

This month has been a whirlwind. Especially the last two weeks of the month. I'm still trying to catch my breath. It's all good though. I feel so blessed and grateful for the good memories we have been able to make as a family.

This morning at 9:00am the kids and I flew in from LAX after a red-eye flight from Honolulu. Where was Todd you ask? He flew home from Hawaii a day before us for a work trip to Canada.

After we flew in, we stopped for breakfast, our kids dropped their luggage off at home, brushed their teeth and went to school. They already missed school yesterday and they didn't want to miss another day. I'm trying to stay awake too.

But let me start from two weeks ago when Todd's parents were in town visiting. They stayed at our house one night and then we all drove to Cedar City for Michael and Ben's state mountain biking race. More on their incredible race and Michael's last mountain biking race to come.

We came home from Cedar City on Saturday night. I spoke in church on Sunday and Todd taught a Sunday School lesson for a ward conference in our stake.

The next day we left on an 8-day vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii and Oahu. Our kids had a full week off of school for Fall break this year and since it was Michael's last Fall break before his mission, we wanted to take the opportunity to have a great vacation together. And we did! I am cherishing this time with our kids. They are growing up so fast!

Here are just a few of my favorite activities from our time in Hawaii;

Kayaking on the Big Island was so much fun. Ben was so patient with my lack of kayaking skills. Todd was able to row with Sara in front of him. And we saw dolphins! We had a great time together.

Snorkeling near Captain Cook monument was amazing.

 Relaxing on the Big Island.

 Our stay at Aulani on Oahu was fantastic.

I'll update much more soon.

For now I'm off to switch the laundry, continue to unpack, make a grocery list (and hopefully make it to the grocery store today), make dinner (we're ready for home cooked food again), make sure the kids Halloween costumes are ready for tomorrow, help the kids with the school work they missed, get Nana back from the sitter (we miss her!), and hopefully go to bed early! Whew!
Also- it's time to put the shorts and swim suits away and get out the cold weather clothes.
The high temperature at home is 33 degrees today!
That's record breaking cold for October.
In fact, Todd's weather in Canada is 20 degrees warmer than here.
When we stepped off the plane it felt like January instead of October!
Brrrrrrrr!

The great yard clean up

We have had a busy fall.

Mountain biking, school and church activities, and the girls sleeping beauty ballet takes many of our Saturdays.

However, we managed to find one Saturday morning when we were all home.

We worked hard together to get the back yard cleaned up for the winter.

We trimmed trees and bushes, raked leaves, pulled up the garden, etc...

 Nana was a huge help of course.

 Where there's a will there's a way with my Todd.

 A few hours after working in the yard, we started to shed our winter gear as the sun started to warm us up.

We worked hard together. We were all amazed at how much we were able to accomplish by working together. We were sore the next day but it was all worth it.

FOURTEEN

The birthday cards started coming before Mary's birthday.

Sara loves to write sweet notes.

Mary's birthday breakfast.

 Opening presents.

 I delivered Chick-fil-A for lunch so Mary could eat at school with her friends on her birthday.

 Then I hurried home to make a Texas sheet cake (as per Mary's request) and birthday dinner.

 Mary asked for Chicken Tetrazzini for dinner.

 We love our sweet Mary.

We are so grateful that she came to our family 14 years ago.

Mary is talented, funny, smart, beautiful and a great friend.

 Mary had a group of friends over for food, games and a movie on her birthday.

Graduation and early freeze

We ordered Michael's cap and gown already!

I don't have words to express how I'm feeling about Michael's upcoming graduation.

It just happens way too fast.

 We had an early hard freeze this year.

I sent the kids to collect what they could from the garden before the freeze hit.

Lots of peppers and cherry tomatoes but not enough big tomatoes to bottle them this year.

 The kids (and Nana) raking leaves before the freezing weather came.

 I love that Michael is still climbing trees at age 17!

Family pictures

Here are some of our favorite pictures taken at Gardners Village on a beautiful October day.

Sometimes pictures are stressful but these were a lot of fun.

School pictures

12th grade

10th grade

8th grade

6th grade

3rd grade

General Conference Sunday

We were so grateful to be together on Sunday for conference.

The girls braided my hair with beads.

Then they started doing their Dad and brothers hair.

They loved it and it kept them listening quietly while their fingers were busy for hours.

Dad's hair...

 Michael and Ben's hair...

Tinker toys were also a favorite during this conference.

 And Mr. Potato head

 Between conference sessions, I started sorting through Michael's bin.

I have big plans to make a scrapbook for him for graduation in May.

I have a lot of work to do!

It was so fun to reminisce with him.

I can't believe how fast the last 17 years have passed.

 Ben took a nap holding a football just like he used to do when he was little.

 When all the hair was done, the girls started working on their crochet blankets.

 Todd worked on our Disneyland puzzle.

 It was an amazing day together.

We heard incredible messages that inspired us.

I gave a talk about it in sacrament meeting today.

With each conference I am feeling a greater urgency to come unto Christ.

After conference, we met some of Todd's family at the park.

It was lovely to gather with extended family.