Teddy The Devil

We always joke that Teddy (our 3 yr. old cocker spaniel) is such a little Devil. He's really quite a sweetheart! He just has issues with : running out the door when kids come in & out and NOT coming back when called, jumping up on people when they come over 'cause he's just sooo excited to see them, trying to sneak food off the table if kids leave their plates unattended after mealtime and he pulls really bad when on a leash- to the point where we had to get him a head harness! It looks like a muzzle, but its just like a halter that horses wear that guides his head (and it works great!) But for all the mischief that Teddy gets into he makes up for it with his sweet personality. He is very loving, snuggly, good with kids, a great walking partner and has the softest fur ever. He's a keeper! So guess what he's going to be for Halloween?

Rural Hall 10K

Fun race with Kim & Stacie today. These are my new running partners in WS. Without them I'd never get out for those long runs on Saturdays. I love the running bond, nothing is off limits in conversation on long runs and you get to know people very well, very fast...LOL. Kim & Stacie also brought along their neighbor who was really a great girl as well. Nicole? Shoot...so bad with names! It rained on us, but we still had a great time. The race was publicized as a fast and flat course, ha ha! Not by Utah standards. There were at least 3 little hills. But it was a great confidence booster race. I took 1st in my age group! Got a nice engraved medal. I was stoked! Not a PR, but a good effort. I was very happy with this race.

Ramping up for Halloween

Jim declared that this weekend was pumpkin carving weekend. I told him they would rot before Halloween, but truly I thought it was cute that he was so excited that he just couldn't wait. Halloween is to him what Christmas is to me :) So we rented Beetlejuice (which the kids thought was boring), I made halloween M & M cookies (which turned out dangerously good and I ate way too many) and Jim & kids carved pumpkins. You'll see in the pics that Jim is very closely "supervising" the carving and just can't keep his hands off the pumpkins. Arielle also made the cutest little pumpkin pie in activity days this week- what brave leaders she has to make pies with 15 girls!

Park Days

One of the things we like to do on Sunday afternoons is explore local parks. They are all new to us and it so nice to be outside enjoying this gorgeous fall. Getting fresh air helps us to not go stir crazy on long Sundays. One of our favorite parks so far is Horizons Park. They have a frisbee golf course and great dog park. You can also see the mountains from the park which is a special treat. The stars must have been aligned just right on this day, the kids played so well together. When they stepped on the playground suddenly they weren't preteens anymore, but a couple of best buds playing a fun imaginary game :)

End of Soccer Season

What a great soccer season! Toby's team came out with only one loss for the season. They had a fun end of season pizza party at the school where about 80 classmates stayed after school to party with and congratulate the undefeated team. That same week they went out for their last game of the season hoping to seal the undefeated status and got annihilated! Keeps 'em humble I guess! He had a great time playing and learned alot. The season ended just as it started to get really cold around here, good timing.

How Jim Spends His Time

Yah, see that big pile of books on the floor?! Our friend Melissa (who's husband is a senior in CRNA school) warned me that my bedroom would become over run with books- she was right! When Jim is home this is where you will usually find him, surrounded by piles of books on the floor and bed

I'm so glad Jaime is picture crazy like me! She started a blog www.crnassomeday.blogspot.com that chronicles this great adventure. I've stolen the next couple pics from that blog- here Jim is in class

during the first week of school they spent the day at the park doing team building exercises

Here he is looking somewhat official (and thrilled :) He will start clinicals next week and I hope to steal some more fun photos from Jaime's blog

Kicking Myself

Shoot! It was one of those "forget the camera" days. For Family Night this week we ventured to the Dixie Classic Fair. Usually state fairs aren't really Jim or my "thing" but it was really built up around here on the radio and people we talked to and the kids were totally brainwashed- so we went for it. It was actually a really good time. We mostly walked around and took in some great people watching. Jim was determined to try fried butter and Arielle had a fried snickers. I took a bite of both, snickers won hands down! Toby picked cotton candy of course- always straight sugar for him. I chose island style noodles with lots of huge chunks of fresh veggies- weird, I know. The kids were each allowed one ride (we are on a budget and you could easily drop hundreds of dollars at the fair if you don't watch it). They decided to ride one that goes in a circle really fast forward & back and blasts music. They had smiles plastered on their faces and Arielle could barely stay in her seat due to the force. Next we went to the petting farm which had a camel, south american rats, kangaroo and some other non-traditional petting farm animals- Arielle loved that. Lastly, we caught a couple shows- a magic show and hypnotist show. The magic show was Jim & my fav and the kids loved the hypnotist show (first one of its kind that they'd been to). I think the shows made the entrance fee to the fair actually worth it. But alas...no camera- dang! Here's a link to check out the fair http://www.dcfair.com/index.php/about-us

Welcome October!

OK- first off, I'm cheating. This picture is from last October. Seems I've been taking lots of pics lately, but no family pics. So I'll try to get on that and get some current family pics soon. ANYWAY... I'm stoked that October is here. I LOVE this time of year and I'm generally in a very good mood from Oct 1st- Jan 2nd :). As far as I'm concerned October ushers in the holiday season. We kicked off this weekend by renting a wonderful classic scary movie WATCHER IN THE WOODS. It was the kids first time seeing it and it was a hit. Jim & I remember this movie scaring the wits out of us as kids. Then we went to a local church's pumpkin "patch" and picked out our pumpkins. We will finish off the decor with a giant spider & web plastered on the front of the house. This time of year is also wonderful running weather! Went out this morning for a peaceful 8 miler in a delightful light fog with my new running partner Stacie. We ran along quiet streets lined with pastures and farm style houses in the sleepy little town of Lewisville. It was one of those runs that is so good, it almost makes me consider running another marathon. Lastly, this weekend is also great because its general conference weekend! Besides listening to meaningful talks from church leaders, we get to sleep in, eat lots of good food and stay in PJs all day. Oh happy day!