Thankful

Another thing I am thankful for:  Music.  By my children.

This time of year just flies by.  About the first week of November I brace myself and try to enjoy the ride.  Then spend the next 9 weeks hoping for a pause in the race.  

I am very thankful for the pause I received this evening. 

Dallin has been asking to practice some basketball at the gym so Paul agreed and also took the other children to play.  I stayed back to clean up the kitchen from tonight's dinner & tomorrow's stuffing.  Once that was finished I moved on to clean up another room.  As I was passing the piano I remembered to plug in my pumpkin.  A few minutes later I decided to sit down and enjoy the quiet.  Ahhhhh.

In no time at all the car was pulling into the driveway & I could hear each of the kids talking as they came up to the front door.

Well, it was a good, if short, pause.

But wait, one by one everyone ended up in the living room.  

Being the Mom, I thought I'd take advantage of this gathering to voice our gratitude.  Each of the kids participated with various things they are grateful for.

Kyralyn is grateful for "our Heavenly Father and our Jesus," and for the "good bodies Heavenly Father made, not the bad ones"  (which meant people who make bad choices, not physical challenges).

Parker is thankful for air.  

Dallin is thankful for basketball & ipod touches.  

When asked for something unique they are thankful for:  Parker's reply:  toilets.  Dallin piggy-backed off that with "indoor plumbing."  This led to a "many moons" retelling of Grandpa Spencer's childhood fall into the family outhouse.  We all had a "many moons" laugh.  

I am thankful for pauses...

Together.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Bear Lake, Play

8/20/11, Bear Lake

Saturday was our day to relax & play in the lake.

And we did.

Bear Lake, Early Morning

8/20/11, Bear Lake

Friday night we all squished into our makeshift shelter and eventually fell asleep.  

Paul woke up and moved his cot outside the door because the walls were closing in on him.  

Eventually morning came, 

the sky lightened, 

and the thunder rolled in the distance.

(We were swimming out to this buoy yesterday)

I quickly woke Paul up & we moved all of our uncovered gear up to the tables under the pavilion.  

As soon as we got back into the tent the rain began trickling down.  

After listening to the raindrops on the tent and watching my family sleeping, I remembered my camera.  

Suddenly I wanted to be out on the beach watching the storm.  

The sun was just beginning to come up over the mountains & the morning light in the storm was beautiful.  

The storm came in from the mountains to the west and I watched it move east across the lake through my lens.

 

Bear Lake

Bear Lake, 8/19/11 (Thanks Kyralyn for the picture)

 Back in August our family packed up and headed north to Bear Lake.  

I remember camping here as a kid on a few different occasions.  We know many people who come here often.  We've lived in this great state for a long time but until now, hadn't been up to this place.  

8/19/11, Evening

I shared with my kids things I'd remembered about camping here.  
Like being so close to the shore it felt like we had the lake all to ourselves.  
Like having wide, sandy beaches to play on.  
Like eating raspberry milkshakes.  
Like riding these big huge tricycle things in the water.  
Like being together.  

Silhouette: Together

 It's a beautiful drive into the lake.  We checked into our campsite and began unloading.  We were right next to the shore.  We all went to check out the lake before setting up camp.  

Our friends who had been there a few weeks before warned us that the water level was high this year and that they had been swimming in reeds.  On our way up I was reading about the current conditions but nothing can prepare you for the real thing.  

10 feet higher than normal is significant!  

(So is the difference in perspective from child to adult).  

There was not much beach, and what there was, was only mildly sandy.  Good thing we brought our water shoes!  

The water was high.  

And the swimming area was full of reeds.  

 I've played enough in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oregon not to be bothered by long, slimy things wrapping around my ankles and legs but I could always get it away from me.  

Our swimming spot at Rendevouz Beach wrapped us in reeds.  When we pulled one away, there was another one waiting to tap us on the shoulder or wrap around our legs.  

I was trying to get a "legs in the air" photo (like Parker up there).  Instead we had a good laugh.

 Before we got wet we began setting up camp.  

 Here is where the real adventure begins.  

Guess what we forgot to pack?  

The tent poles!  

We could just sleep on top of the tent I suggested.  

(Yeah, brilliant idea, especially when morning came.)

Paul decided we'd better have shelter against the bugs when the sun went down and any possible inclement weather.  

He channeled his inner Macgyver 

(or maybe his Eagle Scout) 

and rigged us up a shelter. 

After lots of laughing, Parker getting stuck in the tree, a little bit of frustration and some exasperation, the swimming suits went on and we jumped in the lake.

Ok, everyone but me.  

I kind of tip-toed in.  

But it was later in the day and the sun was out.  The water was cool but I knew that after being in for a bit I'd adjust.  I got part way in and to everyone's surprise, and Parker's delight, went under on purpose.  

We played, despite the reeds, for the rest of the evening.

  We took a dinner break before it got too late.  

Parker is our resident fire starter.

Then we went back for more.

We tried again.  More good laughs.

 

Trick-or-Treat

10/31/11

 With dinner over, the kids all headed out for their fun.  

Dallin went from wanting to be a bloody mob boss to a bloody surgeon to a bloody basketball player.  Ok.  

Kyralyn has had her heart set on being a butterfly for two months.  She was a bit disappointed that people at school called her a fairy...guess we should have given her antennae!

Parker only wanted the handgun as his costume.  I told him he had to dress up if he thought he was going to be trick-or-treating.  He settled on being a policeman because he could carry a gun & handcuffs.  He thought the badge & glasses were cool too. 
(The M-16 stayed home for most of the night; he did take it out to "scare" people for a bit - without the clip in it - but that didn't last long.)

Yum, Yum!

They came back home with tired feet after about 2 hours.

Checking out the cache!

Monster Mush

Dallin (didn't just want a scab, he wanted a gash) & Isaak, 10/31/11

The boys invited friends over for dinner & trick-or-treating.  It was fun to have a handful of excited kids milling around & filling their tummies.  This is the best kind of dinner party for the hostess:  they eat & leave, making the clean up quick & easy!

We usually do spooky Halloween pizza but we were pizza'd out after two pizza dinners earlier in the week.  
We had a monster dinner instead.  

Dallin, Isaak (not shown), Ty, Blake, Parker, Kyralyn 10/31/11

Boo!

10/31/11

 Monday morning came early as every monday morning does.  The boys had little interest in dressing up for school.  Parker did throw on his football jersey though and Dallin wore his basketball outfit, but without the colored hair.  Kyralyn wanted to be all butterflied.

I headed over to the school to watch the kids parade through in their costumes.  It sure is fun to see what people come up with.



Here is a clip of each of the kids as they walked by me.  Watch Parker's eyes closely as he passes.  (ok, I guess ya can't see it very well...he does a slow eye roll as he turns his head away).  What I didn't catch was him pulling his shirt up over his head as I yelled "go Spencer" to him further down the line.  Thanks to the neighboring parent who pointed out that he clearly didn't want his mom there!  Dallin & Kyralyn don't seem to mind though!

(Parker comes in at about 25 seconds if you are seeing the 37 second version)

(Dallin is there for about the first 40 seconds)

(Kyralyn comes in at about 16 seconds)