Kamiak Butte Park

After eating so much food on Thanksgiving, on Friday we bundled up and headed out into the outdoors for some exercise. We took the dogs and two cars down the road to Kamiak Butte Park. We hiked around for a while and then found a great sledding hill to play on for a while.We had to hike on the road for part of the way because we didn't have snow boots! It was beautiful in all the fresh snow and the dogs had a great time running and playing.

Austin and Evan had a rough landing at the end of their double ride!!

Truly Thankful Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we traveled up to Pullman Washington to be with my mom and Irv. We left on the day of a big storm and raced ahead of it north through Idaho and on to Washington. We were lucky most of the way, but we did encounter a white out blizzard for about 30 miles. It was really scary and slow going, but after that we made pretty good time. There were some slick areas and it took longer than it should have, but we made it.

Once we were there it was time to play. Evan, McKinley, and David played in the snow and then warmed up and dried out next to a roaring fire.
On Thanksgiving we spent a lot of the day cooking all the food. Mom and I were a great team in the kitchen with things flowing and timing out perfectly. Ethan came in and helped cut the potatoes with his new sword. It brought a smile to all our faces as he wacked and chopped the potatoes and put them in the pot.
Finally, everything was done and we were ready to eat. We ate buffet style with all the food on the sideboard. We filled out plates and our bellies and then watched football and movies all afternoon. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Mountain Man

Today at Evan's school they had a mountain man come and talk to the kids about living in the wild and the history of famous mountain men. It was a great assembly and the man, Scott Sorensen, was a great storyteller and speaker. The kids learned about trapping and tall tales. They were able to see skins of wild animals and hear about fishing and kayaking in the mountains. At the end of the assembly I was able to take a picture of Evan with the mountain man Scott! It was a fun time!

Miracle!

I believe in miracles!

The last few weeks of our lives have been very crazy. We have experienced a lot of changes and a lot of blessings. We have been trying to sell our house in Texas for over a year and were not having any luck. We loved our house, but we weren't too keen on the neighborhood and living so far out of town, so we were trying to move. It was not happening.

Then David switched jobs in July and began traveling to Nashville each week. We were really hoping the house would sell and we could all move together to Tennessee and start a new adventure there.

Then the job turned out to be crazy and unstable and stressful. It just wasn't a good working environment or opportunity for David. After 3 months of trying to make it work we felt it was time to move on. We didn't know what we were going to do, but we weren't going to continue down the path we were on with David gone all the time and working at a job he didn't like. So...we decided David was going to find a new job. The very day that David finalized his resignation with his company a man came to our door to promote his business. He was from our neighborhood and was starting up a business and was soliciting business. We had a nice conversation at the front door where I told him we were not doing any home improvements because our house was on the market but I would tell my friends about his business. He told me he knew how that went because he had moved in January and was being forced to move again in a few days because the house he was renting had been sold and they had to move. It was your average friendly conversation and he left. Then the lightbulb went on!

I went to talk to Dave about the guy at the door and I said to David..."he mentioned that he had to be out of his house by Saturday and was waiting to hear back on a rental at the beginning of our subdivision. Maybe he would want to rent our house. It's a long shot, but all he can say is no".

Well, he didn't say no, he said yes! He came back over and spoke with David for a long time. They worked out an 18 month lease and we started packing. We packed our 4300 sq foot home in 3 days and had our realtor draw up a lease and do background checks and get everything in order in 3 days. By Saturday we had loaded up 2 26 foot trucks, flown my BIL out to drive a truck, and pulled out with the RV for our 2 day drive to Utah! We moved home!

(The kid's last night on the floor of our house!)

I can't believe we're here. It's been such a crazy time and such a wonderful time all at the same time. Every time we turned around things fell into place. We know that we are supposed to be here right now and that his the right thing for us. We are living with my MIL in Draper in a wonderful basement apartment! We get to see cousins and brothers/sisters and grandparents everyday. The kids love it and are already adjusting in school. David is looking for a job and feels confident that the right thing will come along. It's been crazy, but such a miracle for us!

GT project

Evan was assigned a project for his GT class to make a structure using sugar cubes. Evan chose to make the Taj Mahal. He was very creative with his structure, using frosting as cement and Hershey kisses as the shiny tops of the towers. We think it turned out great!

Halloween

We were very busy around Halloween time, but I was also in charge of our Fall Festival at church, so we were still able to make time for fun.

Evan has been reading The Ranger's Apprentice series and so this is Evan dressed as Will from that book.
McKinley wanted to be a wingless fairy and this is the outfit that she chose to wear.
We had a great time at the Fall Festival. The kids were able to fish for candy, go through a haunted house, eat donuts on a string, have their fortune read, have their face painted, and participate in a cake walk. They definitely had lots of sugar and lots of fun!