Carving Pumpkins

Every year we carve pumpkins. Life is busy but we can usually pick a night and carve them together. This year we just couldn't make that happen. There was something every night for someone so this year was a carve when you have time type of situation.

James didn't even get to carve a pumpkin this year because he was so busy getting ready for state XC. In this picture he is holding Sienna's little pumpkin.

Flu Clinics

I worked a lot of flu clinics this season. It was hard to balance work and school. The good thing is that some of the flu clinics were slow so I got my reading done for my women's health class and older adults class. 

James's State XC Race

 James raced in his last state XC race. He prepared hard, ate well for the week or two leading up to the race, drank plenty of water, and got plenty of sleep. He was in tip top shape. Every runner got a porch sign and balloons!

I was so nervous for him for his race. I looked at his results from last year's race and I wanted him to improve his time from last year, move up in places (last year he was 30th place and his time was 16:04). I also wanted him to finish 2nd on his team. To me, those would be wins. He had a great race. He ran his strategy with a slower first mile and then a speedy 2nd and 3rd mile. He ended up in 12th place and his time was 15:32. It was exactly the same course so it was fun to see him improve! Also, he was 2nd on his team too so he checked all of the boxes for me and I was so happy for him. Even better though, he was so happy with his race. A coach from Weber State talked to him after the race so that was a confidence booster!

I didn't not post these pictures in order. You get the idea though. This was before the race started.

The starting line.

The weather was perfect! Not cold but not hot.

Something cool is that James started running cross country in 7th grade. He ran on a team with Miles and Austin. They won the district race that year. James was second on the team back then too. So the picture below is a picture of Miles, Austin, and James in 7th grade. Fast forward to now and the picture above is Miles, James, and Austin. 

This is also a picture of them.

How fun that they've run together all of these years. Also, Austin was diagnosed with cancer exactly a year ago during the state XC race. He didn't get to run his whole Junior year because he was so sick. Last year at state, all of the Lehi runners had his number on their arm and dedicated the race to him. Austin completed treatment the rest of his junior year and then was able to recover enough to run through the summer and all  the fall races. It was pretty emotional to see him running at state this year. 

Grandma Ruth's Birthday

I was so grateful I got to spend my mom's birthday with her! I was texting her the night before about her doctor's appointment on her birthday. I told her I could drive her and it ended up that my dad had had a rough night so she did need me to drive her. It worked out perfectly because I didn't have anything and so I drove up to Heber and picked her up. Then we drove to Salt Lake to her appointment. Her appointment went well and everything was good. We had time to shop at Trader Joe's and See's Candy after her appointment. We stopped in Midway for lunch at the Olive Press Cafe. The salad was so yummy!

She saw her friend there who shares the same birthday.

The next day I took my mom and dad to the temple. We met up in Orem and then drove to the Timpanogos Temple. We did Initiatory. It all went smoothly and my dad was able to do initiatory on his own. It was the best morning! I made salads to eat in the car after. It was a special day and I'm so glad everything worked out!

Lynnlee's Fall Soccer Season

Lynnlee was not going to play soccer anymore after last season. She was excited to start high school and be busy with FCCLA. As fall approached, her old team needed more players. They asked her to come play. She said she would but that she couldn't make it to practices. They were ok with it. So she went to every game and really enjoyed it. She likes her teammates. They won most of their games so it was a fulfilling season.

James's Fall Soccer Season

When James finished high school soccer last season, he was not planning on trying out for club in May. He and his friends planned to form their own rec team. Marshall offered to be the coach but they didn't want a coach. They did need a responsible adult to be listed as coach so that was Marshall. 

This summer, an Avalanche team reached out and asked for James to guest play in two tournaments. James did and he loved it so much. Then they asked him to play on the team for the fall season. He told them he would play but that cross country came first. The Avalanche team was ok with that so he played in all the games but rarely made it to a practice. He really had fun and it was a good experience. He missed the last game of the season so he missed the team picture. So the picture below is the Avalanche team.

This picture is the rec team with all of his friends. They won every game and had the best time. It was very chill and fun.

I took this after one of his games and it is proof that he actually played on the team.

Sienna's Team at UVU Women's Soccer

Sienna's team went to a UVU women's soccer game. It was a very cold day! Thank goodness the game started at 5:00 but even then it was very cold and windy. They were in the shade most of the time. Marshall went with her and I appreciated it a lot! I wasn't looking forward to freezing the whole game. 

Sienna loved it and came back totally hyped about all of the players.

Her team got to be ball girls and they played a scrimmage on the field at halftime.

Happy Birthday Grandma Ruth

We got to celebrate my mom's birthday on Sunday. Ali made yummy sloppy joes. I bought chocolate cake from Costco and made gluten free chocolate cupcakes. Kasey and Andrea brought their yummy jello salad. Betsy brought fruit. The food was great and the company was even better. It is always so fun getting together! I'm so grateful for my mom and all she has taught me. I look up to her a lot. She is the best grandma too!

Tag's Fall Soccer Season

Tag enjoyed playing soccer this fall. He had the same coach and most of the same teammates. They had a lot of fun hangouts, birthday parties, and play dates. They lost a game or two and tied a game so they were a little disappointed. Last year they won every game. They learned a lot though.

Hunting for Deer

I had an epiphany when I was at the thrift store. It's hard to find good things at the thrift store. You kind of have to go a few times before you find something good. Hunting is the same way. You have to spend a week or at least multiple days to find a deer. You can't just expect to get a deer on one day of hunting. I shared that with Marshall and James and told them they could hunt all week if they wanted. They needed to put more time in if they wanted to find a deer. Last year they only hunted for a day or two and were unsuccessful but it just wasn't enough time. 

This year, they got settled Friday night. They hunted all day Saturday and Monday. Then the next Friday they went back and planned to hunt all day and all day Saturday. Thankfully they saw a deer Friday mid day and James shot it. They were so happy! They did everything they needed to and got it off the mountain. They took it back to Midway and cleaned it and whatever you do for that. They got back Friday night in time for the ward party. I was grateful to not have to be solo at the ward party.

Lynnlee's Team @ BYU Soccer Game

Lynnlee's team went to the BYU women's soccer game. It was a cold night! Tag and Sienna went with Marshall. Cam's family went too. I stayed home to drive Kade to soccer and do homework. The game wasn't quite as fun as past years because they lost 0-3 or something like that. It is still impressive that Lynnlee has been going for at least 4 years with her team.

Rose's Lab @ Weber

I learned how to do injections and sutures/stitches at lab. It was another really fun lab! The time flew by! I got my own suture kit and practice skin. They didn't get us lidocaine though so I don't think I will be doing stitches on anyone anytime soon.

Fall Break

Fall break didn't turn out as planned. The girls and I were suppose to go to St. George while the boys went hunting. My car needed new tires and brakes so it was not cheap. Unfortunately life doesn't go as planned as we are learning to sacrifice a lot while I'm in school. We made the best out of it though and went to Grandma's house instead. We kicked off fall break with a stop at Krispy Kreme.

Then we all went to the hot pots. Kade and Tag came with us because hunting didn't start until Friday.

It was a cool and rainy day so it felt good to soak.

We had dinner at Dairy Keen and we saw the Oscar Meyer mobile while we were waiting. 

The boys were good to watch a boy movie upstairs while the girls watched a chick flick in the basement. 

I went running Friday and Saturday mornings. It was chilly! It's crazy how much colder it is in Heber.

Friday we met Betsy at old town Park City. We started at the top and walked down to the bridge and then back up the other side. We stopped in a few shops.

We stopped at an ice cream shop and got a scoop of ice cream. 

Then we drove to stores near the outlet mall. We shopped at a few stores and then had lunch at Zupas. It's so nice that they have gluten free and corn free options. Mmmm!

We finished at the Outlet Mall. Old Navy had a 50% sale so it was awesome to get winter clothes at half the price.

I've never been to Utah Olympic park and I've always wanted to go. Even though they were closing, we drove there just to see it. 

We bought a package of pipe cleaners at Michaels on Friday. Then we proceeded to make a lot of creations that night while watching Gilmore Girls and the next morning and basically all weekend.

It all started because we wanted to make these cute pumpkins. We had so much fun with the pipe cleaners!

Saturday morning we wanted to go to the Midway Bakery but it was closed. We went to Kneaders instead. Thankfully my mom had gluten free corn free cinnamon rolls from Bonnie so I had one for breakfast. Mmm!

Then the girls and I walked up Memorial Hill. It is such a nice and easy walk and a great view!

We really enjoyed our walk. It was perfect weather. We stopped at the thrift store on our way home. Lynnlee found a puzzle. Sienna wearing her new outfit she got from shopping.

Then she changed into a different outfit. We went for a bike ride around the neighborhood. I haven't ridden the tandem for awhile so I felt a little wobbly. 

Lynnlee rode the black bike. 

We had to get back home so Lynnlee could babysit. Sienna and I had a little date night. We went to FroYo. I found a gluten free corn free frozen yogurt. The worker was really accommodating and gave me the label for the yogurt so I could double check. It was pretty flavorless because it was no sugar added. Sienna was so happy that I could have some too so it was worth the lack of flavor. 

We went grocery shopping and then we went to a campaign party with our old bishop and a few other candidates running for city council. It was a fun party with chili, hot dogs, s'mores, camp fires, and the football game was on. I couldn't eat anything but it was fun hanging out while Sienna made a smore.

We headed back home and watched a movie together. I'm grateful I could have some one on one time with her.

Sunday we went back to Heber and went to church with Papa and Grandma Ruth. The boys went there Saturday night and stayed over and we all went to church together. Their ward was really good! Great talks in sacrament meeting and a great lesson in Sunday School. 

We had dinner and then we went back home because I had school on Monday.

Huge thanks to my parents for saving our fall break!