October 2018

A few highlights from October.  We have our calendar on the fridge.  Every week we write down what is happening every day.  Abby was sad one day when Darren took Ella out on a hike/walk for a daddy daughter date. So Abby marched in side and wrote down on Monday that she got a dad-de-dor- dat.  She got one!  Fries at Wendys dipped in a Frosty.  

Abby is with me a lot so there are always a lot of pictures of her.  Hanging out with Darren and I at the Garden store.  Darren is back in the trees.  Yard work... with Ella, Ella helped her look like a garden fairy. 

Tyler has a great piano teacher, Lindsay Lee Pope.  6:30 AM lessons every Monday morning.  Ella got to go to Biz town and work at the bank.  Pretty cool field trip for fifth graders.  

Abby made a play with her friend Ava.  We had just watched a play called Wait Until Dark at the Hale Center Theater... so this was a murder mystery.  I didn't love it since a dog got killed by someone.  But Abby colored several knives red with  a marker for blood!

Ella had a pre tumbling competition.  She is dressed up as a baby on the left side of the picture.  She got to skip a level in double mini which was fun.  Ella is a creative kid.  She decorated our house for Halloween and helps Abby with dressing up.  She got Grandma Balls old phone and does some cute stuff with it.  Ella hiding in her laundry basket.  Shes super strong and super small.  No fat on that girl.  Ella had a great lesson in Primary.  She loved it so much she came home and gave it to us for FHE.  She even made Abby a costume that she "sewed" so Abby would look like Elijah.  The girls took care of their own costumes this year.  I am not good at stuff like that.  They did their costume and make up.  I helped a bit with the hair.

Tyler has some good friends.  They raked and raked then jumped in piles of leaves.  Abby lost her first offical tooth.  We dont count the one when she fell down the stairs when she was one.  

Halloween is fun.  Especially when I dont have to do much.  I am not good at all that cute creative stuff.  But I have two girls who do it great!  Trick or treating with Aunt Linda.  Then Tyler took off with friends and got a haul of candy. His friends dressed up as colors.  He was gray.   We headed out with friends and Grandpa Harston to check out the neighborhood.  It was a great night.  

24 hours in Moab 2018

Sometimes you get to run away and be a kid again.  This was one of those weekends.  I love my kids so much but I also love when I get to run away for a minute.  24 hours in Moab was that.  We left early friday morning and grabbed some lunch... then headed to the rock.  We climbed Looking Glass rock.  Great experience gettin 8 people all the way to the top of the rock.  We grabbed dinner at Zaks which has the best honey chicken pizza.  Hung out at the condo and sat in the hot tub.  

Darren and Kevin went out for an early morning run while we slept in until 8:00.  We grabbed breakfast and headed to Upper Granary Canyon.  Fun Razor ride.  Beautiful views.  We have 5 rappels and got to avoid some water.  

After the canyon we headed down to the river with 4 paddle boards and a new raft.  The sun was headed down but we were determined.  The boys had do wet suit up since it was chilly!  We got out of the water just as the sun went down.  I love those moments to be a person.  not just a mom or a wife but to me, who I feel I am inside.  

Moab for Fall Break

Great trip!  It was so nice to just have our little family and keep things simple.  Here are a few things we did over Fall Break in Moab.  

1. Bike at Bar M on some kid friendly trails.  

2. Camped at Slick Rock Campground.  Probably wont camp there again.  Small and squished and the pool was freezing- but it was heated...???  We had a lovely view in the morning when we woke up.  Mist everywhere.  The weather was cold the first day but then warmed up.  The girls and I got to relax for a few hours when the boys went biking.  I love slow time with my kids.

3.  Climbing on Wall Street.  So happy.  Climbing on sand stone is a mental game since there aren't a lot of holds and feets.  But we did great.

4. The boys went biking two times on their own.  Abby loved her book that told us all about arches and all the other National Parks.   Aunt Rachel gave it to us years ago.  It actually only tells a small part about Arches but Abby filled in with all of her info when needed.  The girls and I got a short bike ride in when we were waiting for boys.  We biked, climbed on rocks and hangout by the water.

6.  The kids got to pick a few spots they wanted to see in Arches.  I haven't been to some of these for years so it was fun to explore.  We hiked up to Double Arch and played on rocks.  We ate lunch at a nice over look in the park.  

7. The big event we did was go canyoneering.  The kids loved it at the beginning and after the fact.  but not so much in the middle!  Hiking up to the top was great. The first two rappels were great.  The third rappel was an over hang so taht wasn't so great.  Then the 4th rappel was 95 feet and that was a bit big for their brains to feel comfortable with.  But we did it.  U -turn Canyon in Arches.  Abby was tied to me so she was fine.  But Tyler and Ella had to do it all on their own.  And they did great!