Sierra and Ashton's Party

Yesterday my kids threw a party.

They planned the whole thing, from start to finish.

With Sierra as the Director, she is such a party planner.

First, the Evite was chosen by both and typed up by Sierra.

Next, the games were planned out precisely, including clues for the scavenger hunt.

Lastly, purchases were made, by mom of course.

The party was executed perfectly and I LOVED it because I just had to be there to supervise and visit with the mom's that stayed, eat the yummy food, and hold the babies.:)

Last night was our Ward Halloween Party and it was great! The kids LOVED the Spook Alley! I thought the hightlight was when the Grady's performed "Thriller" on stage, they.were.AWESOME!
This morning me and mom ran 12 miles, definately feeling it, my body hurts but I'm so thrilled that I'm ready for my race in 2 weeks.

Piano Recital

Yesterday we went for a run in the morning, again all 4 of us and it was so great!

The rest of the day was so restful and I just loved it and enjoyed every second of lying around, wasn't feeling that great because it was just that depressing time of the month. Oh, I planned a lesson for Sierra's class too because I had the privilege of teaching them today. What a great group of young ladies.
In the afternoon Sierra had her piano recital and we all went in support of our talented girl...

Picture by Heather D. Thanks Heather!

Sierra and Melanie

Sierra and Kathryn Munoz
Sierra with her brother

got Stonefire

Watched movies and snuggled with kids, hubby and hot pad :) the rest of the night.

10

This morning I ran 10 miles with my mom...it was great! We ran out on the South Fork trail and because of all the rain there was a raging river flowing through the wash, waterfalls and everything. SO COOL! Never thought that just running through the middle of our valley would I get the privilege of running next to a river. I love water, loved every minute of it. We also had the privilege of going to Jake's parents house for a birthday party for Grandpa Elmo. He turned 90 years old yesterday. I don't have pictures but when someone emails some to me I will post them. He is a great man, he is my husbands hero. It was a pleasure to be with so many of Jake's family. His sister was in town, two of his uncles from Utah, his aunt and cousin from Orange County, his cousin from Texas. It was a great day!

Love where we live...

I grew up here. I was born at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. I married my high school sweetheart that I met while attending Hart High School. Our daughter was born at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. I have never really appreciated our valley. This morning I went running with my mom and when we started it was still dark, seems unnatural. As we are running the sun rises and it is such a beautiful sight. I was running up our 3rd hill and breathing hard and I looked over and next to me I saw a boy and a girl duck just hanging out on the sidewalk. Not many places do ducks just hang on the sidewalk. Now, in Lakeshore they have giant ducks that have baby ducks, cute right? Not when they try to attack you as you are just walking down the path. They made me go in the planter to get around them because that was their territory. Anyway, that was another time and another story. This morning was crisp and peaceful. A misty rain was falling on our faces. the ground was wet and clean. I'm grateful we live in such a great community, a wonderful place to raise a family.

DIG IT!

Yesterday was a busy day...ran 6 miles in the morning, made rolls for the Relief Society birthday party, went to Travis' birthday party at Wahoo's and then on to Dig It! Ashton S. in Kindergarten had a birthday and my Ashton got invited to his birthday party at Dig It. Now, my Ashton is way into dinosaurs and wants to be a Paleontologist so this was right up his alley! First, they were digging...
and got to keep two items from each adventure digging...

and then he drilled...and found a real fish fossil, the whole fish from head to tail, that was COOL!

Last adventure, breaking a Geo, found crystals inside!!!

FUN! FUN!

Finished off the day at the Relief Society Birthday Party. My mom was released from her calling as 1st Counselor in the Stake Relief Society Presidency. They went out with a bang...this was their last activity. They did a great job serving in their calling, serving the Lord for 3 1/2 years.

Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today is a holiday and I LOVE holidays. I love having my children home. I love just doing whatever we want to do...so I went for a run with my mom at 8:30am instead of 6:30am...when I got up to go Sierra was all flustered, I said "what, I'm going for a run?!" She said "I was surprising you and making you breakfast in bed!" and then she said "oh well, you'll just have to get back in bed when you get home!" OK with me! :) When I got home I was sweaty and they wanted to serve me right then so the couch is where I ended up...so wonderful!

I cleaned out the garage because we are having a Goodwill drive at school and the kids made a trail out to a surprise picnic in the backyard for lunch. Sierra had made sandwiches and they put crackers in a bowl and we sat out on a blanket and enjoyed being outside, again so wonderful!
I got my feet rubbed with lotion by my wonderful children...I got to take a nap.
My husband BBQ'd us homemade hamburgers for dinner at his parents house, my dad came too!
It was a good day!!!!

Saturday...

We were supposed to be out of town this weekend to Crystal's (Jake's sister) house but 2 of her kids got sick so we postponed and our weekend got filled up very fast.
I started off my sugar day right! Today I tried a new recipe for breakfast and it was so so DELICIOUS! Chocolate Chip Pancakes...

Then we went outside and rode bikes and played with our Escalade...Ashton is learning still to ride his bike without training wheels, he can totally do it but he gets scared. He had to practice before I would get out his "black car"...(I was arguing with him for most of it to get him on his bike...he was scared because he was wearing shorts so I had to go get his pants and then I had to convince him to get on his bike...finally he rode around the circle 5 times and then he could be done. I don't know why he gets scared, he has never crashed and never got blood from riding his bike.) I will get a pic of him one of these times...He does a great job riding when he is not being scared...

Me and Sierra went on our first run together...she did so great!

We had tuna for lunch and kitty got her first tuna can to lick from...

Then we took kitty to the clinic to get her stitches out...
and had quite the experience with her in the car...we love to take her in the car when we are just running somewhere quick but today she was all over the place...Ashton and Sierra love to hold her and they fight over who gets to hold her, they have to take turns!

She was even on the steering wheel!

We returned our movies to the Redbox. LOVE THE REDBOX!

Went with daddy over to the Ford dealership so he and the kids could test drive a bright blue Mustang with a black hood so he could get a free lift ticket to Mammoth, now Ashton wants to buy that awesome Mustang!

Had Vincenzo's for dinner! The most delicious pizza! and watched Lincoln and Rocky so Sophi and Rich could go to a Surprise Birthday Party!

A fun filled Saturday!

COYOTE!

I was running this morning with my mom and we were running on the left side of the road up the crazy Tournament hill and right there to my left in the green grassy area was a coyote enjoying a tasty treat. Needless to say I quickly crossed the street and kept my eye on him! He was to busy to bother us though, he was enjoying!