Announcing...

Check out Maggie's newest family drawing...and yes, she is thrilled about it!

Mazes

Celebrating Fall

Walking through a corn/hay maze is always a fun part of Fall. The kids loved this little one at Wheeler Farm. I am enjoying the cooler temperatures and the warm Fall afternoons.

Corn mazes also remind me of my Freshman year at BYU. I was on a group date, each couple was suppose to go off and find their own way out of the maze. My date and I, who will remain nameless, stumbled upon the exit in the first 2 minutes of starting. Unfortunately, we didn't realize it was the end, so we spent the next hour walking in circles. At one point, he bent down to tie his shoe and some giggly girls came around the corner and saw him on his knee and said, "Oh, he is proposing" the oohs and aahs followed...ugh, the experience was enough to make me sick and I quickly told them they were mistaken. Funny now, but not at the time and especially not with that geeky guy...Brian gets a good laugh out of it because he knew the guy (they lived on the same floor) and he was also on the group date wandering around in that same corn maze.

Fall Recipes

Celebrating Fall

We are enjoying a lot of these Fall recipes and I am enjoying my convection oven that bakes things to perfection...I am convinced that my appliance can make anyone a good cook. I've tried apple pie, pumpkin pancakes, zucchini and banana bread.

Trees

Celebrating Fall

Even the trees know it's time to bear their fruit. These ornamental crab apple trees are one of my favorite trees in our yard, especially now when their branches are full of these.

I know why...

I know why they call it Fall and I know why we have a squirrel problem in our yard. These little acorns are dropping everywhere in our yard, whether we like it or not.

The Last

Celebrating Fall

I picked the last tomatoes in our little garden before the first freeze of the year. My niece Rachel grew these tomatoes from seed and planted them in my garden boxes as an early birthday present for me. When we moved in, our little garden was already in place. I've loved picking and eating these grand tomatoes...caprese, tomato sandwiches, tomato sauce, brushetta, etc... I am not happy with Mr. Jack Frost for attacking my plants, leaving the vines black when they were still heavy with green tomatoes waiting to ripen in the the Fall sun.

Gardens remind me of my childhood Falls. Tramping through the withering garden after my Dad. Picking apples and squash and pumpkins and making apple cider in the old wooden apple press with my Grandpa and my Dad. I love the smell of drying, fallen leaves, the smell of cool earth, and the promise that this season will come again.

Fall Soccer

Celebrating Fall

We have enjoyed seeing Sam play his first season of soccer. He is fast and already has two goals under his belt. He loves practicing out in the yard with Maggie, they definitely challenge each other. It's fun to watch. Fall soccer reminds me of my own years of playing. I still love the sport and even dream about it sometimes. Brian and I really enjoy seeing the kids play. It has been rewarding to see Maggie coming into her own as she is learning correct positions and spending some time as goalie. Brian is teaching her all of his goalie tricks and she seems to really be enjoying herself this season in an all girls' league.

A Birthday

Celebrating Fall

October is a great time to celebrate birthdays. Happy Birthday Brian! We're glad we had the day to spend together.

Celebrating Fall

This is the first Utah Fall I've experienced in 7 years and so my senses are awake and aware of all the little things around me that are bringing so much joy. I thought over the next couple of days and weeks, that I would post things I find beautiful about Fall to celebrate the season...and so to begin:
The first rain.

In Honor of...

This post is in honor of having a routine again. I snapped the photo before their first day of school on our front porch and am just settling into a routine again. I do much better when school dictates my time. Don't get me wrong, I love summer and having my kids home, but I was just off and out-of-whack this summer.

The kids are back in school and really enjoying it. Maggie started second grade, new teacher, new school, new friends, homework and spelling tests, computer lab (we didn't even have one in Cali. I was shocked when I saw the computer lab at Back to School Night, 32 Mac computers, new and shining) and longer days and riding the bus home...it's all new for her. She is amazed at how nice everyone is and that there is actually warm water and soap in the bathrooms, there are definitely budget problems in Cali.

Sam started preschool, just three mornings a week. There was no transition for him, he walked right in and that was that, he was ready. He has had safety week, colors, shapes and apples and is looking forward to his fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch in October.

Aloha photos

I've been meaning to post some of our Hawaii photos for about a month. Enjoya.

Big Beach
In Lahaina at the Fish Company, our last night

The top of Haleakala
Haleakala, behind us you can see the Big Island of Hawaii
Big Beach
Coconut Milk, it wasn't a favorite

They shine...

Quoting Ms. Hannigan from "Annie" as she yells at the orphans, "Rise and shine! ... all gonna clean this dump till it shines like the top of the Chrysler building." How fitting this quote was for me and the state of my house this morning. It had been awhile, okay, way too long, and oh how my floors needed it.

Last Night

Last night, Maggie finished her reading and ran outside in the backyard to play with Sam and Brian. I lingered on the couch, too tired to move and watched them out the window, their voices echoing as they ran back and forth, their little feet tromping the green grass. I saw dozens of Magpie birds scare from the trees in the neighbors yard, their confusion at where to go or what to do next was amusing as there didn't seem to be a leader. I reflected only months ago at not having a backyard or a place for the kids to run and I felt a joy and contentment as I reflected on the blessings of now. Contentment, we are happy here...we were happy there as well, but our joy is more full. I love having a yard to play in...a safe haven for my children to be children in.

I smell Fall in the air. The mornings and evenings are cool now and oh, how I am looking forward to that old familiar Fall that I know will come and that I've missed for years. We are waiting for those leaves to change and for the mountains in the distance to transform...and how spectacular that will be.

Beginnings and Ends

Writing is therapy for me, it brings healing and peace, it helps me make sense of the jumble of thoughts and emotions that crowd my head and heart. We've had a lot of new beginnings the last few weeks and some difficult endings and I've been meaning to sit down and write all about them and then don't know if I have the courage to record some of those thoughts that drift around in my head.

To begin, I got my sweet husband back on August 12. It was long series of goodbyes for him, leaving those people who he has worked closely with for over five years and grown to love. There was a unique connection with many of them, as they were his support and friends as we experienced all of the ups and downs with Caleb and they were there for us when we had to say goodbye to our sweet boy. It was an emotional rollercoaster for Brian and for them, not knowing if or when he would see any of them again.

The following day, we hopped on a few different airplanes and flew to Maui, HI, where we spent a lot of time together as a family...we were all able to reconnect, Brian had ample time with the kids, snorkeling, swimming and playing in the waves, sometimes I watched from afar, being reminded again and again of the blessings of my family, my children, my husband, saying to myself every once in awhile, "they are really mine" and being able to rejoice in that. Other times I was right down there in the water with them, enjoying them up close, exploring the underwater world with them as we all occasionally spit out salt water. It was a grand trip...we felt a little guilty for staying so long, the kids missing their first soccer games and practices, Sam missing his first week and a half of preschool...my logic in all of the missing was that you are always going to miss something, but you have to focus on what you are gaining instead, what your family will be gaining as you spend time together and all that missing ended up being worth what we gained from the time together...there is sacrifice in all aspects of our lives.

While I was away in Hawaii, I received a call from my Dad. A call we all wish wouldn't have come, a call telling us that my Dad's angel mother, my sweet grandmother had passed from this life into the next. She had done it quickly, no one had a chance to tell her goodbye or their last "I love you." I was heartbroken...there was regret as I had thought to go and see her again before we left, but had not, there were tears and quiet grieving in a setting where I no longer wanted to be...and then there was a long flight home and tiredness all mixed with the emotions of the viewing and the funeral and seeing my angelic grandmother for the last time in this sphere and yet realizing that she was no longer here.

I was able to find peace in her passing as I let my own selfish desires go. She did not suffer, she went quickly as I am sure she wanted and she has been reunited with her husband, her mother and father, her siblings and aunts and uncles and what a sweet reunion I am sure it was for her. She is with our sweet Caleb as well and that brought me peace as well and although I miss her terribly, there is peace that comes as I think of her good life, full of service and unconditional love as well as her firm testimony of the gospel and her grace in enduring to the end.

And so with the beginnings of school and activities for the kids, there were also endings and until we meet agains. How grateful I am for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the knowledge we have of life after death and the eternities, that this life is not the end, but only a step on our path of progression.

Opening the Windows

Yesterday was an especially happy day. The weather was unusually cool, the temperatures must have dropped by about 30 degrees overnight, and so I took advantage and opened the windows in my house for the first time since moving in. We've had the air on, because the heat is just too stifling, but the cooler temps. allowed me to open my windows and let the cool breeze in and it felt so nice and was so refreshing and it motivated me to clean all of my windows and shutters and it felt so good when I was finished...it brought peace into the house and into my heart...and then later that day, I met up with some of my friends from junior high and high school and we were able to reconnect after years and as we laughed and talked and shared things in our lives, I was reminded again, why we chose each other as friends then, and why we are still friends today...and to end the day just right, I picked Brian up at the airport and now have him home for the weekend...and this is the last week we will be apart. It has been a long 7 weeks without him here. A part of me has been missing all summer and I look forward to putting all the pieces back together.