Ghosties

Malia got to wear her costume to dance tonight and bring a treat. So we made meringue Ghosties. She loves to help, and I got the recipe off YouTube, so she could watch it and tell me what we needed to add next. They are very simple to make and taste like roasted marshmallows. She was so proud to hand them out to her friends! She talks about her dance class all the time, I just love her.

Dark side of trampolines

Malia has been limping a lot lately but never complains that she is in pain.
I thought maybe she was having some growth issues in her foot but wanted to get it checked out because her limp has steadily gotten worse.
So I made an appointment at primary children's (I've learned to just go straight to the experts). We saw the doctor on Monday who after seeing the x rays of her feet (they wanted to x ray her hips too but I said not until we rule out the feet! Why expose her to more radiation, esp around the most important areas)! Anyway the problem wasn't in her hips at all, it was a growth/stress fracture type thing in the bone of her foot. Loved the guilt i felt when his first question was, "do you guys have a trampoline?"
"yessss," I said trying to smother the apparent shame in my voice.
It's called kohlers syndrome and is a result of too much activity on the feet. See trampolines. I'm sure her hyper flexible joints don't help when it comes to keeping the bones in place in the foot.
Luckily, the seasons over and its a recovery time of six months. Symptoms are pain, but like I say, she's no complainer. So no more trampoline. Hopefully, I don't have to take her out of dance, the doc says its fine as long as it doesn't bother her.
They don't cast it, but she has to wear soft supportive shoes. Skiing has the green light, so you know where we're going to be this winter.

I really wanted to go snowshoeing today.
I love my kids and sometimes I just need a small break, a chance to refill my cup. All moms need this, whether its reading, shopping, creating, exercising, or just getting away for a moment.
Sometimes I get a little help from someone who can tend and I feel rejuvenated and maybe feel like I can actually get through the day and my mood is so much better.
Most the time though, I don't get that luxury- and it's twice as hard to get through the week. So if I'm not at some family or social function, don't judge. I'm probably out trying to get my cup filled so I can be the good mom my kids need me to be. That's what's most important to me because i don't function so well on empty.

Snow

Morgan and Carson woke me up this morning at 6 am to tell me most excitedly that it had snowed and the power was out. They were all running around the pitch black house with their headlamps and glow-in-the-dark toys.
So I let them stay home for the first half of school to play in the first-snowfall snow. And if we didn't have power the school didn't have power so we spent the morning by the fireplace.(but really I just had no desire to try and get them to school on time in a blizzard, power outage mess). Luckily our gas stove doesn't need electricity so i made some swedish pancakes- cuz hey, we weren't going any where.
Once the power was on I kicked em out the door and went back to sleep. Hmm I wish.

Ridd Halloween Party

Julie always out does herself for an awesomely decorated family halloween party.  We had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing everyone in their costumes.  I'm sure there are many who secretly aren't a fan of donning costumes, but we do it for the kids right? I know they will have some great memories.  They also got some fun awards: Morgan was determined to win, his ballot for the costume contest went like this, ME, Morgan, Morgan Morgan, for each category.  He won for most creative, Carson for scariest, and Malia for funniest.  It took me about an hour to do all  the kids make up, and was worth it when they looked in the mirror and screamed!!  Wes made a great Thor, and I went along as Black Widow,  easy.  I have to thank my neighbor tamy bremer for helping with Morgan's costume, it turned out perfect!
Carson fell asleep in his costume, so we did this to him and took his picture haha!  (Then cleaned all his bedding the next morning, ugh)

Biking

Honestly I don't know what I'd do without spaces like this.

Making grape juice

Yes, this totally intimidates me. However, Wes agreed to help and we managed two batches before burning the third. Ugh all that work.
But it was interestingly satisfying none the less. We ended up with different color juice each time and the 3 batches that were successful were yum. Glad I only do it once a year though-
I finally got Carson to try it and like it and he said it tasted like pink apple juice.
The stuff we burned tasted like grape coffee- nasty.
Oh well at least we tried-

Helicopter!

I have never been in a helicopter and always wanted to. So when we saw there were helicopter rides at the pumpkin patch we took the offer! Yes it was fun and worth it to me! It's such a weird feeling when they take off, trying to balance the aircraft while slowly rising. It's also fun when the pilot tilts the helicopter to turn. It was neat to see the pumpkin patch and maze from up high. We tried to memorize the way through ---ya right.
You can get a helicopter license for $12k and then rent one for about $400 an hour. Good grief I'll stick to delta.
Carson was just freaking out with excitement while morgan just quietly enjoyed it.
Afterwards we picked out tiny pumpkins,not the one Morgan is holding ( because we pretty much maxed out our spending for that day). Carson also got to hold a parakeet on his shoulder. (and he was ecstatic over this as well) Sometimes we get one of those days where little dreams come true.

general conference

Thank you technology for letting me watch conference again so I could really listen this time.

Thank you apostles for teaching me things I needed to hear.

Thank you Jesus Christ for giving me the chance to do better tomorrow.

Crazy hair day

St.george part 2

Coming home took literally all day. After watching the first session of conference we headed out to the lava tubes and did some exploring. I tried to convince my kids that maybe traveling deep into the tunnels wasn't such a great idea and they turned the tables on me by saying, "oh mom, do you just want to eat and watch tv all day?" good call. So down the tunnels we went.
On the way home we cut through Dixie national park on managed to get a flat on the dirt road.
Morgan was a big help to Wes until he jumped in the car after being told not to, while the car was jacked up. He forgot but the weight threw the car off the jack and broke it. He felt bad, but not a few minutes later two guys stopped to help. I said to Morgan, well that was lucky, he said, no mom, I prayed for help." ah yes, taught by my child once more.
We eventually made it home, completely exhausted.

St.george

Wes successfully completed the st.george marathon, and we all cheered him on, but didn't get pics of him. It's kinda hard because you don't know when he's going to be coming so in the split second we noticed him we chose to cheer rather than fumble for cameras. He seemed fine with his time, then again he seems fine with everything for that matter.
We stayed close enough to ride our bikes over and while we waited for wes, Morgan ran and bought malia and Carson snow cones. But he didn't get himself one because he didn't have enough money. Such a considerate little guy!
I ran into several friends who ran the race as well. What an accomplishment! I have no desire to run a marathon, its not my thing.
The kids have really enjoyed playing on the red rock and getting nielsens custard. We also watched conference in the hotel which sat well with Wes's tired legs. I got to get out a little and do a small ride but wish I could do more while I'm here. Carson said, " I didn't know st George was so fun!" frankly, I didn't either.