A few Highlights from the end of summer!!

So, yesterday I got my haircut. It is shorter than it has ever been but I am liking it. I keep surprising myself whenever I pass a mirror. It is a big adjustment. I haven't even washed it yet and I know it is going to feel so super short when I dont have to use hardly any shampoo. Byron hasn't really weighed in yet, though he did say, you have been threatening me for years you were going to cut your hair. Yes, I have been and it is about time. I gave him plenty of time to get used to the idea.

You are wondering....what's the deal with Byron and the plate of food. Is he so surprised that I actually cooked a real meal so we took a photo, maybe....is he shocked to see fruits and vegetables at the same time, most likely....but really the photo is about the meat. Or should I saw fowl? Byron went hunting and shot two chuckar's...This is a photo of the hunter eating the hunted. Congratulations on the successful hunt honey. We cut off the breasts, pounded them out, (found a few be-be pellets from the shotgun), and marinated it in teriyaki sauce. So we ate Teriyaki chuckar and wild rice. It tastes better than you would expect it too. The hunting dog does continue to dig and destroy my backyard....I still don't know what we are going to do about her. Is the damage to the yard worth a couple of meals....not adding up for me.

So, school has started!!! Below is my boys photos on their first day of school. We have switched to a charter school this year. Our kids got in, luckily, in a lottery with 900 other kids. Whew! We feel very blessed to be at Legacy Prep Academy. I am the Assistant Builders Coordinator this year, it is what Legacy calls their PTA leadership. I have jumped right in at the new school and am right in the thick of things. It is interesting to learn how a charter school is operated. I have been to a couple of board meetings and love it that the administrators answer to the parents, (the board is made up of 8 parents from the school). Our school is expanding into a high school so there is a lot going on. I also started a chess club this fall. We hired a chess master from the Utah Chess Association who comes and teaches the class for an hour after school once a week. The kids are loving it and with the research that backs the participation in chess club you should all get your kids involved in a chess club. It is not that just smart kids play chess, it is that playing chess actually makes kids smarter. Look into it I was surprised by the research. They are actually making chess into a core curriculum in a lot of lower income communities because the benefits of chess are astounding.

Don't you just love the boys uniforms!!! They look so handsome and it is so sweet that my boys match what they wear every day to each other. It is so cute, are we wearing red or blue today, should we wear shorts or pants???

The photo above is from our family Lagoon day!! We went to the BYU Idaho Rick's day at Lagoon. My sister got us some discount tickets and we met the cousins and grandparents there. It was fun, way fun!!! I finally rode on Wicked and it was WICKED. I loved it. It is so fun to be able to be near our family and share in the joys of familyhood!!! I know I just made up a word but we have such a great time when we are with family; both sides.

Here is Ali with our sweet kitty Lucy. We went on a vacation and left our cats with enough food and water in the garage (they have a kitty door) to get them through the three days. When we got home Lucy was gone. We looked at the pound for her and nothing. She was gone about four days and then she came back home. We don't know where she was but I was so happy to see her again. She is such a sweet thing and is so nice to Ali. Plus we had lost Tiger Lily, our little wild cat earlier in the summer, (she got ran over.) I just couldn't deal with Ali loosing another pet. She still talks about Tiger Lily and makes me hold her hand whenever we approach the street so she won't get dead like Tiger Lily. We were all so happy when she just showed up!!!

If any of you out there know my family you will get a laugh at this photo. This is my Dad wearing a BYU-Idaho shirt....why you ask would a red blooded Ute wear a BYU t-shirt??? His grandkids won it at Lagoon and gave it to him. Being the good grandfather that he is, he always wears everything he is given by his kids/grandkids at least once so they can see he appreciated the gift. Well, we got a photo of him in the BYU shirt so we could always remember the day he switched sides. His granddaughter, Amanda is laughing and having a grand old time teasing him about the shirt as she is heading off to the Y herself. She is there now actually, loving every minute of it, as she should. So, I am no longer the black sheep in the family as my niece has finally joined me in my Y alumni status!!! Well, she is not alumni yet but she will be soon enough.

So, Ali joined a soccer team. As you can see from the photo she is really into it! No, just kidding she actually is really fond of soccer. She runs around out there until sweat is literally dripping down her cheeks. At her last game she even scored her first goal. It was a break-away and she made it all the way down the field and into the other team's goal. Dang it! We all cheered her anyway and she ran over for hi-fives and hugs. It was right after half time and they had just switched sides, dang those rules. We got her turned around and she was no less excited about her goal so mission accomplished. We even went to 7-11 for slurpees after the game.

Nana Pollan came for a visit! Byron and I were supposed to go out of town in August so we flew in Nana to come and have Nana Camp. She came loaded with stamps and paints and treasures and lots of ideas. While the trip fell through due to Byrons work the kids still had an amazingly fun week with Nana. They did more painting projects than the rest of their life combined. We have beautiful windsocks hanging in the backyard, I have cute hand stamped planter pots on my front porch, and personalized aprons for the kids in the kitchen. The kids made the banner above them in the photo to welcome Nana to town, it says We Love You Nana. They are delighted about seeing the Pollan's again this fall. We are once again on the countdown to Nana time.

We are so thankful for all the blessings we have had this year. I am so happy our kids are in a better school and are thriving!!! They are learning so much and actually really enjoying it. Byron still has a job, cross your fingers on that one. He works for CIT bank and if you read the wallstreet journal you will know it is nothing short of a miracle we are still getting a paycheck. Byron likes to say, "We have lived to fight another day." I am just so relieved every time they make it through what seems like an impossible obstacle. I am still managing the art at our friends restaurant. We just did a complete and total art rehang. It was a big job but hopefully art will stop jumping off the walls. Let's just say the sticky things really can't hold much weight. :-( School is keeping me crazy, chess club is not less stressful that it is up and running. Preschool is in full swing for Miss Ali. The Enrichment calling I have at church is challenging me but hopefully we can get that under control fairly soon as well. Life just keeps rolling along. Sometimes I handle things well and some days I have meltdowns but on we go anyway. For some reason the world never stops turning even though I wish it would, just so I can catch my breath at least. If there was a way I could figure out how to fast forward through the Utah winter that is now bearing down my neck I would. I keep planting bulbs and thinking....I am doing this because I know spring will eventually come and it will be warm again. If I can just live through the cold winter months we will be okay.....oh, that reminds me. Ali is going to learn to ski this year. Watch out Alta....here she comes. She may look small and sweet but really she is a tiger in a cub's body. Clear the way she is coming through.

Counting Down

(One of my latest paintings.)


The countdown to Christmas is officially going and quite honestly nearing the end. I can't believe how quickly December is rolling by. So far we have managed to slow down and take it easy. I am not taking any painting classes this month. This is a rarity for me but I wanted to simplify this month and that was an easy way to free up a night once a week. We have enjoyed our ward christmas party, a fun white elephant party with the Van Orden's,our long-time friends from the Virginia days. The kids have loved the snow which has recently fallen and covered the ugly winter world with a fresh blanket of beautiful whiteness. They have built forts and snow castles with the sand toys. The boys spent an afternoon sledding with their Dad. They were on the sled hill with the teenage snowboarders and learned a new favorite word....sick. I am so glad that has been added to their evergrowing vocabulary. Everything is just so sick now it is driving me nuts! I just have to pretend it doesn't bother me and this smashingly dashing word will slip from their minds as quickly as it was introduced. There is much to look forward to as well in the next few weeks before the New Year is upon us. Byrons family will be here for a week, yes all of them! It is a good thing we all get along. Our kids are exstatic and are using their Christmas Countdown chain to keep track of the days until the Pollan's come. We are down to 8 days today. We cannot wait for them to get here and start checking off the very long list of things the kids want to do with them. None of which includes curling up next to the fire with a good book. I can't figure that one out. I hope this season leaves you all time to ponder Christ's life and the true message of Christmas.

Tyler and Carter on their first ski trip of the Season!! They are turning into real ski bums. Byron says Tyler goes so fast he can hardly keep up with him. When the boys geared up and got their things collected Ali started crying because we told her she would not be going skiing. I made a deal with her that when the boys go skiing the girls will go swimming. She loves that as swimming really is her favorite thing to do. I am constantly reminded that the boys go skiing and the girls go swimming. I am just glad I dont have to drag her up and down the ski hill.

Classic Tyler wipe-out! Aparently he "got air" He really impressed his Dad and Carter.

These are the two cutest kids on the ski hill. Love these boys!!

Ali getting her first haircut. I know it's scary that she is two and a half and has never had a haircut but really...she hasn't had that much hair. I gave her her first haircut and you can't even tell, which I think means it turned out pretty good. Of course it was a straight line across the back, how could that go to poorly?

I have posted a few photos of my newest decorating feats. I have been hating our little powder room and went to Lowe's thinking I would tear out the cabinets and redo everything. Thanks to my friend Heidi Peterson's advice I just resurfaced the vanity and painted. Now I don't hate the counters anymore and I got rid of the gold trimmed fixtures in there so it looks smashing! I really like how the bathroom turned out. I actually liked the colors so much I used them in my dining room the next day. I had to of course go back to Lowes and buy more paint. I finally (three years later) got rid of the flowery painting that went up and over the columns and finished the columns to look like antiqued wood. The dining room went so well I decided I would paint the study the next day. I used the same color scheme, went back to Lowes again for more paint and love how the study turned out as well. I didn't post it though. Next on the list is the master bed/bathroom. I am taking a break though, I got sick of it after three days straight.

For primary this week we had a shepherd come and visit the kids. We have a time machine so we get visitors from all sorts of places. The shepherd just happened to be one of the shepherds who visited baby Jesus when he was born. It was such a delight to listen to him speak of his experiences on that day. He told us all about shepherds back then and how they were looking and praying for a Savior. He told the kids how they were happy and loved music. How they slept out in the dirt watching after their sheep. It was very interesting hear a "first hand" testimony of the birth of Christ.
After he left I talked to the kids about the candy cane and all the symbolism it holds. Why it is such an integral part of Christmas. It came to me while I was talking that there must have been a reason why the shepherd was the first to be called to witness the birth of Jesus. Christ would later in life identify himself as the Good Shepherd. The Shepherd of all mankind. It is no wonder the shepherds came first to the call of Their Shepherd.
Then I got to thinking about why the Wise Men were called to witness the birth of Jesus. We know the Wise Men were Kings and Jesus would be The King of all. It seems the testimony of Christ's birth came from the least and poorest of society and the highest and richest of society. I find it fascinating, the more you think about the birth of Christ, the more you realize how perfect it was. I am sure nothing I have recently discovered or rediscovered is a huge revelation to anyone, but it has been a wonderful experience to be in charge of primary sharing time this month as I have really needed to focus on the true meaning of Christmas so I can share it with the 70 kids we teach at church. I really hope everyone can manage a night or two of pondering the Christmas story. Try to discover something new in it this year.