Fall Break

The kids had fall break from school last Thursday & Friday. The weather was beautiful, 70 degrees & sunny. We took full advantage of it!
First, I made them work.

On Thursday, we worked in the yard the entire day. We pulled out flowers, trimmed trees, did a ton of weeding, swept walkways, & mowed the lawns. Yes, there was a fair amount of mumbling, grumbling, some tears, & a few arguments. But all in all, it went pretty smoothly. The kids worked really hard & it was the first year I felt like having them help me was really help, not just a lesson in work for them & a test of patience for me.

Of course, it wasn't all work & no play. The girls took turns pushing each other in the wheelbarrow as they hauled clippings & weeds to the trash.

We started at 10:30 am & finished around 5:30. The kids came in, plopped down in front of the TV, and watched The Brady Bunch. When it was over, none of them moved. They just stared at the TV. I took a shower, with the intention of making dinner as soon as I got out. Stephen took one look at me & decided I was too tired to make dinner. He had just finished taking a very hard test, & still had a lot of homework to do, so we ordered Pizza & Rootbeer, spread out a blanket in the family room, & ate pizza & watched Little House On The Prarie.

At 8am, the kids were begging to say family prayers & go to bed. By 8:15pm, the house was silent.

I woke the kids up early on Friday morning to get ready for a day of fun. The girls & I went to Gardner Village in West Jordan. Jonathan stayed home to spend the day at a neighbor's catching frogs with four of his friend's.

Gardner Village had a TON of fun Halloween decorations. The girl's, including Megan (Kaitlyn's friend) enjoyed the dressed up witches.







I also enjoyed hanging out with three dear friends.


(Left to right: Lisa Joy & Larriann)

I had so much fun seeing Larriann Madsen McGowan, a former room mate from Ricks. By total coinidence, it was exactly 11 years ago to the day since I had seen her. The last time I saw her was her wedding day. Larriann is as sweet & patient as she was in college. It literally felt like no time had passed as we talked & just enjoyed being together again. As always, it was a treat to spend the day with Lisa Joy. My neighbor & friend Janae (Megan's mom) also went with us & it was nice to catch up with her. Although we only live 3 houses apart, we get so busy with our families that sometimes 2 or 3 weeks will pass before we find time to talk.

There were so many great places to take pictures, I just couldn't let the opportunity pass. I "only" took 50 pictures because I was trying to keep track of Hannah & talk to my friends. Here are a "few" of my favorites:


















Saturday was a fun day too..... Stephen was really busy last week (don't I say that every week?). We really hadn't had time to see much of each other during the week, so we went to lunch at a local mexican resturant. Then we came home & Stephen did homework, I did some housework, & the kids totally enjoyed an unscheduled day of playing. In the evening, I went to Lisa Joy's house to have dinner with Lisa Joy, Darla & Heidi. Good friends, good food, lots of laughs. It was an awesome weekend!

On Sunday, Stephen, who is always up by 7am to prepare his Young Men's lesson & then go to meetings, slept until 9:30! He didn't even stir when Hannah came in with a Junie B. Jones book we have been reading & snuggled up to me & asked me to read the last chapter. Poor guy, he was exhausted. When he did wake up, he said, "well, at least I won't fall asleep in Sacrament today." The girls & I had a very hard time not giggling when he DID fall asleep!

Now, we are back to real life. Stephen has midterms & is stressed. He also has to work & has an Young Men's activity. So for me it means a week of running kids to lessons, helping with homework, typing papers, going to Parent- Teacher conferences & keeping everything else in our life afloat. We'll have to celebrate surving this busy week by having more fun next weekend!