Mid November already?

Man is time just flying by.  My week days have slowed down since dropping football practice.  Colten had early out all week for their SEPs (parent-teacher conference) so he got to play outside quite a bit so I could finish my work day.  Nice thing was Aspen came home about 45 minutes later and her and her friends helped keep him occupied outside.

He did get an award for Academic Achievement from Ms. Fuchs so I was able to join him on Wednesday morning to see him receive that award.  Through FaceBook memories, I saw that he received the award last year too :)  He may not want to admit it but he really does enjoy school.  At his SEP, Ms. Fuchs said he is doing really well.  She is trying to keep him challenged while also having him dig a little deeper in some of the content, especially math.  She is also challenging him to practice his writing and improve on it and to not rush...have I said that I love her?

On Wednesday, we had the ward Thanksgiving dinner.  The kids ditched me to go play with friends (how rude huh?) but I still enjoyed the dinner.  I discovered a new pie that I plan on getting for Thanksgiving...pecan chocolate chip from Cracker Barrel - YUMMY!  The kids did come eat a little bit but weren't seen much after that.  I am glad that they are finding ways to entertain themselves without always being plugged into their devices...which I have monitored a lot better.

Thursday night we enjoyed watching the NFL game between the Packers and the Seahawks.  Ed came over to watch with us.  It was a pretty boring game though.  We didn't watch the end of it lol - bed was calling my name.

Friday was a pretty exciting day for the kiddos.  They were going to head north to spend the holiday week with their dad.  But they were riding the St. George Express bus to get there...by themselves.  You know that you have grown up when your parents let you go 300 miles by yourself on a bus with strangers lol.  Doug actually bought them the gizmo watches/phone for Christmas so that they would have a way to communicate with us during the trip.  It helped ease the nervousness.  I went in for a MRI that afternoon since I have been experiencing weakness and twitches in my right leg when I exercise (boo right?)  This was my best MRI in the past 8 years.  I took the "calming" medication but also I was trying to control my thoughts and it helped that I could actually hear the music and didn't have too much discomfort until I actually got off the table.  I laid pretty still for 90 minutes and my back was killing me by the time it was time to get up.  Luckily, the medication didn't make me loopy like I thought it was going to.  My mom drove me to my MRI and so I had dinner with them before embarking on my night out with friends.

My first stop was a karaoking party.  I have been hearing of lots of karaoking from some of my friends but have never made it out for one.  Normally they are at the Wing Nuts but this one was at a house.  And man was it fun.  It was hard trying to decide what song to sing but I love that this group had no judgements on the song chosen.  They just had fun singing along and having a good time.  I definitely see this happening again in my future.

While that party was still happening, I left to go to the birthday party for Ed.  It was fun to see just how many people showed up to show support for him...he knows a lot of people.  While I didn't mingle too much (I am going to blame that on the fact that the couch really sucked you in haha) but I still had a great time.  Oh and I tried pumpkin cheesecake (yummy) and then just regular cheesecake.  There was like four people who shared my slices with me so that was also great :)

Saturday started out early for me (despite the late night partying) and I made it to the temple for initatories.  Yay and it was not busy at all and was in and out of the temple in like 30 minutes.  After the temple I came home and relaxed a little as I had a hike planned with friends.  I was finally going to do The Vortex hike that Karston had told me about way back in March.   So glad that I had guys with me so they could navigate and help out.  Luckily, this time around I wasn't the only girl - Brenda joined us.  Man, the vortex is a pretty cool sight to see but it was a little bit harder than I thought it would be, had a lot more climbing.  Not sure if that is because the guys were leading the way or what lol  My leg started to give me fits towards the end but luckily I made it lol.  Great morning with some great people.

After the hike, I attended the singles ward Relief Society dinner.  It was really fun to get to meet some of the other sisters in the ward.  They had a do the birthday line up without talking ice breaker activity and then we sat in that order.  I found a birthday twin :)  It was a really good dinner, soup bowls and salad.  Then an awesome "devotional" on the attitude of gratitude and it really helped reposition myself back on the gratitude train.  I have been writing down things I am grateful for but I am going to add a few things to my list.  I went home afterwards and just tried to watch TV but crashed early.  Partying will continue all week this week.  Needed to get some rest now.  Again another fantastic week in the books and a great week coming up :)

Life has slowed down...

...just a little since we no longer have football practice/games 4 times a week.  It has been nice to actually have the evenings back.  The kids have enjoyed playing outside for a little bit (after school) before it gets dark (which is earlier now).

Thursday, my friend Ed came over to watch the Steelers/Panther game.  He also cooked us steaks :)  Colten had fun being a Steelers fan for the night since Ed brought his stuffed animals and terrible towels.  Colten had fun beating up the stuffed animals lol.  Lucky for Ed the Steelers safely won 52-21.  It wasn't a real entertaining game lol.

On Friday after the kids got out of school, we headed over to my parents so they could help me clean out the car.  I told them they are responsible for 95% of the mess so they can help clean it up.  We vacuumed and washed the windows...I didn't have to help a whole lot :)  The kids did a great job and they will be helping the next time :)

Friday night Aspen had a birthday party for one of her new friends from Tonaquint.  I had a date that night with Cole so Colten was able to stay home and watch Netflix (something he hasn't done for a while).  Grandma went and picked up Aspen (what would I do without my mom - love her).  Cole and I went down to Mesquite to play Bingo.  It was was my first time playing down there and it was pretty fun.  I was one square away from winning $250 lol.

Saturday brought on a lot of fun.  Mine started early with a trip to the temple :)  I love that St. George has a temple with another coming in the next few years.  I love going and helping a few of the deceased progress on the other side.  Aspen had choir practice for the Christmas play so Colten joined me at Grandpa Chris' cleaning his house.  Colten watched the Florida/South Carolina game while I cleaned lol.  He loves everything about football and will enjoy watching any game.

After the morning activities were done, we headed out with some friends to go hike Scout Cave (Aspen had never done it before).  Isaac and his girls, Anna and Eva, Ed, and Ryan joined us.  It was a great day for a hike.  Colten led the pack and actually moved way fast trying to get to the cave.  We thought at one point that he may have gone the wrong way.  So Ed took off the wrong way in hopes that we would find him either way.  But I should have known better because Colten totally knew the way to go and had even put arrows on the ground to show us the way...so thoughtful.  We ended up losing Ed for a little bit but he eventually found his way to us at the cave.

 While up at the cave, we (an I mean Ryan and Colten) discovered a slot canyon that would take us to the other side.  Colten naturally went right through (as did most of the kids), Ryan had a little tougher time but eventually made it through.  I was challenged by my kids so of course I had to (I didn't make it without some help from Isaac - my legs don't have the strength that they used to).

 After the nice hike, we headed over to Dairy Queen for some dinner and ice cream.  Afterwards, Aspen headed over to Isaac's house to hang out with the girls while Colten wanted to go home and watch some football.  I had signed up to volunteer for the Piano Guys concert at Tuacahn, as did Ed, so we headed up that way.  My parents also volunteered that night - and weren't shuttle driving so it was fun to see them as well.  I love the Piano Guys and it was so fun to see them again.  It was, however, extremely cold.  My dad invited us over afterwards for some ice cream (which I declined due to being frozen already).  But all in all it was a great Saturday full of fun and friends.

Yay - updating for the current past week :)

So I totally used my extra hour of sleep (I didn't get sleep) to my advantage and got caught up on the blog this morning.  It is a great feeling to know that I will be up to date after this post....well I'll have to add the pictures but that part is easy.  So here we go :)

Monday afternoon I took the kids to the library's trunk or treat.  They had about 20 businesses there to hand out candy.  There was a lot people so I am glad they had enough candy.  We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house afterwards to wait for Colten's practice to start.

Monday evening I brought the kids with my to the singles family home evening as they were carving pumpkins.  My kids have not carved pumpkins since their dad left the house.  I don't do the gooey stuff - but the kids handled it pretty good so maybe I'll have them do it next year.  Colten had football practice so he was a little late to the party.  He was still able to have a pumpkin to carve but he also realized that actually carving it was hard work.  Aspen did a nice job on her cat.

Wednesday was Halloween...the day the kids have been waiting for.  Aspen was excited to be able wear her costume to school.  She has really gotten the look of Wednesday Adams.  She decided to go with her bestie, Audra, and trick or treat in her neighborhood.  She had a fun time with her - although she didn't get near the amount of candy Colten did.

I had the pleasure of taking Colten around for his trick or treating.  I actually invited my friend Cole to come with me so I would have someone to talk too.  Good thing I did too.  We started off by going to our ward trunk or treat...they had hot dogs, chips and water...so dinner was taken care of.  Colten had his cauldron filled up before we left the trunk or treat.  So we dumped it into a bag so him to start his trek around the Shadow Mountain neighborhood.  Within the few couple of houses, Colten found some friends to hang out with...more like 10 boys.  They were crazy - a little too hyped up.  Running across the road without looking and skipping houses.  Colten hung with them for a little while but eventually he wanted to do his own thing.  He really wanted to go to the dance house...so we worked our way that way.  The dance house wasn't doing it though...the house is for sale :(  So after discovering that Colten was anxious to go home and didn't stop at as many houses.  All in all, I think the kids had a great Halloween.

Friday night brought on a team night to prepare for their championship game.  He said it was a fun night.  Doug arrived with Lindsay while Colten was at his party.  Doug brought down his signed jersey that he framed to hang up and surprise Colten with it.  Aspen spoiled the surprise though in telling Colten to go look in his room.  But Colten really likes it.

Saturday was a big day.  I was lucky enough to get in some time at the temple and gym before embarking on the kids activities.  We started off the day with Home Depot craft. They were doing a helicopter for Veteran's Day.

After the project, Aspen went with her dad while I took Colten to get ready for his game and drive down to Mesquite.  Ed was coming along to show support for Colten and rode down with us.  The Warriors were playing Virgin Valley - VV beat the Warriors last year so it was a redo of the championship game.  Colten had quite a few people show up to support him.  Grandma and Grandpa Chris, Great-Grandpa Chris, Holly, Aspen, Lindsay, Ed and his parents.  Oh and Colten's teacher Ms. Fuchs came down.  She said that she is the good luck charm for 4th grade championship games.   The game ended up being a defensive game.  The Warriors scored two touchdowns pretty quickly.  Then Virgin Valley got a touchdown on a punt.  There was no scoring after that.  So yes the Warriors won.  Colten did a great job at playing his game.  The parents were not a fan of how the league distributed the trophies as the parents couldn't get over to that side of the field in time.  I totally missed it because I was cleaning up our stuff.  But I was still able to get a few pictures and Doug got there quicker than me and got a few pictures.  It was so fun to see the smiles on their faces.

To celebrate, Doug took us to dinner at Black Bear Diner where Colten ordered off the adult menu...he was super excited about that.  Dinner was good - I couldn't finish mine, neither could Colten or Aspen.  But we took the food home for left overs before heading out to the team family party at Sand Hollow.  Aspen hung out with Lindsay while Colten played football with his teammates.  Doug and I just talked.  At the end of the night, the coaches presented the boys with a picture of the team and individual.  The coach let the boys know that he had talked with someone who was from the Desert Hills team and gave the highest compliments to the Warriors coaches and players.  Said that this team was well coached and well disciplined team.  Coach also wanted every player to return next year.  It was a great way to end the season.  Colten loved football and is excited to play again...now he just needs to keep his behavior and actions where he will get to do that.  Aspen loved having her dad and Lindsay here.  She didn't take them leaving too bad because she will see them in 2 weeks for Thanksgiving break.  It was a great weekend!  And I am officially caught up :)