Birthday Boy

Dad had a great start to birthday week.  He looks hot, huh?   Oh and the fire looks warm too.

Nielson Goal-Check!

In 2010 I made a goal to run 9 of 12 Nielsons.  I did it so I thought I'd do it again in 2011.  This morning I heard the wind blowing like crazy and then when I looked outside it was snowing!  With a groan I laced up my cool black and pink Nikes, put on about 4 layers of clothes and was ready to go when Dad staggered out and said, "I'll go".  COOL.  So we went and battled the elements which wasn't too bad cause Dad had his hot air balloon bursts keeping us warm.  I had a respectable time (for me) and resisted the urge to stay in my nice warm bed and knocked off that goal for 2011.  Now only 4 more weeks of at least 5 miles a week and I'll have clinched that goal.  Pretty good for an old lady!

Thanksgiving

I guess this is all old news but here's the Roy scoop on our Thanksgiving...It was GREAT!

The Hot Pot Trot might have seemed like a mild mannered event, but as this starting line pictures show, it was highly competitive!

There are few things in life as good as licking beaters...especially from whipping the cream.

We headed out for a great bowling adventure.  Eric had a 200 game!  And Krista and Eric both were turkeys, oh, I mean had turkeys (3 strikes in a row).

Luckily Ram had his lucky tail on!

 All too soon we had to leave those beautiful grandbabies and kids but we sure did have a great time.

 Thanks for hosting all of us Carters!!!!  We're looking forward to some awesome Christmas adventures.

Too bad this blog doesn't reek

Cause this is what would tickle your noses!

That's about all we have to blog about.  I guess I could have put that I worked all of the last two weeks or that Dad worked 16 hour days for the past two weeks putting together the great Reagan Gala, or that we had 19 people at our house for dinner last night, or that this weekend is the much anticipated single adult conference or that Doug is as cute as ever but I didn't.  Wish you were here to sneak some of the jerky, but the good news is YOU WILL BE here pretty soon!!!!!

What a difference a day makes!

It is NOT Indian Summer any more.  It's something magical and exciting, a snow day for California kids.

It's almost like they knew.  They woke up early.  I tried to ignore them, that worked for a little while but then they rushed the window like a couple of trapped birds.  "It's NOING!"

They hurried in to inform GrandBill. "Look, IT'S NOING!"

Breakfast seemed like a burden and waste of time when there was snow to be played in!  Finally, they got to open their new snow outfits Momma and Daddy had sent.

They liked them.  They kept Ally warm but for Dans it was a layer of insulation on an already well insulated body.

 Ally liked how her footprints followed her everywhere she went.

 Daniel just liked running and running (his usual motion)

We enjoyed exploring in the magic forest

Made a happy little snowman.

Created our own sled

Went up and down our sledding hill 50 times.

And had a blast in the "NOOOOO".  Oh wait, the Nooooo was just me remembering all the piles of wet clothes that magically covered the floor on snow days!  Good times, for sure.



Indian Summer

Indian Summer at it's BEST!

Sometimes...

Sometimes ya just gotta go for it.

Like when you're working in the yard trimming the bushes.  And they "speak" to you.

This was the first.  It had definite directions.

Followed by this one I call...Ahhh, Hawaii.

 This one was easy, it spoke to my heart.

This one really wanted to honor BYU.  I said it was a little short on one side.  It said don't worry that's what the Y helps you do, grow into yourself.  And it will.

The last one I call "Learning to Crow".  We now have a chicken in our yard.  And there's nothing funnier than that stage when they're learning to crow and it's not even the first green chicken we've ever had.

So, sometimes, when you're working in the yard, if you listen closely, you might end up with an art project!

Shhhhhhhh...did you hear that?

Thirsty Anyone?

So, today, Doug and I were going to go for a 5 miler and I thought to myself, "it would be nice to have some water since it's so warm out."  A nalgene was too big, a water bottle was to...round and as I was looking around to see what I could use I spied this.  Nice indents so you can easily wrap your hand around it, convenient pour spout and a spiffy color.  What could be better?  Sometimes the silliest smart person we all know and love DOES have some rational good ideas!

OH, NO! It's SNOW

This is what we woke up to this morning.  Winter is coming...ah! it's here!

Greatest Week Ever

So it all began with a quick little trip from COS to SFO.  I was going to try to figure out the BART/bus system but LaDon was waiting at the curb to give me a ride!  COOL!  For dinner we had this monster.

It was red and sweet and delicious AND Jamie grew it in her garden!!!!!

The next day we left at the crack of dawn and drove and drove and saw SO MANY cars heading into the city.  I thought LA had a lot of cars.  We drove through Yosemite and took a short break to check out the beauty of it all.

When Dans gets his full weight headed downhill there's nothing you can do but go with it.

Ally by a ginormous rock with a tree growing out of the top.

Our final destination-MONROE and the CARTERS!!!  It was time for some cousin FUN!

Ram didn't want to get left out of the silly face game.

Dans didn't want to play, he is MR SLIDE! And Viana was at school being SO smart!

 

 We went up the gorgeous Monroe Canyon and burnt marshmellows.  Fall was in fine form.

Daniel wasn't into roasting his mallows.  He liked his rolled (in the dirt).

Ram thought they were yummy!

CJ made us tasty food.

And we got to eat looking at this awesome splendor. (Yup, all that yellow is aspens)

We snapped a few family pics before heading to St George for the great rendevous with the rest of the fam.

That dimple is just too cute.

Here's a sister picture you can add to your blog.

We loved watching Kris in her race.  She kicked trash and qualified for Boston (again!).  I love the ascending/descending Mom look-a-likes in this pic.  We should have put Dad on the other side and it would have been the Dad look-a-likes too.

Thanks for the great time everybody!!!