Christmas Recital

In September we had some friends over for dinner one night. Their son who is Katy's age, sat down at the piano and started to play beautifully. It was the push I needed to up my arguments with Jared that the girls needed lessons. Mom teaching them was just not working. Too many distractions and other problems with that method. A few weeks later the older girls were both enrolled in piano lessons. The teacher lives right around the corner and I LOVE how convenient that is. Katy had progressed with my lessons enough that she was playing some basic songs but Xandy couldn't play at all. The second week of lessons they came home with music for the Christmas recital. I thought the teacher was crazy! There was no way that Xandy was going to be able to play the song chosen in under three months. They both proved me wrong.

The recital was Tuesday night. Katy played "Up on the Housetop" and Xandy played "Angels We Have Heard On High". The second clip is a quartet of "Good King Wenceslas" with Katy, Xandy, Dylan (another boy in the ward), and their teacher Sis. Hawk.

Photo Shoot

My kids are all a bunch of hams. Getting their pictures professionally taken is the greatest adventure for them. Too bad when mom pulls out the camera all cooperation ceases. Anyway, we went to Portrait Innovations again. I LOVE that place and recommend it to anyone interested. We went Friday evening after Jared got home. We have a disc with 105 pictures from our shoot on it, but here are some of my favorites.(These are the proofs before they adjust lighting, crop out edges, etc)

Saturday

Saturday was a gorgeous warm fall day. We took advantage of the nice weather. I went for a run. The kids did a little of this:

Jared and I did a bit of this:

Yes, I realize that it is only mid-November, but if we didn't do that Saturday, we wouldn't have had a chance again until mid-December. So, despite the weird stares from our neighbors and other passerbys, we decided to go ahead and put up our lights. It was worth the weird looks to hang them in the warm sun (I was even barefoot) before the crazy Christmas season. So, when our neighbors are pulling out their hair trying to hang their lights in the busy cold December days, we will be able to sit back and drink some cocoa. Well, its a nice thought but our week-ends are crazy busy filled already, thats what prompted us to begin with. So, Grandma, when you come to visit our lights will be ready!!! And don't worry, we haven't turned them on yet, we'll wait for December for that.

We ended the day with by roasting hotdogs and s'mores with the Morrisons over a fire. I LOVE having family nearby!!

Veteran's day

The kids had the day off school on Veteran's day. After our morning trip to the gym, we loaded up and went to the zoo. We had never been to the Children's zoo section before, so we decided to check it out. The kids had a blast! They enjoyed the hands-on activities, the slides that went through the otter exhibit, brushing the goats, and petting various animals such as turtles, snakes, guinea pigs, etc. After we left the children's zoo section, each child picked his/her favorite animal to go visit. We were supposed to meet our friends, but due to cell phone malfunctions didn't find each other until we were leaving, maybe next time we can actually meet up.

My little otters

After petting the Guinea pigs I was yelled at for not letting them have a pet. (Good thing I have allergies, it gets me out of this argument. Although Xandy was once willing to get a new mom if it meant she could have a kitten)

This little girl loves animals and loved playing "vet". We may have a career path here.

Jacob loved the jeep! He had fun pretending he was Diego.

A Breath of Fresh Air

I let the kids play on the playground at the Y after I was done working out today. I wanted to take advantage of the sunny skies and mid-60s temperatures. We were soon joined by another mom and her two boys. After an altercation between Jacob and her youngest, we sat in an akward silence. Wanting to ease the tension I jumped in with a the most impersonal of topics- the weather. "This weather sure is nice after last month." Conversations on weather, don't usually bring about stimulating conversation, but after the month of rain we had in October, we are all excited to stop contruction of the arks we were building in our backyards and relish in the warmth of the sun. After we each commented on the nice weather we were having, and how last month felt like Seattle, our topic merged into places we had lived and the weather there. My side of this part was relatively short. Let's see...um... Cleveland and um...Cleveland. Oh yeah, I did spend a few years in the cold deserts of Utah and Idaho. She commented they had lived in New Zealand and moved back at the end of the winter just in time for winter to start here. Can you imagine a WHOLE year without summer? I shudder at such a depressing thought. Before long we were talking about what brought us to this area. Turns out her husband is an engineer for Conoco Phillips. As the conversation continued to develop I learned a lot about her. They don't plan on living the "normal" ratrace life for long. They hope that after a few more years of work and major saving, they can sell their house and move to the mountains of NC. I found this out after I told her that even though I complain about the cold, I love the 4 seasons and couldn't imagine living somewhere without them. She told me that she likes NC because it has the 4 seasons with milder temperatures year round without the extreme heat or extreme cold. Later in the conversation I learned that when move, they want to build a modest home made out of natural materials. The conservationist hidden somewhere within me started to do cartwheels and cheering at this. They plan to do this without going into debt. They want to be able to "work" for fun, doing something they enjoy, without worrying about the size of the paycheck. She said the best part would be no more long work weeks at the office. They want to hike the mountains with her boys and explore nature. I assume this means they will homeschool their boys to allow them greater flexibility or else they might as well stay in the ratrace.
I found the entire conversation just as refreshing as our beautiful weather today. It was nice to hear someone talk about dreams that included a modest home, more time with her family, physical activity, and learning about and protecting nature. Sounds a lot like the things the scriptures teach us are most important in life. Her dreams did not include a big promotion for her husband so they could buy big screen TVs, I-phones, gameboys, laptops for each family member, more CDs and DVDs than they could ever possibly use. She never once mentioned throwing elaborate B-day parties for her sons who are young enough that they probably could care less either way. She wasn't dying to buy the latest coach bag and designer clothes. I imagine if you're living in the mountains, you will not be going out to eat several times a week. And judging by her healthy snacks she was feeding her boys, she probably doesn't like food like that anyway. Again, she looks like they are living the Word of Wisdom quite well. (Someone should send the missionaries to them)
She gave me a lot to think about while I drove home and cleaned up. What are my ultimate goals in this life? Am I putting emphasis on important things, or am I teaching my kids the wrong priorities in life? How did we as an entire society get so caught up in the ratrace. When did the husbands with the most hours worked each week become a badge of honor? Why do we look up to and admire people with all kids of "stuff" but who treat people especially family horribly? Why do we want want want without any care or second thought as to the effects our wants place on the environment? Why does this random stranger seem to be living the gospel better than I am? Although I do not having any plans to move to the mountains and have Jared quit his job, I hope that I have learned something from this chance encounter. I hope that I can concentrate on what really matters and stop getting so caught up in the ratrace. I hope I can remember for a long time the things a stranger at the park taught me today.

Pumpkin carving

I love Halloween here. Its like a week long celebration. we started with Trunk-or-Treat the week-end before. Then followed with class parties for the girls, and preschool party for the little two, play group cookie decorating, pumpkin carving, trick-or-treat on the 30th, eating the pumpkin dinner with friends, the 2 hour parade Halloween night.... I went to the grocery store and to walmart on Saturday and even the cashiers were in costume. Saturday many of the local businesses were giving deals if you came in costume. Jared had to do a lot of work so we skipped out but it was painful to miss out on free icecream from Bobby's. Its probably for the best though, did my kids really need more sugar?

Halloween

My little vampire
My big vampire

My vampire duo

Hannah Montana
Tinker"bella"