Fall Walk

We went out to lunch, and then took a family walk looking for Fall color.  Ashley found a vine on the side and proceeded to declare it “fashion” the rest of the day.

 

Saint George Marathon

I flew into Vegas Friday afternoon.  My brother picked me up and then proceeded to go 120 mph in his sports car, until we got to Saint George.  That night my sister Kristy and I were laughing so hard that I didn’t think we would ever get to sleep.  We had to wake up at 5:00am to get over to Kristy’s sister-in-law’s house before all of the roads were closed.  Rachel had a big breakfast for us.  It was fun to chat with her and the Spillane’s.  We made our posters for Alesha, and headed down to the road at mile marker 18.  Keith’s poster said, “Go Lee You are Totally Beating Everyone Behind You!”  :)

 

That’s cute little Rachel with her new baby.   Rachel has a lot of energy, even early in the morning. 

 

Here is another one with a lot of energy early in the morning, my sister, Alesha.

She was waving….

      And singing…..

And flexing….

   

And maybe a little of both flexing and singing…

She was AWESOME!!!!

    She even had energy AFTER the race!  The rest of the weekend I couldn’t believe how she just seemed normal.  We headed back to Vegas that afternoon and went to a show that evening, AND she didn’t even fall asleep during it!  :)

She finished with a time of 3:33.

Alesha has run 1,000 miles, 7 marathons and 5 half marathons, in just this year alone!  AMAZING!

I’ve decided that I need to add a marathon to my bucket list.  I’m going to to DO THIS! :)

Jerrica turned SIX

I can’t believe my baby is six!  I can still remember being pregnant with her, and crying every day because we thought she had so many problems.  I had ultra-sounds every week and was constantly told that she probably wouldn’t make it.  Well, she sure did, AND now is SIX!!!!

I did breakfast in bed before I left for my trip.  However, she wanted breakfast on the couch so that she could still see the rest of the family.  :)

The Saturday before we did a girl day in Denver.  Jerrica wanted Emily for her birthday.  She didn’t want to take her out of the box until we got home. 

Jerrica LOVES to read.  She just started piano lessons, and is always practicing.  She is an incredible artist, quick to do a craft project.  She is a chocolate lover!  I can’t hide chocolate anywhere without her finding it.  Jerrica also has a tender heart toward animals.  She loves our pets and is often found outside with them.  At times she is over at the neighbors with their pets.  We just love our baby of the family!

Afros

I think afros are awesome!  There was a player from the other team tonight, sporting a huge afro.

I kept wanting him to do a header with the soccer ball.  I wanted to see if it would get stuck right in the middle of his hair.  :)

I usually comment to someone about how awesome their afro is when I see one.  However, I never got a chance to do that with this boy, so he gets his own blog post!

Rotten AND Moldy

I just got back late last night from an awesome trip with family.  Now to play catch up with everything that I neglected. 

Last week before I left, Jerrica and I did a quick project that I had seen on Pinterest.  We pulled out the magnetic alphabet letters and spelled out this little description…

We took the colorful letters outside and spray painted them black.  When they were dry Jerrica brought them in, and spelled out the phrase again on our refrigerator.  As the kids came home from school they were freaking out that I would put something like that on our fridge.  I reminded them that it’s Halloween time…..  :)

Heavenly Father

Jerrica will come into my room in a tizzy because a paper is bent or she can’t find her book.  Kaylee was freaking out that she couldn’t get 40 juggles for soccer.  Jacob was having a hard time playing a phrase in his music on the piano.

Each and every situation I would think, oh my goodness it’s not the end of the world!  It’s going to be OK, it’s just a small problem.  We can fix and do these things.  Of course they were all frustrated and freaking out.  I would help straighten the paper, cheer on the juggling, and explain the counting in the music.  I then told Stephen and others to be extra kind to so and so because they are struggling and having a hard day.  Sometimes you just need that love and support to build that confidence so that you CAN do the task at hand.

In the end, the book was found, the juggling was accomplished, the music piece was mastered and thank you’s were in abundance for the support. 

As I kneeled down crying to my Heavenly Father one morning, I couldn’t help but imagine how similar I was to my children.  I’m sure He thought, “Oh my goodness you are going to be just fine, Shauna”.  In the scheme of things it really was nothing.  Yet, I felt like I couldn’t do it, and I needed help.  Then he surrounded me with sweet people to boost up my spirit.  Others to help me accomplish my tasks.  He did all in his power to help me with my problems.

I think that sometimes we feel so overwhelmed with our trials and problems that it does seem like the end of the world.  Yet, it passes and we are helped along our way.  We are never alone and have so much help all around us.  I am SO grateful for a kind Heavenly Father.  I’m grateful that he doesn’t roll His eyes at my trivial problems and walk away, but that HE is there for ME!

School Projects

The house is buzzing with test studying and project building.  I can tell that school is in full swing.  I was going through papers brought home from school with the trash can near by, but couldn’t bring myself to throw away a couple of papers from Ashley.

Those faces she drew just crack me up!  My kids have to memorize a lot of poems and quotes at school.  The picture Ashley drew for this quote, once again brought a smile to my face.

   AND we can’t toss nor forget to post Ashley’s habitat poster.  The brown toad catching the fly is awesome!

Nathan had to build a fort.  I can’t remember what class it was for.  He burnt quite a few fingers on the hot glue gun trying to get it finished.

Jacob just finished a watercolor for his art class.  They went out to the back of the school and had to paint what they saw.  What amazes me is that Jacob only used the little 8 color paint set to create his project.  He liked his hand, pencil, and flower drawing with all of the detail, but didn’t like how the rest wasn’t as detailed.  I had to launch into my photography stuff and how that was the main focus of his picture.  The background should be blurred somewhat. 

 

Then one more from Ashley, especially since I did chuck this one.  It is her salt dough topography map of the United States.  Her favorite part was the volcanoes on Hawaii, which I’m just noticing now that I cut out of the picture.  :/

Homecoming Dress Up

School is always more fun when you get to dress up.  Add to that the excitement of Homecoming, and it’s a party week.

Super Hero Day

   

Hawaiian Day

 

Hippie Day

   

I was off to Las Vegas halfway thru the week, and the only other picture from Homecoming that was texted to me was this.  :/

Googley Eyes

Jerrica and I picked up these huge, glow in the dark googley eyes from Target’s dollar section.  All the way home we talked about what to put them on, the piano, toilet, headboard, mirror, door, …  In the end we stuck them around the kitchen. 

We have had a lot of people comment on them.  My teenage boys even commented on them, and they don’t comment that often!  ;)

Denver Aquarium

Rebecca’s class has been working on an ocean unit.  They went to the Denver Aquarium last week and I was able to be a chaperone.  Before we left I smiled as Miss Lauthen told the class of rewards for good behavior and good choices for the day.  One of the kids said, “Why are you bribing us?”  To which she quickly replied, “Oh I’m not bribing you, I’m allowing me the opportunity to reward you for good choices”

By the time we left the school I was ready to make the best choices possible and be the greatest me I could be.  :)

Our group

  Check out the flat fish in the bottom of this next photo.  His mouth and eyes make me smile.  Camouflage animals are so cool.

They paired up and dissected little squids. 

          Rebecca’s ocean report was on the star fish.  She had to make a model.  The little girls helped her make a paper-mache star fish.  They glued rocks on it, and spray painted it orange.  I think it turned out great! 

  I had so much fun with Rebecca.  We giggled on the bus.  We checked out the boys.  We learned a lot at the Aquarium.  We loved being together!