Garbage Men Rock: a story of friendship and faith

So I pretty much ate myself into a coma on Thanksgiving. Turkey, mashed potatoes, brown sugar & pecan sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry celebration, coconut cream pie...mmmm....

Anyhow, I begged someone, anyone! to go running with me the next morning to try and undo some of the damage (as if!).

Trina finally agreed.

Well, it rained that night. Anyone who is familiar with the White Mountains knows the mud up there is like clay. It sticks to your shoe and doesn't let go. So we opted to drive to the main road which was paved and run there.

I parked, zipped the keys up in my jacket pocket and we were off. Trina told me to imagine we were in a movie. We were the new girls in town, out for a jog on this brisk, winter morning. We had fun making little jokes and running along. I was tired soon - it might of been all of the food I consumed but I blamed the thin air. So after about 2 miles we turned around. We were almost to the car when I reached to unzip my pocket to grab the keys and realized...the keys were gone! My pocket had come unzipped by itself and the keys had fallen out! I started to panic.

Trina was all calm, cool and collected. We started to walk back - searching for the keys. After about 20 minutes, Trina suggested we pray. So we did. Then we continued to walk. I was becoming more and more worried. It didn't help that about every 5 minutes Trina would gasp like she saw something - but then she would say something like, "Look - that's Indian toliet paper!" Ummm...why would I need to know that? And why is it exciting! Luckily she knows how to revive heart patients because she almost gave me a heart attack! At this point Trina suggests that we think of scriptures or God, or just think good thoughts. That didn't last long.

By this point we were becoming a little delusional - clouds were gathering and we were imagining being frozen mid step - still searching for the keys. After about 15 minutes of using our over active imaginations we hear a honk. We turn around and there is a humungous garbage truck with a humungous man at the wheel. He looks at us and holds up my keys. Now here's where the story gets really embarrassing. We ran over to him screaming and yelling things like, "You're an answer to our prayers!" and "We love you so much!" I'm pretty sure we scarred him for life. Also we were yelling too loud to hear his explanation on how he found the keys.

We start walking back with a skip in our step. My dad comes roaring up a few minutes later - he was worried that we were gone so long. I really love my dad. And I really love Trina - she's great in a crisis.

All in all I think it would've made a pretty good movie. Or atleast a good story :)

CPK

About a week ago I went on my favorite fieldtrip ever with Evan's preschool. It was to California Pizza Kitchen. First up: making mini pizzas! Next we all lined up and got a tour of the kitchen.

I felt weird taking pictures in the kitchen so I only got one of the walk in freezer. Evan kept saying, "Sheez, it's cold in there!"
Lastly we ate our pizzas! It was awesome.

I love being able to go with Evan on his fieldtrips. He's growing up too fast!

On another note...I'm going to try to blog more. Next blog: Garbage Men Rock: a story about friendship and faith.

Stay tuned!

Undeafted!

Max's team went undeafted the entire season. They were the Huskies. One of the assistant coaches made gave them shirts at the team party. The boys loved them!

Football and plans

Both Ben and Max played flag football this fall. Max's team went undefeated the entire season and Ben's team only lost twice. Max was known for his touchdown dances and great defense. His coach named him "Mini Fitz". That pretty much made Max's life. Seriously. Ben was also on a great team and got some great interceptions and a touch down or two. Ben even wrote up a few plays for his team. I love watching my boys play.Max had quite a few friends on his team. Here he is with one of his best buddies - Case:

Max and Brayden:

Ben's friend Ian was on his team. Those boys cracked me up. They are alot alike.
I've already signed them up to play in the winter league because they had such a blast. Hopefully Max gets the same coach - he was phenomenal.

During October break we moved Ben's mattress into Max and Evan's room. Ben and Max like to make "plans". One night I overheard them talking about waking up and getting all of their chores done by a certain time so that they could play football. I love that my boys are each other's best friends. They all have been getting along lately and nothing makes me happier. Even Evan and Max have become friends. Miracles do happen!

FYI

I won't be doing Christmas cards this year. It's just not going to happen. I'm thinking about taking a picture of the boys and posting it on the blog.

We'll see.

ttfn

More Birthday

Ian's parents came over on Evan's birthday and brought him this awesome Captain America outfit. He LOVES it! Later we went down to my parents for FHE. I organized a treasure hunt and pinata for Evan. You can tell that Michael was super excited for the festivities to start:

We woke him up and started the treasure hunt. I made little maps and tied them to different places all around the neighborhood. Evan LOVES to make treasure maps so I knew this game would be fun.

Reading one of the clues:


Treasure! They even had to dig for it :)

Next up: presents at grandma and grandpas.
Luckily grandpa was there to help Evan assemble his gift. He later told me that the Millenium Falcon was the bestest present. Thank you grandma & grandpa!
Then grandma gave us a short, but wonderful lesson. I needed the spiritual upliftment since I haven't been to church in a few weeks.

Love this boy:
Next up: PINATA! Evan and Josh had a turn before Max cracked that sucker open!

Candy!
Evan doesn't have much of a sweet tooth so that's all the candy he got. He was perfectly happy.

We missed Jared & Tricia and their kids (they now live in Texas) and Darrel and Trina & their kids (there were in San Diego for Wes's wedding)

On Wednesday we had a little party for Evan and his preschool friends at Peter Piper Pizza.



Evan got to make his own pizza:Ruby and Rowan were able to come. Ruby loved this ride. She could've stayed on it all daNone of my boys really like cake so I got Evan birthday donuts. The boy next to him kept blowing out the candle - I had to light it 3 times :)
Presents:

While we were there some older boys gave us over 1,000 tickets! We were able to get each kid something from the toy counter. Evan had such a fun day!

5

Today Evan turned 5. I keep telling him to stop growing up, but he does any way. This boy brings me so much happiness. As he gets older, I hope that I can be the mother he deserves. We have such a special bond, him and I. I hope that never changes. One of the best days of my life was the day I became his mother.

Favorites:
color: yellow
food: pizza
candy: sour punch straws
tv show: Spongebob
movie: Star Wars
video game: Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones
friends: Joshua and Rowan
loves to: jump on his trampoline and play football with his brothers
church song: Follow the Prophet
song: Clocks by Coldplay
toy: legos
superhero: Batman

He still says some funny things. Like "lasterday" instead of yesterday; "musgic" instead of music and "Mickindonalds" instead of McDonalds. He can play for hours on his own. Evan likes to create maps for treasure hunts. Then he and Joshua will try and find the treasure. He loves to write "letters" and put them in the mailbox. He is strong willed, funny and loves to sing. I'm so glad that he is mine.

Happy Birthday Evan!

Conferences

Yesterday I had conferences with Ben and Max's teachers. I am always amazed how a teacher with 22 kids in her class can still manage to know my child so well. Max's teacher talked about how quick he was in math and how he helps the other kids. She made the comment, "That boy sure does love football" and I just laughed. Seriously. He eats, sleeps and breathes football. He is doing so well in school. I am so proud of him.

Ben has had some struggles this year. I'm so thankful for his teacher. She has encouraged him and challenged him. She told me that he is such a smart kid - he just needs to put forth the effort. Another interesting thing she said is that he does better in situations where there is competition. For instance, she had Ben and another boy work together on a project and each had to see how many notes they could take. She was floored by all of the work Ben did. And she made the comment that Ben is so perceptive when they have in class discussions. Ben has always been a hands on, verbal learner. I have been so worried about him and hearing his teacher talk about him was comforting. He told me he loves his teacher this year because she challenges him.

It makes me so happy that my boys are learning and loving school. :)

More October Break

The boys spent most of the second week of October break playing video games: hanging out with friends:


and playing football. I didn't post any of the boys playing...but you get the picture :) Ben isn't in any of these pictures because he spent that day at a friends house and Xander refused to let me take his picture.

*note: Josh is wearing only underwear because his shorts can't seem to stay on. I keep telling him to tell his mom to buy him a belt :)