A Day in Our Lives

On Tuesday I decided to take a drive to Waterton to see how orange the leaves were.   On the way I stopped to take this picture.  I loved the low lying clouds, and something about the hay bails made me happy.   It was such a chilly day I half expected it to SNOW!

Waterton was beautiful as always - though the trees are not nearly as vibrant as they will be in a week or two.

This next couple of pictures- I LOVE.  I know that the photos are blurry and poor quality but I snuck these shots one night at bed time.  I peeked into Abby's room to find Nate snuggled up next to Abby while she read him a story.   It melted my heart!

And then Nate noticed me watching them and flashed me the happiest smile Ever!  That was it - I fell in love with him for the umpteenth time!

One morning this week,  as we were loading Abby's lunch into her back pack I found this:  

Such a happy looking ...um... "paperclip/candy wrapper/gumball man!"   I LOVED it, and felt so proud of her creative inventions.   (Perhaps she takes after her cousin Mya in that way hey Jewel?) 

I had to post this picture of our house as it was when we purchase it almost a year ago.    Actually, I think I took this photo before we even finalized the deal, back when I used to drive through the cul- de- sac several times a day and pray that our little trailer would sell so that we could make this place "ours."    Anyways, this is how it looked then.  Notice the big Rock on the lawn.

That Rock always drove me crazy.  In fact I phoned several contractors in town and begged them to have it - just take it off our lawn.  It just seemed to be a hazard to me as I imagined it becoming a diving board for Sam or something even more wreckless. 

This is our house now, or at least as of Tuesday.   Back in the spring John made me some lattice frames and secured them to the house, so that we could transplant some clematis vines.    We also cut around the rock and thanks to my father in law, as well as some wonderful neighbors and friends in the ward we have accumulated a beautiful array of perennials this year.    All of the flowers are transplants from others!  (Well except for the Dogwood Bush on the far right.  That baby I found down by the Creek and made John to go dig it up for me.   It makes me feel a tad bit Redneck when I think of that.  (I hope that it was a legal thing to do.   ...For John's sake that is) 

Sam and all of the kids naturally LOVE to play on the Rock just as I feared, only now they have an ample supply of flowers to destroy as well.  So, smart thinking on my part eh?  

Oh and Just for Kicks I thought I'd post this picture of our cozy little home taken on Friday!  We woke up to a blanket of snow and fat falling flakes.  The kids were on cloud 9!  And I have to confess, I was pretty happy about it too.   We are probably the only family in town that was glad to see Snow!   We played Christmas music while enjoying snow man shaped pancakes!  

I'm sure all of our loved ones living far away from here are so wishing they could be with us right now!

Other events from this week: For John it has been one filled with meetings, volleyball and Young Mens. For Abby - the beginning of piano lessons (year TWO!) which we are so excited about!    For Sam- this was officially his SECOND week of earning a dollar store toy for good behavior at school. This week his prize came in the form of a bow an arrow which he says he will use to kill a bear with.     Jessica has adjusted to mornings without Sam and Abby around, and has even sat down and painted with me a time or two.   Nate has had some rough nights with a sharp little molar trying to make it's way into his cute little mouth. If only all the teeth could just come in once so we could be done with it. He's just not himself.

We enjoyed seeing John's brother Ben, his wife Kat and their little doll of a daughter Marilyn this past weekend.    We enjoyed going to the temple together and I was able to show off my stellar coordination on several different occasions.  Yes Kat- I really am that clumsy! 

All in all it was a week of accomplishments for those that I love most.   

 How did I get to be so lucky?