Andy peeling apples for the pies. We differed on our apple pie crust construction, but all three of our apple pies turned out yummy (if we say so ourselves). We've been eating one all day! We also had pecan, and Linny's yummy pumpkin.

Owen peeling apples for apple pie.

Boys peeling the sweet potato for sweet potato souffles. We were apparently in charge of all root vegetables. We went through a box of sweet potatoes and a whole costco ginormous bag of regular potatoes for the mashed.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at the generous Bunch home with the parents' Stayner, Creers, and Conley families. Everything tasted amazing! And John and Megan had the foresight for everyone to make extras so each of us took home lots of leftovers. Everything almost taste better the next day don't you think? Hopefully Kate will post her dinner pictures. It was very sweet seeing all the kids excited and sitting up eating together. It was cool to see that they knew this was an important holiday dinner and acted mostly accordingly.

I am thankful for my little family, each and every loving one. And for extended family, their health and love. I am grateful for our home, friends, neighbors, the gospel in my life and in my families, and this very cool world in which we live. And for this awesome country, where a woman is free to wear pants, vote, and has the choice to think and act freely. xoxo Boo

Reading Report

Currently reading: What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Caldwell. He makes me want to work in advertising like Grisham makes me want to be a lawyer. It is a series of his articles from the New Yorker wherein he interviews "real people". Love it, its a keeper.

Note to self: Get hands on "Open" by Agassi while its on Best seller list (since it'll be less expensive even with my B&N discount). And then I will also have to pick up "The Help", which I have seen but finally got a good personal review from Kate.

And yes, I need to bring in the bookcases again.

Twihard Report

Dinner was great. Tsunami (sushi). Funny, funny, great girls. Get to the movie theatre an hour early. 2nd row seats. Lots of crazy. Howling. Many more teenagers than I imagined (midnight! on a school night!). A few more 5 year olds than I ever imagined. Many more men than I imagined. Howling women. I had a huge burst of insecurity as I saw what company I was surrounded by, lots of pajama clad crazy. But it was really fun. Good characters. Great special effects. Still bad writing (I feared for our row's life as we cackled along some utterly cheesy lines, that the rest of the very still and I guess "moved" theatre would kick us out. R Pat is cute. Kellan Lutz looks way better with dark hair (in character). Jacob is perfectly cast (with his nerdy talk which begs that he is the "little" guy). It was very loud and I had to close my eyes at least once. The most moving part was the trailer we had been seeing for weeks (when Jacob phases in front of Bella). Love the wolf-pack. Aros was the best actor. It was good and fun was had by all. Got home at 3ish and I couldn't get to bed. Woke up at 7, first up in the family, and am awaiting the crash today. Loved the music. I might already have the soundtrack that I bought over a week ago (which totally admits me into the Twihard crazy, huh?). Not bad for a girl who didn't love the books, right? Thanks Ashley for the ticket and the fun company of your darling friends. It was a truly memorable and fun night.

P.S. Bella's eyebrows were driving me crazy. I made the same mistake at 18 and my eyebrows were way too small (and I have the deb picture to prove it). But it looks like she had the same Eyebrow Shaper as Jacob.

Team Jacob

I was compelled to read New Moon (HWT made me do it!) otherwise I didn't know how much more vampire sweet valley high I could take, but I liked New Moon. I have always liked Jacob since. And looking at the press of those werewolves, yikes, I think I have chosen wisely my friends. I will let you know after about 2am Friday morning how the movie was, unless I fall asleep...aaaaawwwwwooooooo.

In an effort to be concise...

I love it when the kids instigate FHE. Holden gave the lesson (a condensed pioneer excursion story starting with 'Zions Camp' and ending in the valley in less than 5 minutes, gotta love it), Owen led the songs, PJ was kind of a pain, and Andy was off fishing the Green River (literally, not just in his imagination, he had worked Vernal yesterday). We re-started reading the Book of Mormon, beginning with the introduction. Then Holden chose 'I Know that my Redeemer Lives' to close, lovely, lovely, lovely. Spinach shakes for dessert (ice, milk, handfuls of spinach, walnuts, & agave nectar), cute story time for PJ "on Daddy's bed" of Purplicious and Where the Wild Things Are, and off to bed for PJ and to reading (and bouncing around) for the boys.

Everything Week of November 9-14

Holden had a swim meet at Clearfield today (Bailey's Team Pool). It was a blast! He actually just hugged me and thanked me for taking him (ahhh!). For my benefit, he pretends like he despises every minute of swimming, yet I get plenty of "spy time" in and he enjoys it every bit. So when he actually admit how much he likes it to me, its like a 1million hugs bonus. You could tell he was swimming as fast as he could and he even said he loved swimming the 100 IM which he was so worried about!
What made it even more fantastic was that Bailey and Cameron were swimming too. It was Cameron's first meet (which actually helped Holden with his nerves in thinking, "well at least I have done this before". But Cameron swam like a pro, and I am pretty sure won at least one of her heats. I got to time a lane with the best partners ever (Pat, a friend from out team and her 15 year old niece from Nepal who has been in the country for 2 days! but you would never have known, her English understanding, speaking, and writing - she took down the times for part of the time, were better than mine! and my Mom also timed with me). We all talked and cheered on our lane and had a blast.
Andy, O, & PJ made a 20 minute appearance just enough to see Holden's great IM swim, then it was a little much with a great kiddie fun pool nearby and no bathing suits for them (I called to retrieve them, but they were too far from home).
We got home at 4pm and aside from a Costco trip, have been chilling and totally wiped out. Holden has been cuddling with his incentive (the 4th Diary of a Wimpy Kid book) that was promised for trying his best at all swim practices and the meet. I love that it started out being a trip to Boondocks, but he actually preferred and requested to get the book instead.
Otherwise, our week was pretty regular. I have been running almost every morning, and although very cold (in the low-30's on Friday) it has been a blast having buddies to go with (CW & HWT). And we are all looking forward to ski season. I get to sign up H for the school ski program this week!
We tried Cettebello's this week and it was almost as good as Humble Pie (I think we liked the variety of Humble Pie better) but super good. It seriously makes me want a wood burning stove to make these fantastic pizzas in. Oh, and the gelato was the best I have had in a long time (like almost as good as the old Gelato Classico in CDM. I will go again anytime.
Andy got to go to PJ's dance on Wednesday and Josh happened to be there too. It was great. PJ definitely performed for Dad and the have been practicing Rainbows ever since. The three of us went to Macaroni Grill for lunch after and the CEO of Mac Grill was there. The Manager (AK's buddy due to all the business he does there) was all excited, and we were stoked for him.
I know this is random and trite for y'all but right now, while I neglect the camera, and ignore your interests, this truly is a journal entry so that I can remember my life for more than 2 seconds.
While I am remembering, we attending our schools' PTA Reflections Night, due to O's literary entry, which was also his first computer typed book. It was great and I think inspired both boys. O is now asking for "real art stuff" for Christmas. He was mentioning oil pastels and "real" paint today. Oh boy. I am not so sure about any kind of paint (I only do watercolors in the house!).
I went to tennis stroke clinic on Friday (I have been playing with 3 other girls' weekly now for a few months). It was humbling, yet again, but great fun to play with other adults. It really is just like when we were kids, but more people in the lessons so less time picking up the balls (and that crazy ball sweeper machine to make it even easier!). I plan to do it weekly, so if anyone wants to join me...
One more, Andy worked Vernal on Monday, which allows him to stay over (its 3-4 hours away) and Dutch John, which just happens to be on the Green River, is just a short drive away. So, he got to fly-fish his guts out (I think he caught a couple dozen each day, and completely got his fill. He caught his biggest rainbow yet, a whopping 24 incher. He has another "meeting" there on Monday, so I guess he will just have to bring his gear (definitely a major reason he got the company car with AWD and the good racks for the box to hold his gear, which will soon include snowboard gear for those lunchtime "breaks").
I know this is random and trite for y'all but right now, while I neglect the camera, and ignore your interests, this truly is a journal entry so that I can remember my life for more than 2 seconds. And remember, I want to gag too, this only includes the good stuff (no bill, job, behavior worries, no spousal bickerings, etc. for you!).

Love a Lazy Saturday

Holden's Indigenous American Dwelling

So, yes the top will pop off, but when the "fire is lit" (its a Halloween Pumpkin light with sticks glued on it to look like a fire pit - totally Holden's idea) the kids will be able to look inside the dwelling as well. The little leather scraps are their beds, the boat has some pottery and a pipe in it, the dude is wearing a turquoise necklace and the woman has her baby carrier and a pistachio nut for a baby in it, they both has some decorative beading on their backs, and yes, they are still bald and faceless - not sure if that will change). H did a great job and loved it. I just went upstairs to take these photos and his written draft was all done!

The weather is perfect! Like, gorgeous gold trees, and all the incredible fall colors, and like a perfect 60+ wherein I could justify the Uggs (it is November and I am not in the O.C.) but a long sleeved shirt was too hot. Bagged the 1/2 marathon in St. George this morning, I really didn't want to drive 5 hours alone, stay alone, run alone, eat lunch alone, and drive back 5 hours home alone, it just seems entirely too selfish. After some great swimming with PJ, O & I during H's swim team practice yesterday, Holden followed it up with a great practice again this morning. I went again to really watch, which I am so glad I did, his form is amazing - even his butterfly - and he is wicked fast (I think he likes to go 2nd or 3rd so he can pass his team-mates). So happy to see yet another best friend signing their kid up for our great team (yesterday HWT was there with H, I was very surprised and stoked!). This morning it was my biking and otherwise as close as a sister SP and A for the High School team. I actually also went out of my comfort zone to meet and get to know Holden's friends' Mom's. H & I sauntered home to see AK & the other kids busy with the leaves on the ground and the gutters. Then we set off for the park for some family baseball (PJ even had a hit, she's a lefty!) and play. Home for lunch and naps. I am not 100% (this cold, sore throat thing) so I was really tired, but the weather was too perfect and I hadn't exercised yet so I had to go on a bike ride. But first, H & I went to the library and then to Michael's to clear out all things to copy and create an Indigenous American home. We settled on the "Earthlodge" type home. We ended up buying a terracota pot to turn over (the mounds had a smoke hole in the center just like the pots), and other leather scraps and ties, we found the perfect sized little wood people, and cardboard flip flop box that we saw perfect as a boat (and we even used the flip flop part as the baby carrier, and other things. While on my bike ride, I assigned H to gather sticks and leaves and dirt from our yard, and I set off on a great ride. I charged it all the way to the top (:57 from our home, :40 or so from the zoo, me and my bike buddies usually do it in 1:10), passed the Red Burro guy, but got passed in the s-curves by 2 people (which definitely challenged me to keep boosting into the wind), the top was gorgeous (although I did notice that the higher the elevation, they really look like they are ready for snow - the fall color is seemingly gone up there, although that gold which we saw driving back from the desert last week, is gorgeous). And I zipped down to help with the house, watercolor, make dinner, get some groceries & a movie, and be totally exhausted so sent the kids off the bed early, well the boys were ecstatic to read, and now I am here. How's that for a journal entry.