Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been driving me to chocolate a little more than usual. I have a neighbor who runs when she feels stressed - I need to become like that! We have had a really bad inversion all week which makes the air smell yucky and everything look gray and overcast. You can't even see the mountains. I keep hoping a storm will blow through and bring back the blue skies. But the best part of the week is that everyone is choosing to laugh about things rather than cry. And we got to enjoy pumpkin chocolate chip bread, chocolate chip waffles, hot chocolate and chocolate covered cinnamon bears - bring on the treadmill.

Spencer had a great day Monday. He had a luau at school where he brought 3 dozen cupcakes (Sunday nights' activity) and learned the Haka and ate pork and rice. Than he came home only to leave a few hours later to see his first NBA game (Jazz vs Miami) with Jeremy thanks to his junior jazz BB league. Definite nosebleed seats but they had a great time. Tuesday we got our first "official" call from school. Spencer and another kid ended up having a physical altercation. Spencer's story: he and his friend were playing ball tag on the slide. Spencer was about to fall so he pushed the kid out of the way so he could grab the bar. So his friend punched him, Spencer pushed, it got a little ugly and Spencer ran to tell the playground supervisor with broken glasses. So the two got to spend some quality time in the principal's office. Other kid's story is that Spencer started it and so he was going to finish it. So they both go the official first warning. Spencer was a little peeved to put it mildly that he got in trouble for all of this. Than he developed a bad rash all over the back of his leg that we were worried was a med-side effect. But after investigating further we think its just a hygiene problem :). So nice that all our talks about washing yourself ALL over and wearing clean clothes every day seems to fall on deaf ears. But I think he learned his lesson.

Other highlights from Spencer this week is that he had a great BB game Saturday and enjoyed practice. We watched a movie last week where every time the boy got in trouble in a juvenile hall facility he had to scrub toilets. We had a moment of inspiration and decided that was a great idea. So Friday while I left with Robyn to pick up Allison from choir we heard Spencer banging around in the bathroom, scrubbing away and muttering loud insults directed towards my brilliant idea. I figure if I have to deal with bad behavior I should at least get a clean toilet out of the deal!

Jeremy had a tough week at work. He can give you nitty gritty details if you want it. But short story is that their ability to accept credit cards on their sites was shut down. So they had a week of deciding to pretty much start over, take pay cuts and stick together. As you can imagine Jeremy is a bit stressed but they all are trying to be optimistic about things and working hard. We had bought tickets a week ago to see Avatar this week up in SLC. We got to see it in 3D on an imax screen Thursday night. It was extremely cool. The story line makes you laugh in some of the wrong spots when they spout the sterotypical G.I. Joe style lines. But the imagery takes your breath away.

Then as all my family knows, my grandma up in Ogden passed away Thursday. It wasn't unexpected as she has been hanging on for several years now but it sort of marks an end of an era. I have been remembering what a large figure my grandparents were in my life growing up. I remember taking long bubble baths in her hot tub, going shopping for a BYU formal dance with her, going to Rainbow Gardens for muffins and honey butter, having a cool Indian theme birthday party for Daniel, spending a week or two every summer with her and every holiday getting some cool little envelope/present from her. Its hard to believe that is all over.

This week was a cousin week. They came over Tuesday night while Jason and Kelly had temple night. Then they came over Friday night for an extended sleep over and left Sunday morning after stuffing themselves with waffles. Our kids had a great time. Brynn the 2 year old sort of stretched the auntie love a bit with rough nights and diarrhea. So I think I will be crashing early tonight. But as Kayla said to her mom - they ate and they played and then they ate and played some more. Spencer and Garion had a wii marathon Saturday afternoon. Girls just ran around playing games and making their "creations".

Today I get to teach Taylor's Sunday school class. Because I think every sub should be allowed to give out treats I am well armed with pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Tomorrow is Robyn's birthday party so kids are busy making decorations for me. Robyn is so excited about the whole event.

Love to you all,

Heather