Dear Friends and Family,

Jeremy is back!!!!  And Spencer, least I forget.  They both came home tired and happy from a great man trip with my brothers and Dad.  They ate out, hiked in the snow, looked for geo-caches while others fished and rode a bike along the Truckee river.  Jeremy's account of hiking with Spencer 20 feet per whine and then trying to ride a tandem bike are hilarious and make me grateful for a husband who is willing to stick it out and make it work so his son has a great time.  I am grateful for all the guys on this trip living through Spencer's high moments of talking a mile a minute and his lows of grumbling and whining to show him what it means to man up and be a great guy.  I am glad they started this tradition.

Jeremy came back and then jumped into work and family fall portraits so we didn't see much of him this week.  But Saturday afternoon we played hookey with our friends the Hancocks and took our quad up in the canyon to ride and hike through the fall colors.  It was a wonderful time.  This is what we were surrounded with:
Came home to happy kids running around in a rare warm (relatively speaking) evening with Spencer having made everyone dinner and even had made brownies for dessert.  The brownies were pretty syrupy as he told me about his different "substitutions" but he was extremely proud of himself for making brownies from scratch to surprise us.  I felt so bad later that night explaining that he needed to check in with me before cooking something but he was fine with it - still on that sugar high.

Saturday afternoon was wonderful, the morning was full of kid activities.  I told them they owed us a few hours that afternoon after all that running around.  Spencer had a pow-wow at BYU with another boy from the ward coming with us.  He is taking first aid which they take very seriously in teaching so I am glad he gets to be there for it.  Allison and three friends also were at BYU although a bit later for a class pizza/bowling party.  Then Robyn had a birthday party to go to.  Add in getting the office cleaned, picking up prescriptions, getting gas, picking up pizzas for the party and a part to fix the hot tub and the day was busy.  But everyone had a great day and is very grateful that Sunday is a day of rest.  Fruitcake is cooking as I speak while a fall storm moves in outside.

Allison and her BFFs Andra and Alena along with their favorite fourthsome from class Anna - it truly is awesome to watch them all play together

Friday night while kids watched movies we played games with our friends the Larsens and ate junk food.  I forget how easy and nice it is to do stuff with friends as we get wrapped up in our own little family.  This weekend reminded me I need to do it more often.

This week the sunshine returned and kids were sent outside whenever possible.  Had a moment this week while I was picking apples, sun on my face, Robyn and all her little friends swarming the ladder to help that I just felt I needed to suck in this feeling and hold on to it.  In February when snuffly noses and whiny voices abound I need to remember that feeling of pure bliss and to remember how lucky I am.

This week I made a lot more progress on the garage.  I gave up the idea of surprising Jeremy by the time he returned.  Instead it was more of a "surprise, I made a huge mess but its just so I can make it cleaner!".  But I got the floor of the garage on Jeremy's side all painted.  It is taking a long time to dry because although the temperatures are getting into the high 70s this week, the garage is staying cool.  But this week we should be able to move, organize and purge everything back in.  Kids are really appreciating how nice a garage is when they get in the car in the mornings.  It is definitely a lot colder staying outside.

Spencer and Allison had a piano recital on Friday afternoon.  Spencer did OK and knew it, but also knew why.  I sometimes wonder at what point we stop pushing piano.  He started guitar this week again and that is our leverage to get him to practice piano.  But doing the time on the piano bench versus actually practicing isn't the same thing.  Allison did awesome though.





Learned my parents and sister will be here for Thanksgiving this year.  Hence cooking fruitcake today.  It is never too early to get into the holiday spirit!  Besides the thought of family always makes me a little giddy.

Two moments this week where I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.  Robyn after having a friend come home from school with her had to do her jobs right before dinner instead of right after school.  Lots of tears and drama about it till she came up to me whimpering and asking if she could just sit in my lap.  We always call her our sunshine.  But she told me in a very sad voice that her "sunshine didn't come out today.  It was behind the clouds".  Next morning she sprang out of bed telling me that her sunshine was back.  Other moment was a call from Spencer one morning.  "Mom, I need you to bring me a pair of pants.  Why?  There is a hole that I didn't notice until I sat down.  Does it need to be right this moment?  Yes, I don't think the staples are going to hold much longer".  What?!  Turns out he sat down, saw his pants were ripped zipper to bum so broke out his stapler to fix the problem so he could get to the front desk.  Looking back it was quite inventive on his part, but at the moment all I could do was bite my tongue to keep from howling with laughter - with a few tears thrown in.  Such is life with kids.

Love to you all, Heather

Allison and her friend Andra did portraits of each other for school