Mr. Turtle

This is a picture of the kids and Mr. Turtle this last summer. They had TONS of fun using the apple peeler to make yummy treats for Mr. Turtle to eat. Much more than he could handle as you can very plainly see!



Unfortunately, Mr. Turtle met his demise this summer while we were on vacation in Lake Tahoe. He got caught in Anson's soccer net and in his attempts to free himself, he got caught tighter and tighter in the net. Luckily Aaron found him while mowing the lawn and the kids didn't have to see their beloved pet in death. He is now buried somewhere deep in the landfill.

You were a wonderful pet Mr. Turtle. We didn't have to do anything to keep you alive (except we should have untangled you, but we weren't around and didn't know you were tangled). You cared for yourself, yet we could say that we had a pet for the kids to watch over. We will miss you eating our crickets!

Blessed

I smell big yummy ginger cookies. I see Anson wiping off the patio table with a towel after the rain last night. I hear the baby crying. I feel love for these wonderful blessings I have been given.

New Calling!

I recieved a new calling on Sunday. I am the new cub scout leader for the bears in our ward. FYI, those are the 9 year old boys. I have no idea what cub scouts (or boy scouts in general) is all about at all. My brothers are 10 years younger than me, so I was pretty much out of the house by the time they were going through all of this stuff.

I do know that there are a lot of meetings. Weekly meetings with the boys, monthly pack meetings, monthly roundtable meetings, and monthly cub committee meeting. I'm used to Aaron having all of the meetings, so this will certainly be a change.

I'm kind of overwhelmed with it all so far. The Primary 2nd Counselor met with me today to explain some of what I am supposed to do, but I think it is going to take a while for me to really understand what I've just gotten into! I'm actually really excited that I get to learn what to expect for Anson and Spencer before they are in Scouting.

Aaron hasn't gotten his calling yet. I'll be sure to keep you updated!

Tucson

Aaron and I were able to get away Friday and Saturday for "El Tour de Tucson". We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the J.W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort on Friday night and Saturday. We ate a delicious dinner at Primo, one of the restaurants at the property. We had a very interesting salad while there. It doesn't sound very good, but I was amazed at how delicious it was. It was a beet salad with goat cheese. Sounds gross - but SO good!

On Saturday we slept in (if you call 6:30 AM sleeping in!), and got Aaron to the starting line of the race just as it was starting. I don't like Tucson roads at all! It seems like you can't go any faster than 30-40 miles/hour on any of the roads. Even the really major ones! Really annoying.

So Aaron rode his bicycle for 66 miles. It took about 5 hours, including stops for food and rest. He said he started getting tired of it after 40 miles. When he first started riding his bike he was tired of it after only 5 miles, so he is getting better anyway. He still hasn't gotten the clips for his pedals, so it was all Aaron Power pedalling away. We need to get him all decked out with a Triathlon bike and equipment in the next week or two.

I seriously had no idea there were so many different kinds of bikes a year ago! So pretty soon Aaron will have a regular "touring" bike, a mountain bike, a road bike, and a triathlon bike. Does anyone know if there are any other kinds of bikes out there? I hope not! Bikes are beginning to take over around here!

I forgot to mention that I got a pedicure at the Spa at the resort while Aaron was riding his bike! Yay for me! I sure got spoiled! It was really a nice break to get pampered for a while. Now back to real life!

November = Enduring, 2 Month Update

If October was all about being on the move, November is all about enduring (for me anyway). In October I literally moved everything in my whole house, I got up and down in the middle of the night, and drove up to the valley a LOT.

Now it seems like I'm just trying to endure this month of November. Enduring through the weeklong sickness of Katie and Anson. Enduring the packing boxes being all over my house. Enduring this new sickness of Spencer's (he threw up at Maria's house yesterday!), and enduring Spencer's cries in the middle of the night (only if it is before 4:30 AM and if he is not sick - I do bend rules for sick babies!).

Hopefully we can move on from this "enduring" trend for the second half of November.

On another note, we had a fun day yesterday at my sister-in-law's house and at the Veteran's Day parade in Mesa. I enjoyed the high school marching bands, and the kids enjoyed the candy that was passed out!

Spencer's 2 month stats update:
Weight - 15 lbs. 10 oz. - just off the chart
Head Circumference - 16 cm. or in.? - average
Height - 26 1/2 inches - way off the chart

Summary: Spencer's head is average for his age, and his height and weight are off the chart. We have one BIG baby here!

Sleeping, Moving, School, and Saturday

Spencer slept from 8:30 PM to 6:00 AM last night - all on his own! Go Spencer! He actually slept until 6:00 AM the night before too, with a little crying fest around midnight. I was NOT going to get him up after only 4 hours of sleep when I knew he could for sure go until 4:30 - which he has done a few times. So I let him cry. You are probably thinking I am a bad mother. But I don't care. I NEED my sleep! I'm a worse mother when I don't get it!

I am kind of starting to get settled into the new house. With 2 sick kids last week (they were sick for a whole week!), tons of boxes to unpack, a talk to prepare (can you believe they asked me to speak 1 week after moving in, before even officially going to church? I had missed the first week because of the sick kids!), its amazing I got anything done at all!

Rebecca started 1/2 day kindergarten last Monday. She is doing great. The school had their Fall Festival on Saturday, and we had a great time playing games, bouncing on bounce houses, eating snow cones, and riding the train ride.

We went to Rebecca's first soccer game on Saturday too. We missed the actual first game because of the move. It is pretty entertaining watching 4-6 year olds chase after the ball.

Aaron completed his 2nd Casa Grande Triathlon on Saturday as well! We sure had a busy day on Saturday! He did it at least 15 minutes faster than last year. Good job Aaron!

Moving On

The time has come for moving on. We attended our last week of church in our ward today. We are moving to a new home about 30 miles away on Saturday.

Actually we will be moving all week long. I have empty boxes all over my entry way and packed boxes in Aaron's office and my office already. I can't wait for this week to be over so I can be done with the packing and the messes!

It will sure be sad to leave after 4 years. I love the slow pace, the down to earth people, the wide open spaces, and all of our friends. I won't miss the long drives though! Anson has gotten to the point that he will start complaining if I turn down the "long" way when we go somewhere.

I'm excited to be closer to my Doctor's offices, shopping, more school choices, and family. I'm also excited for the sidewalks and grass in our new big backyard. There is plenty of room for a swingset, plus the kids have sidewalks to ride bikes all around the yard. Now that it is finally cooler outside, I'm hoping they'll spend lots of time out there.

We also got an unexpected, though most welcome surprise a couple of weeks ago. A friend in our ward called up Aaron and asked if we were interested in keeping her baby grand piano at our home for a while. She is getting divorced and her living situation is up in the air for a while, so she wouldn't have anywhere to keep it. We just happen to have the perfect place in the new house for a baby grand - we were even thinking about saving up for one - so we are so excited to have a beautiful instrument in the house. Now we'll have to get one of those locks to keep the cover over the keys so the kids won't get into it...

So at this time next week I will be settled (at least somewhat) in the new house. Wish me luck this week! I'm going to need it with 4 kids (one of which is only 8 weeks old - so I'm still waking up in the middle of the night to feed him), a house full of stuff, and just one little old me!

Katie

Katie is my adventure girl. She is in to everything, wants to know about everything, and isn't scared of anything (well, almost anything - she didn't like my sister-in-law's bird that bit daddy's finger!).

So Aaron's brother and family came over to our house a week after Spencer was born. All of the kids were playing outside when Rebecca came in and told me that Katie was muddy. When Katie started coming in a while later, we had to get Rebecca and her cousins to keep her outside for a while. She was absolutely FILTHY! Her church clothes were covered, her hair and face, and hands, and feet, and any other surface of her body/clothes were FILTHY! Here is a sampling of what she looked like after her church clothes were removed. She was sure LOVING IT!!!

Here's a sampling of Katie having some fun in the sun. She is so cute and has so much personality! She has never really been a "baby", and lately she just seems more and more grown up. She does like to be babied when she is tired though. She was definitely tired today after 3 hours of church and 2 baby blessings in 2 different wards! It's tough being dragged around with mom and dad! Enjoy the pictures of our Little Miss "Kate, Kate"!