Yet ANOTHER Bouncy Ball

This morning Debbie and I left at 6am to continue our training for this upcoming marathon. We have had unseasonably warm weather (70s) so I left with shorts and a tank top. We ran over to Panther Creek and then South on Legacy. This is where we encountered the 20 mph winds. MY GOODNESS! I was sooooooo happy that it was 67 degrees when we left... at least we were warm as we struggled through the 4 miles of wind. It never let up! It seemed so easy to run when we headed West on Stonebrook - at least it was a cross-wind! :) We continued to run and made a water stop over at Walgreens on Legacy and Lebanon. We were at about mile 9 and I entered the restroom and ended up sitting there longer than intended! Augh! We lost about 5 minutes thanks to my restroom problems that I seem to encounter... anyway... we continued on.

We were going to be running North now - with the warm wind! At least we'd be pushed home! At about mile 14 the wind literally changed on the spot and the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees. Talk about change, instantly! (I looked over at Debbie and was coveting her pants she had on.) The clouds were rolling in and out all morning, but then off to the West we noticed the dark, dark clouds. Cool, I thought! It seemed to be all past us. Then up ahead I noticed our mini-van parked near the intersection of Teel and Main. It was Glenn and he did not have any water or Gatorade. He just had a message - we're in a tornado watch, get home! We were about 2 miles from home now... he took off and circled us a couple of times, but then the one time I saw the brake lights come on... the van back-up lights came on... and out jumped a child (with no shoes or socks). I couldn't tell who it was but he grabbed another BIG BOUNCY BALL and jumped back in the car! We now own 4 bouncy balls! (If anyone needs a bouncy ball, please stop by and you can have one.)

With about 1 mile left the rains began falling and the temperature continued to drop (53 on the Walgreens billboard)! The winds were blowing and it felt like hail balls were pelting us. I kept thinking to myself - why? why? Why am I doing this? We were soaked thru and thru BUT we made the 17 mile jaunt home and watched the storm roll through. Within 30 minutes the sun was shining; there was nearly no wind!

Merry Christmas 2008

We were woken at 6:02am! What time did you get up? Glenn kindly asked that we could wait till 7am to start the party! We have good kids - they honored our request! Merry Christmas to you!

Happy 11th Ben

Happy 11th Birthday Ben! Last night when Glenn came home from work we had our birthday dinner for Ben - beef stroganoff, brocolli & cauliflower with cheese and homemade bread! Just Delicious!

After we ate (kinda' late) he wanted to open some presents. In order to clear the dinner dishes, I sent everyone upstairs to get on PJs. Emma shouted, "Do you hear the ice?!" WHAT? ICE? She was right, it was sleeting. To which Ben yelled, "Oh, that would be the best b-day present - no school tomorrow!"

Presents were opened, children went to bed, Glenn went back to work after stringing the lights on the tree and I went back to baking 8 dozen (2 dozen per child) cookies for the &%#!*& cookie exchange at school this morning! (I was up till after midnight. Glenn was up till after 2am.)

This morning, everyone was up at 6:30 (thanks to Ben's new alarm clock) and ready to go by 7:35. Out the door went Zach and he wiped out on the sheet of ice! I ran to the computer and typed in FISD (Frisco Independent School District) and there it was... BEN'S WISH HAD COME TRUE!

No school today - the only problem is - we're ALL UP and ready to go and it's only 8:30... maybe everyone will take a nap?!

Thanksgiving 2008

We enjoyed a Wonderful Time during the Thanksgiving Season with Glenn's Family in Sunny Mesa Arizona! (It even thunderstormed and rained the 10 days we were there! We had lived their for nearly 3 years and I can count the days on one hand that it ever thunderstormed and rained... what's that ALL ABOUT!) Anyway... we were especially excited to be able to visit the temple with all of Glenn's Siblings in honor of the youngest sister, Melanie and her spouse Clark! (And guess what - they are moving to the Midwest this coming year! Score for us!)

I have to tell about a few of the things we enjoyed doing while we were visiting. We hiked a few of the kids up to Arnett Creek near Superior Arizona.

Here we found Apache Tears - legend has it that about 75 Apaches and the US Calvary squared off against each other in battle on a mountain overlooking what is now Superior, Arizona in the 1870's. Rather than face defeat, the outnumbered Apache warriors rode their horses off the mountain to their deaths. The families of the warriors cried when they learned of the tragedy. Their tears turned into stone upon hitting the ground. Today these beautiful translucent gemstones are known as Apache Tears Good Luck Stones. The kids were all so excited when we began to find the stones!


After the hike we ALL enjoyed Grandma's Delicious Banana Bread - she had made over 20 loaves I bet! I think we cleaned out her freezer! Score for us!




A lot of us participated in the Turkey Trot. This is either a 10K run, a 2-mile run or a 1-mile fun walk. Quite a few of the cousins participated. I believe Nick led the pack in for the 2-mile run! (17.47)! Go Nick! Ben completed his Very First 10K with a time of 1:02.



Of course there was the traditional turkey dinner. We found a bowl of peas (that never made it to the table) in the microwave the next morning. Some of my kids were excited that the peas STAYED in the microwave!

We met up with Glenn's cousin Alice and her family over at the Mesa Arizona Temple. We went over to see all the beautiful Christmas lights.

We had a fun evening over at Aunt Melissa's house to celebrate Uncle Eldon's 40th b-day! It was fun to eat grilled burgers and yummy cake! All the cousins had fun jumping on the trampoline and watching movies and playing with toys. There's starting to be LOTS of cousins! Fun, fun fun!

Goofy golfing - keeps getting goofier each year I guess! Aunt Mindy started this outing last year and it proved to keep everyone occupied for a good part of an afternoon. The kids definitely enjoyed themselves!

It felt as if each night we indulged ourselves with leftover cake, pie, flan, you name it while playing obnoxious card games that PROVED that it's ALL IN THE DEALER'S DEAL on who will win the game! I totally won one game BIG TIME, BIG SCORE... all playing were wanting to play again and I should have bowed out... BUT NO... we played again and I landed FLAT ON MY FACE! No fair! It was so much fun though!

As we packed up all the gear, plus all the kids, we were just so thankful to have been able to come out this year to be all together. We have a wonderful family and we're excited to be back again next year! Happy Holidays!

Happy Anniversary/Early Christmas??

We have been Texan-ites for the past year! and we really enjoy Texas! The other night I asked Glenn what he thought of our first year in Texas? We dilly-dallied and joked around about BIG TEXAS THIS and BIG TEXAS THAT! Texas truly is BIG! There is land all around... once you get out of the city. There are still cows nearby, horse ranches, it's very BIG and beautiful. Fall colors are setting in again. Another year...

Now, if you look closely at our old swing-set... the one that came when we purchased the house... you will see that it is pretty dilapidated. It has gone through a few years (before we arrived) without treatment and now the wood is starting to split and so forth. So, we decided to GO BIG and put up a new swing-set.

Glenn did some designing and some googling and came up with a swing-set that will swing 5 people, monkey-bar a few others, fireman-pole the neighbors and slide whoever is left. We are also trying to "place" the rock wall from the old set somewhere on the new. We don't know about that yet! Stay tuned for the FINAL gift!

Merry Christmas!

New Yeek

Christopher: Mom, this dessert is new yeek!

Me: What did you say?

Christopher: New Yeek!?

Glenn: Do you mean unique!

Christopher: Oh Yeah!

Christopher always keeps us on our toes!

I wish he'd stay at this age for a few years. He's just a hoot!

WELCOME home Ben

Benjamin spent the last three days and two nights at Camp Jolt. Camp Jolt is a science camp on the Texas Oklahoma Border (AKA Lake Texoma). He did fun things like fossil hunting, zip lines, animal tracking, hiking, scavenger hunts, etc.

This was his FIRST time being away from home. He had a WONDERFUL time and said that he never teared up - well maybe once or twice, but quickly got over it! (I sure missed him.) He's such a good kid!

It was a bit boring at home - Nick had no one to bug/make laugh... and when he tried to do his tricks on Zach - Zach didn't put up with it like Ben does! Zachary said it was a bit weird sleeping in his bedroom alone, without Ben nearby in his bed... something about an empty bed.

We're glad you're home Ben!