The End

Cross Country season in never complete without the obligatory 3.5 hour awards banquet that happens every year in November or December. It is quite the event. It just keeps going and going and going. I love to see the athletes dressed up to hang with their peers and get recognized for their amazing accomplishments of the season.
Dallin received a special award called the "Bulldog Award" that recognized one male athlete on the team and one female athlete for outstanding achievement, character, work ethic, team building, etc. What a surprise when Dallin's name was spoken over the pulpit. Not a surprise that he received it, but that he was chosen out of so many runners who were great guys too. What an honor to be recognized for being an excellent team member and athlete.
Dallin proudly shows off his awards and Varsity letter pin.
Dallin hangs with his running pals. This is quite the crew! Only one senior in the bunch, the top runner, and the rest will be returning next year in place 1, 2, and 3 on the team. These are the guys to watch next fall.

December 2009

First of December

December is full of family traditions, the first one being our December 1 dinner. A lovely event dining together in the dining room, relishing in the thoughts of Christmas for the next 24 days. The meal prepared is better than your average Sunday dinner. Chicken cordon Bleau, fresh green beans, rolls, fresh pineapple, rice and red jello. Yum.....
Dallin and Landon are thrilled with this picture.
There's my happy boy, Easton!
The cook and Christmas-make-it-happen person.
Easton prepares to open our new Christmas book.
We started a new tradition this year with the Elf on the Shelf. We have a new elf named Sparky that watches us during the month of December and reports back to Santa each night. Every morning our elf was found in different places like shelves, lamps, plants, ledges, the piano, the bathroom. Sparky was sneaky this year and Easton had fun trying to find him each morning. Spark helped remind us to be good so that Santa would definitely pay us a visit on the 25th!!!

thanks

Just a few pictures from Thanksgiving at Michael and Jeni Carroll's. I'm never a good picture taker at Thanksgiving, so there!

Just half a Marathon

Going back in time again.....Thanksgiving morning Dallin was up bright and early (Mom too) to head out the door at 5:30 am to run a half marathon in downtown Atlanta with a couple of boys from the ward. AN ADVENTURE! We drove to the downtown Marta station, the transit system in Atlanta and boarded the train that would take us to the starting point of the race. It was a very cold morning, below freezing and dark!
Dallin is waiting with the pack at the beginning of the race. It's so cold in the morning so the racers dress in layers. When the race began clothes started flying everywhere. Racers just dump them on the side of the road when they warm up and continue to peel off the layers throughout the race. Some charity organizations come by with huge garbage bags and collect them.

My friend, Anne and me. It's so cold but we were cool moms that morning!
The boys at the end of the race. They all made it and had fabulous times. Dallin ran 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 36 minutes. He said he had more at the end of the race and could have won it faster. It's the first time doing this and he'll smash his time next year! The high school cross country coach's wife ran it and took first place for the ladies. She's trying out for Olympics this year.
The coldness was ridicules! Dallin didn't have a jacket to wear at the end because it was in the car. I sacrificed my fleece jacket so he could get a little warmth! We'll know better how to dress next year and the logistics of getting from the start of the race and how to handle the end.
Peachtree Roadrace....see you next year!!!!!!!

Snow Day!!!

We had a dusting of snow last night and guess what? No school today.....UGH! It's just crazy how the whole state shuts down for a sprinkling of snow. The boys were dressed and out the door to play in the dust. We've lost our Utah toboggan so Landon and Easton were inventive with garbage bags and pulled them on like a big diaper and went sledding down the driveway on their bottoms. It must have been fun because they were at it for quite a while. It's the little things in life that make the best memories.

Cranberry Sauce Anyone?

Oh, the traditional homemade cranberry was created again this year. Ashton and Landon help me this time. I just thought you would be so impressed with the modern kitchen help--texting and grinding cranberries and apples at the same time!

Work?!?

One beautiful, fall Saturday the boys were given the assignment to clean up the leaves in the backyard. From my back window in the kitchen I had an amazing and very private view of the progress they were making. I was amazed at how the boys worked together and were distracted numerous times from completing the task at hand. Dallin was in charge of using the blower to blow the leaves into a grand pile on a carefully laid out tarp so that they could easily be dragged into the woods for disposal. These are just some of the things I noticed during the work effort:
1. Dallin was blowing the boys' baseball caps off their heads. Much laughter went on as Landon and Easton's hats would be blown off and then they would grab them off the ground and quickly put them on again to be blown off.
2. Dallin stuffed a bungey cord into the blower tube, then turned on the blower to see if it would shoot out of the nozzle.
3. Trying the hit the bungy cord like a baseball with the blower tube.
4. Smashing bugs on the sidewalk with the blower tube.
5. Easton found an old golf club in the backyard and had to try swinging it at leaves to help them get in the pile. Tried for quite some time with very little success.
6. Landon used the tarp to drag around Easton on the grass.


7. Eventually the project was completed, but only after my boys played and worked like boys!

Fall

Hi Family! It's time for some serious picture updates. We're going back in time to a warmer place with the leaves falling gently to the ground and a serious crazy visit from my brother Brad. He came to see us back in November and we loved spending a short few days with him. Wish it could have been longer, but we take what we can get.

Easton and Brad worked so hard together gathering the fallen leaves in our yard to create a massive pile to jump in. These pictures pretty much say it all.


Landon, Brad, and Easton relaxing!!!
My brother---where'd we get the same curly hair? DAD!!!!!!!