Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma's

We went to Colorado for a few days before Christmas. The advantage to that is we get two Christmas's. The kids love this. Another fun thing we like to do is go sledding. Well you would think Colorado in December, that would be easy to do. Well not this time. We drove for two hours and never found any spot to go sledding. It was crazy. The rain was coming down all over the western US and it was no different where we were. We spent lots of fun time with Grandma as we made cookies and she taught us how to make her famous bread. We enjoyed some time with Grandpa putting a puzzle together and burning all his wood in the fireplace. The kids enjoyed roasting marshmallows in the fire too. Only at Grandma's can you roast mini marshmallows in the fireplace. Grandma is a good sport too as she eats a few of those burned things. It was tons of fun and a very relaxing time. Good times were had by all.

Grandpa and Britton look at the new remote contol car he got.

Brooke shows off her new watch.

Grandma and Grandpa open their present from the kids.
They were way excited to give them the present. Gotta love those homemade gifts.

Every Child is a Story yet to be told. Lots of room for the other grandkids to put their hand prints on it too. Grandparents love those kids of gifts.

Family Picture Time

This is the time of year I like, well except when trying to determine what everyone is going to wear. But taking the pictures and getting beautiful results, I like that. But on the other hand, fighting with Darin about doing them when I have to hear, "Didn't we just take those?" Yes Dear, a year ago we did. :) Now I have Matthew who loves pictures as much as Darin, so the battle was swift and final. I said we are doing this on this certain Saturday, be there, wear this and don't argue. It went rather well and the results I was very pleased with. Our session was short so I received very little fight from the big boys. :) Here is the Thomas Gang!!

Our Crew

Mother - Daughter

My Boys

Father - Daughter

My Kids

The Three

Mom and Dad

Thanksgiving

Darin's parents had everyone over for Thanksgiving. It had been a rather warm fall so not many leaves had fallen. With Thanksgiving the leaves were finally starting to fall and oh what fun the kids had with all the leaves that day. Grandpa was pleased with the work since it gave them something to do outside and he did not have to rake up the leaves. :)

Mesquite Marathon!!

After a disappointing run at the St. George Marathon, Darin and his friend Cory decided they wanted to try the Mesquite Marathon. Early in November, we had hopes of Darin qualifying for the Boston Marathon and the two of us going there to run the Marathon. With the record setting filling of the Boston Marathon, which only took 8 hours to sell out, our hopes of going to Boston were destroyed. He still wanted to run the Mesquite race, so we went to Nevada with some friends and had a great time. Well, a great time as far as being with friends and laughing and enjoying ourselves. The race was another story. The weather was terrible. Cool temperatures made for a chilly start. The wind was the worst for running. There were 35 mph gusts, and constant winds blowing the whole race. Not so good for running a 26 mile long race. Well, it was tough, but Darin finished 3rd in his age group, was 26th overall out of over 200 runners. He was pleased. I decided the marathon was a bit much for me, so I ran the half marathon. I was 1st in my age group and placed rather high overall. The wind was way tough on my little body, I felt like it blew me from one side of the road to the other. It was a fun run. Glad Cory and Mel could join us. We had another couple meet us there to run too, Glen and Kasey Watts ran. The men felt strong or were crazy, which ever you choose, so they ran the marathon. The women were more sane I guess you could say that was a matter of opinion. We all ran the half marathon.

Darin and I at Packet Pick up

Mel and Cory Reese - our friends who do crazy things with us!

Flags blowing straight out showing how windy it was. Cory recorded a short video and put it on youtube.com, watch it here to see how windy it was at the race. Mesquite Marathon!

Glen, Jason Smith, Darin and Cory at the beginning of the race.

The Mesquite Marathon, the half looked just the same. :) Not much scenery in this part of the country. The marathon went through three states though, starting in Utah, then Arizona for lots, then finishing in Nevada.

My Little Wolves!!!

Pin #2 for each little boy. Fun stuff going on in scouts. They did great pinning my awards on me too. I wait for the day they poke my finger or theirs too. :) They are having fun learning new things and being with the other boys in an organized situation. They have really enjoyed doing different topics and learning interesting fun things. What a busy life they have.

My boys pin their mother pins on me.

I will do my best, I will do my duty . . .

Mom and her little scouts.

Banana Chair Catapult Anyone?!

There are times you like getting phone calls from your kids and times when the caller says, "Mom, come home right now!!!" I did not question it and I ran straight home from the church. Of course all kinds of things go rushing through your mind as to what could be wrong. I knew it was not too bad, but still bad enough not to discuss on the phone and to head straight home, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Visit with your friends, just get home. Well as I ran in the house, Matt yells we are downstairs. I get down the stairs and there is Britton lying on the ground with a bloody paper towel on his head. I realized I can take pressure and gross things kind of well that night. We got things cleaned up and I called Darin to let him know we were headed to the doctor for stitches. Up to this point Britton had been rather calm, no tears, no freaking out, but at the word Stitches, he went crazy on me. I finally got him calmed down, but with the limited training I had I knew we needed them. The doctor was amazing and numbed it with some ointment and continued to let him know we had to close up the sore, but never said the "S" word again. We understood what she would be doing, but he did not, and he remained calm. Well, five stitches later and a nice black eye out of it, here he is. What fun a catapult on a banana chair can be?!! Whose idea was it anyway, brother? :)

Spooktacular Fun Run!!

A few years ago we started a fun tradition where we ran a race sponsored by the Elementary schools. We start with a good stretch and then line up for a fun race. We started several years ago by doing the 1 mile run, but over the past couple of years have changed to the 3 mile run.


It is a fun challenge to run with the kids. This year though, Bryce and Matt were flying for their race. After the race Matt told us he was working hard to stay up with Bryce. Bryce is really starting to develop into a quick runner. I am sure he is faster than me and I think Darin would have to work really hard to keep up with him.

We all wore our matching green shirts so we could see each other in the race. It works good for us. We may get matching orange ones next with some silly quote on the back for our next races. We always love this race though, Bryce usually wins us some pumpkin cookies for being the fastest runner in his age group, he is kind to share too.


After running that far with the kids, we are all feeling silly and make some goofy faces. We will be preparing for our next race which is the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us and we can all run a quicker race.