10 FEET

There are 10 feet that live in my house.

Each of us have a pair.

2 of the feet or 1/5 are broken.

2 right ones to be exact.

We are getting to be really good friends with the Podiatrist.

The latest break was by this cute little girl playing soccer.

She has to have this shoe on for a few weeks.

And this little shoe is SO CUTE!! I love how little it is!

PIANO DIVA

I love to play the piano. I am so glad that I know how to play. I love that Daren knows how to play it. I hope I have enough strength in me to get the kids to know how to play it. Because 2 out of the 3 are killing me.

Tanner has taken lessons for years but the girls started piano lessons last week. At their lesson this week (by the way, one girl had to be FORCED into practicing and the other woke up early on her own to practice without being asked) I had to bite my tongue trying to not laugh at one of them.

Teacher: You need to curve your fingers and wrists a little bit.

Girl: Like how? Cause it really hurts when I do that.

Teacher: Well stand up and pretend like you are dead. Hold out your hands. Do you see how your hands naturally curve down? Well try that on the piano.

Girl: It hurts! Where are the arm rests for the piano cause I can't hold them up!

Me: Dying of embarassment in the corner-thinking to myself CURVE YOUR HANDS!! Do you know how expensive this teacher is? You are wasting time!

Teacher: Aren't you a dancer? Shouldn't you be able to hold your hands in this position?

Girl: Yeah but I just really need an arm rest. Does your piano have one?

Who does she think she is?

A Piano Diva????

NEW HEIGHTS

For nearly 2 DECADES, I have looked at the 'Y' on the mountain and wondered what the view was like from up there. I wondered what the 'Y' was made of and how they made it.

Well today, I can cross that item off my Bucket List and wonder no more. Daren and I took the girls (and 2 neighbor kids) with us to hike the 'Y.' It was more fun that I thought it would be. It is over 6,400 ft. above sea level so I was breathing pretty hard but we all did it!

It was the perfect day...65 degrees and nothing but blue skies!

This is an old picture and there isn't any snow...not yet

View from the Trailhead

Made it to the top of the 'Y'

Totally freaked out cause I am afraid of heights.

Thought I was gonna pee my pants cause I was so nervous!

View from the top

View of the stadium

Next goal...Timp Caves

THE START OF FALL...

ALWAYS begins the same way.

The weather gets cool

The leaves start to change colors

AND

BYU FOOTBALL starts!

Today was the first home game. For 3 years now, we have always started the season with this group of friends:

Dallas '09

We were all in the same ward in Las Vegas and became fast friends due to each husband's LOVE of Cougar Blue. We have SO much fun with this group! We laugh SO hard each time we are together that my stomach and side hurts.

We usually go to an away game together. However, this year due to different circumstances it didn't happen. Instead the 3 of us that live in Utah and Northern Nevada went to the game (sans Pam) and the 2 Las Vegas couples watched the game in Vegas and went out to dinner. Yet the entire night we all kept texting each other!

(Sorry Jeff and Pam...I forgot to take a picture at the restaurant. I was too busy chasing L. Tom Perry with Abby.)

Amy's lucky shirt. BYU has NEVER lost when she wears it.

Another sign of the start of fall is my husband getting the flag ready to fly. It is fun to drive down my street on a Saturday in the fall and see the mostly blue flags and those silly red Ute flags!

It has become a joke with our group of friends that each game we go to, I always see someone famous. Even though when we went to Seattle, I thought I was taking a picture with the Washington coach but it wasn't him. Oops!

So we were all surprised to see Ty Detmer at the restaurant. And it was the REAL Ty Detmer!

This was Abby's first BYU game. She has been wanting to come for almost a year now.

She was VERY cute. We had to go to the bookstore before the game to get her a BYU shirt.

BEST PART....we won the first game.

BEST JOB IN THE WORLD

The BACK TO SCHOOL morning started WAY too early. It was dark out and I realized VERY LATE last night that I forgot to buy lunch meat! So I was off to the store at 6:15 am today and saw 2 neighbors there. Each of us had that glazed over look, like this is too early to be at the store and we each were only buying 2 items.

Abby has had her outfit picked out since July and was VERY excited to start school today. She got the same teacher that Camille had last year. She made her own lunch and did her own hair. She's growing up way too fast!
Camille did NOT want her picture taken this morning because it is embarrassing. Although she did love wearing her brand new skinny jeans.

I love when I go to the doctor's office and have to fill out the parent questionnaire.

Mother's Occupation: Homemaker, I write with pride.

There is something about THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL that my heart just swells with pride and joy for my children and for the joy they bring into my life. I love them all SO much and I LOVE more than anything being a mom!

Tanner was not happy to pose as the carpool was quickly approaching. I saw on his junior high registration that he is the Class of 2015. WOWZERS! I can't believe how quickly that is approaching (quicker than the carpool!) He is an amazing young man! He loves his friends, the school bus, lacrosse and anything DC or Hurley.

I even made it to the gym after they all left. Now off to make our traditional chocolate chip cookies for when they all come home. (3 bites of 1 cookie for me--1 to say HELLO, 2 to say oooh that is good and 3 to say ADIOS and GOODBYE!)

I can't wait to hear about their day.

ON MY OWN

I went to a new gym tonight for the first time. It felt strange. I guess I'm a creature of habit and changing to a new gym was more difficult than I had anticipated.

But on the positive side, I went in and knew exactly what to do! That was a great feeling and even though things were different than what I'm used to, I felt excited to be able to complete a circuit.

I REALLY missed her...

A LOT! I feel like a child learning to ride a bike. My training wheels have been taken off and I'm on my own wobbling all over the road trying to balance.

She warned me about this and talked me through what would happen when I came back home and started up at a new gym. I believed her. I just didn't think it would be this hard and lonely. I missed having her there pushing me, counting, and telling me what to do next. The altitude is KILLING me! Daren and I have been running twice and both times my lungs burn! I'm just so grateful for the things I have learned from her and I can't wait to see her again!

This is the only gym I have EVER worked out in:

So it felt like I was cheating on it when I went here:

And, I really missed my old gym. Because at this new one, some smelly, tattooed guy took my stability ball, made it all sweaty and then gave it back to me. YUCK!

I don't know whether I'm going to join this gym or another one. It will be fun to try them all out and decide which one will work best.

BIRDIE BIRDIE

Just before we left for Las Vegas, there was a mommy and a daddy bird building a nest by our front door. We had fun watching them build the nest. Twig by twig they would carry them to the nest and build.

When we came home, instead of seeing the mommy and daddy bird in the nest, we saw these 3 ADORABLE little birdies. They are SO cute! We were all really excited to watch them.

UNTIL...
We looked down and saw this:

And this:

Daren wanted to take the nest down but we all yelled, " YOU CAN'T!! Those cute little birdies can't fly yet."

But as soon as they can, that nest is SO out of here, he said. It reminded me of a poem I learned when I was young.

Birdie, birdie in the sky

Dropped some white wash in my eye

I'm not sad, I won't cry

I'm just glad that cows don't fly!