Thanksgiving Wonderfulness

Time with family

Wonderful cooks

People we love

Game time

Making fun memories

Thankful

Some of our local third grade classes were featured in our little paper yesterday. Rowan's class wrote about what they were thankful for. Maybe it's just me, but I think he forgot about something (or someone)...



( He said it was supposed to say we get "materials" from animals. Also I mentioned to him that Paul was in the Air Force, not the Army. His response was "who cares".)

But I do like it better than when Grayson's class was in the paper as third graders. His class wrote about how to cook a turkey, and most of the boys in his class ended up writing gory, turkey killing stories.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Banks-Vernonia Trail

We recently took advantage of a dry November day to head out for a family hike. We have been wanting to check out the Banks/Vernonia trail for some time, and were glad we did. This trail is part of the "Rails to Trails" program, and the trail spans a 21 mile stretch of old train track, including two trestles. It's a nice level, paved path, and we can't wait to go back with bikes and ride part of it.

For our hike we went to a trail head near the middle of the trail and hiked about 2 miles in, and then back to where we started. The trail was pretty empty, but we did see some cyclists, walkers and a few horses.

The train trestles have been re-done with a nice path and side rails, but Rowan still had a hard time with the heights issue.

Grayson and Rowan had fun looking for the biggest leaves they could find.

We also had fun looking for mushrooms. We saw several different types of mushrooms that we have never seen before, and found some really cool ones.

Grayson wants to get a book about them to bring next time so we can identify them.

Along the way we saw reminders of the trail's past.

I really love the moments that our family shares on hikes.

I love that we are all together doing the same thing, that there are no distractions.

I love the laughs and the stories that are shared.

Some of my favorite things about these hikes are the moments between brothers. Those loving, connected moments...

....right before a wrestling match starts.

Cross Country- Freshman Year

Fuller just finished his first high school cross country season. He had a great season and showed great improvement. Fuller started training with the high school team back in June, and ran with them 3 days a week most of the summer. This was a huge jump from the training he had done in middle school cross country. In middle school the longest runs they did were 4-5 miles, and over the summer Fuller was doing 6-8 mile runs, and even an 11 mile run. Fuller became very well acquainted with the back roads in our area this summer!


He had some pretty bad aches, pains and strains through out the season, but was able to compete at every event.

3100 meters
10/6 Trojan Park 12:11

5,000 meters
9/9 Bill Chapman Invitational 21:44
9/14 NWOC District Preview 20:07
9/24 Nike Pre- Nationals 21:25
9/28 Sandy High School 21:02
10/5 Star City XClassic 20:50
10/12 McCormick Park 20:59
10/15 Concordia Classic 20:44
10/26 NWOC District Meet 19:14


His goal for much of the season was to break 20 minutes. It alluded him most of the season, but he finally did it at districts.



Fuller really enjoyed the camaraderie of the team, and the breakfast runs and pre-race dinners. He was fortunate to have a good group of upper class men to learn from.



Fuller tracked his miles all season with his Nike sports band, and logged almost 400 miles during the season.



Fuller finished off his season with three awards. He received his school letter, the "Best Newcomer Award", and the "GPS" award- for getting lost while running.

Fuller took a couple weeks off after Districts, but is now back training with the Winter track group, and looking forward to track season.

The Longest Soccer Season

Today we were finally able to bid farewell to the 2011 soccer season! It was a very cold, wet, miserable day for soccer. I must admit that as the years go by I get ready for soccer season to be over earlier and earlier. I love watching them play, but miss our Saturdays being more for fun, and get tired of being cold.

Rowan finally seemed to "get" the game this year, and really understood the different positions.

This year he decided that he'd really like to be a goalie, and has started focusing on that. I think being the youngest of three boys has done a good job of preparing him to dive into the mix for the ball without the fear of being hurt.

This year Grayson tried out for and made a classics team. This meant practices and tournaments all summer, and a bigger commitment for all of us.

The coaching on this team was excellent, and the level of improvement was high. There were times when Grayson struggled and felt over worked. We have reached the point where soccer is going to be more serious.

Grayson's team didn't win many games this season, but they really grew and improved as a team. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do in the future.

Paul and I usually had to split up on Saturdays to cover their games and also Fuller's cross country events. We enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa come along and help us cheer!

Happy Veteran's Day

My favorite veteran- Airman Paul

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year, except for it being on a school night and having to get the kids to bed at a decent time. Grayson made his own costume and spent many hours perfecting his look. He did a great job! He was a Dalek, an evil robot from the TV show Dr Who. He got a lot of great compliments about his costume and even a few people who gave him extra candy because they liked it so much. Rowan had a hard time deciding what to be, and in the end wore an old skeleton costume that we had and some swords so he could be a ninja too. We went to trunk-or-treat at the church and then hit our own neighborhood for even more candy.