"Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone." - Gladys Browyn Stern

The last couple of weeks have been stressful and delivered us blow after blow of unexpected crap to deal with. It happens, and I know we're not the only ones who struggle. Despite our less than desirable situation and what we may not have, I'm still acutely aware of how much we do have, and I'm grateful for those things. For those people who have listened and offered their love and support, thanks so much.

It's hard to focus in on the great stuff sometimes when we're worried about finding solutions to deal with the challenges we're facing, but we have two great reminders that greet us each morning with smiles on their faces, and they're the best form of motivation to keep us going.

To all our friends and family we may not have reached out to this past week, we hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving and the people you shared your day with. We're grateful for each of you, and to the Bruhn & Canfield families/members we shared our day with, thank you! We enjoyed a relaxing day with great people.

And to my family (specifically my husband) I'm blessed for each day we have with each other. I have not shown you that gratitude and support lately and I'm sorry for any hurt that may have caused you. We're a team and that's what I signed up for 5 years ago, and it's team JD-RA-BD-ZM for life. Love you.

Pre-Thanksgiving day of fun was spent with Bea and her handsome boys. Ben and Zach had loads of fun with their friends Jonas and Damon, I was treated to my annual haircut and other assorted goodies, and we wrapped it up with feeding the birds at Sugarhouse Park. LOTS of birds! (Thanks for the photo and awesome day Bea!)

Post-Thanksgiving Day fun continued at Carrie & Bobby's house (my memory card was missing in camera on T-Day). We helped put together Archer's room and their Christmas Tree. Ben organized his bulbs like he organizes everything else...tight and in a line.

Zach mostly followed Uncle Bobby and Skoog around but got in on a little tree fun.

 

The white stuff is here.

Remember that scene from The Wizard of Oz where the Witch of the East's feet shrivel up and disappear under Dorothy's house? That's basically my reaction to any contact with snow. I will admit though that it is very pretty to look at (from inside) at least until it starts to melt and turn brown.

Over the weekend we saw our first major snowfall since leaving AK. We were pretty sure early in the week it was coming, and come it did! I don't know what the final inch count was, but it was a lot. The morning it started to fall, I was still in bed and I could hear the boys in their room hooting about it. They were so excited.

I had every intention of being a good sport and taking the boys out to play in the fluff, but I unfortunately came down with a chest cold, (maybe not so unfortunate after all) so Darius wound up taking them out, and then this morning we all ventured out.

Ben and Zach are definitely at the age now where they enjoy playing in the snow. Instead of whining about getting ready, they're chomping at the bits to get all their gear on and get outside. Zach was all about shoveling snow into his mouth and Ben did his best to clean and organize the snow. They both had fun sliding down the hill and snow slide, and Darius even got in on the action a little bit.

I doubt I'll ever be a fan of winter, but I can appreciate how much fun it is for the boys, and for their sake I'll get with the program and help them get as much enjoyment out of the season as I can.

Dinner

After a fun and busy day of running around, we headed up to Brigham City last night to have dinner with Grandma Ruth. The last time I was in Utah visiting, before our move here, I spent an afternoon/evening with her. She was concerned that I eat dinner, so we fixed a meal together and sat down at the table to eat. It was just a simple meal, but the fact that we set the table and sat down together to eat was significant to her.

Grandma lives with her son and his wife, and because of their work schedules, Grandma sometimes eats alone or has dinner brought to her in the living room. Now that we're here and able to, I wanted to make the effort to drive up and have dinner with her at least a couple times a month.

Joy was able to come with us, and she brought the movie Hugo, and we all watched it together while dinner was in the oven, and after taking a break to eat, we finished watching it before we left. Grandma just happened to be on her own last night, so we know she appreciated having the company. If we lived a little closer, I'd love her company over dinner every night!

"Dark Mater" & Pirate

We started the Halloween fun a week out with Trunk-or-Treating at the Strate's church in South Ogden. Elisabeth took the boys to all the trunks, and Zach informed me after three trunks that he had enough treats and was all done, very unlike him but I wasn't going to complain!

Karissa, Jarom, Kylee, Elisabeth, Brenton, and Zach

After the trunks, we enjoyed choosing from a wide variety of chili with warm fry bread and honey butter. It reminded me of a meal my mom would make for us when we were kids at this time of year. Following dinner there were fun games for the kids to play. The big hit was the fishing game. I lost count how many times Ben went through the line. It was a fun night for both the kiddies and the adults!

Last night we were a little disorganized and didn't know where we were taking the boys to Trick-or-Treat. We ended up in Ogden to visit Connie at work so Joy could retrieve her giant bear head, and while we were at it we got the boys stocked up with winter clothes. Since we were at the mall, Joy took the boys to T-or-T at the stores while Darius and I shopped for their clothes. I knew people visited malls to T-or-T, but I'd never actually been to one to participate. It was fun to see all the costumes in a well-lit area.

As we headed out, we got in touch with Clair and met up with him and his girls and the girl's cousins on Stacey's side. It was fun to walk around their neighborhood with a group. The boys definitely love to T-or-T, and it was very amusing to watch them and their cousins run up to doors and see how excited they were when they'd come away with a treat. Zach was his usual outgoing and very un-shy self and a number of times he'd invite himself into houses (probably to scope out the toy situation). Ben's highlight of the night was the set of vampire teeth he got from one house. He had a pair from the Trunk-or-Treat the week before and unfortunately dropped them in the toilet while doing his business. He was upset to say the least when they promptly got tossed.

 

Sarah was the cutest little witch!

I forget what Hope was, but I loved her costume.

Growing up it was the norm to have snow on the ground by the time Halloween rolled around. I remember being disappointed that we'd have to wear winter coats over our costumes. This year the snow hit last week, so I thought it would be no different for the boys. We were all surprised with a very warm and mild Halloween. It was definitely a treat!

 

Another year older.

My birthday friend Dylan just recently turned 11, and the boys and I were lucky to be able to attend his party this past weekend. We flew in on Friday night and were able to watch Dylan's last football game of the season on Saturday...an exciting nail biter! The final score didn't favor his team, but they definitely outplayed their opponents.

Dylan's party was a really good time! The Bacon's know how to throw a seriously fun party! They rented a mobile gaming unit equipped with XBOXs connected to 5 flat screens and 2 rows of seating. On the outside there was another pair of screens connected to Wii consoles. There were some very loud and happy young men in that trailer including one on the much younger side. :)

 

 

 

In addition to the trailer, there was also the big hamster ball in the backyard. I don't think there was ever a time there wasn't a line to get into the thing. It was so funny to watch all the kids get in and roll up and down the yard. Ben had a blast in it and would turn around and get in line as soon as he finished his turn.

 

Between watching the boys have so much fun, I also enjoyed myself and all the great company they had at the party. I thought it might be awhile before I saw a lot of those faces there, so it was an extra bonus to be able to see everyone all together at the same time.

Patti killed another cake. She made Dylan an XBOX cake and everyone was very, very impressed. I think it was a friend or a parent that called Patti the Cake Boss of Florida.

 

I definitely didn't think we'd be able to get back to Florida so soon, but I'm so glad it worked out to where we could. It was such a fun weekend! We were able to get our Bacon fix to hold us over until our next visit. Thanks again Team Bacon for putting us up and giving us a great weekend! Love you all so much!