Talents

Phil and I have an ongoing discussion that started one FHE while we were teaching the kids about the parable of the talents. We have talked about how we continue to develop talents throughout our lives. Phil believes wholeheartedly that anyone can develop every talent if they work hard enough. Being a person that got A's in art class not because the apple looked so much like an apple, but because the teacher knew I worked really hard to make the apple look as close to an apple as I could. I am also the person that in O-chem had to use the 3D models in order to draw out the dash, line and wedge for the molecules. I cannot see things in my head and tell my hands how to put them down on paper. Phil believes that is because I don't take the time to practice and I believe it is because I do not have this capability. Sometime I wonder how I married an artist and a guy who really can do all things. I guess it is nice that he really believes I could do all things if I really wanted to, but loves me despite my half-hearted efforts to develop these talents.
I have been trying to help my kids develop their talents and since Phil is such an artist and I see the kids really loving drawing, painting and creating I have been trying to provide the opportunities for these talents to grow. We have taken our trips to the craft store for drawing supplies this Christmas vacation and Cannon is loving his sketchbook. Lyla asked me to draw a cat the other day...then she said that doesn't look like a cat and she would ask dad to draw her one when he got done with work.

Oh, December

Well we got Jamie to do our family pictures again this year and love the way they turned out. We have been super busy with things going on this December and we got a new computer that I have yet to figure out how to get the pictures off the camera so I thought I would post these family ones and once I can get the other ones off I will post later.

We started off the month with Miya's 9th birthday and she loved having a party with some of her friends. Then Phil and I headed out to California for his company Christmas party. We were able to see Ashlee and enjoy some sunshine and time at the beach. We got home in time to pick up the kids and head down to Oregon for a few days for one of Phil's office parties. The kids got to play laser tag with all Phil's employees and they loved it. Plus they got out of school for three days and swam in the hotel pool so it was a great mini vacation. Last week we were up at the temple for two days with the Babbel's for Shleby's wedding. The sun was out and the weather was beautiful for wedding pictures at the temple.

The weather stayed beautiful for our Christmas Eve half marathon and I thought during the run that it is pretty hard to complain about the sun in your eyes on December 24th in Olympia Washington. Phil injured his knee about 5 weeks ago so he has been taking it easy on the runs and he said he was going to go slow for the half. I was secretly planning on beating him so when he took off right at the beginning I was determined to stick with him. I had no idea how fast we were going, but I was going to stay right behind him, because he was "going slow". The race was out and back and not marked well so around mile 6 it felt like and eternity to get to the turn around point. Then around mile 11 I had to make a dash to the trees...which were leafless and right on the main road in Littlerock Washington. I finally found a place with some blackberry bushes and then was back on track. Phil was out of sight at this point I was still waiting for him to "go slow". I was so tired at this point that I fell in behind this older man in a green t-shirt and I kept thinking "if he can do it so can I". Needless to say I slowly made it to the finish line (that was not really marked and had two teen aged kids with a stop watch) to find out that I beat my time from September and I was SOOOO tired because my pace was faster than I had been training for. Phil and I slowly hobbled back to the car to race home to meet the Phillip's for Christmas Eve eating and game playing. I ate too much and realized Christmas morning at I stood on the scale that running 13.1 miles does not mean that I can eat everything I want while sitting around playing cards. Phil finished the race at around (remember the two teenage kids with the stop watch and the unmarked finish line) 1:42 and I followed after at 1:44.

Happy Thanksgiving

We are heading over to Vashon again for Thanksgiving dinner and I thought I should take a moment to count my many blessings:

It isn't raining yet this morning
I get to eat an amazing dinner and only have to bring dessert and rolls
Phil is off playing football without any current injuries
It is warm and dry in my house
The kids are happily watching Pokemon in the next room
I am heading out to ride the bike while reading a book that I can't wait to finish
I live in a free country where people (even if we really don't know what they are protesting) can protest against living in this amazing free capitalistic country

So many blessings. I love a day that we really can just enjoy time together with family, eat tons of food and watch football.

Random

This month has been amazingly beautiful and sunny. Yesterday it was in the 60s and the sun felt warm on your skin. Miya had an orthodontist appointment so I got the kids out of school early. After the apt. we headed down to Chamber's Bay and walked down to the water. The kids loved watching the dogs at the dog park, throwing rocks in the water, gathering all the really cool rocks in their pockets (I made them empty their pockets just before we got back in the car) and enjoying time together. We came home just in time to head to the school for the dinner with the police department. I love having really good days with my kids. I love it when they all seem to get along and I really love when we can be outside in the sunshine.
This morning was beautiful too. I was up and running early and when the sun came up the clouds behind Rainer were bright pink and everything looked so beautiful. I can't believe sometimes how blessed I am. The last time I ran in the rain was the 1/2 in September.
Jared Kunz called last week about coming up here for an interview and was asking questions about what it was like living here. That question is always a really hard one for me because of course I love it here and yes it is gray and cloudy a good chunk of the year and yes it rains a lot and yes it is a bigger city and yes it is hard being far away from all of your family...I don't know if you will love it as much as I do, but hey, Phil is here (he is the biggest selling point) and I find I can be pretty happy anywhere he is. So I guess if you got to move here and be close to Phil you would love it too. He is awesome!

Halloween

So honestly, by the time we made it to Halloween I was completely sick of the holiday. We didn't take our kids trick-or-treating and there was no dressing up last night. We all sat down after dinner and watched a family movie and ate baked apples. Everything is fun for awhile, but we started the partying the beginning of October and it had to end at some point and apparently it was the day before Halloween. We did have fun going to a family rollerskating party that even Phil and I dressed up for. We had pumpkin parties with cousins over at nana's house that everyone loved and a nice evening walking around getting candy at the trunk-or-treat. It is so nice to be training for a run the end of November just to get out and have some long runs with all the food and treats around.