First Snowfall

7:00am on the morning of Sunday October 12th 2008

Belle: It's SNOWING!!! Tre, wake up! It SNOWED!! Tre! Come here! IT SNOWED!!!

Tre: Okay, okay. Oh, my gosh! It SNOWED! MOM, MOM! Wake up! It SNOWED!! Can we go play? Oh, I don't have any boots...MOM! I need some new boots...wake up! Can we go to the store right now to get new boots? Please?!

Me: Holy $#!% It snowed!

It is always a shock the first day the snow sticks to the ground. You'd think after 31 years of this weather I would get used to it...but no, I don't. It's a good thing we live right up the street from Cabela's. Which, BTW, has great snow gear for kids. Welcome to WINTER!

Timpanogos Summit

The view from the top

My friend, Amanda, and I hiked to the summit of Mount Timpanogos yesterday. We planned on it taking 8 hours or so but ended up finishing in 5 hours and 55 minutes! It was tough and my legs are feeling it today, but it was worth it. The view is gorgeous and the accomplishment pretty fantastic.



The summit of Mount Timpanogos is 11,749 feet, second highest in the Wasatch Mountains. The hike is 7.5 miles one way with an elevation gain of 4580 feet. We saw plenty of mountain goats. In fact we had to scare them off the trail so we could get by them. We passed within 5 feet of a mountain goat that sat there and stared us down. I also spotted a small brown animal with a tail that looked suspiciously like a mountain lion. Since they hunt mountain goat, I'm not too far off in thinking that's what I saw. Gotta keep things interesting, you know!

mountain goats

Amanda and the goat ahead on the trail

Funny story about this "toilet" if you can call it that. This is about 3/4 of the way up the summit right on the mountain side pretty much in plain view. Sure it's off the main trail a bit, but really not any better than using a tree. At least the walls were somewhat in place. Needless to say, I didn't need to go that bad!

My baby is all grown up

Belle started Kindergarten today. She was so excited that last night felt like Christmas Eve. I wonder if she got any sleep. Today she woke up on her own at 6 am, got in the bath, and was ready and waiting to go to school a full hour and 15 minutes early. What a wait! Then at the bus stop she wouldn't even stop to say goodbye. As soon as it pulled up to the curb she was second in line and made a bee line inside that I barely had time to take a picture. Wow, I've never seen anyone so excited to start school. I hope it lasts until she graduates!! Her pictures tell the story better than words. Look at that face!

Belle all ready at 7:15am!

Clothes set out the night before...even clean underwear

Check out the new clothes! Mom had fun

Bee line to the bus. Wait...don't you want to say goodb...okay, see ya

Waiting in line out in front of the Kindergarten doors with best friend Paige. Yes, I followed the bus to the school to make sure she got off okay and made it to the Kindergarten playground.

Back to School!

Yep, he's still my baby but now he is in 4th grade

Had to talk Tre into buying new clothes for the first day of school. But he did want me to clean his shoes for him so they looked new. The backpack is new too. Never buy backpacks from Walmart! I did last year and it didn't even last one year. This one is a JanSport from VF outlet. Hopefully it lasts a couple school years.

Waiting in line for the school bus. Doesn't everyone look so cute?

"The Shark Bus"

There is shelves in the bus for your backpacks, apparently. Tre was pretty excited about it. Here is to one more year of "bus anxiety" on my part. I'd be a happy camper if I could just walk my kids to school. Oh, well. I should be happy that I don't have to drive them everyday.

Good Read

Love it, love it, LOVE IT! If you know me (and I know you do) you know that I love to read. This book has been one of my favs. If you got into the Twilight series then you've been waiting for this and liked it too. If you haven't read Twilight...then what are you waiting for? What a great story. Stephenie Meyer better not stop writing. I can't wait for her next book, whatever that may be. And I definitely can't wait for the movie to come out Dec. 12. I think I will read this book again really soon.

Giant Cookie

"Kids in the Kitchen" is Belle and Tre's favorite summer activity. They pick out a recipe from their kids cookbook, then we shop for ingredients and make it all together. Then we get to share our creation with daddy and then eat it all up! Last week was a giant cookie with homemade chocolate "frosting" and mini M&M's and mini Reece's Pieces. YUM.

"Cub" Scout Falls

Last week I took the kids on a hike up the first leg of Timpanogos Peak. It is called Scout Falls but Belle kept calling it Cub Scout Falls. Total time was 3.5 hours with rests, lunch at the falls, and hiking. The kids did great! And I was exhausted by the end. Here are some pictures of our latest adventure.

The Hike

The Scenery

The view from the top...gorgeous!

(Belle found the first fossil on a rock by the falls, then we kept seeing them all over...good eye Belle!)

Lunch at the Falls