Lightning Ninja Dragons, Halloween, Polihale, and the Sugar Mill

 Zachary finished up his second year playing soccer in the U6 division.  He was the fastest kid on his team, although not always the most aggressive.  His footwork improved for dribbling the ball, and while he loved the games, the practices were far more exciting.  His coach, Eric, did a great job keeping a huge team of 7 little boys occupied, enthusiastic, and focused.  (7 really is large for this league.  They only have 20 minute games, with three kids on the field and no goalie.)

 Zachary's first game was his best, but he did score 4 goals this season.  Next year, he moves up to the U8 league, with a bigger field, bigger goals, and a goalie.

 His tongue wags when he chases the ball.  I love that so much.

 He said he liked playing better this year because he "won a trophy and a medal."  He doesn't realized that he "won" a trophy last year, too, but we didn't pick it up in time...

 I used to laugh about participation trophies and blow them off as ridiculous, until this moment when I realized that he is more proud of this thing than any other possession.  He's shown it to every friend who will listen, skyped with it, and even sits on the coach with it.  He says he won it because he worked so hard at soccer.

 "Go, Lightning Ninja Dragons!"

 Besides the trophy, Zac had another first this year: the FIRST time he did not need bribery of any sort to put on his costume.  This is his FIRST Halloween costume that actually got put to good use.  He wore it around the house for a week, and attended party after party plus a costume parade at his school.

 Kate is Hello Kitty.

 The best part of this costume is the swords, of course.

 The best part of this costume is the "twirls."

 It turns out that Kate is allergic to this face paint.  She broke out in hives and required Benadryl.  No yellow nose and whiskers for the actual Halloween night.

 We attended our ward Trunk or Treat.  It is the responsibility of the Primary to run this activity, and I was just released as president a couple weeks before.  I woke up in the middle of the night three times the week of the activity, panicked about all the things I hadn't done yet for the party.  It took a few minutes to focus, realize I was not in charge, smile, and go back to sleep.

 This year, Kate got into the pumpkin carving.  She dug out all the guts.  Zachary still won't get his hands dirty with this--he literally gets chills watching Kate dig in.

 This pumpkin design was drawn up by Zachary (the papers below are his trial sketches).  He wanted a pumpkin that was really creepy, and one eye did the trick.

 Zac is in a decoration phase.  Every Sunday, he wants to do craft after craft to decorate his room.  Here's a few of the best:

 The end of soccer season meant we could finally get out to Polihale for a camping trip (yay for open Saturday mornings)!  It was chilly but so nice to be out there.  The Israelsons came with us.

 The current was rough, so the kids did not do much in the ocean.  We tried surfing and boogie boarding without much success.  However, it was sunny and gorgeous, so not a wasted day!

 Our IVF was put on hold shortly after our vacation to Utah.  We are looking into genetic testing for Kate to see if she carries the gene for EB, the skin disease she was diagnosed with via biopsy.  This could be a long process.  We'll see.  We have an appointment for her on Tuesday with the geneticist and genetic counselor to determine our next steps.

In the meantime, I had cut back big time running--both for the IVF, and for my broken toe from Kalalau.  The darn toe is still very swollen and pretty painful at times, but it is healing up.  Months ago, I planned to race the Koloa Sugar Mill Half Marathon, but my IVF doc said no way.  He wanted me to cut back mileage to prep for the procedure.  When it was put on hold, I immediately decided to train for the three weeks before the race and do it anyway.  I've been sidelined from races all year, due entirely to fertility attempts and injury.  I was healthy, so I broke my rule about not racing if you aren't trained appropriately and went for it.

 It was SO FUN.  It's been a year since I raced and I forgot the adrenaline, anxiety and joy that accompanies a long, strong race.

 I hoped, hoped, hoped to finish under 8 min/miles, but my goal was 8:15s.  My longest training run was a ten miler, and I ran it as hard as I could, finishing with 8 min/mile pace.  When I finished, I knew I couldn't run another step, thus my goal time of 8:15s.  The last three miles of this race are uphill, so I knew I had to gut it out if I wanted to achieve that.

For many reasons--the cooler weather, the adrenaline, and the slow start--I ran a really solid race.  Not a single mile was over 8 min, and I finished at 7:43 min/miles.  Definitely not a PR for me, but much better than I anticipated.  I felt so good.  I love to run, and now I'm making myself crazy trying to find another race.  (P.S.  See my right foot?  That is toilet paper, aka my distance-runner insurance.)

We are the king and queen of forgetting our camera lately.  Other noteworthy events:

-Zachary's costume parade:

 -Kate's Tutu and Me:

-Kate and I were invited to go on a boat ride with some friends a week ago.  We saw spinner dolphins and turtles, and even jumped in for a deep water swim.  I was so impressed she would get in with me, but once she jumped, she clung to my neck for dear life (she was wearing a life jacket).  I finally got her to relax after I understood what she was asking, "Mommy!!!  Are the TOOTLES and DAFINS going to GET ME?!???"  No, baby girl, they aren't going to get you.  After that, she swam around, happy as can be in the deep blue.

I love the way Zachary and Kate play together.  It makes me so content and grateful at this stage of my life.  They fight plenty, but they adore each other and that makes me so happy.

Last but not least, Brady has worked 2-3 hours every single day for the past six weeks on our new house.  Our plans are hopefully getting the final sign off this week from our architect, and then we apply for our bonding, permits, and lending.  Brady's worked on take-offs, meeting with all the agencies that have to approve our plans, bids from subcontractors, design adjustments, and the hundreds of particulars that go in the pre-construction of a home.  He says he loves it, but it is a ton of work.  He would probably love it more if I didn't apply so much pressure.  Way to go, love.  Here's to hoping we really are building in a couple months!!

Utah, Part 2

Friday morning started in St. George.  Brady woke up at 5am, so excited to see our kids.  We spent time at the house, and even had a few minutes to play at the pool--which was the temperature of ice.  The kids took turns looking tough, then shocked.

Zac jumped into the pool dozens of times anyway because he was getting so much attention.

Love this:

And this:

 Flexing muscles:

 ...but he's got a long way to beat Rachel's definition:

 More dismayed expressions:

Mom and Dad were willing to watch the kids while we hiked the Subway.  Unfortunately, we missed the opening of Zion National Park by one day, but they still offered to watch the little ones while we hiked Plan B, Kanarraville Slot Canyon.

We parked in the lot, and discovered that between three families, none of us could come up with the $10 parking fee.  Kristen wrote a check and stuck it in the fee slot.  Still wondering what happened with that check...

 We had two fancy cameras on this 6.5 mile excursion, and we averaged a photo every 100 yards.

Cory and Kristen win for most prepared, with the neoprene socks.

 Bryson won for keeping his feet dry the longest.  The hike was stream crossings and eventually wading straight through water, so eventually he had to cave like the rest of us.

 Ang and Paul win for posting an Instagram/Facebook photo on this hike and not mentioning any of us in it:

 We haven't seen fall for 7 years.

 My favorite shot of the trip:

 Starting in on the slot.

 We reached the first waterfall, Kanarra Falls, shortly after entering the slot canyon.  A sketchy ladder and rope system kept us from plunging into the (small but freezing) water.

 A short boulder climb:

 Some more of my favorite pictures:

 We ditched our packs/cameras at the second waterfall and continued on until we were too cold, finding another waterfall and more gorgeous views of the canyon.  Then we ran most of the way back, chasing sunlight and a dinner reservation at a Hibachi-style restaurant with Mom and Dad.

 Mom and Dad made memories with the kids while we were gone, with each kid creating their own pine cone figure.

 We're going to call this the "before" shot.  Read on.

 Paul let the kids jump all over him.

 Saturday morning, we started gathering things and preparing for the drive back.  Many of the family had tickets to the BYU Homecoming game that night.  As were making the last preparations to leave, Zac came in sobbing, with blood dripping everywhere.  Brady starting cleaning him up, unable to gauge where the blood originated.  Zac asked, "Is my eye going to pop out?!?"  We reassured him that we thought his eye was fine, and it turned out the bleeding came directly above and to the right of his eye.

We figured he would need a butterfly bandage, but wanted to double check with a doctor first, so we went to an Instacare in St. George.  We're glad we did.  He needed stitches.  This was Zachary's first round with stitches, and his lower lip was quivering the minute he heard the news:

 He didn't cry at all during the procedure, and earned himself an Artic Circle shake.  The week's events wore the kids out, though, and they slept for hours of the trip home.

 Angela, Logan, Mom and Dad joined us for a meal at Zupas on the way back to Heber.

 When we got back, Kate wanted her Grandma to hold her.

Sunday, we went to Brady's home ward with Mom and Dad, and then set off to see Grandma and Grandpa Nufer.  Zac and Kate were both excited, thinking this was my Mom and Dad, but got over their disappointed and played the afternoon away in their basement filled with bean bags.  After that, we went to Cory and Kristen's to say hello (er...munch on their treats, steal their diapers, and generally bring chaos), and drop off the bikes before heading to Kathie and Lee's house for another unforgettable dinner.

  

Kathie and Lee fed us Tilapia topped with red pepper garnish, and finished off the meal with lava cake.  We never leave disappointed with their food, but their company is even better.  I feel like they've watched out for me since I was 18 years old.  Their kids are getting older, and now entertain our kids.

The kids fell asleep in the car, but Kate still needed hugs from Grandma when we got back.

 The next morning (our last day), we headed to Salt Lake to meet up with the available Nufer siblings.  Emily made it with Colin and Julianna, and Kevin made it with Allison.  Kristen stayed back with sick Kaylee, and we missed them (and of course Scott's family and Mindy!).  We spent nearly 2 hours at the Kangaroo Zoo, and large room full of inflatable slides, obstacle courses, and bounce houses.  The kids loved it, and it was fun to interact with them and watch them interact with each other.  Julianna was a snuggle bug, letting me hold her tight, and even sleeping in Brady's arms.  These are moments that I'm happy we have, but I feel sad we miss out on so regularly.

 We ate at Cafe Rio (!) for lunch, said goodbye, and hit the outlets on the way back.  We also took a last picture of our lot, which is closing next week.  Sayonara!

 Our last evening was spent at Angela's house participating in Edwards Eerie Edibles.  We felt a little guilty that Cory, Scott and Natalie were unable to participate, but they encouraged the event and we were so excited to see our kids get into the night of creepy, crawly Edwards tradition.  We've done Edwards Eerie Edibles almost every year with out kids, but it is a lot more fun with more dishes, kids, and decor.

My favorite moment of the day was watching Dad Edwards work his magic.  He is an artist, and the kids hovered over him as he meticulously drew each section of the menu.

Angela can really decorate for a party:

 And Mom and Dad believe in details.  All of this has been missing from our own family's version of Edwards' Eerie Edibles.  I will step it up.

 Spider hearts:

 Sliced dragon brains dipped in Dracula snot:

 Witches' Cauldon Stew (with aged jack o' lantern guts and Ghost Goo):

 Severed goblin fingers soaked for 2 years in vampire saliva and fermented troll carcass (organic, GMO-free, gluten-free):

Mom and Dad have done this for 25 years, and I vow we will continue it in our family at least another 25.  Kristen pointed out that the work:reward ratio makes this one of the very best family traditions.  It also makes me love Halloween.

 Kristen's Pumpkin Hot Cocoa (plus edible eyeballs):

 Angela cooked and prepped her house all day, Mom and Dad cooked and prepped all day, and Kristen came up (while Cory was on a business trip and on a school night) and cooked for hours.  It made us feel like a million bucks.

 We love Walker.  Really, really love him.  He got lost for a few minutes, and we found him in Ang's pantry.  Buddy, that's where I'd be, too.

 Kate is trying to adjust to life without constant cousin companionship.  She loves her cousins so much. The day we got back, she did not want to change into her clothes and get ready for the day.  With tears in her eyes, she asked, "Does Rachel wear polka dots?"  I told her Rachel probably had something with polka dots, and Kate exclaimed, "Rachel and I matches!" and immediately put on the outfit.

 These are the moments that make me weepy.

Kate and Zac also miss their grandparents.  Mom is faithful about reading them books, and they remember.  Kate has talked to Grandma on her fake phone a dozen times.

 The next morning, Paul woke up super early to drop us off the airport, and we headed off on our 18 hour journey home.  You get what you pay for, included a 4 hour layover in LA.  The kids did fine.  A few hours into the flight, Brady commented, "We didn't get sick!  Not one of us!  That is a first!!"  Within an hour, I had a nasty sore throat and congestion, and he followed less than a day later.  Jinx!

 We are so grateful for all the ways family went out of their way to see us and spend time with us.  Coming home was harder than in the past--my kids are older, we miss our family, and the weather in Utah was gorgeous.  We love Utah.  We love you guys.  We are going to stay put in our tropical paradise for now, but you have to know it makes our hearts ache to live far away.  Thank you for the memories and love.