Basketball Season

This month has been full of basketball games!  We put all three of the big kids in basketball this year which meant every Saturday was spent at the Mountain Crest High School gym.  This basketball season I would say was the best one we have been part of. All of the kids did amazing.

This was Emily's first year playing basketball.  She learned a lot from her coach and from playing.   

Emily is picking up on the defense part of the game. She helped with boxing girls out so her teammate could shoot the ball. She also was very quick to get where she needed to be. Her coach taught them to pick a person and stay with them and get their hands up. Emily was great at sticking to her assigned girl and blocking her.  She was amazing.

Some of the teams they played were very aggressive and knew how to play.  Emily's team was full of nice girls so it was hard for them to be mean and aggressive.  They sure played their hearts out though.  They improved a lot over the season and by the last game, they were holding the other teams off quite a bit and even scoring against them.  

Colby thinks he is a pro already and loves this game. This was his second year playing.  He loves practicing to get better.  We always find him outside practicing his dribbling and shooting.

His team was quite good this year.  They had some aggressive boys and some really talented boys too.  His games were always fun to watch.  His coach was very patient with the boys and always pushed them to do their best.

Colby's team ended up having a pretty good season record.  They were not undefeated but they were pretty close.  I think they won all but a couple games.

Logan loved playing basketball too.  This was his first year playing so he was learning a lot.

Logan was more into the social aspect of the game.  He enjoyed being with the other kids but when it came to playing, he had a hard time focusing.  Luckily though he fit in because some of the other kids were the same way.  However, when Logan did get the ball and focused on it, he did a good job.  I think he scored about one basket each game.

His coach was very good and loved helping the kids learn the fundamentals of the game.  They were a young team but they had fun together.

The kids really enjoyed playing basketball this year.  They learned a lot and got better as the season progressed.  Now that the season is over, we have our Saturdays back!

November Activities

November has also been a busy month for us.  Here are some of the things we have been doing.

Colby is an amazing boy who had a goal to earn all of the belt loops in his Cub Scout Wolf book.  With the Church going away from the Scouting program in January, he only had a few more weeks to accomplish his goal.  Well, he did it! 

Look at that belt! He worked really hard on all of the activities. We all had a good time as a family doing the activities with him.  He made paper airplanes, planted things, learned about the outdoors, heroes, sports, and many other things. We even learned about germs and made our own slime or mucus.  We are proud of you Colby!

 The November pack meeting was fun. The theme was Thanksgiving, so they had turkey shooting with Nerf guns, stick pulling, marbles, and other fun games the early Pilgrims played.  We are going to miss Scouts.  I think Colby will too so we might look into a community sponsored Pack in January. 

Each year, Canyon Elementary puts on a Veteran appreciation assembly. The choir was involved in the assembly. 

They also did a cool slide show to recognize each Veteran and public safety officer. They had each of them come up and be recognized. The kids love putting me in every year. It was a great assembly.

The kids are really proud of their Dad!  As part of the program everyone had an opportunity to write a short note on one of the stars on this flag behind us.  The people in charge were then going to mail it to someone in the military serving overseas.  It was pretty awesome.

At the Canyon Colt Recognition Assembly this month, Colby was recognized by his teacher for being and amazing student. 

Colby is such a smart boy and he was excited to tell us he was in the 300 Club and getting an award. So of course we had to go and support this smart boy. The school does a great job helping the students achieve their goals and helping them progress and get smarter.  Way to go Colby!

Russell has been really busy this last little while with hunting.  In October he tried the deer hunt and now in November he was out hunting for bull elk! The deer hunt was not a success even though I saw one buck and shot one to many times at it. I should have been patient for 15 minutes and let it get closer to me or get Tyler to shoot it with his scope. It was a fun hunt though. My Dad and Tyler came us and spent a few day in cold country. It was the first time hunting with my brother and a very long time since hunting with my Dad. During those days we hiked a ton all over the mountains and was sad to say we saw to many does and not enough bucks. The four wheeling was fun and getting to know the area out in the country. It was fun hanging out with my brother, Dad and Colby who came out for a couple of days. Once the deer hunt was over, I had three weeks to get ready for the limited entry bull elk hunt. 

I was excited for this hunt, because it was very rare for someone to draw out with only three points. I knew where one herd was at and they had their routine of starting in public land and making their way over to the Hardware Ranch private side. There were three good sized elk in this herd. 

I thought I was on my own with the hunt, so I reached out to some people and found some help. My friend, Tyson Booth, wanted to go and my brother-in-law, Clint, and his wife, Haley, came up to help my poor soul. I found an area called Elk Valley about 15 miles past Hardware Ranch. It was an awesome ride and the view was amazing. 

The first day was at Rock Creek with about a half a mile hike to the top of a mountain to see if the herd I had been watching was there. They were not there, so we went to the pipe line area and hiked to another vantage point and there they were. We watched them for a bit and Clint said we need to wait on these and see if we could find more bigger ones. Off to Elk Valley we went with the hope of finding one. We did see a herd on the side of a hill, so we decided to hike in and find out if there was a bull in the herd. The only bad new part was we were a ridge too far east when we heard lots of noise and branches break. We missed the bull in that herd. We saw some big ones about 20 minutes before sunset. We decided to wait until morning and find them again. 

We did find them the next day and we left Haley at the truck with the spotting scope to guide us in. We got to the top of the mountain and saw a little rag horn just standing there. Clint said I could shoot that. I got greedy and told him there were two big ones right in front of us over the next ridge. We creeped forward and as we looked over the ridge we saw nothing. We were on the ridge below the herd and they saw us the whole time.  That small bull elk was bringing up the back end of the herd. So much for being selfish and wanting bigger and better. 

During the whole week, I found and shot at three different elk and missed every time. Needless to say I was getting upset. I had two amazing rifles that people let me use but I was not used to shooting with a scope. I now think about it, I should have brought my 30-6. Who knows, I might have gotten something with my open sights... Oh well, it was a great time with friends and family regardless. 

Tyson and I found the last bull I shot at in Elk Valley. It was a really good sized bull. I shot and the bull did not even flinch. I moved in closer and tried again one too many times. I was done after this. We went four wheeling for an hour or so and headed back to the trucks to headed home before the storm rolled in. I learned a lot about these animals. I thought at first that I was smarter than them and needless to say they were too smart and quick. The noises they make and the way they protect the herd is amazing. I shot at one bull and the whole herd of cows circled the bull and did not move. I sneaked up on one herd a little too loudly and one cow barked and the whole herd stood up on end and it was amazing. The whole month of hunting was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about hunting even though I wasn't able to fill my tags. 

Here comes the snow and goodbye to the nice weather. One day we were in the house and Tiffany looked out the window and saw hundreds of birds surrounding our crab apple tree. 

It was like we were being taken over by birds!  We really hoped it was not some bad omen.  I guess it kind of was because that weekend we had a pretty good snow storm.  Each year there are little berries left on the tree. This was the first time we saw birds eating them. I told her I was excited to see this. It meant less berries I would have to clean up in the spring. They cleaned the whole tree of the berries!  Winter is officially here...

For Thanksgiving, we decided to stay home this year.  We were originally going to go to St. George for Thanksgiving but there was a bad winter storm warning for the whole state.  (Hence the birds and the bad omen.)  We would have been stuck right in the snow storms driving to and from St. George.  We decided it was best to stay home.  Even our parents agreed that it was for the best.  Unfortunately, this meant we didn't have any plans or food for Thanksgiving.  Then the Phillips clan called us up and told us to come celebrate with them.  So that is what we did.  The whole day was so fun.  We always have a good time when we are with the Phillips.  We played games, ate a lot, and even had a white elephant gift exchange.  We enjoyed every minute and were so glad to have family in Logan.  The next day Russell had to work.  The kids and I met up with Stacey and Bobby and their kids and went and saw the new Frozen 2 movie.  The movie was really good and the kids loved it. 

November has been a great month but it went by too fast because now it is December!

New Room

As I mentioned before, at the end of the summer Emily requested her own room.  She said she was old enough to move downstairs and have her own space.  Well we were a little leery about doing this because she has always been afraid to go downstairs at night.  Finally Russell and I agreed that she could have the guest room downstairs so we went to work getting it ready for her.

The first thing Emily and Russell did was repaint the walls.  This fresh coat of paint really brightened the room up.  Emily learned a lot from Russell about painting and working for what you want.

Next we needed to decide how to decorate the room.  We went to Hobby Lobby and browsed all of their displays until Emily found the one she liked the best.  We took some pictures so that we would remember.  She decided on pink flowers.  These flowers are really in style right now.  Some of the decor was expensive.  We told her she could pick a few and then work toward and save her money to get them later.

The next thing every new room needs is a quilt for the bed.  I decided this would be the perfect time to teach Emily how to sew and quilt.  We went to JoAnn's and found the perfect fabric to match the decor she had chosen at Hobby Lobby.  Then we went to work sewing the quilt.  

Emily did all of the sewing herself.  We got this pattern from Becca.  She was teaching a 4-H class on quilting and was using this pattern.  The original pattern was for a twin-sized quilt so we extended it to fit a queen bed.  The top turned out really good and Emily was so proud of her accomplishment.  Now it was time to quilt it.

When we went down to St. George in September, we took the quilt to my mom's quilter.  We were hoping she would have it done by the time we went back down for the marathon.  Unfortunately she did not have it done so we had to wait another month until I went down for the half marathon. When we got the quilt back, we absolutely loved how it turned out!  The backing is made of a soft minky fabric so it is super soft and warm.  Emily loves it!

While we waited for the quilt, we continued to put together Emily's new room.  She rearranged the bed to where she wanted it and it gave her more floor space.  Then we hung all of her pictures and her mirror.  For her birthday she received some of the decor she picked out as well as some other pictures and things that matched her room.  Emily and I also made pillow shams, a bench cushion, and curtains to match her quilt and room.  The quilt added the final touch and the room was finished.

Emily really liked how it turned out.  She has really loved having her own room and her own space.  I don't think she has been scared down there at all.  She knows that this is still the guest room though and will have to give it up when grandparents come to visit but she is okay with that.  

The hardest part of getting the room ready was finding places for all of the stuff in the closet.  The closet in this room has really become the catch all so it was good to clean it out.  We got rid of a bunch of stuff but also disbursed the other things to other closets.  There are still a few things on the top shelves that stayed in there.  For the most part, though, the closet is now Emily's.

While we were making Emily's blanket, I decided to make a new blanket for my bed as well.  The comforter on our bed was starting to get worn out.  It is 13 years old and you could tell.  I found this simple pattern and decided to give it a try.  When I had it quilted, I had the lady use our old comforter as the batting for this new quilt.  Because of this, the new quilt is so heavy!  It is so great though especially now in the winter.  It really feels like a weighted blanket which make sleeping really good.  I absolutely love how it turned out!  Even Russell loves it.

Snow Canyon 1/2 Marathon

Trista and I got together again and did another race this month.  We decided to do the Snow Canyon Half Marathon.  We have done this race before and we both liked it.

This time we also got our other childhood friend, Heidi, to come run with us as well.  This was kind of a girls weekend for us all.  The kids had basketball games on the day of the race so Russell stayed home with them while I took Charlotte with me to St. George.  

On the morning of the race, I picked up Trista and we drove to Snow Canyon High School and the finish line of the race.  From there we got on the buses to ride to the starting line. We kept texting Heidi to see where she was but she had not gotten to the buses yet.  When we got to the starting line just passed Diamond Valley, we felt the wind blast us.  It was so cold.  We had dressed warm but we were not expecting it to be so cold.  We huddled together but were still chilled.  We were wishing we had the silver emergency blankets.  After about a half hour Heidi and her sister and friends got off the last bus.  Guess what they had... The emergency blankets!  Trista and I could not believe that the last bus got the blankets and nobody else did.  Heidi and her friends shared their blankets with us so that was nice.  We also huddled in with all of the rest of the runners for warmth.  Finally it was time to start the race.  We threw our warm clothes into the truck and started running.  This was a beautiful race.  We ran down through Snow Canyon Park and the scenery was amazing.  The nice thing about this race is it is all downhill so that helped the times and effort. 

Out of all the races I have done, I have never had a good race picture.  But these pictures turned out pretty good! These pictures were taken in Snow Canyon Park at about mile 6.  I felt so good during this race.  All of us started out running together but then I got the adrenaline and had to push it faster.  In the end I finished strong.  For some reason this half marathon felt much easier than the full marathon.

I finished with a time of 1:45.  That is my fastest time since getting back into running.  The last time I ran this race in 2015, my time was 1:42 which is my PR for half marathons.  I felt really good after the race.  I received my finisher medal and some post race food and then waited for a bit for the rest of my friends to come through.  Heidi was about 5 minutes behind me and then Trista was a couple minutes after that.  Heidi's friends kicked all of our butts though.  They were in the top 50 with times in the 1:30s!  We all did great!

It was so fun getting together with Trista and Heidi and running.  We all had a good time.  It was nice being together again after not seeing each other for a few years.  It was like we had never missed a day though which was really nice.

The medals were huge this year.  They are probably 5x5 inches!  They are pretty cool.  At the finish line we saw this awesome Planters Peanut mobile.  We even got a free bag of peanuts for taking a picture with the peanut mobile.  It was so funny.

After the race we all went out for lunch at Cafe Rio.  We had a good time chatting and catching up on old times.  It was fun to just get away for a girls weekend.  

Charlotte and I had a good time together and she especially loved hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa all day while I ran.  In the meantime, Russell sent me pictures from the other kids' games and they did awesome too.  Logan even scored a basket!  We headed home Sunday to get back to life.