The Skate Park

The sun came out so we went to the skate park which is around the corner from our house. Rachel, Rebecca and Adam are getting to be quite the pros at it. I, on the other hand, watched while I froze to death. I am not kidding. It was so cold and I had a scarf, coat, gloves, hat, etc. I was still cold. Rebecca and Adam were in shorts and they kept saying, "it's not cold". I must be a wimp.

Gaylene's New Blog

Gaylene has started a new blog where she can discuss politics without it interfering with my family happenings.

If you are interested in politics, please visit http://www.gaylenepolitics.blogspot.com/

Christmas Lights

Last week it snowed once again and Adam decided it was time to taste it. He said, "it tastes like water". Amazing! So now Adam knows what snow is. He was so cute clomping around in it. Luckily the snow melted and it warmed up enough to get up our Christmas lights.

Yes, Saturday, NOVEMBER 8, we put up our Christmas lights... much earlier than we did in CA. We started seeing people putting their lights up and I wondered if I had missed something since it wasn't even Halloween yet and we ALWAYS wait until after Thanksgiving. But this is snow country and nobody wants to put up lights in freezing weather with snow and ice all over the place. I hadn't thought of that but it makes good sense. We have our lights up now so bring on the snow. (I wonder what our HOA would say to having Christmas lights up ALL winter).

David Goes to Latvia

David left Friday for a business trip to Latvia. Just in case you don't know where that is, here is a map showing the location. Latvia is next to Russia a little south of Finland. Hopefully he'll send me a few pictures I can post.

What A World We Live In!!!

It's sad to say but I think I must take my blog private. I hope this doesn't discourage our friends and family from looking at our blog once in a while. Please let me know if you want to be invited to view. E-mail me at g.powell.temp@gmail.com.

I plan to go private in 2 weeks on November 20th.

Reward for 100 Points Earned

We took the kids to Boondocks Fun Center here in Draper because they earned 100 points. This is a system I started one Spring break when the kids were driving me crazy. I told them that I would give out points for good deeds and take away points for not-so-good behavior. If they got to 20 points by the end of the week, I would take them to Sky High (a huge trampoline place). Life changed immediately. The kids were so helpful to me and each other. No arguing, bickering, complaining (OK, maybe a little but when I took away points they stopped rather quickly). Even Adam gets into it and is really good.

The rules: Only mom can give and take away points. It is a group effort with a group total of points (i.e. if Adam throws a tantrum, the whole group loses a point). They can't ask for points (sometimes they point out that they did something very nice... then sometimes I give points and sometimes I don't). Mom chooses the total points needed for a reward. Expensive things take a lot more points which take a lot more time to accumulate. It is a wonderful system. The kids needed 100 points to go to Boondocks and it took about 2 months to get there.

We had fun earning the points and we had a great time being rewarded.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Trick-or-Treat

Halloween was a bit windy and a little rainy but fairly warm so the kids had a great time trick-or-treating. Adam chose to stay home and hand out candy until kids stopped coming.... then he decided he wanted to go out. So, Adam went around the block with Mom and Joshua came along to help carry the bag (and sometimes Adam).

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!