For everything there is a season

Wow, Fall is here. I've said it once and I'll say it again...I love Autumn. I love the smells, the weather, the tv shows, the prelude to the holiday season, and just the feeling it puts off.
I have my Fall scents filling the house. I've started to cook (especially with my beloved crock pot) and bake more, and I am excited about getting to wear hoodies and sweaters and other comfy clothes. We are welcoming the season with open arms. (Justin especially because of football.)
Things have picked up around our household with Sydnee in soccer and Charlee and Justee in gymnastics. It is nice staying busy though and having a schedule. Hopefully things continue to go smoothly.

Middle Child

As we were getting ready for school the other day Charlee explained, "I really don't want to be late for school today...today is picture day and it is a VERY important day."
Can't argue with that.

When she got home she was super excited to tell us that the photographer called her "spiky."

Our Weekend...

This is the view out of one of our windows...a fire burning in the foothills...feels a little close. We celebrated Justin's birthday with the girls before we headed to Austin for the UW/UT game.

The girls always get so excited for birthdays. They love to pick out presents for their Daddy, and they especially love it when they can find something Broncos to get him. hehe

I must have been feeling a little inspired by Cupcake Wars...I made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling and peanut butter frosting, and mint filling with chocolate frosting. (and a small cake because there would have been too many cupcakes.)

Justin also got this jersey for Dozer from the Burtons....way too funny.

Justin and I had a blast in Austin (even if the Pokes lost...I don't think Justin was too torn up, but at least he ended up wearing Cowboy colors, not Texas.) I was just glad it was a night game because it was too dang hot there. It felt so nice to step off the plane in Denver and feel the crisp, cool Fall air.

Fun Run

I stole the meat of this post from Vicki as well...

After Teri and Justin said they would be running in the Byron fun run, we asked Tasha if she wanted to too. She said yes, and then Trey and Tamsyn both said they wanted to run too. Luckily there was a one mile run as well as a 5k. Jake ran the 5k with Natasha, Justin ran with Sydnee, Teri ran with Charlee who was running her first 5k, Mark ran the mile with Tamsyn, and my mom ran the mile with the two three year olds -- Trey and Justee. A few of Ashlee's kids decided the night before to run as well. Kyle and Allie ran the mile and Karlee ran the 5k. I think our family made up about a third of the race's participants.


Getting ready to start

And they are off

The grandma and three year olds bringing up the rear.


Kyle was the first miler in our family to finish.

Here come Tamsyn and Allie toward the finish line. Mark was encouraging T all the way.

It was fun seeing her little legs go.

Finished - Her time was 9:29. There was no one else in Mark's age group, so he won the 20-29 group with his smoking time of 9:28. I think he was a little bit embarrassed when they called him up to get a medal, but we are sure glad he was willing to run with Tamsyn.

Here come the final mile runners.
These two 3 year olds (and their gma;) sure were cute. (I wish I could have watched Justee finish her first mile race, but at least there are pictures.) Their time was 14:51.

Here comes Sydnee and Justin finishing the 5k. Sydnee did such a great job! She ran a 5k last summer and ran it in 29:01. We were hoping for improvement, and were very proud of her and her time of 27:16. She won her age group (and beat lots of people older than her.) She is a tough girl and complains very little (Justin said she was getting pretty tired when there was just over a half mile left, but she could see the finish and kicked it in.) She has quite a little kick at the end.

Here come Jake and Natasha to the finish.

Charlee and I about to finish. Char was the youngest to run the 5k (she is only 5). I was super proud of her for running the whole time (we stopped once to quickly tie her shoe, but that doesn't really count. :) The last mile of the race was pretty hard on Chuck and she kept complaining that it was too hot and she wanted to run in the shade. Plus, her shoes were slightly too small, so her toes started hurting. She finished strong with a time of 37:47. Definitely the longest 5k ever, but for a 5 year old a great accomplishment....and...she wasn't the last to finish the race. :)

Right at the end, Char kept trying to hide behind me because she didn't want her picture taken, and she was a little shy to have so many people cheering her on. It was pretty funny watching her try to hide.

Before the awards, there was a drawing for prizes. Natasha's name was drawn and she got a camp chair. Mark and Syd both won water bottles. The last prize was this grey beach bag... and Trey's name was drawn. He was pretty pumped about it.

They gave all the youngest runners medals, and Syd Mark, and my mom won one.

Plagiarism

I stole this post from my sister...I slacked all summer and didn't post some of the great things we did this summer...luckily, my sister is on the ball and did all the work for me. :) Thanks Vicki!

It is not often that we get to be at one of the cousin's baptisms, so we were happy to be there for Sydnee's special day. With Mark's homecoming it was perfect timing and everyone in the family was able to be there.

Charlee was so tired out from the 5k and busy day, that it was nearly impossible to wake her up. I think Teri got her to open her eyes briefly for the actual baptism, but she quickly fell right back to sleep.
Grandma Putnam with Sydnee
4 generations
And holy cow... I have never thought that Teri and mom looked so much alike before!



Congratulations Syd! So glad we could share the day with you. After the baptism we all went home and changed and then headed to Byron to see Hailee clog, and then stayed for the Byron Days Fireworks -- (remember this is the same day we ran in the race in the morning and had the Home Run derby in the afternoon). Talk about a busy day.

I can't wait until I'm 8...

This important post has been put on the back burner for far too long. The Fri. after Syd's 8th birthday, she was baptized by her Dad. It was a great day with lots of family there. (Both sets of grandparents, all my siblings and their families, Samantha & Brinlee, and Sienna.) Sydnee had fun picking out who did which parts (even if I had to help tweak it a little bit.) I think she will have fond memories of her baptism. Here she is with her 3 cousins all born within 8 months of each other. It has been fun watching them grow together. All of them are 8 now.
We are very proud of Sydnee and her choice to be baptized. I know this girl has a lot of potential and will do great things in her life.

school is nice

Time for ice cream!

Syd and Chuck were very excited to talk about their first days. Sydnee fell right back in with her friends and had a great time...Charlee said she almost made a friend, but was too shy. (She has since made some friends...it is cute listening to her talk about them.)

One Left

The first day of school is always exciting...Sydnee and Charlee couldn't wait to get going. They have had what they were going to wear picked out for a while now. They were up plenty early and very happy.
It is crazy to think Sydnee is in 3rd grade already. She has quite the smile for her 3rd grade year...we call it her jack-o-lantern smile. :) She lost a couple of teeth this summer. One in the car on our way to Seattle, and one shortly after we got home from all of our trips. Poor girl is left with one tooth in the front and another loose one on the bottom.

Charlee is in afternoon kindergarten but she really wanted to walk to the bus with Sydnee...with her backpack.

Charlee was super excited about kindergarten, but a little nervous too. She was a little bummed when we were heading to the gym before she got to go to school. After the gym, I took her to lunch at Noodles and Co.....then pictures, then SCHOOL!

Justee wasn't awake when Sydnee left so she jumped in for a pic with Chuck. Once we got to Char's classroom, I think the nerves hit her a little more....She seemed to settle in once she sat at her desk. I'm excited to hear how their first days went! Let's hope it's a great year.

...just 2 more years until Justee starts and no kids are left at home.

Tediaki Buaga

We started our day off right with breakfast at McDonald's...strange that we kept saying we needed to get some "real" food and we were referring to this place. My Dad was the biggest spokesman for McD's and that is his last choice of fast food at home.

The people working there were very patient with our lack of communication...Most of the time we just had Mark order for us. There was a pretty dock area, next to a bridge that Mark loved. It was a pretty area to look out at the ocean.

There's the bridge...

On our little walk that day (our walks were never little) we went through a pretty park. I wish I would have gotten a picture of a little girl who was playing and stopped my dad...she wanted to take a picture of him. He, of course, grabbed Mark to join him. She seemed excited about the run in...and even more excited when Mark started speaking Japanese to her.

This reminded me that when we would walk by little kids they would always call out to us, "Haro!" (however you spell their pronunciation.) From windows above us, we would hear them saying hello and waving. So funny.

That evening we met up with some members who were kind enough to feed us. They were 3 women (1 was Mark's first convert and the other 2 joined the missionaries in their lessons and they all became great friends) and one of their sons, who had just received his mission papers...we will be serving in Tokyo.

Since it was Mon. night we had a little FHE thing...it was a pretty spiritual experience and we got to hear a conversion story.

After they brought us back to our hotel, we walked back to the bridge to see it lit up all pretty.

This sign was next to the toilet in our hotel bathroom....I thought it was pretty funny. The English is a little broken, but I guess you can still understand what they are saying.

View of Aomori: