Spencer did it!  He figured out skiing his first day trying!  I am so pround of him!!!!!

Our friends, Jason and Shelley, invited us up to stay with their family at Iron Blossom Lodge at Snowbird for the night.  I thought it a great opportunity to give Spencer the opportunity to learn how to ski.  I have wanted to get him up  on the slopes for the past two years and we finally made it! 

We woke up to find that it was snowing this morning…which makes it a little harder to teach because you get cold faster, but we had today and had to make the best of it!  The first hour was REALLY frustrating for both of us.  Spencer cried a lot and I had to take a lot of deep breaths, but when we hit the chairlift life got good.  The first few runs down the hill were a little challenging and he HATED the “edgie-wedgie” (bungie cord aprox. 4 in long that link the tips of his skis together), but by the third run Spencer was getting the hang of it.  We took a break and had lunch at the lodge.  We shared a hamburger and hot chocolate and then we got back out on the slopes!  I asked Spencer how many more times he wanted to go down the hill and he said, “Just two and then can we go back and go swimming?”  I said yes, and when we finished the two runs, he said just two more?  We had a great time and the last several runs he did it all by himself without falling down, and he said at the end that he was glad to have the “edgie-wedgie” on his skis.  He was so proud of himself and I have to say I was really proud of him too!

So at 7:15 am this morning I was sitting in the living room on the love seat reading my scriptures with my book light and all the lights off.  5 minutes later I hear Spencer getting up and sigh because he usually sleeps in until 8 or 8:15 giving me my much needed morning quiet.  I hear him go to the bathroom and hope he will climb back into bed, but a few minutes later I look up and see him sneaking down the stairs quietly.  He gets to the second to last stair and stops.  (Our bottom stair creaks when you step on it.)  He carefully steps over the bottom step and does this spy pose at the bottom.  I am watching all this unfold and trying not to laugh so he wouldn’t know that I am there.  I wait to see what he’s going to do and hear him pull the stool over and he is rummaging around in kitchen.  I say in a rather loud voice, “Spencer!  What are you doing?”  I hear him get startled and he says timidly, “Mom is that you?  Where are you?”  He gets off the stool and comes around the corner and finally notices me sitting on the couch.  We had a good laugh together!

What a funny guy he is and SCARY that he already knows how to skip the creaking step and he is only 5 1/2!!!  We are so in trouble when he is a teenager!

Spencer has been saying, “I want…this toy or that toy” for the last several weeks whenever he sees an ad on tv or in the paper.  We finally told him that he had to ask Santa for what he wanted because Christmas was coming and if he didn’t write him a letter he wasn’t going to get anything.  Tonight he made me sit down with him to write his letter and this is what he came up with… (He dictated and I told him how to spell things, he did the rest.)

One of the many things that I LOVE about Christmas is the childlike innocence and belief in Santa Claus.  It is so magical and mysterious and quite touching!  Love my little guy!

Spencer bedecked himself in Daddy’s halloween costume boots (that are a size 12), found his dress up cowboy hat and rope and was galloping through the house yelling “YEEEEEE-HAWWWW!” at the top of his lungs!  I love my little guy!

Okay so we got snow on October 27th, not just flurries, but snow that covered the grass and dropped the temps 20 degrees!  Spencer went out to play in the backyard with Duke.  He came in and told me he had made a snowman and that I just had to come and see it, so out I tromped and it was cute, then he came in a told me he had made his first snowman a little sister.  He played outside for 2 hours and had so much fun.  I am just not sure if I am quite ready for Winter.