October 2015

October is always a busy month but this one seemed especially so.  Here are a few things that kept us hopping this month - in reverse order - because that is how the photos uploaded!

Halloween

We continued our tradition of spending Halloween evening handing out candy at the Zeller's.  We rarely get trick or treaters in our neighborhood and let's be honest we love the Zeller's neighbors!  This will always stand as one of my favorite memories.  Scott put an old couch out on their driveway and we brought our fire pit so we had a pretty dang sweet setup.  The kids took Libby trick or treating and us old people hung out eating candy and chili and handing out candy to the people who came by.  Lots of neighbors stopped and hung out for a little while chatting. I really can't imagine a better Halloween ever.

One of my favorite things to do at this time of year is take photos of the kids in their costumes.  I really love how they turned out this year.  I am grateful that the kids are patient enough with me to allow me this little pleasure.  

Poor JJ got sick and missed out on some of the fun but still got to participate in a most of the stuff.

Asher has been a ninja of some sort or other for that last several years.  This year he had grown out of the previous ninja costume so we got this one for him.  It is pretty cool. No doubt he will want to wear it again next year.

Hannah always has a hard time deciding what to be. She really wants to be everything!  This year she settled on a huntress costume. We saw several other girls with the same costume but I thought she looked awesome!

 Ah, the school Halloween parade.  Gotta love being in a pack gym, sweat pouring off every living soul, waiting for that moment when you can get a picture of your child. Blink and it's over and you picture is probably blurry! LOL! I love it!

 BYU Basketball Game

Lance has had BYU basketball season tickets for the last few year and really enjoys taking the kids and his dad and even me occasionally to the games.  This was a season opener that was free so we all went.  I'm not a sports person at all but you know what I am? I'm a cougar tail person.  Just the smell of the maple frosting sends me into raptures and sugar shock!

 Crazy Hair Day

Crazy hair day rolled around at the elementary again.  Asher decided that bed head was good enough but Hannah wanted a little bit more!

 JJ's Birthday

How did I come to have a 14 year old child?  I blinked and he went from 2 to 14.  JJ's BYU themed cake was another of my semi homemade endeavors.  I am NOT a baker so I like to get a plain Costco cake and just have them do a border and the writing.  This time I printed out the oblong Y logo and cut it out with an exacto knife and used it as a stencil for blue and white sprinkles. I think it turned out pretty awesome! JJ liked it so that was a win. 

For JJ 's birthday party he got to invite some of his favorite people to go to a space camp at the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center.  They had a blast as usual.  It helps that his best friends Kynlee and Josh are nerds just like him!

JJ's favorite restaurant is Brick Oven so of course that is where he chose to have his birthday dinner.

Soccer

As I mentioned in last month's post, soccer for Asher has been tough this season.  I am proud that he has kept trying even though things were not the way he hoped they would be.  

JJ's team remained sort of intact.  Several of his friends stayed on this team but he had a different coach.   JJ enjoyed it and really liked the new coach as he is the father of one of JJ's friends.  I was less enthused, not being a fan of this new coache's attitudes on sportsmanship.  As I mentioned before I am not sport person but if I do have to watch or participate, sportsmanship is more important to me than pretty much anything else.  I am coming to realize that I am in the minority in this. 

 Cornbelly's

I took the kids to Cornbelly's with some of their friends the Prices.  We were lucky enough to catch an awesome dog show.  Asher was enthralled!

Family Time

We relish the time we get to spend occasionally at Charlie's house.  We especially love it when Emmy and Cam and/or Brandon bring their dogs.  This time we got to love on Murphy, Brandon's weimaraner puppy and of course Brandon himself! 

 Lance's Birthday

Happy 46th Birthday to this awesome guy.  We love him so much. He really makes our world go round.  We headed to Texas Roadhouse for some steak and those yummy pillowy rolls and cinnamon sugar butter to celebrate the day of Lance's birth.

Other Stuff . . . 

JJ became a Life Scout.  We are so proud of his scouting accomplishments.  He has worked very hard.  I had a tough time getting any photos because we couldn't use the inside of the church so they had the court of honor outside the church - in the dark.

I like to look for rainbows.

Asher got student of the month for Kindness.  He is such an awesome kid.  This is his goofy "I don't want my photo taken" face.

High Uintahs Backpacking Trip By JJ

This is JJ writing for the first time. What I think about the trip is that it was fun and beautiful up there. But it was very hard. It was supposed to be 7 miles. It  was really over 10 miles. I blame Bryce Jolley! First we got packed and took a picture at the only time we would be smiling until we got there. Then we drove through Wyoming and got to China Meadows. Then we set off we took breaks every 2 miles we saw a lot of cool animals and thankfully(sort of) no one got killed or seriously injured, only butt burns and wet feet. It was 10 miles in on the first day. Then on the second day some of the troop hiked up 2 more miles. They made it to the lake we were trying to get to (Red Castle). When they got back me, my dad, Brother West ( in the red), and my best friend Josh Price( the one with camo shorts) left to scout out a good place to camp half way back and to meet Josh's dad. When we got to the campsite we pitched our tents and got a fire going. They left 2 hours behind us and got there 2 hours after us. When Brother Price and Brother Matthews get there with the horses they started to make steak and potatoes. That meal was amazing. Then the scouts on the right and top took turns farting into the fire and other stupid stuff. On the next day we got back to the car and came home from a tiring and cool trip.