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.

February Highlights 2015

I caught this sweet moment while we were visiting the grands.  Grandma probably wouldn't be happy that I am posting this but I think she is beautiful no matter what and I love this moment between her and Hannah.  Hannah was teaching Grandma Carolyn how to do "cat's cradle".  It took several tries but eventually, with Hannah's patient instruction Grandma figured it out.  

 This year I only had to figure out 2 friend valentines because JJ has "grown out"of handing out valentines.  (I have to admit I am glad that he is)  Here is Asher's valentine:

 Hannah had to make a valentine box hold her class valentines.  All I can say is thanks to Pinterest, my silhouette cutter, my scrapbook supplies, Lance's spray paint stash and Hannah's flexibility we were able to make this without having to buy anything.

Hannah's class valentines this year. . . .

 Asher likes these cool socks he got at the BYU basketball game with Dad.

 This goober decided to wear his dad's sweater and looke so grown up.  I wanted to take a photo before he was off to church but of course he gave me the nerds stare.

 Friends are pretty important to Hannah and JJ right now.  I find this difficult - not that I don't like their friends - I do.  But I am not a party planner and I really enjoy quiet home time with just our little family. I don't even go out with my own friends anymore.  I guess I have become a bit of a hermit.  This month I tried really hard to make some fun plans for the kids and this is what we came up with. We had some yummy items to dip in our chocolate fountain and lots of friends over for a late-over.  They kids made a huge mess but had fun.

 Happy Valentine's Day 2015 - stuffed animals, new valentine bags, candy and books.

 Lance has become quite a pro at making gourmet waffles with our Belgian waffle maker. Soft on the inside and crispy on the outside with lots of maple syrup, butter, strawberries and whipped cream!

 There was a BYU basketball game on Valentines day (what the what?!?!) so Lance took JJ, his friend Josh, Hannah and Asher to the game.  Charlie and Mary Ellen gave us their tickets as they were going to be out of town that day and Lance bought one more ticket.  There weren't too many people at the game so that they were able to sit down lower for most of the game.  Because we missed out doing something together that day we had a little date night the next week which included a trip to The Sweet Tooth Fairy, YUM!

 I am so proud of this boy!  He is very respectful person and so it was perfect that he got student of the month for being respectful.  He loves his teacher, hates homework and has interests that far out reach his ability to read. He love non fiction about natural history and science as well as Greek mythology.  He enjoys math and has very tender heart.  He desperately wants a best friend who shares some of his interests. Unfortunately he is so unique it is difficult to find that person.  He gives lots of hugs and makes sure I know he loves me everyday.

 This cat loves his girl so much.  He begs to be held by her and if she doesn't pick him up quickly enough he will jump into her arms.  She calls him her "son".  No matter what trouble he gets into she loves him - even when he daily tries to eat her parakeet.

 These two are so close.  They were both pretty thrilled that their classes would be reading together for Read Across America day - aka Dr.Seuss' birthday.

This month we lost our long time school librarian suddenly.  The children, faculty and and staff at the school were shocked and saddened by her passing.  Hannah was honored to be able to sing with a small group of children from the school at Mrs. Peterson's funeral.  It was another great reminder of the importance of living up to your covenants everyday and being obedient.You never know how long you have on this earth.