Daily Life

October 29th. We just picked up dad from the airport after 10 days in china. Leah loved his headphones. 

Pre Halloween fun. Sam. 

Jack. 

Princess Leah 

The gorgeous view driving up our street. 

We voted. Not a fun city election. One mayor candidate teamed up with two city council candidates and have tried their best to tear apart the city by making everyone think the cities falling apart. Can't wait for it to be over!!

We were trying to snap a picture trying to get each other as the main focus. 

We decided on this instead. 

Thomas in time out on the bench. He kept himself busy by rolling around on the bench and playing with his shirt. 

Happy Halloween!!

For a month, I refused to buy costumes.  Then I made the mistake of going to ShopKo the day before Halloween and they had the costume Emily's been asking for, for 60% off.  When the other kids saw it, they all hoped to have the same.  I caved and this is what we got.  And it was worth it.  Cute kids.  And Leah got to be a princess.  There's only so many years a girl wants to dress like a princess. 
Halloween's not my favorite holiday.  In fact it's right down near the bottom.  I love November 1st every year.  It is the start of the REAL holidays.  But we live in a great neighborhood and get a lot of trick or treaters and it's fun.  It reminds me of the movies or magazines in it's perfection of a great neighborhood and great people.   I have fun seeing the little kids in their costumes, chatting with their parents, and handing out candy.  I like that my kids do our street and one other and are completely happy.  I love that we have soup with the neighbors on our street before we set out for trick or treating.  I love that the kids have fun getting to dress up.  I love that John is almost 16 and still insists on going out for candy. 
So as much as I dread celebrating and buying costumes, I sure enjoy myself for 2-3 hours every Halloween.

This is at a neighbors house.  John said Leah had no fear and walked right up to these creepy guys.  Joihn asked her to stand by one to get a picture and she volunteered to hold his hand.  Nice.

She begged for a picture and she got one. 

Sam has been asking to take Max to school for show n tell.  Today worked out great because John was home and he took Max over.  It's also Max's birthday.  8 years old today!  Or 56.  Happy Birthday Max. 

Carpet

Another finished project. We did the furniture and carpet removal but had the rest of our carpet installed by the professionals. It's so nice to have done. 

Our newly stained railings. Went from orange oak to Java and we love it!!

New carpet in and a clean room. 

From johns phone

It's always fun to go to the dump!!

Emily and Jordan after their first choir concert. Emily is loving madrigals!

John and his buddies after his choir concert. Wow. High school choirs really are different than jr. High choirs.

Lucky Leah got to play with Evelyn and Greta one day while john watched the BYU game with mark.

SAMs final flag football game. Undefeated!!

Jack and Thomas' final flag football game. They didn't win one game. Mostly forfeited and were pretty much a team put together with leftover kids. Never enough players and a coach that struggled to coach. These boys are still fun to watch though and had good attitudes.

Their trophies were about 3 inches tall and the cheapest lightest plastic ever. This is what John said about this:
"Another successful Flag Football season. They played for glory...they played for game...they played for.......these trophies??? Love it."

Thomas filled out the application for the yearbook committee, asked me to print him a couple pictures and I never saw the thing. But he was one of 14 out of 49 to be chosen. So happy for him.

Give Thanks

I don't know why I was asked but I was. I was asked to lead a craft on these give thanks blocks. I have 30 minutes, twice to teach. 

The one given to me was yellow, the writing wasn't as cute, nothing was sanded, and there was no ribbon. 

At the cabin, Jolie, emily, and I sat out front and within 30 minutes, we whipped these up. They turned out really cute and so far 67 people have signed up to do them. I'm excited!

And isn't it beautiful at the cabin?!  Man I love it there. 

I Love Fall!!

I can't get over the beauty of this season. It is gorgeous!!  We are surrounded by these amazing mountains. The sky and the air is beautiful and right now the leaves are constantly drifting from the trees. I had to slow down as I drove up my street because I wanted to soak in the beauty of the tree lined street and the leaves falling everywhere. I love love love this and it makes me happy!!  

Especially these cute kids and their siblings. I sure love them. 

This is my very favorite tree in our yard. These have always been my favorite trees. They make such a pretty sound when they blow in the wind and I love the white bark. Probably my favorite because they are all over at the cabin. 

There are some beautiful leaves on the ground. I'm saving this one. It's so pretty. 

Mother Goose Program

SAMs got an amazing teacher, mrs. Ipson, who also is in our ward. She has a mother goose program every year. Every kid recites a nursery rhyme and the class recited a couple together. It was so cute!!!!

SAMs picture of what he thought jack be nimble should jump over. A wall. 

SAMs rhyme was One, Two, Three, Four, Five and he was adorable.