As Promised

The rest of our awesome October went something like this:

October 26th

Field trip with Isaac's preschool to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden.  Wish I had remembered my camera because those darn kids are super cute.  

That night, a sweet Girl's Night with my mom and sisters to the So You Think You Can Dance Concert.  AMAZING!

Some of my favorites...

I L-O-V-E Tadd 

Also love tap dancing but these guys were

too fast to get an action shot .

Seriously? Who moves like this?

And of course....Melanie.

Enough said.

 

October 27th

Ethan's 11th birthday!
What a good kid we have in Ethan.  He is growing up so fast and in only one year he will have the priesthood and that is kind of freaking me out a little.  

We didn't do anything terribly exciting for Ethan's special day.  We just loved him lots and got the one thing he asked for for his birthday and that was the 3D Twister remote control car.  He was sooooo happy.  And after seeing this thing move I was pretty impressed too.  It's small but super fast and can do all kinds of tricks and when it flips over it still goes.  Here it is in action.  

Keep in mind these pictures were taken while the car was in low gear.  The instructions suggested that you get the hang of steering the car in low gear because it's more difficult the faster it goes.  Come to think of it I don't know if Ethan has even tried high gear yet...I can't imagine it.  Low gear is FAST.

Some stats about Ethan at 11.

*I have no idea how much Ethan weighs or how tall he is but I can say that he is only 3/4 a head shorter than me.  Around here that is pretty tall but, in case anyone is wondering, it's  pretty short everywhere else. He's one of the smallest kids in his class.  We're hoping puberty is good to him.

*Ethan is in the 5th grade and enjoys school even though it does not come easily to him.

*He loves Yu-Gi-Oh.  (Mom does not)

*He loves soccer and plays it at every recess at school.  Added bonus:  He made the only goal during last recess playing against the 6th graders to win...on his birthday.

*He favorite food is rice with butter and salt and pepper.

*He is the by far the most helpful of all my children.

*He has had a job mowing Grandma and Grandpa's lawn for 3 years and has more money in the bank than me. 

October 28th

Halloween parade at school.

I have no idea why I keep trying to take pictures of this event every year because I can never get my kids to slow down long enough to snap a picture without it being blurry.  Just chalk it up to me being a good mom? :)

 

October 29th

Family pictures at Memory Grove in Salt Lake.

No pictures yet but I'm sure they're going to be great! 

Can't wait to see them.

October 30th

Primary Program in sacrament meeting.   Always a little stressful for me and I don't know why because it doesn't matter how it really goes, everyone loves it regardless. This year was no exception.  Those sweet primary children of mine had me in tears by the end.

It was also pumpkin carving day.  It was lovely weather and we had lots of fun.  The kids each took a turn with the camera and these are some of the shots we ended up with.

Loving me some finger in this one.

And my personal favorite...

can you tell Isaac took this one?

Right at eye level. 

 

October 31st

Halloween!  We finally made it!

The kids didn't have school so they played the day away and waited patiently for night to fall to go trick-or-treating.

We had easy costumes this year.  Hallelujah!

From left to right:  Buzz Lightyear, Ballerina, 

Snow Princess and Detective

  

Something's wrong here, my bucket is empty.

It was Dad's turn to stay home and pass out the candy.

He hates getting up and down to open the door so he decided to camp out in the driveway to make his life easier.   The weather was so nice JayDee told me he almost got too hot sitting next to the fire. 

We had a lot of fun this October.  It was kind of a whirlwind but we loved it all.

Octoberfest

October is so fun!  We love this month.  After we got about halfway through this month I thought I would just wait until the end of the month to post everything but then I thought that would be one massive post (more so than usual), so I decided to post everything except Ethan's birthday (which is coming right up) and Halloween. So here goes....

We started the month like any other, putting up the Halloween decorations and then we waited for fall to set in.  Our first notable occasion in October is always Dad's birthday.  This year his birthday landed on a Thursday and Thursdays are the day that the USU Botanical Center in Kaysville, where JayDee spends at least one day a week, has their Farmer's Market.  This particular market day was their annual apple and cheese tasting night.  JayDee loves this night and he didn't want to come home, even though it was his birthday.  So we took his birthday to him. 

First we had to partake of the apple and cheese varieties.

And who can say no to freshly pressed apple cider?

Then we whisked JayDee off into his trees and had our own little birthday party.  Presents, singing, cake...

Modeling the new jacket and CD

(Yes, that's Adele's CD.  He loves her.) 

That is one nice cake!

It took me all day to make.

For the record, I did make his traditional Chocolate Chiffon Cake it was just a few days after his actual birthday.   

Plus, donuts travel much easier.

The very next day, we headed out for our annual pumpkin patch/hayride day at J&J Nursery with our friends.  It was a beautiful Friday with so much sun it was hard to get any decent pictures.

The hunt is on!

Next up,  Pack Meeting.  Ethan earned his Arrow of Light award, the highest award in the Cub Scout program, and is officially headed to the Boy Scouts in 2 days.  I really don't know how he got this old.

Part of the ceremony in our ward is to paint the kids' faces with all the 7 colors of significance in the Arrow of Light.

Luckily parents get to have some too.  Yippee!

After they are painted they get to go over the bridge.  The Cub Scouts line up forming an arch on one side of the bridge and the Boy Scouts line up on the other and then the boy getting the Arrow of Light gets to run through the arch up and over the bridge.  This is to symbolize the movement from cub scouts to boy scouts.  Then they get to sign and date the bridge.  They love this!

 We love this boy!

Check out our wisdom marks.

Yeah, we're wise alright.

Grandma and Grandpa came to celebrate too.

UEA was last week and there were no fun vacations for us so we had to find other things to fill our 4 day weekend.  One day we went with our friends, the Griggs, on a "hike" on the Farmington trail.  It was another beautiful day and we enjoyed being outside somewhere that we normally aren't so much.

 Another day we had a kid's Halloween party.  Costumes were optional and that's why half my kids are dressed up and the other half are not. 

This was the dig through the brains to find prizes game. 

I absolutely love this picture.

We couldn't let the kids have all the fun so of course the parents had to have a Halloween party too.  At this one costumes were not optional.  It was a holiday themed party.  Everyone had to choose a holiday to dress up like but no Halloween.  Can you guess the holidays?  There are a few doubles.

The dorky, overly festive neighbors with fruit cake.

Meowy Christmas everyone! 

Oh. Can't guess this holiday?  How about...

National talk like a pirate day?!

 Thanks for the fun Griggs!

That's it for now.  But there's more fun to come before this awesome month is over.  Happy Fall everyone!

 

I Love It Here

This past weekend was General Conference.  As always, it's a pleasure to listen to the word of God be spoken by His chosen servants.  This time however I had new feelings associated with preparing for conference...gratitude.

Not the gratitude that I always feel for being a member of the church or the gratitude for the messages shared, but a deep, emotional gratitude for being born, raised and currently living in Zion.  I know, I know, true Zion is a state of being as read in the scriptures but there is another Zion.  In church history the headquarters of the church have always been referred to as Zion.  Zion is wherever the main body of the church resides.  I also know that this definition is getting thinner as the church grows worldwide.  There is just something special about living close to the center of the church here in Utah.

I love the fact that every 6 months as conference rolls around I know exactly what to expect.  I know that my very active neighborhood shuts down for 2 days.  The constant ring of children's voices are quiet and I know that all those friends are inside their homes watching conference just like my children.  I know that should I choose to venture out to the store on the first Saturday of October or April I will be met with enormous crowds between the hours of 9-10am, 12-2pm and 5pm.   I also know that the soccer crowds are smaller if your game happens to fall between the hours of 10-12am and 2-4pm.   I love that there are businesses that take the opportunity to market special "Ladies Night" sales and activities on those same Saturdays during the hours of 6-8pm.  I never go to these events but I smile thinking about all the ladies that do. 

I love that there are families choosing to dress in their Sunday best to sit in their family rooms and watch conference and I love that there are other families (like mine) that watch in their pajamas.  I love that I get to watch conference in my home, on regular old antenna TV.  Or if I choose, I can make advance arrangements and actually go to the Conference Center and watch it live.  Because I live here, I can literally sit at the prophets feet (or more appropriately above his head) and be taught.  What a blessing!  

Living in Utah along the Wasatch Front, I am minutes from Salt Lake, minutes from walking where the prophet of the Lord lives, works and walks. When I really think about it I am amazed.  I love living where a huge population of Latter-Day Saints live.  I love going on a walk with my friends and in the course of walking one hour in any direction we can pass through the boundaries of at least 7 wards and 3 stakes.  I love that for a family that does not travel much my children have personally walked on the grounds and touched 9 different temples.  I love that here, in my home state, a new record will be set of the first city in the world to have 2 temples. 

I know there are many wonderful and faithful members of the church living all over this world and I thank them for raising righteous families and living good lives where ever they are. I also know that many of them think that by living here in Utah it's like living in an unrealistic bubble.  I have heard it expressed by many members living here in Utah that they wish they could move out of the state to really know how it feels to be a Latter-Day Saint, to be truly converted. I get that mentality.  It's just not for me.


I love Utah.  I love living the gospel in Utah.  I can't imagine another place for me.  I feel so grateful, so blessed to have been born in the covenant, in the state that was founded by a prophet of God and that I have the opportunity to give that same blessing to my children.