Friends and Fun

Monday, Dan had to re-dig up a huge hole in our front yard.  A pipe was leaking and constantly running water into the ground.  Dan dug a huge hole and our friend Nate came over to help him with fixing the pipe (and to help him get out of the hole which was nearly 6 feet deep.)  Nate's wonderful wife and daughter came over also and brought dinner with them, so while the men worked, we made hamburgers and salad and had brownies for dessert!  The guys finally got it all done, but put off filling in the hole until the next day.  

We found this cute note in our mail box.  Evie had wanted to send a note to her friend, but hadn't realized the need for an envelope, stamp and address.  I took pictures and sent them to her friend's mom so that she would get her little letter!  

Tuesday was wet and rainy, so after picking everyone up from school and choir, we took Anna to trumpet, but just hung out in the car since we couldn't really play at the park.  

Wednesday, James and I went to the library with Tayanna and Nicole.  We had a great time - though I think James' favorite part was getting to use the umbrella with me.  After school, James was a bit tired, so he found his blanket and curled up in the girls dirty clothes hamper for a nap.  He was so cute and sweet and sleepy!  

Thursday was school as usual for the kids and piano lessons after.  In the evening, I went to the institute class.  I really love learning more about the scriptures and having a chance to really study them and learn from them.

Friday was nice and quiet (relatively) and we enjoyed a relaxing evening together.

Saturday morning, I picked up Heather and we went to the Stake Women's Conference.  It was wonderful!  After, we went to a friend's baptism, then we had a fun pizza-ball dinner before I headed out to my choir concert - the concert went well and was lots of fun!

Saturday night and Sunday morning, Anna was throwing up :(  I needed to be at the church to help with the choir, So we brought Anna with us and she sat in the foyer with Heather, then Dan took Heather and Anna to our house where they fell asleep and took a nice nap while the rest of us were at church.  After church, we all came home, ate lunch and spent some time crocheting together - James wanted me to teach him too.  Then the kids were tasked with finishing the clean-up job that they had been putting off all week....

Home Sweet Home

Tuesday afternoon, we headed back from the cabin to get laundry done, take Anna to trumpet lessons and try to recover.  Wednesday was a dentist check up  for Eileen and choir for me.  

Thursday morning, the kids had Piano lessons and Dan got home!!!  Dan and I spent most of the next 2 days trying to get errands run and get back to normal.  We were in desperate need of groceries and still needed to get laundry folded and the lawn needed to be mowed.  Eileen had flute lessons on Saturday and an appointment to get new glasses on Friday.  

Saturday, Dan and I went to furniture row with the kids and then to Ikea.  We have been making a list of the larger purchases we would like to make in the future and getting a price range for what we need to save up for before we can get them.  

Sunday was church in the morning, the lessons and talks were wonderful.  After church, we had lunch and I made cookies for choir.  Ward choir met and I substituted for Bonnie, then I headed home.  In the afternoon and evening, the kids spent a lot of time outside enjoying the beautiful fall weather.  We have tons of leaves on our lawn (even though we just mowed on Friday and even though our trees still look like they have most of their leaves.)  Either way, the kids had a ball playing in the leaves and goofing off outside.  

Adventure Here We Come

This week started out normal.  School, after school clubs, trumpet lessons, piano lessons, homework, Choir, all that good stuff.  Thursday, Dan headed to Nashville for work, and the kids and I stayed busy.  Thursday evening, I was teaching a relief society activity about freezer food and then the girls friend Neveah came to stay with us while her mom was in the hospital having her new baby.  We dropped her off at school the next day and then got packing and getting ready to head up to the cabin for the weekend!  We met our friends Mark and Marie and their kids and headed up for a weekend of playing, chatting and hiking

Hiking to the mine and looking for rocks is always a favorite!  Everything looks so different up there at this time of the year.  It was at the tail end of fall - the leaves had mostly fallen and the flowers and plants were mostly brown and dead for the winter.  

We had fun roasting marshmallows and making s'mores and playing games and running around outside.  Grandpa came up with us also!

Sunday we went to the local ward for church - it was a really nice service - great lessons and talks and a beautiful place to spend the Sabbath.

Conference Weekend

This was another fun and crazy week.   James had a dentist appointment on Monday - and he was so excited.  He did really well, sat still the whole time and was so excited to get his own tooth brush and tooth paste and floss.  He's been calling it 'gloss' all week and it's cute to watch him try and floss his teeth on his own.  

James and Payton had a great time playing together in the afternoons - during one of my check-ins, I found them like this in James' room - with coats on - I had to convince them that they would be too hot if they tried to wear them outside.  James still asks me if Payton is coming over every day.  They are so cute!  

James had preschool on Tuesday - he loves going to preschool and playing with friends.  He's a very social boy!  Then Payton came over after preschool to play.  Then after school, Anna had her dentist appointment.  

Wednesday was late start for the kids and then I picked up Nicole and Tayanna and we went to the library - they were having a special birthday story time with balloons and cupcakes.  Nicole watched the kids at the library while I went to a doctors appointment.  I talked to my Ob-Gyn and got some blood drawn and then went back to pick everyone up.  After school was the usual bustle and then I had choir in the evening. 

Thursday James had preschool again and had a blast, The kids had piano lessons after school.  Their piano teacher commented on how good Aaron's rhythm is - something I'd noticed also, so at least he should make a good percussionist.  In the evening, I went to the Adult institute class again.  I am really loving spending time studying the Old Testament.  After I stayed and chatted with Joey and Sara for a bit - they are such amazing women!!  

Friday morning, James and I stopped at the library to return and replace a damaged book - the wonderful, sweet, amazing library lady waved the processing fees for me and made it all easy!  Then James and I headed to go get my allergy shot followed by a stop at Costco.  Then home for lunch and picking up the kids 

Eileen decided to try and teach the chicken a trick - the chicken can now balance on Eileen's hand with no help... 

This weekend was conference weekend and it was amazing!  The speakers were just amazing - the talks were uplifting and wonderful!  Dwayne and Nicole and their kids plus Jeremiah and Becca came over for lunch.  Then Dwayne and Nicole watched some of the second session before they had to leave for an appointment.  Becca and Jeremiah stayed for dinner and lava cakes and a game after priesthood session.  I tried to teach Becca how to crochet - she's a quick learner and picked it up easily.  (I'm just not a very good teacher)

Conference today was wonderful too!  The kids even did a really good job watching and being reverent (mostly!!)  Rachel and Neveah came over to watch the final session with us.  Now i'm totally beat and heading to bed!!