Jam and Stake Conference

We've had an adventurous week!  On Monday, we went and had FHE with the Hendricksons.  We went to their house to have some fun shooting their bows and had some fun yummy treats.  Eileen loved it.  

This is David just chillin' in the cute little rocking chair that Grandpa Cox made once upon a time.  He loves having a little chair of his own! 

Wednesday was a fun day of running errands and making chili for the ward activity.  We had a Fall Festival with costumes and yummy food and games and lots of fun! 

The rest of the week was the usual school and fun.  We finally got clear enough weather for David and I to get some walks in. 

Saturday was rather busy.  We started the morning by making Jam - Sandi and the kids came up to help out and play.  We got a bunch of stuff canned - it's so good to have home made jam again!!!  My parents also came up to take Anna out for ice cream.  Then after she got back, We took all the kids - including Sandi and her kids - to the Anna Festival.  It was lots of fun - the kids ended up with insane amounts of candy.  Sandi and I had some fun doing karaoke and Anna won a pumpkin painting contest!  The kids had a blast on the bounce houses and rides and I had fun chatting with some friends from church!

After, we got the kids home and got them dinner just in time to need to leave for Stake Conference.  It was wonderful with some great talks given - but Dan and I were both exhausted and hungry.  After, we went to the malt shop with some friends from the ward and got some dinner.  That helped some, but we were still ready to crash when we got home - despite that, Dan was sweet and told me to get ready for bed while he finished off the last batches of the jam. 

Today was also wonderful - Stake Conference was great!!  David was well and done by the end since he was moving into nap time, but he did pretty well.  After, we went home for lunch and I worked with Anna - teaching her how to sew and make an outfit for her doll, and Eileen and Dan made rolls to eat with our homemade jelly!  We had fun playing games and jumping on the trampoline and got in some scripture study and napping - all in all - it was a wonderful day! 

Need more Sleep....

It's been a great but crazy week!  Monday was the usual laundry and school and such.  We had a great FHE lesson together and spent the evening folding laundry. 

Tuesday, I had an appointment to get my hair trimmed.  David was great - he was a happy little guy the whole time, After that I grabbed a bit of lunch, then I went down to pick the sister missionaries up from a meeting and drive them home.  Then it was time to head back to get the kids from school.  After picking them up, I took Evie and James to piano lessons, then Eileen and  Anna had a special youth broadcast with Elder Holland.  While they had that, I went to Institute. 

On Wednesday, we had a basic day - Anna was supposed to have a re-scheduled cross country meet - but because of rain it got cancelled again - and it's for good this time.  :(  Anna really enjoyed cross country though!  In the evening, I took Aaron and Evelyn to the church for Cub Scouts and Activity Days.  I think they all had a great time.  The girls didn't have a youth activity since they had the broadcast the night before.  

Thursday Dan had a work dinner and I had choir, so Eileen and Anna were left in charge for a little bit.  Choir was great, it's crazy to think how close we are getting to the concert!!  

Friday I needed to get some errands run.  David and i hit Walmart - it was sprinkling when we went it, but POURING when we left.  We needed to get some groceries, and we got dinner started (we were making ribs so we needed to start them early) Then we had some friends over for dinner and games.  We had a great time!  

We had a nice busy Saturday, the weather was actually kinda nice for once, so there were lots of walks and jumping on the trampoline and playing around.  Then in the evening Dan took the girls down to the temple.  They got back just in time to read scriptures and put the younger kids to bed.  

Today was great!  We had a nice quiet morning of scripture reading and game playing and walking around the block (David loves to go on walks, but he also loves to stop and look at everything!)  Church was wonderful - the talks were really wonderful and the lessons were too!  

Long Weekend

So the kids had a long weekend last weekend - they had both Monday and Tuesday off of school, so we decided to have some fun!  Anna had cross country in the morning, then we got lunches packed and ready to go before heading out to the State Fair.  We met up with Grandpa there and had a fun day checking out all the displays and the stuff.  We went to see the dog shows and the craft competitions.  The kids loved the dog show - though it was hot in the tent and Eileen wasn't crazy about the noise, but the dogs were impressive!  After, we went to the midway, and I let the kids each pick one ride to go on.  Part way through this long and painful process, the heavens opened and it POURED for about 10 minutes, after that it slowed to a light drizzle.  The kids still had fun though.  Anna and Evie did the bumper cars, Aaron got to ride a small roller coaster while getting soaked in the rain and Eileen and James went into the bubble house!  We got home late (for us) and tired, but we all had a great time.  Eileen and I are thinking about submitting something to the craft competitions next year!  I'm trying to convince Anna to submit a drawing since she is such an amazing artist, but I haven't managed to succeed yet. 

Tuesday, Anna also had Cross country in the morning, but she was exhausted after, so when the rest of us packed up to go to the zoo, she decided to stay home.  It was probably a good idea since she had a meet scheduled for the next day.  It rained/poured for the whole day, so we had fun hitting all the indoor areas of the zoo before heading home, we hardly saw anyone else there the whole day - there were only 4 other cars in the parking lot.  But we still had a fun time together.  We headed home a bit earlier than necessary since we had kinda run out of indoor stuff to do.  Then Evie and James had piano lessons and then in the evening, I had institute.  It was a great day!  Dan met up with his friend Jeff for dinner, so the kids and I had chipped beef on toast for dinner, and the I left Eileen and Anna in charge so I could go to institute. 

The house felt really quiet on Wednesday, but after two rather crazy days, I think David was glad for a quiet day at home.  We had a nice quiet day, it was still rather rainy, so we hung out inside and snuggled up together.  He took a nice long nap too.  In the evening, the girls had young womens and Dan went to a little birthday party for a guy in the ward. 

Thursday, we finally had a nice sunny day, so David decided that we needed to go for a walk.  He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the door out to the garage, then went and pointed and grunted at the garage door, telling me to open it, then he headed down the drive way.  He actually wore those cute sunglasses for the entire walk!  He had so much fun waving at all the people and animals and decorations that we passed.  We had this week off of choir for fall break. 

Friday, evening, Dan and I had a date night planned.  We were going to the Anna vs. Melissa high school football game.  We went and sat with the Gustavesons and Hendricksons, and we all had a fun time chatting and cheering and being a bit silly.  We weren't sure the game was going to happen since it poured most of the day, but it finally cleared up in the evening and it ended up being really nice! 

Saturday it was rainy again - so we spent a bunch of time cleaning up around the house, then Dan took most of the kids to the library and Anna and I got some work done for a little fall display for the mantle.  Then we got the kids dinner and Dan and I headed out to the temple.  We got there for the 6:30 session and had a wonderful time.  After, we stopped at Chuy's for dinner on our way home.  Eileen and Anna have been so great!  

Today was wonderful!  We all read scriptures together in the morning, then played some games and went on some walks.  Church was wonderful, it was fast Sunday and it was wonderful!  David was getting restless by Relief Society, so he and I ended up walking the hallway so he wouldn't be disruptive and destructive.  Our evening ended with games and me getting really tired... time for bed!  

Conference Weekend

Monday was a usual school day with Anna leaving early with Dan for cross country and seminary (respectively)  We had a fun evening, after dinner, we had a sweet sister from our ward over to join us for family home evening.  She brought a fun game called "Funny Bones" over to play with us.  We had a fun time laughing and playing together!  Anna and Dad were the clear winners!  

Tuesday was the normal - cross country and school.  After school, Evie and James had piano lessons with Sister Gustaveson.  They had a good time and I think they are eager to get going again - James made a point of telling her all about all the fun things Sister Hendrickson used to do with them.  Then in the evening, I had Institute - wonderful as always!  

Wednesday we finally got to do our first Cub Scout Activity.  I planned a welcome back activity that was meant to be fun and to help the boys learn the Scout Oath and Scout Law.  We knighted the boys and let them decorate shields.  Then we did our flag ceremony and introduced the boys to their leaders before sending the boys on their knightly quest for the holy grail.  I think they had a great time!  Aaron didn't get to go after he had been the inspiration for the activity - he had left that morning to go with his grade to Adventure Camp - the weather was great for it and he had a blast running around, learning, shooting a bow and arrow and eating lots of yummy food (at least that's how he tells it!)  Eileen and Anna also had a young women's activity that evening and had fun playing capture the flag at the park.  

Thursday, Anna had a cross country meet after school.  Dan and I both headed over to her run after a quick dinner.  They started early and we just missed it - but we got to see her finish and she did a GREAT job!  She cut another minute off her time!  Then, Dan took her home, and I went to choir.  I can't believe we are more than half way to the Christmas concerts!  

Friday after school, Eileen had to stay after school to play with the band at the football game.  All the 8th graders were playing the Anna fight song with the marching band.  Eileen wasn't excited about it, but she did it and did a great job.  Dan and I left Anna in charge and went to watch her and the football game.  High school football in Texas is NOTHING like high school football in California...  The half time shows were impressive and Dan and I had a fun time cheering the players on and being silly.  We would have stayed until the end, but Eileen was hungry (they fed them pizza - she hates pizza) and she was allowed to leave after half time.  

Saturday morning, we all got ready for conference, we made some 7-layer dip to enjoy during the sessions and got ourselves all comfy and ready to listen and learn.  Conference was AMAZING!  So much wonderful stuff!  I can't wait to start re-reading the talks.  Evie had a birthday party in the afternoon, but it was at a friends house just around the block.  Then in the evening, the girls and I all headed to the church for the general women's session.  It was all so wonderful! 

Sunday, we were ready for the rest of Conference.  We made monkey bread to have with breakfast and then got ready to learn!  My dad came up to watch the afternoon session with us and then have dinner.  Our eating habits this week haven't been very healthy, but it's been fun and we have learned so much! 

We spent the evening playing games and having fun together.  Dan got a fun new game on Saturday called 5 minute dungeon and we've been having fun playing it all weekend!