Last week of School

Well - this was the kids last week of school before Christmas break!  There were lots of parties and early release days.  I had some Christmas shopping to get done - not much, it was mostly finished, but a couple small things that needed to get done.  I met up with my mom and helped her find stuff for the kids and got a couple things done myself.  It was a nice morning!  

Tuesday was the end of Semester for Institute and we were supposed to bring Christmas treats - only a couple of us did, but it was still a great lesson with yummy treats!  

Thursday, Dan's company had a company Christmas party.  We snacked and played White Elephant.  Sandi ended up with "The Poop Game" which the kids had a fun time playing with - and I am exceedingly glad that it didn't have to come home with us!  We got to take a water bottle home.  A nice one!  The gift Dan brought to give was a fish with a fish bowl and food.  Evelyn fell in love with the fish and was heartbroken when we wouldn't let her take it from Tammy (who ended up with it) so she could bring it home - she named it and everything.  She realized that she could earn money to buy her own fish with a little work - so Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, she worked hard cleaning stuff and earned enough money to buy herself a betta.  We told her that she could get it first thing Monday morning.  I think she is almost as excited for that as for Christmas. 

Friday evening, we let the kids decorate gingerbread houses - they came pre-built from Walmart with decorations and frosting included, so the kids had a great time decorating their houses and eating the candy.  

Saturday evening, we went caroling with some friends in the ward.  We walked around their neighborhood and sang songs and handed out Christmas treats.  It was a lot of fun!  We had so many people, that we split into two groups and Eileen even went with the other group.  There were a bunch of pre-teen girls pushing David's stroller and they thought it was the cutest thing that he was singing along too.  He loves to sing!  It's so cute!!!  

Sunday we just had a 1-hour church with beautiful Christmas messages and music.  After, we headed home and got things ready for a Christmas party.  The kids had been missing Bagna Caulda night at Frank and Tina's, so I made my first ever solo batch of Bagna Caulda.  We had friends from the ward along with my parents and Sandi and her kids.  The Bagna Caulda was yummy and we had a wonderful time singing Christmas songs.  It reminded me a lot of when we used to go to Doug and Lisa's house in California and ate Bagna Caulda and sang Christmas songs!  We managed to get a very musical group together and the sounds of Christmas songs was glorious!!  

And Christmas Cookies!

This week we had a bunch of sickieness. :(  Monday started our great.  Evelyn gave a wonderful FHE lesson where we made up a service jar to help us in our goal of serving each other this month. 

Tuesday was a usual day - we got a lot of rain though, so Anna didn't want to walk over to the gym to work out.  :)  I watched Dana's little girl again - she and David get along well and she's easy to watch. Anna had a school book report due - she wanted to decorate a cake to go with the book - and this is what she created - it's a fondant covered castle and grass all over - then when you cut into it, the layers are red, orange and yellow to represent the fire in the story.  She did such an amazing job and worked so hard on it! 

Wednesday was an abnormally quiet day.  The girls didn't have young womens because there was a youth temple trip the next day.  So we had a nice quiet family time evening.  Eileen came home sick from school.  I wasn't feeling great either.  She was running a fever, so she came home and rested. 

Thursday Eileen was still running a fever, so she stayed home - she went right back to bed and slept until 1:00 - but she was feeling a bunch better after.  She was still coughing a lot, so she wasn't able to play her flute for the middle school band concert that night though.  She came with me to the concert and Dan stayed with the younger kids to get them to bed at a decent time.  Anna's band was awesome.  James lost his first tooth finally!  He was so excited!  And now he's got a cute little gap.

Eileen went to school on Friday - she really wanted to be there for her writing UIL.  When I picked James up from school, he was down another tooth.  Friday evening, Dan and I went to the temple.  We dropped Evie and James off at Aunt Sandi and Uncle Jon's for a sleep over with Taz and Kai.  They took a Book of Mormon with them so that they could do their scripture reading and prayers - and they even remembered to do it!  It made me so happy when they talked about it.  Dan and I had a great session and I ran into a friend from Colorado who is moving down to Dallas area!  We stopped at IHOP for dinner after, then headed home. 

Saturday was a fun and busy day.  Dan started off the day early, taking Eileen and Anna down to the temple.  After, Sandi and the kids came up to decorate cookies.  My dad came by for a bit also.  We had a fun time chatting, and the kids playing and everyone making and eating cookies!  Then in the evening we had our ward Christmas party.  It was wonderful - the decorations were amazing and the program was beautiful.  It was a great evening! 

Sunday morning, I got together with some women in the ward for a musical number.  It was a lot of fun singing with them.  Then i came home, ate lunch and got ready for church.  I headed to choir and we got our Christmas song going.  Church was great - the musical number went well and the talks were excellent.  I spent 3rd hour in nursery with David - he was a bit tired and cranky.  Poor kids - I think next year's time will be much easier on him.  After church, we enjoyed getting to go home and have dinner together.  :) 

And More Christmas Music

This week was the usual busy.  Eileen and Anna both have after school activities, but just when I think I'm going to take the younger kids straight home after school, something happens and I end up having to pick them up...  Monday was the usual busy with laundry day.

Tuesday was a great institute lesson.  The kids were busy with school stuff and all the usual fun.  I watched my friends little girl so she could go to her doctor's appointment.

Wednesday the kids had all sorts of church activities.  Evelyn and Aaron had Activity Day's and Cub Scouts.  I officially don't have cub scouts anymore - so it was kinda crazy just waiting for them to get done.  Then Eileen and Anna had their young women's activity.  The youth were going caroling to help advertise a bit for the Nativity Concert this weekend.  They had a great time.  Eileen had managed to make a new friend who listened to her talk about her stories - she was so happy when I picked her up.  I'm so glad that we are in a great ward with such great youth.

Thursday morning, I met with the new cub master to help show her the ropes and pass on all my papers and stuff.  Dan got the stuff to make bath bombs with the kids and they had a blast making and using them! 

Friday was a typical school day mostly.  Anna had her all-region band audition - she got 14th chair for trumpets!  She got home late though.  Evelyn had a Student Council activity to get the school ready and decorated for Breakfast with Santa.  She had a ton of fun decorating and hanging out with her friends.

Saturday morning, Dan took Evie and James and Aaron to Breakfast with Santa at the school.   They had a great time, then hurried over to the church for Children's choir rehearsal.  We had our final rehearsal before the concert!  It has been so much fun doing this children's choir - they are great kids!

In the evening, we met up with Josh and Dana for a double date dinner then met up with some more friends at the Brian Regan show.  We had a great time!

Sunday was the big Nativity Concert.  Church was wonderful - then we helped set up the church, ran home for dinner, then came back for the concert.  The children did a wonderful job and all the music was beautiful!  The place was packed - tons of members and friends from the community all together celebrating the birth of Christ!

Christmas Music!!

This week has been rather crazy!  Monday was a bit crazy as usual.  It was full of laundry and grocery shopping and school stuff and family home evening.  We got our Christmas Tree at Home Depot and then headed home to decorate it!  The kids had a great time decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music.

Tuesday the kids had school as usual.  Anna usually stays after school for an hour to use the weight room and work out.  Next week, Eileen is going to be staying after all the time for play practices.  Tuesday evening, I had choir practice - we were sneaking one last rehearsal in before the concerts this weekend.

Wednesday evening, the girls had young womens and I had a Nativity concert meeting.  Otherwise, our day was mostly the usual school stuff.

Thursday was nice and relatively quiet - nothing going on in the evenings for once, so we enjoyed a nice evening together.  In the morning, David and I went out and did some Christmas shopping.  Then we got home and I put David down for a nap and did some Christmas present organization to try and figure out what we have for which kids.

Friday, things got really crazy!  I had an early rehearsal - our dress rehearsal - we were there for 5 hours, on our feet the whole time and singing the whole time.  It was fun, but tiring.  I got home and crashed.

Saturday morning, The kids and I had the children's choir rehearsal.  It went really well - we had a few more people show up - I think we will have a good sized little group!  After, I went home and took a little nap before getting up and heading to our concerts.  I had to get there around 3 - and our first concert was at 5 - then our second one started at 8.  It was a lot of fun!!  My parents and Sandi and Kai and Dan and the girls came to the first concert.  I think everyone had a really great time.  Anna was a bit anxious to go though since she had a beehive party - so I didn't get to see them after.  I got home after 11 pm totally ready to crash!

Church today was wonderful - we did a special second hour talking about the new "Come Follow Me" for individuals and families.  I am really excited to dive in and try it out.  After church, the adult choir met to practice for the Nativity Concert and Stake Conference next month.  The only downside was the total lack of Christmas music during the meetings...

Thanksgiving Fun

We've had a wonderful, yet busy week.  The kids had the whole week off of school.  Monday was still mostly laundry and grocery shopping and such.  Anna already grew out of the pants that we got her just a couple months ago, so we had to get her some new ones.  We had a fun Family Home Evening lesson about being thankful.  We made a thankful chain of all the things we are thankful for.  It was fun to watch the kids get excited about writing things on paper that they were thankful for.  

Tuesday, we went to the park.  The kids all wanted to ride bikes there, but since I have no way of taking David by bike, I had to drive and meet them there while Eileen and Anna showed the way there.  They all had a great time playing at the park and the weather was perfect for a day outside.  

Tuesday evening, I went to the church building for Stake temple recommend interviews.  The line wasn't too long, so it was nice, plus while I waited, I got to chat with a sweet older lady about crocheting.  She was such a sweet lady who crocheted blankets and doll clothes for little girls who needed them.  

 Aaron, Evie and James all had a great time building things - it started out playing blocks with David and escalated into big fancy structures that they didn't want David anywhere near....  But they had fun! 

Thursday was Thanksgiving, time to eat some of the food that we had spent the last 2 days cooking.  Sandi and Jon were having Thanksgiving with his family on Thursday, so our family all got together on Friday.  Thursday, we went to have Thanksgiving with a bunch of families in our ward who don't have local family.  It was a really nice get together with lots of yummy food and good company!  The kids had a great time too.  

Friday, we went down to my parents house for Thanksgiving dinner.  Jon wasn't feeling great, so it was just Sandi and the kids, but we all had a fun time together.  Sandi and I worked some of that blasted puzzle that my parents have had out forever and it's an awful puzzle, but Sandi won't let them put it away until it's done...  We had a fun time together - the kids love playing with their cousins.  The food was great as always! 

Saturday was a crazy busy day.  When I got up to get the day started, I found Aaron reading to David - he was reading Full Metal Alchemist to him.  David was paying rapt attention and they were so cute snuggling together!!  First things first - I took Eileen, Aaron, Evie and James to the church for the Children's choir (Eileen is playing the flute for us) It went well and the kids did great!  Then I got home and sent Dan and the younger kids off while I got things ready for the baby shower.  The baby shower was great and went well.  We had a pretty good turn out considering it was the weekend after Thanksgiving.  During the shower, Dan took the kids to the library and to a park and they had a fun time playing - but their favorite part seemed to be stopping at Costco to use the bathrooms...

 After, we met up with Sandi and Jon and my parents to go to a tree farm up near us.  The place was fun and the kids had a great time playing, but there weren't really any trees that we liked, so we had a fun afternoon playing and looking around, but didn't end up getting our tree there. 

After, we headed to the house of some friends in the ward for a campfire cooking of hot dogs and s'mores.  We had a fun evening, the kids got to go on atv rides and eat junk and then we finally headed home to crash for the night! 

Church today was wonderful!  The talks in Sacrament meeting were so great!  Dan and I got to substitute in Primary for James' class, David went to Nursery with out us and seems to have done great!  We had a fun time in primary with the kids and then Dan took the kids home for dinner while I stayed for the Nativity choir practice.  The sister missionaries stopped by in the evening and gave us copies of Lead Kindly Light in Mandarin, and helped us learn to sing it in Mandarin!  It was a lot of fun and so sweet of them! 

Getting Cold in Here!!

It was so nice that Dan was able to get last Friday and Monday this week off to spend with his parents while they were here.  We had a nice morning together, then Gene and Ann headed to the airport.  We had a great time with them and can't wait to see them again.  

David is still loving hats - so when I found this cute little had and mitten set to keep him warm in all the cold weather we've been having, he loved it!!  And he looks so cute in it!  Now we can still go for our walks and keep him warm!  

Tuesday was the usual piano lessons, and Instiute.  Eileen also had call backs for the audition for Belle in her school production of Beauty and the Beast.  She found out on Wednesday that she got the part!!!!  I'm so proud of her!

Wednesday was just the usual - Young Women's for the girls.  Thursday was another massive and long rehearsal.  This group is just huge, but it's been so much fun to sing with them!

Friday, Dan took me out on a date, we got dinner at McAllister's then headed to the theater to see the new Fantastic Beasts movie.  We enjoyed it a lot and had a great time together!

Saturday morning, Eileen and Anna got up early-ish to do a temple walk with the youth in the ward.  They both had a great time - one of the parents was kind enough to send a picture for us!  I was meeting up with the children's choir at the church to practice our songs.  The practice went well - we just need to get a few more voices!  I made some announcements this week and hopefully we will get a good turnout next week.  The afternoon was mostly taken up with going to the library and getting Eileen some new glasses.

Church today was wonderful.  Dan took David into nursery to help out the new nursery leader.  David had a ball.  He's so ready for nursery!  Just one more month until it's official!!!  The Sunday School and Relief Society lessons were both wonderful!  We had practice after church again - I can't believe it's almost Christmas!!!!  

Grandma and Grandpa!!

We've had a fun week - we've finally gotten some nice weather - not quite so rainy.  David loves wandering around outside.  He thinks it's funny to pick up the pool noodle and run around the yard using it like a lance and chasing me and the dog.  

David decided that he wanted to use mommy's computer too - so he sat down where I usually sit when I'm going to use my computer and got himself all set up!  

David also likes to raid my closet - that is my shoe rack - and since it's devoid of shoes, you can guess where those went.... 

Koopa found Anna's fake vampire teeth and we found him carrying them around - he looked pretty funny with his extra set of fangs!  

Our week has been busy - Tuesday I had institute.  Wednesday was the youth activity and a meeting for the Nativity we are doing in our Stake.  Thursday, Grandma and Grandpa Jones arrived from Idaho to visit for a few days.  They got in just in time for me to say hi before I had to run off to a very long rehearsal for choir.  We had a long, but good rehearsal!  The concert is getting close - it's very exciting!  

Friday morning after taking the kids to school, we dropped David off with a friend to baby sit and all the adults went to the temple.  We did a session and then got to do some sealings - we had a family to seal together and got to help some others with family names seal their family names too.   It was a wonderful morning!  We had a fun afternoon and evening together, and finally crashed after a long and wonderful day! 

Saturday, we had my parents come up so we could take a family picture with all the kids and both sets of grandparents.  We tried outside, but it was really cold, so this was what we ended up with.  But we got a picture and everyone is looking at the camera and almost everyone is smiling!  

Dan also took some pictures of the kids for his parents to have - David's pictures were just adorable!!  He is such a ham for the camera!  Grandpa Jones put his hat on David's head right after they got here and he's been LOVING wearing hats ever since.  He wants to wear them all the time! 

Sunday our ward choir sang in Sacrament Meeting and it was a great day at church followed by a stake choir rehearsal for the Nativity Concert. 

14

We've had a fun and busy week.  Monday morning, I got some grocery shopping done and tried to get some pumpkins to carve, but Walmart and Brookshires were both out of pumpkins!!!  Dan managed to get some on his way home, so the kids were still able to carve pumpkins for FHE that night.  They had a great time, and I had fun walking up and down the block with David to look at Halloween decorations.  

Tuesday was a typical day, David and I had a nice morning and the kids had a good day at school.  In the evening, i had institute and that was it - I was beat! 

Wednesday was Halloween - but it was a rainy day.  :(  It drizzled/rained/poured all day long.  I watched a friend's daughter for her while she had her doctor's appointment, she's a sweet little girl, and she fell asleep near the end.  I made some lunch for my friend since she had to fast for the doctor's appointment, and we had a nice time eating and chatting together.  After dinner and scriptures, we set off around the neighborhood ready to pass out candy - and thankfully, the rain let up just enough for trick-or-treating!  It was still chilly, but the kids had a good time.  The neighborhood was just full of kids walking around with their families!  Our last neighborhood had plenty of people handing out candy, but not a whole lot of kids trick-or treating, so it was fun to have so much of the neighborhood out and about to meet with and chat with!  After making the rounds, we headed home for a good nights sleep.  The kids all wore the same costumes as for the party last week, but David looked so cute and ready to go!  He was so happy to get to walk around the neighborhood, but didn't really care about the candy.  He LOVED a big inflated, moving black can on someone's lawn.  He kept crouching down and growling at it!  It was so cute and so funny!  Plus he didn't want to leave it!

Thursday was a nice quiet day for recovery!  And a bit of a crazy kid day after all the excitement.  I had choir in the evening which was wonderful - then home and to bed!!! 

Friday was Eileen's birthday.  I can't believe that my oldest daughter is 14.  She is really an amazing young woman.  She wanted a Voltron cake for her birthday, so Dan made that for her Thursday night, and she wanted Chicken Roll-ups and brussel sprouts for dinner.  She got a cute shirt from us and a really cute skirt from Grandma and Grandpa Jones.  All in all, it was a nice evening. 

Saturday was rather crazy busy.  In the morning, The girls and I set off for the church for a women's 5K run.  They were giving out Tiaras for the first 60 people - and Anna wanted one, so we headed over a little early.  Then we did the 5k.  Anna heard that they were giving out sashes to the first 3 places and she really wanted one, so she headed out strong and managed to be the 3rd finisher!!  She was so amazing!  Evelyn also did a great job!  I walked with Eileen and we walked and chatted the whole way, we fell in with another sister near the end and finished last together :)  We had a fun breakfast together, then headed home.  At noon, we headed back to the church for a baptism for the daughter of some of our friends, then we got home in time to get things ready for family coming over.  

My parents and Sandi and her kids came over to celebrate Eileen and Mom's birthdays.  We had a yummy lunch followed by opening presents.  Eileen got a bow and arrows and target and she was so excited!  She wants to be an archer.  :)   After, we had cake, then Dan took Eileen to go shoot for a bit, then we all just had a fun afternoon playing and chatting and the kids had a blast riding bikes in front of the house.  James finally started riding his two wheeler!  He still needs a bit of help to get started, but once he gets going, he does great!!  He is so proud of himself!  

This is just a cute picture of David after baths.  :)  

Church was wonderful.  The testimonies were wonderful, the lessons were wonderful!  After, we were all starving and ready for dinner!!  It was a wonderful day for fasting together as a Stake and fasting for a purpose. 

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!