November 2017

After coming off of the nine days of Halloween celebrations, a slow start to November was just what we needed. Joey wears his cowboy hat all the time. And he is smart and strong enough to climb up to the candy storage bin while Mommy is in the shower to help himself to a treat - or three.

Just after we moved to Rigby from Meridian, the Meridian Temple was announced. We knew that once it was completed we had to go back for the open house. Seven years later...here we are. We spend the night with our friends Dave and Trenna McCashland. Tommy and Annie were so cute sharing their bed, they slept amazingly well together.

We had to get up early to make it for our scheduled tour. It was a beautiful morning, still dark and the chill of fall in the air. The kids were so excited. Since we had gone through the Idaho Falls Temple recently, everyone knew what to expect and they were prepared to be reverent. Tommy did not spend the entire tour on the verge of tears because he was afraid of the shoe covers (like last time). All images of the temple are from www.lds.org

 The celestial room feels so tall compared to the Boise temple. The open feeling is really wonderful.

 We were excited to show the kids another sealing room and talk about how this is where marriages are performed.

 Our favorite area was the baptistry. It has walk ways that surround the baptismal font and provide a clear view of the ordinances. The art work is beautiful. Joey was excited about the "cows" and it was a little hard to keep him from mooing and saying "cow-moo, cow-moo" during what is supposed to be a silent tour.

There were a lot of stairs to navigate. Joey wanted to try some of them on his own, so Daddy and the big kids went ahead to the outside reception area while Mommy and Joey slowly made our way down. We exited at a door without an usher and ended up walking almost all the way around the temple before we figured out how to wind back and get to the rest of the family. Daddy thought we were lost. I guess you can never be lost as long as you're at the temple. We found each other and had fun taking pictures and reading more about the construction of the temple.

Then we had time for one last walk around the temple grounds before it was time to return home.

We are so glad we went and could give our children the chance to experience how special temples are.  We are also so glad that Joey can still be entertained with Cheetos so we can keep driving!

Lily made this cute pyramid shaped diorama about dolphins at school. We now have a few copy cat dioramas floating around the house - with rocks, sticks, and grass in the carpet to prove it.

Tommy squeezed his toy super hero cape over a bouncy ball and professed his love for his "super ball". It provided hours of fun - and fighting between brothers over who got to bounce the ball next.

One night Lily tried to help herself to applesauce and ended up with way more than she could handle. She had a good laugh and helped us clean it up.

We love the movie "Sing" and there is a section of the movie where the mommy pig dances in the grocery store to the song "Bamboleo". Sometimes at night we will turn that song on while we do dishes and clear the table. Anne was inspired to make decorations and dig out Daddy's mission hats to make our evening chores more festive. Joey loves hats and dancing, he was happy to join the fun.

Daddy was called away on a business trip to Hawaii the same week as our Primary program. Tommy stole the show with his line "Jesus has a mustache." His class was asked to tell the ward something they know or feel about Jesus. Apparently that was what stood out to Tommy. The girl just before Tommy said "Jesus has black hair" but she has a bit of a speech impediment so it sounded more like "Jesus has back hair". The congregation was cracking up once those two delivered their parts of the program. Since Daddy was gone and Mommy was tired, we had ice cream right after church to celebrate the kids participation in the Primary program. Each child colored a cover of the ward bulletin for that Sunday. Someone in the ward knew I would want Tommy's picture of our family so she sent this picture to me. I wish I had copies of what the girls drew too.

We did some watercolor painting and these are the girls' pictures. Annie did a rainbow. Lily decide don a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I love the bright colors.

To pass the time on Sunday afternoons, the kids like to take pictures and make videos of each other.

Mommy braved taking all the kids to Family Fitness Night at the school while Daddy was in Hawaii. We played with hula hoops, did some line dancing and Zumba, and just had fun.

Joey was more interested in sampling each flavor of smoothie, than exercising.

It was a great way to wear out the kids and have a family family night too.

Our ward Relief Society did a service night for an activity. Sisters donated children's books and stuffed animals. Two dentists in our ward donated tooth brushes and toothpaste. Then we came together to tie blankets and fill over night emergency bags for our local domestic violence shelter. Now when moms come in to the shelter, their children will have a blanket, stuffed animal and a few other fun things to take comfort in while mom works with the shelter staff to get the family settled.

Lily and Annie can't imagine a family where the mommy and children would be hurt by the daddy. When I explained why were donating some of their old toys and books, they wanted to help more. I decided to let them come with me to the activity and help tie blankets too. It was a good experience for all of us.


After spending a fabulous week in Hawaii, Daddy finally came home to us. The boys wanted to take him to our new city park. Daddy was happy to go play, but he was freezing cold.

We love the park so much that we went three times in just one week. We have to get in all our outdoor play time before temperatures get too frigid. Daddy is a master at the zipline swing. All the kids love it when Daddy pushes them.

Annie had to go in for another VCUG procedure. She was so tough and brave. The good news is that she does not have any urine reflux and she has been infection free for six months, so the doctor said we can stop taking daily antibiotics. Now we will just watch her carefully and encourage her to drink and go potty frequently.

The girls got a special bread order. One of Lily's 1st grade teachers asked for 32 mini loaves of wheat bread to give a Christmas gifts. We did a practice run in the mini pans and loved how they turned out. 32 loaves means 4 batches of bread. That's a lot of baking. The girls are excited to buy Christmas presents for the family all on their own this year, so they are working hard to earn some money.

We have a new family past time - getting dizzy on the coffee table. Daddy is a master at spinning the kids. They love it and all stand around the table waiting for their turn.

Lily is so tall, she has to curl up in order to fit on the table.

I took lots of Thanksgiving pictures on Daddy's phone this year - unfortunately, Daddy's phone died the week after Thanksgiving and we hadn't retrieved any of the photos. So sad.  We got to spend Thanksgiving in Utah at Grammy and Grampy's house. Puna, Papa, and Uncle Brady joined us there too.

The night before Thanksgiving we went to Thanksgiving Point's Luminaria display. It was amazing to see the gardens all decked out in lights. We were so lucky with the weather too. No wind or rain. It was chilly but not miserable. The kids had a wonderful time.

We spend a lot of time at the games area. Puna bought everyone mini doughnuts and hot cocoa. The kids liked the corn hole and reindeer ring toss games.

The girls liked the fire pit and doing a little dancing with Daddy, Grammy, and Grampy.

Joey didn't want to leave the reindeer. Mommy and Daddy had to take turns following him. He somehow kept finding his way back to the reindeer pen. I think he was hoping to touch one, but the straw bales and fences kept us too far back.

The Gingerbread House was a fun stop. There were amazing gingerbread creations on display. Some of them were lit and animated.

This house with pretzel rod log siding was stunning in person. Thank you to all of our grandparents for a fun night. The kids want to go again next year.

A trip to Grammy and Grampy's house is never complete without some time in the hot tub. I am always amazed there is any water left in the tub once our kids are finished "swimming".

Uncle Brady gave Tommy a one on one football lesson. They were so cute to watch.

Puna helped the girls assemble a candy Advent calendar. It was a practice run for a craft Puna wants to do with her Activity Days girls. There were a few bumps in the process, but it turned out great in the end. And I am sure the kids will love getting a treat every night during Christmas.

The boys favorite part of Thanksgiving day was dessert. They were excited to show off their cupcake turkeys - and eat them.

We took the kids to the train museum in Ogden. They loved playing in the train cars and seeing all the guns. I took most of the pictures on Daddy's phone - so they are lost to us now. But I did get these two of the kids running around outside. The weather was amazing the entire weekend.

We recently started the Harry Potter series of books with the girls. We heard there would be a Harry Potter street set up inside one of the local shopping malls. We thought the kids would love it. The experience was a little disappointing. We waited over an hour in line and once we entered the "street" there wasn't much to see or do.

In the wand shop, Lily was selected to try some magic. She turned the lights on and off and made it snow.

We played with Quidditch balls for a little while

And as promised, we bought the kids chocolate frogs and every flavor beans. The girls said it was wonderful. The adults were not that impressed, but if the kids had fun, it was worth it.

On our last night in Utah, the kids did smores and hot tub swimming with some cousins.

We truly have so much to be thankful for! Especially our amazing parents and grandparents. Thank you for hosting us this year Grammy and Grampy.

The Monday after Thanksgiving we put up our tree for family home evening. The first decoration the kids wanted to put up was our new Advent calendar. I am amazed they didn't eat all the candy out of it already.

The control freak in me tried to step back and let the kids put decorations wherever they wanted. The kids did a pretty good job. Joey was more interested in taking ornaments off the tree and climbing into the empty boxes.

When it was all finished, we snuggled on the couch to read scriptures by the light of the tree. I love how magical Christmastime feels.

Annie is excelling in school. She has started going to a second grade class to do math because she is learning so quickly. Her Spanish is excellent and she is willing to practice all the time. She earned two awards from her teachers for all her hard work. One is a ticket to wear slippers all day at school. Another is a ticket to bring  stuffed animal to school and keep it with her all day. She can't wait to cash them in.

We had a sweet experience with Joey and our outdoor nativity set. I was testing the lights in the figures of the set and getting it ready to set up outside. I had not unpacked the baby Jesus yet. Joey wanted baby Jesus to be represented, so he got a baby doll, put a blanket in the manger, and then turned all the figures to look at the baby. He often likes to play in the garage, so we left him out there, not knowing what he was doing. When I saw what he had done, I was so overcome with emotion. Thanks Joey for showing us the reason for this season. I hope you will always love Jesus.

I took this picture on my last day of babysitting at the gym. The benefits were not worth to cost and I decided to quit. Good thing I never became a teacher. I have learned that I really don't enjoy being in charge of a lot of kids.

After months of waiting - and honestly worrying our neighbor would never finish this project - we finally got our back patio expansion done.

Joey stood watch at the back door all day long. He couldn't get enough of the trucks. The pouring went pretty fast.

It was the leveling and smoothing that took all day.

Joey loved every bit of it.

These are pictures of the patio from my back door, moving right to left.

Hopefully we can get a cover built this year or next year and have a fantastic shady spot for eating, playing, and entertaining in the years to come.
We are so sad about Daddy's phone. We had so many pictures form October and November that were lost - including Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Dad's Hawaii trip. The good news is, we have an old phone that works perfectly well, so we didn't have to pay to replace the phone. And maybe someday we can pay to have the pictures retrieved.  We are so happy to begin the Christmas season. It really is the most wonderful time of the year.