autumn

Last night we had our stake auxiliary training .  My favorite comment of the night was from Pres. Sakai.  He shared this verse in 3 Nephi and talked about the great joy that our obedience brings the Savior.  I was struck by that verse and what a gift it is to us.  I often reflect on the atonement and the pain and suffering I caused the Savior to feel.  It's awful. Thinking of being the source of joy so full that it brings Him to weep is lovely.  I am grateful to know how important we are to Him.

3 Nephi 17

20And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full. 

21And when he had said these words, he wept , and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. 

Pumpkin Carving Party

Tonight we had our Girl Scout  pumpkin carving party. It was tons of loud, crazy, fun!

socktober, activity days and more science

love this picture

Hannah was home sick today, and yesterday.  I took her to the doc yesterday and told them she had strep.  She tested (-), today they called back and said "guess what she has strep".  So a) at least three days of school missed.  b) I thought no tonsils meant no strep.  c) her prescription cost 49 cents. There are many things to complain about but our prescription drug costs are not one of them.  Poor Han.

Tonight Grace had recognition night for activity days.  It was super nice.  Darlaina and Michelle do such a great job with the girls.

So it was around 5:30 tonight and Ethan told me he was supposed to bring a treat to scouts.  Which surprised me because I don't think he's ever asked before and also it starts at 7.  So we walked the dogs quickly and got out the door in time to stop at Target for some treats.  When we got there he said, oh btw it's socktober.  What's that?  Apparently they are collecting socks this month and then donating them.  The class with the most collected socks wins.  His homeroom is ahead, in large part because Sar donated 45 pair.  Ethan is the only kid who hasn't brought any.  When was that going to be mentioned?  So we bought some for donating and some for R who needs socks. Then we went to the church.  When we walked into church Grace said "oh yay! I'm supposed to bring a treat tonight too." Where was this info while we were standing in the treat aisle?  5 minutes earlier??

Can home late to more science homework.  It's cold today.  Yoho is losing his hair :( but otherwise doing "well" and I made a pinterest dish that was not tasty tonight for dinner.

junior scouts

We had our girl scout rededication ceremony tonight.  These cute girls are so spunky and full of energy.  This is our complete troop, in full uniform.  So cute.  This is Grace's fourth year of girl scouts and she loves it and loves the good friends she has made.

Madison, Fiona, Lacy, Katie, Grace, Reagan

Ava, Samantha, Grace

This is what they normally look like :)

Ethan is working on a science project.  As is usual.  Some how he gathers a lot of helpers in his projects.  Hey mom, do you want to get the water in the test tube?  Grace do you want to shake it?   Mom, can you put the nitrate test drops in?  Grace....  He's a born delegater, or Tom Sawyer.  Not sure yet which one.

Walking the dogs tonight and we saw this cool halloweeny house.  There are a number of houses that really go all out in our neighborhood.  

Ethan went to the dentist today.  He still has 11 baby teeth, which is a lot for a 12 year old boy.  Our dentist asked him to participate in a new way of teeth brushing.... wait for it....he would like him to use a toothbrush.  Revolutionary.

BYD

Sundays are our favs.  President and Sister Cook from the mission spoke at our sacrament meeting today.  It was really good.

We came home and made dinner then dad and Han and Ethan went over to the Buxton's for BYD.  The doggies and I walked over with them.  It's getting chilly at night.  They had a good turn out, 27 youth, and the kids had a good time.

When they came home we skyped with the Brandts.  Always a treat.  I stayed up late making cookies.  Hopefully they will turn out just as well as the other day and that I can be a profient home baker!

In sad news they announced some changes to the high council and Larry (the stake YM pres) is on it. I was so surprised, he hasn't been in very long, not quite two years.  I have loved working with him.  I wonder who the new guy will be?

i love to see the temple

Our temple was closed for cleaning for a month.  Now it's open again.  Rob and I went after the kid stuff was done.  It actually turned out to be a great day to go, Hannah had Loraine over to hang out, Ethan was invited to Sar's and Grace to Maggie's and both their parents agreed to bring the kids home so everyone had something fun to do for the first several hours then they just spent the evening together and went to bed.  

I love to go to the temple, I always have.  It is such a place of peace and refuge.  A place where you can do such meaningful work.  It is a place of insight and learning.  

Last night was very instructive as well. Growing in understanding is a precious gift.  I love the feeling when my mind is learning: there is something there, something to know and understand and I can feel the edges of it and I know it's there but I can't quite get it, so I search and wait and ponder and then sometimes a little light shines and a pearl of truth becomes clear and it fills me with joy, and a sigh of contentment and gratitude. I have been given a gift,  knowledge that will help me be better, do better.  For some, I imagine, this is frequent, for me it is rare.  Usually I learn much more in the "line upon line, precept on precept" fashion often not realizing that the learning has happened until later when looking back I see growth or have a different perspective.  A slow, slow meander down a stream but sometimes you hit a tiny rapid and how fun that is!

 Anna went to visit Andrea and Yoho this weekend.  They took the boys to the Phoenix temple open house.  We chatted Friday night late into the night as she drove.  R and E were on a scout camp out so I had all the time in the world.  Anna is so good at being there for the important stuff. What do you call that gift, or talent?  The being there when you are neededness?? I admire that.

I love knowing that my family loves the temple.  Jenna and Clayton also went to the Palmyra temple yesterday.  They go often.  Dani and Greg go often, Val and Ryan go often.  Sierra goes often and does baptisms. Dad goes every day :).  Mom and Dad go often.  Anna and Ama go often.  We are a temple going people (our little clan) and this brings me such happiness. Our littles love to go and rejoice at the opportunity. Everyone who can go, goes as often as they can...which is wonderful :)

the hardest part, with guest blogger Grace

Grace and I are laying in bed talking about the day.  We have a three day weekend and we think we'll go to the movies today.

Noah and Reggie

There is one hard thing about our life, a glaring hole.  Mom, that's a lie, there is more than one hard thing. School. Life.
But we digress, the thing I was going to say was that we live so far away from our family.  They all live relatively close to each other (same coast of the U.S.) and can with a small amount of effort visit one another. We have to get a second job to see anyone.  No! What about Jenna? Is she on a different coast?!

Hey! I have an idea we should move across North America?? Can we? We live where dad's job is.

Scarlett

But these kissable cheeks close enough to see a couple times a year would be awesome!! Scar is almost 1 and Deo just turned 2.  Cute babies!

Deo

Spencer, Kenz and Tanner

These rug rats are almost grown up.  They are tons of fun.  I can not believe that Tanner will be going on a mission in 2 year...or less.  I remember when we just found out he was coming to earth and how excited we all were to have a boy! I bought him some cute little basketball tennis shoes/crib shoes.  This picture is from our summer vacay, August at Lake Tahoe, looks warm and toasty right? It wasn't too toasty in the water.  

Penny

Penny is going to be a Crood for Halloween. So next year we have baby boy arriving, Sierra's graduation, mom and dad's 50th, all far far away. I can not get to all those places from here with out a second job, owning my own plane or growing wings.  Or you could just get a real job!

• for the record this is only a small photo sampling of westies, that's what I just started calling the west coast contingent of the family. Like we call the folks from France the frenchies and two little girls the sassy pants.

is that something that normal humans call them or just you and Val?