Setting Up the Christmas Tree

For Family Home Evening we set up the Christmas Tree. The kids could barely contain themselves until after the lesson, but somehow we all managed.

Lexie & Joseph were great helpers putting up the tree & Andrew danced to our new Christmas CD from Barbara's family.

We love the Christmas season!

Thanksgiving Travels

"We tripped, and now we're home."

We travelled up to Idaho for Thanksgiving. It was a long (painful) drive, but we survived thanks to a couple hour stop in Utah. We enjoyed staying in Jason & Bergen's lovely new home. (I've got a new idea of what my dream house is like now-thanks.) The kids had so much fun in "their rooms" & playing with the guitar. By the way, if you ever have the chance to stay in the home of a chiropractor & massage therapist-do it. It was so much fun staying up & playing games each night.

The whole family was able to make it out for Thanksgiving, so we had to get a big family picture in.

We played Rock Band at Scott & Chrissy's awesome new house. Playing RB there is out of control, the notes are as big as your head--so much fun!

We also had time for a girls lunch out to celebrate birthdays.

On the way home we stopped over in Utah to stay the night with my sister. We really enjoyed the company & all of the wonderful music there. We sure have some talented nieces (& nephews).

It was so much fun to see so many cousins. The kids loved it & so did we! We're grateful for our wonderful families & for all they do for us.

Service

Tonight Lexie went to go finish coloring her picture she had been working on before school. However when she saw her picture, she whined, "Hey, somebody colored my picture and I wasn't finished with it yet!" Joseph excitedly ran over and exclaimed, "Sister, I was doing service!" How can you get upset about that?

BYU vs Air Force

We had some friends come to town to visit for the weekend. We all went to the BYU game. We got there a bit early to walk around the Air Force Academy grounds. It was a beautiful day & an even better game. (It's always a good game when BYU wins.)

The First Snow!

We woke up to snow! The kids were super excited! We had a fun little snowball fight. Then the kids tried to build a snowman.

After all the fun in the snow we had to warm up with some yummy hot chocolate!

Thoughts

So many thoughts today. So many things to feel, discover, analyze. But mostly, I feel empty.

Feeling Empty

Yesterday I was spotting. I had an appointment set up for tomorrow. Today I woke up with a lot of pain and miscarried. I feel pretty sad. Empty. Hoping and trusting that our Heavenly Father really does know what's best for us. We were really excited for this little one to join our family.
 11/14/08
A few weeks ago Joseph touched my stomach and said, "You have a baby in there." We hadn't told him we are pregnant yet. Today he touched  my stomach and said, "The baby isn't there anymore." We didn't tell him we miscarried. I love how in tune children just are with the spirit.

We Love Fall!

The kids are loving all of the fall leaves. Every time we go outside they ask to find a new leaf for their collection.

We finally made our turkey decoration that we've had for years. The kids had so much fun helping to poke the feathers into the pumpkin.

Here they are with our turkey & "thankful trees." When you stop by you can write down what you are thankful for on a paper leaf & hang it on a thankful tree. We love fall!

Friday Field Trip

I took the kids to The Wildlife Experience this morning. They have a "lucky 7" day on the 7th of each month where the kids are 77 cents to get in (thanks Kristy for telling me about it). We had a really fun time. Lexie's favorite part was the slide. Joseph's favorite was "everything." Andrew really liked the cub's corner. He pitched a fit when we left the kid area. They really liked the robot zoo with the chameleon, fly, & platypus. They also had a Grossology exhibit. We learned about tapeworms, leeches, cow's stomachs (& all the joys associated with that), & played many icky games. Good times.

 Lexie loves to color!

 Andrew playing in the kid area.

 A huge elephant tooth wouldn't fit in our mouths.

Election Day

When Joseph got home from school he couldn't wait to tell me about his election. The kids got to vote for their next snack: ice cream or pizza. Pizza won. (Poor Joseph got a little confused, he really wanted to vote for ice cream but he "x-ed" pizza because he is so used to x-ing out the wrong answer on his homework.)
When we picked Lexie up from school, she couldn't wait to tell me about her election. The kids got to vote for their next president: Tigger or Mickey Mouse. Tigger ran on the platform of "P.E. every day & a trampoline out on the playground". Mickey promised pizza every day for lunch. Tigger won. At first Lexie thought Mickey would be more fun to vote for, "but after listening to what he had to say" she liked Tigger more. (Two of the teachers dressed up as Mickey & Tigger & made a campaign commercial for the kids.)
If only all elections were that easy.

And, we voted also! (But we took care of that last week.)

Did you see...

...the poor, lost looking boy on page 62 of the Conference issue of the Ensign? That is my little brother. Isn't he so cute?

(He wasn't really lost, he was just looking for someone.)

Also, did you notice this? Look at the cover of the August Ensign. Then, look at pg. 26 of the September Ensign.

It's a good example of using resources frugally.

Fall Cleaning

Today was a gorgeous day (75 degrees, sunny). We couldn't let it go to waste. We did some clearance Halloween costume shopping for fun dress-ups for the kids. Rick had a great Ward flag football game. Then the real fun started. We cleaned out the garden, fertilized the trees, filled 2 of our water barrels, & cleaned out the garage. We really needed this. Thank goodness we get an extra hour of sleep tonight.