November

Annie turned the big 10!  She got her hair dyed purple, her ears pierced, we had donuts for breakfast, and we had a night games/Mario movie party for her.  We love our little Annie!  I took her and her friend Clara to the Kitty Cat Cafe during her birthday week, too.

 

 

 

 

 

These girls look very presidential in the stake offices.  Kate works her magic making Grant a car. Other fun outings include: trampoline park, roller skating, and Grant is living his best life at preschool!

 

 

 

  

 

 

Thanksgiving in Idaho began with a 6 hour delayed flight from KC-SLC.  We didn't pack for a winter storm but the kids were able to borrow enough snow clothes to play outside with cousins.  They all said playing in the snow and going on sled rides were their favorite part of the trip.  

 

                

 

 

 

 

I got to see my Declo friends, Holly and Chelsea who also happened to be in town visiting family for Thanksgiving.  

October

It's the MOST Wonderful TIME of the YEAR!

I took a trip for a ladies retreat halfway through October.  My old BYU roommate Jessica was hosting, and I got to see my old roommate, Natalie, who I hadn't seen since my wedding day 16 years ago!  I was also able to catch up with my friend Paige and my cousin Jacobie.  It was SUCH a great trip, so good to recharge the batteries and connect with old friends.  I'm so luck to have had good friends in my life.  The kids were excited to show me a cool monster they had built for Grant to practice attacking while I was gone.

 

 

We were having a hard time squeezing trips in to Worlds of Fun & Fun Farm before they closed for the season and we made it happen, although it rained on us at Fun Farm.  Annie was brave and went to the Haunt with David and rode all the big roller coasters!

 

 

 

Annie and Grant were sick for a few days and kept each other company.

 

 

Kate is so creative; she made Julie a cool leaf crown, baked a "very un-birthday" cake for Grant, and did some bracelet-making with Annie.  She also had a pizza party to celebrate the end of her soccer season; she had a blast with her team and they won their age division!  Mason's team, on the other hand, didn't win a single game but they did have fun and had a pizza party at their coach's house at the end of the season.

 

 

One night, David took the girls to play pickleball and I took the boys to the library and out for frozen yogurt.  I played connect four with Mason and he smoked me twice, and then I accidently beat him two times.  It's getting hard to keep up with this young man!  I also took Kate, Annie and Grant to a symphony in Liberty where our neighbor Jonathan was playing the French Horn.

 

Moments like this that I just want to remember--David reading to the kids, Mason and Kate sharing books, we're all together.  Cici's pizza is a rare place where we can all go out to eat together.

 

Grant is doing so great in preschool!  It was fun to go on a field trip with him to an apple orchard.

 

 

My friend Leisel and I went to an author meet downtown (Jermaine Fowler with Humanity Archive).  It was inspiring!

Halloween!  We had a school trunk or treat, our neighborhood porch crawl & the ward trunk or treat (where I served some warm bantha milk from Star Wars, which was blueberry flavored milk thanks to Shatto Dairy), and my Halloween dinner (with lots of fun with David's dry ice, including Grant's bath).  We watched Hotel Transylvania 3 after getting The Page Master voted out.  I wish I could have shown my kids the "petting zoo" trick or treat hall at my school, but they had fun at their own school parties.