November...

The toy catalog came in the mail and the kids wasted no time circling everything they could possibly want. 

 Reading time is our favorite time of day. Especially when it involves books about funny underwear. 

 Mommy and Daddy got to sneak away for an afternoon of BYU football. 

 Mommy and Tessa hit up some sales at the mall. This girl is a crack up to shop with. And her outfits always make the shopping trips more entertaining. 

 Mommy got called to be a Gospel Doctrine teacher. While it is a daunting calling, I am so grateful to be able to study the scriptures more. 

 Tessa taught Gwen how to fold towels one evening. 

 Adam and Tessa put new (ridiculous) signs on their bedroom doors. 

 Tessa had "the worst day of her whole school career" a couple of weeks ago. One of her best friends said she didn't want to be friends anymore, cause she thought Tessa had been spying on her during recess. But it was a different redhead that this girl saw. Tessa was pretty devastated. But they had both forgotten the whole incident 2 days later. We had some extra bedtime snuggles that night while Tessa told me all her 3rd grade drama. 

 Caleb dancing at Story Time. With a Storm Trooper blaster, of course. 

 Adam had his 5th grade choir concert at school. He was excited to perform the songs they had learned in choir and only yawned through parts of his performance. 

Super Moon 2016

Last Sunday and Monday, we got to enjoy the beautiful Super Moon. We checked it out before bed on Sunday night, and the kids got up super early to check it out on Monday morning. It was certainly a site to behold!

Veteran's Day

In October, Adam wrote an essay for school about Veteran's Day and what it means to him. We didn't even know he wrote it until he turned it in. I was gone for a weekend in early November and got an email notification on my phone that I had an email from Adam Nielson. What? I opened the email and not only was I shocked to receive my first email from my oldest child, but in his email, he told me that he won an essay contest for Veteran's Day and would be reading his essay for the Veterans Day assembly as school. We were so proud of him! 

Mommy got to go and hear him read his essay in front of his entire school and about 100 Veterans who were special guests at the assembly. He did such a great job! He said he wasn't very nervous, which was good, because Mommy was super nervous for him. 

 In his essay, he mentioned his Great Grandpa Nielson, his Great Grandpa Lemley, and his Uncle's Danny and Jake. He even took pictures of them to show during his essay. He told a story about his Great Grandpa Nielson that I had never even heard. I guess having him work on family history this summer paid off. 

 He said he received so many compliments after the assembly, that he didn't know how to answer people after a while. We are proud of Adam for being such a great kid. He truly appreciates the brave men and women who give so much to protect our freedom. 

Election Day 2016

This election had us all banging our heads against the wall. It has been an ugly campaign for both parties, that left the American people frustrated. We have kind of been dreading this election because neither of the candidates made us very happy. But, we voted and made our voices heard. 

 We had a patriotic dinner and some good discussions about our voting process and what was happening with the results we were hearing. The kids were just happy to get hamburgers for dinner. 

 Mommy made her first homemade apple pie. It was the best part of our night!

 Adam wanted to stay up all night and watch the results. We stayed up pretty late listening to the news. We woke up to learn that Donald Trump had won the election. We were relieved that it wasn't Hilary, but we also have our reservations about President-Elect Trump. We can only go forward now and pray for him and his staff that they will make righteous decisions for our country. No matter the outcome of this election, we wanted our kids to know how lucky they are to live in the United States, to have the ability and freedom to vote for new leaders, and to enjoy all the freedom that we do. Those are thing that make America great and we are so blessed to be able to live here!

 But, Mommy was secretly hoping this would magically happen...

Family Goals

Many, many months ago, we started reading the Book of Mormon together as a family. Again. We have started several times over the years with the kids, but never got past Alma. Needless to say, our kids know the stories in 1st and 2nd Nephi really well! This time was different though and we set a goal to finally finish it. Reading with kids is not always easy and it felt like we would never finish on the nights where we could only read a couple of verses. But, we continued and on November 3rd, we read the very last chapter! It was fun to see how excited the kids were getting the closer we got to the end. They were constantly counting pages and chapters. It was great for them to see that accomplishing a goal was in their grasp. We learned a lot from reading the Book of Mormon this year as a family and I am so thankful we have the scriptures to keep us grounded and help us remember what is truly important. 

Back to 1st Nephi we go....

October Round-Up

At the beginning of her first set of lessons, Tessa got a pass to skate once a week for free. Daddy was amazing and took Tessa every week for the whole month. They always had such a fun time together. 

 Mommy got to sneak away one evening and go to Witches Night Out at Gardner Village. I was finally starting to feel better and getting an appetite back, and even smiling somewhat normally. Then at the end of the month, the Orthodontist put rubber bands back on my braces. So much for all of that...

 Getting up for school some mornings is more than Gwen can handle.

 We went to visit Uncle Ryan at work one afternoon. 

 Tessa was in charge of one of our FHE treats this month. She found out our lesson was on the Holy Ghost and she made Holy Ghost pops for everyone. Super cute!

 School prizes...gotta love 'em.

 Caleb loved reading Halloween books this year. And watching "George Pumpkin" over and over and over and over and over again.

 The benefits of leaving crazy early for school. We love watching the sunrise. 

 If he isn't watching "George Pumpkin" he's lost in a pile of toys. 

 Mommy read a book! Really though...this is a big deal! Probably the only book I read this year that wasn't church or gospel related. I love to read and wish I could do more of it. By the time I have time to read at night, I usually smack myself in the face with the book because I fall asleep while reading. This was a good, spooky one and I loved it!

 Gwen got to wear her costume to dance class the week before Halloween. She loves her ballet class!!

 Story Time at the Library

 This should have had it's own post, but oh well. Adam received a special award at school for making the high honor roll during the first term. He really wanted to do this and worked hard to keep his grades up. He is doing 8th grade math, so it's challenging him and that is good. He was super proud of himself and we were proud of him for working so hard. 

 One of Tessa's tests that she received an A+ on was displayed on their classroom board. Mommy had Parent/Teacher Conference in October. Both teachers had nothing but wonderful things to say about both kids and they both had awesome grade first term. 

 The colors this fall have been gorgeous. This picture does not do them justice! We have enjoyed this fall season so much!

Halloween 2016

The day before Halloween, the kids put their costumes on and we went to the Sports Park for some pictures. I wanted to make sure we got some good shots of their costumes this year, without making our actual Halloween day super crazy. They never complain about getting to dress up, so they were totally fine with a picture day.

 Caleb would not keep his mask on. When you're two, you call the shots!

 Caleb the Storm Trooper

 Gwen the Ballerina

 Tessa as Rey

 Adam as Darth Vader

 Caleb loved having "Bader" around. 

 I threw my car keys on the grass at one point when Caleb was actually holding still for a picture, and then chased the kids around taking more pictures. Which resulted in me not being able to find my keys again. We all looked for a few minutes and then I heard one of the kids say, "Shouldn't we say a prayer?" I was still looking and just answered them with a, "Yes, that would be a good idea". Thinking that we would gather together and say a quick prayer,. But when I turned around, this is what I saw. They all stopped right where they were and were praying themselves. Talk about a proud Mommy moment. We found the keys just moments later. 

 This was their "We Found the Keys" cheer!

 The older kids had a half day of school on Halloween. Most of the day was spend in preparation for the evening. Mommy intended on dressing up, but this is as festive as I got. 

 We had the whole family over for dinner. We had a spooky spider nacho bar for dinner

 Uncle Ben stole the show and was probably our favorite part of the night. He bought this costume with Caleb in mind. And Caleb was amazed!! Can you imagine being a 2 year old boy and having a T-Rex walk into your house? 

 Ben danced for us and we couldn't stop laughing!!

Everyone had such great costumes this year!! They all went Trick or Treating and came back with tons of candy. I'd say it was a successful Halloween. 

 Ma and Pa always give the kids a fun Halloween card with $2. A tradition they have carried on from my Grandma Lemley. It's something the kids always look forward to!