Adam's First Report Card

Today was Adam's first parent/teacher conference. I was excited to hear what his teacher had to say about our boy! Mrs. Hales said he is doing amazing well! He is ahead of where he needs to be and she is impressed with how well he can read, write, and count. She said he is a model student and a joy to have in her classroom!

Good job Big Guy!!!

Culture Shock!

Elder Lemley finally received his Visa last week and the next day was on his way to Brazil! We got our first email from him this week and while we feel bad for him, it also made us giggle. He is experiencing what every missionary gets to experience and it will only make him a better person and a better missionary! Here is some of his first email from Brazil.....

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where the heck am I????? For having 3 people in our family serve in Brazil and four learning a new language, why do I feel so unprepared?!?!?! Brazil is freakishly different! There is NO dress code in Brazil! AND bugs apparently like to eat humans alive! Especially if they are American! Blegh....things are different. It will take time to adjust to everything. Of course I have been sick since I got here. Cold, sore throat, now sore throat and upset stomach. Yup, exciting. My companion is Elder Blend (Blen-gee). He is from Sau Paulo. He speaks NO English AND we are white washing the area. We are in uh, Cordeiro or Cardeiro....something like that. It is right next to the city, so we are only like a 5-10 minutes bus ride from the mission office. Our President speaks barely any English, so our first night here was interesting. And no, I don't understand much because people speak SO fast!!

I am not looking forward to the next few months. Church yesterday was interesting. Didn't understand anything. I just feel awkward all the time. Wanna know something else? Guess who the ward/primary pianist is here? That would be me...cause I was messing around on the piano at church. I CAN ONLY PLAY THE RIGHT HAND!! So, add that to my stress list. I know I need to have more patience, that is my weak point. Just pray for me! Forgive me, I won't get a letter off today cause I am trying to learn the ropes of everything here and need to figure stuff out. But I will get letters off next week. I promise! I love you all!!! Love, Elder Lemley"

Eric is SO excited that David is finally there and after reading his email Monday night, Eric spent like 45 minutes looking on the computer figuring out where David is, how close he is to the temple, and how close he is to any areas where Eric served. We are excited for David and know with time he will learn to love Brazil and adjust. Hopefully the bugs don't eat him alive in the process!

More Halloween Fun!

Yesterday the kids turned each other into Mummy's!

They had so much fun with a simple roll of toilet paper!

Afterwards they had an awesome "snowball" fight.

Today we took pictures with our favorite scarecrows. During the month of October, several businesses display scarecrows up and down Main Street. Another reason we love Spanish Fork!

Adam was trying to get Tessa to look at the camera, but the sun was so bright, neither of them could look stand to look up. It looks like he's trying to pull her head off!

More Halloween Fun!

Since I work every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, we are busy with Halloween activities the other days of the week. The last couple of days have brought more Halloween fun to our house!

Last night the kids went to our neighbors pumpkin patch and each picked out a pumpkin to bring home.

Sunday night we made our traditional Mummy Dogs for dinner!

Monday brought ghost stories! I told them about "The Chocolate Chip Ghost". A favorite from my childhood and the most innocent story ever told. It totally freaked Tessa out though!

Ghost Pudding was on the menu for Family Home Evening Treats. Tessa said her ghost was too scary to eat. She went straight for the chocolate!

Adam's Story

Last week for one of Adam's homework assignments, he had to tell us one of his favorite stories using things we had around the house. He decided to tell us one of his favorite Curious George stories. He used his George doll and one of his other dolls to make The Man With the Yellow Hat. Tessa LOVED it and couldn't stop laughing!

Halloween Fun!

We have had a busy October! We have been having fun with our Halloween countdown calendar and the kids are loving all the different activities we have planned for the month. Here's a quick look at some of the fun things we have been up to.

The kids really want to use the camera on their own. The top picture Tessa took and the bottom picture Adam took.

We had some fun with fall leaves.

I love my little kitchen helpers. We tried a new fall recipe for our Family Home Evening treat.

Caramel Apple cheesecake. I'll post the recipe on my food blog.

They did a good job! It was delicious!

We painted pumpkins.

We made some spooky treats and "Boo"ed our neighbors. The kids have loved driving around the neighborhood to see how far our "Boo"ing has gone!

We made our traditional "Mummy Braid" for dinner one night.

The kids played some intense rounds of "Don't Eat Frank!"

We made mummies and monster puppets.

My cousins held their annual Halloween Party this weekend and the kids got to show off their costumes! Aunt Dee is amazing and made both costumes! She got in on the fun last night too.

Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, and the Wicked Witch

Watching Charlie Brown with their cousin Jason.

The Chicken Dance!

They loved hitting the pinata! These kids never complain about getting candy:)

We have a lot more fun planned for the rest of the month! The kids can't wait for Halloween night!