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!

Carving Pumpkins

The kids decided that this year, instead of carving our pumpkins with traditional jack-o-lantern faces, they wanted to try something new. I was totally on board with that, so we did some research and they each found a design that was perfect for their current interests. 

Since the "pumpkin guts" gross all of the kids out, Mommy and Daddy got stuck doing the dirty work. That meant Adam was put on picture duty.

We were worried that making pictures on pumpkins was going to take us all night, but it actually went really fast and we ended up with some amazing results. 

Adam's pumpkin had BYU logo, Tessa had a wolf howling at the moon, Gwen had Ariel, and Caleb had a Storm Trooper. Caleb's pumpkin was a little too small, but it worked. 

We were so excited about them! They all turned out so great!!