Halloween 2014

We had some super cute little kids for Halloween this year.  They are very into superheros right now and pretend to be them all the time, so for Halloween Kayton was Iron Man and Merrick was Captain America.  I couldn't get over how adorable they were.  My friend wanted to take pictures of her kids in costume, I did that with all of our kids.  The night of Halloween we went out to Pinedale for a truck or treat and I love that we have that place to go.  There were games and food and treats all around and it made Halloween a success.

Spirit Week for Preschool

During Halloween week, instead of letting the kids wear costumes to school, they had a spirit week where they dressed up for something different everyday.  I forgot to take a picture of all the days, but Monday was crazy hair day and we found some paint things to make dots on their hair. Tuesday was a field trip to the fire department and they got to get a fire chief hat to wear.  Then there was Wacky Wednesday, which the boys did dress up for and loved it.  Thursday was pajama day and they wore their Superman jammies.  Of course it was morning and we were rushed so all I got pictures of was Wacky Wednesday.

 

Pumpkin Family Party

We took our FHE this week and did our pumpkin carving party.  I call it a party because we had the kids do pumpkin painting this year and they loved it.  They had their own pumpkin that now sits on our table and they turned out so cute!

 Then we all took turns doing something for the big pumpkin.  Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the finished product, but it was the shield logo from Captain America. 

Cleaning it out

Our master pumpkin carver

Susan's Baptism

My sweet little sister is 8 and made the decision to be baptized today.  She was so sweet and the spirit of love was so strong there. We made a whole family weekend out of it and loved having so many people there.  She is one lucky little girl who looked so sweet in her baptism dress.  I felt lucky that I got to be the pianist for the day and that they boys were able to see her make such an important step today.  It was special.

 

 



2014 Homecoming Football game

 It's homecoming week here in Show Low, and we got to go to the football game.  It was so much fun for me and the kids did so good while we were there.  We ended up losing the game, but we loved cheering them on and the boys are now true Cougar fans.  It's extra fun for us to watch Brent on the team too.  Go Cougars!

Cheering so good

Brent's cheering section

  

 We have taught them well

Ward Woodcutting Day

Every year, our ward has a family activity to go chop wood for our ward pile.  Now that Nate is the Elder's Quorum President, it was one of his responsibilities to put it on.  So we headed out today to go cut wood. 

I have never had to cut wood.  I have never lived with a wood stove or a fireplace, so I had no idea what I was doing, but me and another mom went over for a little bit to give it a shot.  It was a lot harder than it looks, that's for sure.  Some of the guys there had it down and I felt like I wasn't useful at all.  After a few tries, I got one piece split and broken and then my body couldn't take the heavy swinging anymore. Nate did really good and was pretty much swinging his ax around all morning.  To say he was sore the next day would be an understatement.  He hurt to bend over and pick up something or even just to sit down in his chair. 

The project was a success and Nate even let the boys try out the ax a little bit near the end.  They really wanted to help.  At about 11:30, we stopped for a lunch break of hot dogs cooked over a fire and some rolls and lunch meat.  The boys had fun cooking their stuff over the fire.  

Phoenix Temple Open House

Within a year, we will have 2 new temples dedicated in Arizona.  The Gilbert Temple was dedicated last year and we were never able to get down to go to the open house.  I made sure to do whatever we needed to so that we could take the boys to see the Phoenix Temple.  I know they probably won't remember it, but it was special for me to share it with them.   We headed down to the valley on Thursday and stayed the night with some friends then we got up on Friday morning and headed to the temple.  

It was a ways away, and kindof hidden a little, but we got there and were told that we needed to go park back down the road at a water park.  Once we were there, they had tour buses there that drove us to the temple since there wasn't enough parking.  The boys got so excited once we told them we got to ride on a bus.  It made the whole thing so special for them.

Once we got there, we went into the chapel of a church building that is right next door to the temple and watched a movie about temples and a little history of the Phoenix area.  When it was over, we divided into groups and went with a tour guide.  We got on our little booties so that our shoes wouldn't get things dirty and headed in.  Merrick really didn't like the booties and didn't want to walk with them on so Nate ended up carrying him the whole time.

The temple was just beautiful.  I just don't know how else to describe it in words.  The detail in it, the chandeliers that we saw, the pictures of Christ they had on the walls, everything about it was so beautiful and I felt the spirit and happiness there. It was beautiful.  I felt so blessed that we were able to go down and share this experience with the kids.  I love temples and wanted to make sure the boys knew they were special and important.  

 

 It was a beautiful day and I am so grateful that it was fall break and we were able to spend the day together. We also got lucky to run into a few friends during the tour.  A sister missionary that was serving in Show Low, Adrienne and Taylor Linton and their sweet little girl, and Ricky and Shannon Palmer from our Flagstaff ward.  It was a great day.  I loved all of it.