Happy Thanksgiving

It's easy to get caught up in the ups and downs of the economy, politics, and one crisis after another-both in the world at large and at home. I'm thankful we have a day set aside to concentrate on giving thanks for the many blessings we have. When I stop and seek out the blessings in my life I recognize that I am blessed beyond measure. I don't mean all the worldly toys and accessories in life, I mean those just out of sight, often neglected, intangibles that mean more than any toy ever could. I have 5 healthy children, that is a blessing I don't stop and give thanks for enough. I have the gospel of Jesus Christ to guide me and to help me teach my children. What blessing could mean more than that? It is a crazy world we are raising children in, and there is no better set of tools than those we find in the scriptures and the words of our living prophet. There's another one, a Prophet of God lives on the Earth today! How amazing is that, we are so blessed to be able to be taught by a Prophet of God. In keeping with the gospel theme, I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to work with the children in our ward. It is an amazing, humbling opportunity to see the intelligence and grasp of gospel teachings these small ones have. Nothing is purer than an earnest answer yelled out by a 4 year old! I love my calling in Primary, nothing could be dearer to my heart, or have taught me more over the past few years.

I don't want to be too long winded, so let me just say again, my blessings are multitude, and I am thankful for the opportunity to ponder and express my gratitude.

Today was a quiet Thanksgiving, just our family, and I think we've become quite used to that over the years. It's all we've ever really known. Here's a candid shot from my phone-my regular camera battery was dead!

Yes, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet...

That doesn't mean I can't get ready for Christmas! I don't have my decorations up at home yet, but I guess working on the Primary Christmas activity has gotten me in the mood for the Christmas. Fairly sad, and somewhat telling that Halloween photos are still front and center. Guess that tells you how much we've been taking photos.

Tate finished flag football, his team did not do well. He did have a good time, and that's what matters I'm told! Quinn finished basketball, his team did great going undefeated all season, and then losing the very last game of the tournament. He is about to start flag football at the Jr. High he attends. Kiefer is gearing up to audition for a play with the Drama Club at school, it will be his first, he is auditioning for Badger, it's one of those Mr. Toad and Frog stories. Thane and Tate will start basketball after the holidays, they are excited, and we hope they get good teams and coaches. Sage is just enjoying life, she loves to sing her own made up songs, I'm sure equally because she likes to sing and because it drives Thane crazy that they make no sense. Jeff and I are just truckin' along. Nothing much is new, and I guess that's a good think considering the state of the economy and the world right now.

Halloween Night

Our ward had a Halloween party on Friday afternoon, with a chili and cornbread dinner, spook alley by the young men, face painting and a cupcake walk by the young women. It was really fun, and Kiefer and Quinn had a good time being a part of the spook alley. Almost everyone went the bloody costume route this year, Thane being the only good guy among the monsters and criminals. I didn't get a photo of Kiefer, when we did the pictures withthe others he was setting up, and then by time I got home after trick or treating with the younger kids he had taken his make up off, he was Two Face (from Batman). Quinn was a mad, bloody surgeon

Thane--the SWAT guy recently done with a dangerous and slightly bloody battle


Tate-the Zombie


Sage--the mean witch, not a cute witch! Don't make a mistake

Tate's 11th Birthday

With a birthday on Oct. 30th I've tried a few times to get Tate to have a Halloween or costume party, this year he thought he'd give it a try. It was really fun. We had about 12 boys here, it was a little loud, but I think they had a good time. I had a few Halloween theme games planned, but they really just wanted to run around playing Zombie Tag, eat a ton of pizza and drink Soda by the gallon. Of course, there was still room for cake.
Tate got a good, Boy Scout Campout worthy sleeping bag, and a new Scout shirt, he is very excited to become an 11 year old scout, we have an amazing 11 year old Scout Leader. Their first campout is this week, and he can barely stand it,

Pumpkin Carving

A little pumpkin carving for Family Home Evening, can't beat that! Kiefer and Tate teamed up to make a silly face, Quinn and Thane opted for the scary face, and Thane insisted on a unibrow. Jeff, Sage and I went for the pattern, and did a spiderweb and spider. We put cool battery powered strobe lights in them, and the spider web light was red, very freaky. They looked great, unfortuneately no photos of the finished products. I can't believe we missed that. It was a very busy week, so I guess something was bound to get overlooked. At least we caught the action shots.

Handbag Giveaway!

Check out www.handbagplanet.com

They launch their website TOMORROW, and to celebrate they are giving away one free handbag every hour. They are so cute! These are just a few of the choices. Check it out, and enter to win!

Give me some sugar!

Do I really need to say anything? Sometimes, you get what you ask for!

Tate's Arrow of Light

Tate received the Cub Scout Award the "Arrow of Light" at Pack Meeting this week. He worked hard, and he really loves Cubs. He has two amazing men as his den leaders, and they put so much effort into making cubs a great experience. We are thankful to live in an area where the scouting program is going strong! He moves on next month to Boy Scouts, and we are fortunate to have another set of great men to be his leaders in that group as well.
**Any tips to teach this kid to look AT the camera? Every photo we took that night he is glancing down like this!

Our cubmaster made this cool bridge to symbolize them crossing over into the Boy Scouts, and when they get their Arrow of Light the boys get to sign and date the bridge like this:

Just what is a spirit day???

Kiefer and Quinn had a spirit day at their Jr. High last week. It was slightly different than the spirit days I remember being a part of. Okay, I know I'm old, but how is coming as a movie character (in this case the joker) showing school spirit?

A new home teacher in our midst!

Kiefer turned 14 last month and joined Jeff for the first time as home teaching companions. They have 2 families and 1 less active sister they teach. Kiefer was a good sport, I'm sure it can't be too terribly exciting for a 14 year old. They don't even have a family with kids to visit. Both families are empty nesters. They are great families though, Jeff really enjoys home teaching them, and I'm sure Kiefer will learn quite a bit. Here they are with the Ensign on the day of their first visit.

More catch up

Quite a few of Jeff's family members came out in early August when Kiefer was ordained a Teacher, and our nephew Linkin was blessed. Nathan and Andria brought their whole family, we haven't seen them for a while and it was really fun to play for a few days with them. Here are some snapshots...

A whole new blog!

For some reason my other blog has died. Maybe someday I'll be able to bring it back to life, but for now I just decided to do a whole new blog. I'm not going to try and detail everything that's happened, but here are some recent highlights.

Thane broke his elbow in May, right as school was ending. He fell off the monkey bars at school during a race aross them. He spent the first 6 weeks of summer in a cast from above the elbow down. Including primary softball and Cub Scout Day Camp. Swim Team had to be cancelled, but he did have a waterproof cast, which meant he could take showers, jump in the pool, pretty much do whatever. It was so lightweight, and if you have to have a cast, this was the one to have. He then spent 2 more weeks in a splint, and 2 more weeks on restricted activity to make sure it was all healed properly. Finally on July 19th he was pronounced whole, and able to go back to all the crazy stuff he likes to do.

Quinn took part in the Elementary School Variety Show, here he is (center, huge black wig and red tye dye shirt) with a few of his buddies after the show. They had a 60's theme, in case you were wondering about the cool clothes. I helped him tye dye the shirt, he thought that was pretty cool.

Starting Over...

This photo is from the first day of school. Kiefer is in 9th grade this year, yes he's a Freshman!! Thank goodness he's still at the Junior High, and doesn't move to the actual High School until 10th grade, I am not ready for that!! Quinn is starting Junior High, 7th grade this year, Tate is 5th, Thane 3rd, and Sage 1st. 1st week of school is done, and only 9 more months to go.