Friendship Enrichment

 I've been so nervous about tonight for a good week. It was the first Enrichment in my new calling, and I just wanted everything to go well. This month for Enrichment we had two speakers who spoke to us about the importance of friendship, how to be a good friend to others, and the blessings that come when we develop true lasting relationships with others. I'm so grateful for my sweet friends Luanna and Bridget for being willing to share their hearts with us, and I am so blessed to call them my friends.

 As the sisters arrived they picked a table number out of the owl to encourage people to get to know someone new, and to get everyone out of their comfort zone a little. Before the speakers started we had some get to know you questions on each table that were discussed while we ate the delicious summer salads that everyone brought to share.

And our "on time" prize was Melanie Shackles Nobody's Cuter than You which is a book I absolutely love and went right a long with our theme.

It turned out to be a beautiful night and I'm grateful to everyone who came and helped make it a success. I hope that we will all move forward with a resolve to be better friends and neighbors, and to love as the Savior does.

#ellegoesonafieldtrip

Sixth grade must be desperate for field trip volunteers because a few weeks ago I got an email from Ethan's teacher asking if I was available for their Phipps field trip and that Elle was invited too! I hadn't originally said I would go because I had signed up for Kai's and Luke's and I didn't want to have to find another person to watch Elle, but since she could go I accepted right away. 

Seriously have you ever seen something as cute as a 6th grade riding the bus with his 2 year old sister, me either! Elle was so very excited to be on the bus, but Ethan was just as excited. 

 Me on the other hand, could have done without the bus part! YIKES! It was SO very hot out and the kids all wanted the windows open, and I didn't want to be a party pooper so I looked like this the whole. drive. down.

 We had a great time exploring Phipps with the fabulous kids in our group. I realized pretty early on that because my group had Elle the kids were way more exited about everything they saw, they were excited to play and have fun. Overall, I think they had a better time then any other group because they got to see Phipps through the eyes of a 2 year old. They weren't worried about what was cool and what wasn't. They just played with Elle, and had the best time!

 The field trip proved to be more then Elle could handle and she passed out on the bus ride home,

 and apparently it was a big day for Ethan too! ;)

I'm grateful for this fun day and the fun memories we created with Ethan before he goes off to the Junior High. He is growing up so fast and we are so proud of him, but boy oh boy do I want to hold onto every second I can. It was a fabulous day!

Daddy Daughter Dance

 Tonight was the Daddy Daughter Sock Hop. Sadly Olivia was out of town at a basketball tournament this weekend with my parents so she didn't get to go. Elle had a great time with her daddy dancing the night away! So grateful for these pictures!

Take Your Child(ren) to Work Day

 A big bonus for the children of Brian's new job is that they observe Take Your Child to Work Day for children younger than 12. So they FINALLY got to go, and they were so excited. In fact Luke had a field trip planned, that I was chaperoning, but he decided he would rather go to daddy's work, and boy he did NOT regret that decision!

Everyone came home all smiles, including Brian! I'm so grateful for this new job for so many reasons, and this great day might top the charts!

YM/YW Dinner Auction

 It was a bittersweet night. I put on a spaghetti dinner auction with the proceeds going to the Young Men & Young Women's  camps this summer. It was an insane amount of work, especially since we only had a month to plan it, but I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out. We ended up raising just over $7,000! I'm so happy and excited for these sweet kids to get to do some really fun stuff, but I'm a little sad I won't be apart of that fun stuff. It's a little selfish I know, and the young women will be in great hands, but still it was hard to fully enjoy the night knowing it was the end of an era.

 I made this Elsa cake to auction off and the cute Morley girls won it! I couldn't be happier it went to such a fun house!

 Love those cuties, and Mr. Grant!

Happy Halloween

Halloween is kind of my jam! I love everything about it starting with candy and ending with, well..... candy!

 Since the 5/6 grade middle school doesn't dress up for Halloween I was left with only one kid to great dressed in their costume. Kai created his own costume and hadn't come up with the name of it when he left for school. All I know is that this is the toned down, school version. All I know, is I better rest my face painting hand!

Since Luke is in PM Kindergarten we had plenty if time to get him dressed and ready to go. We had one small wardrobe malfunction, the mask. I'm sure it was one of two things either Luke has a huge head, or someone made the mask EXTRA small because that thing was squeezing the life out of his face! In a moment of mom genius I decided we should just paint it on and boy was that a success. He looked great and didn't have to spend the whole afternoon fiddling with his mask. 

 In fact after we took this picture together he asked to see it, then laughed and said, "I forgot I had the painted mask on!" ha

 His whole cute class 

After school it's always a rat race to get everyone fed, dressed, and ready for trick or treating. This year I opted for the easiest dinner on the planet, pizza. So with that checked off my list I was off to help everyone get dressed. While I was talking to Ethan about his plans for the evening Olivia got wind of the fact that Ethan would not be going around with them this year. So, immediately she wanted to go with her friend too. The problem, it was only 30 minutes from starting time and too late to call anyone. With that news I had ruined her night and she decided she would not be going trick or treating this year, but would instead hand out the candy at the door. We finished painting Kai's WHOLE face and then zipped downstairs for a family (minus Ethan) picture. Here we are: A Nerd, Winifred Sanderson, Kai's still unnamed but very scary X man, Max Dennison, a spider, and of course Dash.

 The truth is Brian was only Max Dennison by accident and was clearly thrilled when I started calling him Max. He was a good, ok semi-good sport, and took a picture with me!

Elle only lasted 20 minutes trick or treating. After a few houses she was less excited about the fact that someone was giving her candy and just ready to start eating all that candy.
























She was especially giggly tonight so we sat in my bathroom and laughed together for a while before washing our faces and heading to bed. She was a cute little spider!