Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Congratulations!
Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.

We just recently had our YW Night of Excellence. Our theme was this Dr. Seuss book. It is such a great poem. This post is for my mom, who wanted to see "pictures". In the picture above- there are 31 of our 38 girls. We have awesome young women. I love serving with them.
Our theme was, Oh, the places you'll go- and our take home message is
"Every road you take should lead you to the temple."
A friend made these beautiful temple cookies, which we gave as a handout along with a picture of our local temple and our "take home message".
It was a great night and we were all glad to have our first big meeting under our belt.Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dextrous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

Girls, You'll move mountains!

Happy Veterans Day!

While celebrating, thanking and honoring the Veterans that have fought for the freedoms we daily enjoy- we got to celebrate in a special way our own live-in HERO!
Brigham was asked to participate in a Veteran's Day program at the elementary school today. He represented the Army and two others represented the Air Force and Navy. They got to fly in on a helicopter to the school.

They received a hero's welcome as they walked down an aisle of students and high five'd them on the way.

They passed off a flag that they carried to a local boy scout troop. Who then raised it on the flag pole- to half mast. We pledged allegiance to the flag and sang the Star Spangled Banner.

Then we went inside and the veteran's addressed us. Brigham spoke on why we have a military and just did an amazing job. He spoke on how God made us a free nation and our military heroes have given their time and lives to keep us free. It was hard to hold back the tears.

God Bless America
The land of the Free because of the Brave!

Superheroes!

Being a brother is better than being a superhero!
Gotta love post Halloween sales!

Fall Soccer!

Holy Moly! How did soccer season come and go without a little update!?! We had a great fall season. Katry played on a competitive U12 team and we moved Seth up a year to join her. They LOVE playing together. They are an amazing duo! Katry was basically the defense for the team the whole season. She was the STOPPER! The other team rarely had a chance to score when she was on the field. If they did- it was only because she couldn't be in three places at one time. Despite playing defense- she had several assists and even scored a goal- while on defense.Seth usually played midfield. He had many goals to his credit. Being the youngest on the team didn't slow him down one bit. He was the second fastest on the team- (next to Katry). They were both- without a doubt the MVP's of every single game. Their final game ended in a shoot out. Katry shot first and put it in- then Seth who also scored easily. They went through all the players- some scoring- some not- but still tied with the other team. Then Katry was up to shoot again. She effortlessly shot the ball and scored the winning goal. It was a great finish to a fun season. Way to go Kiddos!
I can't believe I don't have a single picture of Brig playing this year. He really stepped up as a leader of his Junior High team. Dad was the assistant coach. They won every game with the exception on one team(until the tournament). Each time they played this team though- they narrowed in on them. The first game was 2-7. The second w 4-5 and the final game was lost 0-1, they ended up scoring on a penalty shot. Brig carried his team as the leading scorer- he played forward. Their final game of the season. ended in a heart breaking shoot out in the dark. They lost in the semi-finals to a team they had beat handily two other times. Brig's team had about twenty shots on the goal compared to their three. It just so happens that two of their shots went in, and two of ours went in. The sun had long since departed and they had a shoot out by the light of the moon. Brig easily placed the first kick in the shoot out, but another player's shot hit the side bar and it was over. Ahhh- it was a sad day! Its been a few weeks now though- and I think we have recovered from the shocking loss. :)
Brig is wrestling now. He pinned a guy in 12 seconds last night. Katry and Seth have started indoor soccer. Dad is coaching them. The fun continues!

The vision of a champion is someone bent over, drenched in sweat, to a point of exhaustion, when no one else is watching.
Anson Dorrance-American women's soccer coach.

Halloween Thrills

We have had a fun Halloween season!The kids made a spooky house,
yummy chocolate dipped pretzels,

and masks galore.

At the kids school they had a Spooktacular. It starts with a costume parade.

I love how shy little Kaleb has attached himself to Seth during the parade.

After the parade, all the classrooms are turned into fun activity centers. The kids had a donut eating contest, played plinko for candy bars, bowled with pumpkins for prizes, tossed rings over soda cans, bean bag tosses, spook alleys, crazy maizes, made cotton candy and ice cream and partied for a couple of hours.

It was a blast. That night we had a party with our ward. Our family won a prize for our cupcakes. We took nutter butters and covered them in white chocolate and made them look like ghosts. We put them on green coconut (grass) covered cupcakes with little pumpkins. They were darling and I can't believe we didn't get a picture. They had lots of games there. My Laurels and I were in charge of face painting- that was my first time and I think I did a pretty good job. :)

On Friday, Brigham's staff was hoping that he would dress up. He did not disappoint. When he got out of the car you could see them all cheering from the window. He is the tall one in the back with the blond wig.

Halloween night we went swimming and had a BBQ. Then we headed home and dressed up.
Kaleb was Jango Fett.

Kai was a sweet little monkey. Katry and Seth were cowboy/cowgirl. Katry was a mad scientist at the school party- but opted for a low-key, easier to see out of outfit for trick or treating.

I have always prided myself on having never gone trick or treating- since my parents didn't allow it when we lived in Arizona. Since then I always stayed home and handed out candy so that I wouldn't ruin my record. This year- Brigham insisted that I head out with the kiddos. I think he just wanted to stay in and watch soccer. We loaded up on candy. I just realized there are two things we didn't do this year that we usually do. We didn't take a picture with the kids surrounded by candy and we didn't carve pumpkins. I admit, I don't miss the pumpkin carving- but I love the candy picture. We hope you all had a festive Halloween.

BOO!