This and that...

This photo I took of Gwen during dinner! My dear friend Lynda and her husband stayed at our house in August while they visited friends and the different temples nearby. We were home base so I don't feel like we did much. But they sent us a very generous thank you card with a gift card to a favorite restaurant. We used it one night and it fed all of us for 2 meals. Gwen ate and was out, since she doesn't take naps anymore. I thought this was very cute!

Last weekend we were privileged to hear from Elder L. Tom Perry, an apostle of Jesus Christ. If you are not LDS go to this link here and you can find out what I am talking about. We had what is called a stake conference, which is where several congregations have a large inspirational meeting with one of our leaders and in this case it was an apostle. On Sunday my kids were able to shake his hand before the meeting started. Tim, Taran, and Timo were in the choir so they did it after the meeting. The talks were all very inspiring on the subject of prayer, strengthening our faith in Jesus Christ, and the blessings of having the Holy Spirit as a comforter and guide... I love going to these meetings they are always so uplifting and help my resolve to do those things that will bless my life and that of my family and fellowman.

Saturday was also soccer and a BYU home game. BYU got a beating. Tim and Timo went. Taran hung with friends, they watched until it got ugly. We had an impromptu play date with cousins on this end of the valley or we would have invited all the cousins. So the kids didn't mourn the loss too much since they enjoyed each other. They made potions and played games outside most of the time.



This past week Emily ran for 6th grade girl rep for her class and won by 1 vote. She was very excited. She is our little busy girl who would love to do everything. Last year she wanted to run but she had a conflict with her musical theater class.

We started flag football a couple of weeks ago. We just don't seem to have enough to do around here. I love watching flag football, it is so fun. Timo, Izak and Micah are doing it. Izak's competition soccer stuff has caused conflicts so he hasn't actually played a game yet. This week he gets to go! Taran and Timo were also playing some with church teams and Tim and the men too. But soccer ends in couple of weeks. Most days they all play football around the neighborhood when they aren't grounded!


Friday we had a camp out for my scouts. We invite the dads to sleepover since it's not permitted that we sleepover with them--even in a different tent. So we planned a ton of activities for them to do after they set up and it was pretty successful! The dads and boys had a lot of fun. I got up at 5:45 AM and made special syrup for our pancakes. The boys cooked the rest with some help. We had boys who needed to leave early for soccer games.


Yesterday Zane had birthday party with a kid he met from kindergarten. He had a lot of fun and I got to meet the parents so we will have the little boy over soon.
I was able to go to the Women's Conference with my mom, my sister and my sister-in-law. Taran was willing to babysit while I went. Tim and Micah were at the BYU vs CSU game (BYU won!). I enjoyed the luncheon and the talks. More inspiration! I look forward to General Conference this weekend. It's so great to watch on TV or listen on the internet on lds.org too. My kids even enjoy it for the most part.

I know there are other things but they would bore you and I am content to share this update. I want to post at least once a week to keep in touch with family and friends. Please know that you are loved and thought of no matter how far away or close you are!