Sunday Night Singing

Today was a big day. We spent the day with our good friends, the Chappells, because of Britney and Chad's little baby girl's blessing. After going to their 9 a.m. Sacrament Meeting, we headed over to their house for a luncheon and some hanging out - mostly cuddling with that cute little baby Kembrie. After we finally got home, had dinner, settled in, put some kids to bed, we sat around and did this:

It was a blast, brought back memories, and even gave us all a chance to hear Kira's song she wrote. I have some pretty talented kids, if I say so myself! (and dad's a great listener himself :)

FINALLY!!

It is October 4th, and it is finally cooling off. We got dumped on today. Not quite sure which way it was coming from. At times it was heading in from the north, then later it was coming from California. Actually, I don't care where it comes from, as long as it comes - and come it did! All day! What a great day it has been...

It was a day of homemade bread and a yummy pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. We've waited all summer to have a dinner like this!

General Conference Loves

As the men and boys are off to General Priesthood Meeting, I have decided to use my time wisely and blog, since I am overdue - and it's better than watching TV, which I don't really like to do anyway. I have been reading Mockingjay the last few days and need to finish it, but I rarely get the computer to myself for an extended, uninterrupted amount of time, so I thought that now is the best time for that.
There are so many things I love about General Conference. First of all, when conference is in October, that means that our weather is finally changing, and today is a day of change. It is still warm outside, but we are having dark clouds that look like they could either flash with lightening and thunder, or could dump on us at any time. I love this season, for SO many reasons. Right now I have a new pumpkin recipe cooling on the counter. There's one reason. I also love the new autumn candles that are burning in my home. The smells of fall are the best! I also love that I can sleep with my windows open. (For those of you in Utah, you will not understand this)
I am also grateful for many things today. I'm thankful for a husband that takes our son to General Priesthood meeting, that they both go together out of habit, and not because they should be there. That is such a blessing in MY life. I am grateful to hear our sweet prophet speak, as well as other general authorities that I respect so much. I am thankful for the talks of encouragement, the moments that make us all laugh, and the tender times when I tear up. Conference brings out everything in me, and I am grateful most of all, that my family is right there experiencing those same things with me.

A Relaxing Sunday Night...

So let's just say that the missionaries spend A LOT of time at our house. Don't get me wrong...these guys are awesome missionaries. They are hard-working and have had a lot of success out here in our valley. They came over tonight to spend a little time here before they are shipped out and transferred to their next stop. Hardly ever in Logandale have both missionaries been transferred on the same day, but these two are either doing too well....or not! (smile) With Kevin being the ward mission leader, they have spent many dinner appointments here, stopped by to turn in reports to him, and checked in for a cool drink every now and then too. Here they are devouring a cake that we needed to get rid of pronto! What better way to spend it than on missionaries...who will eat anything! Good luck guys.

I'm Hooked!

Look at all this stuff! I had heard about "Bountiful Baskets" from friends and a recent newspaper article in our local paper, but I never knew how profitable it could be until today. Yes, today was my first "official" pickup day for my very own bountiful basket, and look at all I got! At least $25 worth of fruits and vegetables for only a $15 contribution. The good news is that they are going to start coming weekly instead of every other week here to our elementary school which is just down the street from me. So if I miss a week because I'm out of town or something, I won't feel like I have to wait forever to get this yummy, fresh produce. Here in the desert, we are definitely fresh fruit and vegetable "deprived". Yay for me...

The Good News...and the Bad News

I guess we'd better start with the bad news. This news involves Landon and his football game in Hurricane. I really don't know why we have to play Utah teams...they are bigger and have more kids to choose from, which means that they are better football players, or at least bigger than our guys. It also means travel time (try playing Delta sometime, yucky travel time), and time change because Utah is an hour ahead of us. This is where the whole problem started for us yesterday. Somewhere along the lines, the ball was dropped on making sure our athletic program was in sync with THEIR team on when the game was supposed to start. To make a long story short, we got a phone call as we were heading into the gorge that informed us that the game was starting right then, an hour sooner than we had planned. We knew that Landon was starting as quarterback for the first half, which meant by the time we would get there, he would be done with his half and we would end up missing him as quarterback. Needless to say, we were not happy. Who messed up on that one? And we were not the only upset parents. In the end, we found out that it was OUR school's fault, so we couldn't blame Hurricane, which is what we would have WANTED to do...To make matters worse, Landon was hit hard in the hips and had to take himself out of the game. So not only did we not see him play, we didn't even get to see him get hurt! What a waste of a drive...We ended up leaving to take him back to Logandale so that our wonderful chiropracter, Dr. Askeroth, could check him out before he was leaving the next day for a Labor Day weekend. Man do we love that guy! Landon has been walking around like a 90 year old, but is moving better than yesterday. This is the only picture I got of him, which is his "lounging around the house like the doctor told me to" shot. Good thing it's a long weekend. I guess if you can't PLAY football, you might as well WATCH it.The good news is that we got to watch Tibi run in her cross country meet in Vegas this morning. She was in the last heat, which put her running IN the heat (10 a.m.), but she did her best in spite of not feeling her best (darn those female problems!)
Here she is coming up right behind her teammate (in yellow)

Pushing to the end...

Here's to the start of another sports year!

Happy Birthday Landon!

Today my "baby" turned 15 years old! Man, I remember SO WELL when this little guy was born, and it doesn't seem like that long ago. And now he is going to be a sophomore in high school this year. I am so grateful that I had these two last kids instead of stopping after the four girls (like I thought I wanted to). It was not a very eventful day for Landon, but he is still thankful he at least got a cake. Last year he didn't even get that, evidently. Bad mom...
He was also lucky to have his sister Lexie visiting at the same time as his birthday!
"Come give your mother a nice birthday kiss!"

I deserve one after all...this kid weighed 9 1/2 lbs. when he was born and about killed me!

Everyone joined in on eating the cake, of course. Right before dinner...good timing for a birthday celebration!

Marce thinks this is a good idea.

Phoenix is alright with it too...

Happy Birthday Landon!