thankful

happy thanksgiving!

this weekend, dave and i took kai, max and vivian to st. george.

i enjoyed spending time with them and even though we missed sadie and abe, it was nice to concentrate and give special attention to the younger kids in our family.

i am thankful for life.

this year, i have felt Heavenly Father trying to teach me life is full of joy and beauty, and even though hard exists, when i recognize life as a gift and enjoy it, i am showing faith in Heavenly Father's plan.

and really, when you truly appreciate a gift, your heart automatically 

increases in love and turns towards the giver.

when i see the good around me, i feel my love for, and rejoicing in my Savior increase.  

my heart feels, well, reverent because of my many blessings.

the holy spooner

last night was the pinewood derby.

the night was like a puzzle with lots of pieces and places to be.  

i took vivian with me to help set up of the derby while dave helped kai finish up his car.  after setting up, vivian and i met sadie for a mandatory basketball meeting at the high school.  dave had to work, so he dropped the boys off at the derby, with abe filling in as 'kai's parent'.

when i arrived at the church, the races were over, and awards were being handed out.

kai, max, and abe had everything under control!

happily, they told me how well kai's car did, well, once they got the weight figured out.

they weighed it in and realized it was a little under weight.  knowing more weight gave a better advantage, they problem solved and added a spoon:)

i'm sure abe's thirteen year old humor influenced kai when naming it, "the spooner".

last year, kai's car had some holes drilled in it so he won "the most holy" award.

later, kai and abe decided to go for this award a second year in a row and kai's car was then renamed much to abe's delight,

"THE HOLY SPOONER"

 why was i not at all surprised when i walked in and saw all the other cars and then
found kai's with a spoon on top?

this is one reason i love my boys.  seriously!

a great demonstration of how witty and resourceful they are....

i did ask them if they knew what spooning meant.  they laughed!  of course they knew what they were doing.

probably the first pinewood derby car, ever, to have anything to do with a spoon...or spooning.

XOXOXOXO

i am a winner!

got a call yesterday...

kai's reflections contest entry won!

not sure what he won, but he won!

the theme was:

the world would be a better place if....

kai said, "the world would be a better place if...birds of different feathers flocked together"

 good work, kai!

and here's the back story.  

i completely forgot about reflections, even though kai had mentioned it several times.  abe had a soccer game in orem, which i took him to and dave stayed with the littles.  when i got home, max and vivian were asleep and dave and kai were sitting at the counter with a paint sheet spread out.  kai was sitting in front of an easel painting this amazing picture with his dad right there by his side.  they had it all figured out and well under way, despite my forgetfulness.  i was impressed and so grateful to dave for taking care of it.

looks like dave and kai are both winners in my book:)

competitive

max finished his first season of competitive soccer.  

he did great!  

dave and another mom coached.  it worked out because she was super organized and dave didn't have to worry about much besides running practices and games, which made it fun for him.

max worked hard and i could feel his sense of pride every time he put on his storm jersey.

he played defender almost the entire season.  

one time dave moved him to forward and the other team scored four goals 

so max returned to defender.

by the last game of the season, everyone on the team had scored, except max.  dave's whole purpose for that game was to get max a goal.  as soon as we had a lead, dave moved him to forward.  max's teammate made a beautiful cross and max was right where he needed to be to kick it in and score! 

 all the parents and team cheered for max!  

he got his goal and it was definitely the highlight of the season!!  

so fun!!!

we love our maxwell!  

he is kind hearted and good to the core.  

i enjoyed watching him feel successful and talented.

i'm grateful that dave worked it into his schedule to make coaching a priority.

he's a good dad.

conducting

someone sent these photos to dave from youth conference.  

impressed that abe volunteered to conduct the music, he thought we would like a glimpse:)

wait for it...

go big or go home.  

love this creative, dynamic boy more than he knows.

preference

this weekend was girls pref for sadie's school. 

she picked up her date early in the a.m. and headed to the zoo for some gallivanting and a picnic.  it was a full day of fun. 

she had a couple hours to get ready before she picked him up again for dinner and the dance.

i LOVED her dress and shoes!  

finding a modest dress these days takes some work, but i felt like it was well worth it.  

she looked (and truly is) classy and beautiful!

we hosted the dinner at our house.  

i enjoyed planning and making arrangements.  my goal was to borrow as much as possible so it wouldn't break the bank.  it was so much fun and i thought it turned out amazingly well. 

this picture makes me so happy!

 abe made one heck of a waiter!  he was such a good sport.  

glad she has good friends and creates good fun!

highlights:

pre-dance preps-- i loved talking with sadie about it all and i will always remember searching for the perfect dress!

a couple of sadie's friends couldn't find dresses and i enjoyed how sadie reached out to them and helped them.  i even called her glinda at one point:)

dave's mom-- she let me borrow all of her great stuff and she took my little kids all day and over night so they wouldn't be shoved aside as i prepared.  it was so helpful and i felt blessed to have her help.

the feeling of being surrounded by loving, kind, talented people:  

amber's dad did the cooking and hayden's mom made dessert--it was soooo good!!

my friend happily offered to fix the beading on sadie's dress, another friend helped me with candles and lights, another did her boutonniere which was beautiful and unique, dave's sister came and took photos of the whole night.  some polaroids, which always add to the coolness factor.  can't wait to see the rest of them.  and last but not least, dave got home from work at the perfect time and he took over right when i needed him to, like always!

i just felt like it was a team effort which made it meaningful and maybe because it's november, but i felt so grateful.   i love being sadie's mom. 

plus, her date was nice and respectful and she had a great time with him...and he was crowned mr. preference at the dance and he made sadie wear his crown:)

so much happy and good!

fall break

dave took a few days off of work for fall break.  we were going to go out of town, but decided it was too beautiful right where we live and wanted to enjoy our little spot.

we did a few things we don't usually have time to do 

and it ended up being great.

(hiking to stewert falls- the mountains were beautiful)

we spent an evening at mulligans, hitting balls and doing one of my favorites--batting cages:)

we ended the night at pf changs...so good!  everyone loved it!

we spent one night doing halloween-ish activities.

candied apples....

pumpkin carving...

(kai and abe, making a plan)

(sadie and her friend carson, being proud of their creation)

ended the night with a flash from my childhood... garfield's halloween special.

a little creepy if you ask me. 

 

a pretty great fall break!

halloween 2014

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

abe started out dressed as cthuhlu, a scary sea monster from the books by H. P. Lovecraft.  he discovered an independent film about cthuhlu made in 2005 that 

was made to look like a film from 1920.  

he was determined to watch it this halloween. 

 abe makes movies and really appreciates great cinematography.  he loves to edit the school news and comes up with some pretty creative, great stuff.  it's really fun to watch this talent and interest of his start to develop.

his cthuhlu phase lasted a couple hours.  

then he and his friends dressed like illegal immigrants and 

went around the neighborhood singing jingles.  

they would trick or treat, sing a jingle and then leave, taking no candy.

for being a ginger, he made a pretty good mexican.  i had a few neighbors tell me how great they were.  infact, someone told me they tried to give them extra treats because they were so funny.  (i know, don't judge.)  dave asked some of  his latino co-workers about it and they said they would have laughed.   

anyway, it was fun and also a good chance to talk my thirteen year old about being sensitive and not laughing at someone else's expense. 

i did loved watching him be creative and happy.

kai dressed as a thief and wanted to spend the night scaring children.  

he was the nicest thief i've ever seen.

for max, it was a tough decision between a south pole elf or a lawn gnome- although, it was the same costume for both.  in the end, lawn gnome won out:)

that is why he is so "statuesque" in this photo.

vivian thoroughly enjoyed being a ladybug!

all of our older kids disappeared with friends and dave and i found ourselves walking vivian around.  it was different having one toddler and i almost felt like a newlywed.  it was fun to give her our full attention and introduce her to trick-or-treating.

she loved everything about it, except actually saying, 'trick-or-treat' which she refused.

things i loved about this halloween:

spending zero money on costumes and watching everyone be creative.

the last minute rush of finalizing costumes-which is basically a tradition at our house:)

watching abe and his friends be clever and completely in character.

feeling grateful for our awesome neighbors and friends.

spending the night with dave.

movie on the wall with my new projector while the kids sorted candy, eating as much as they could.

running out of ten bags of candy AND big boxes of fruit snacks and granola bars from my pantry!

b-ball

congrats to abe!!!

he tried out and made the 8th grade basketball team.

i'm proud of him for putting himself out there and having confidence.

family pics

it's november!!

just want to start the month of gratitude off by saying how incredibly grateful i am for these people!!

love them so much.

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 (heatherhowardphoto.com)