Museum of Natural History

Kristy kindly shared her free tickets to the Museum of Natural History with us.

We had a wonderful time!

It was my first time going since they've been in the building.
(I spent a lot of time at the old museum when I worked there.  It is WAY WAY better now!)

I love how much Lindsay LOVES Eliza!

Kristy was the stroller master.
She had 4 kids in at one time!

I think Jess's little boy, Hunter, is so dang cute!

I think that this was Andrew's favorite part.
I love that cute Reese, but check out Andrew's face in the background.  

Thanks for sharing your tickets, Kristy!

Halloween Decorations

I LOVE Holidays, but my Holiday decor has been lacking.

I stepped up my Halloween decor and I'm thrilled with how it turned out.

And, I did the whole room for $10!

I made the raven picture that says "Nevermore" in paint and printed it at staples.

I cut the bats out of paper. I got the pumpkins, black fabric, bottles, birds and skull at the dollar store.

Then, I just poured black paint on the inside of the bottles and added the labels.

General Conference

I LOVE General Conference!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

My kids are starting to love it too, which makes me really happy!

We made our "General Conference Wall" again this year.

Saturday night, Andrew pulled down and crumpled all of our notes.
I spent Saturday night ironing the kids' pictures and putting them back on the wall.
The whole time I ironed, I stared at President Uchtdorf's picture and note, "SIMPLIFY."

I got them all back up, and Andrew pulled and crumpled them again.
I did not iron them the 2nd time.

I felt like the whole Saturday morning session was for me.
All my prayers were answered, I felt renewed, and ready to start again!

Sunday morning, Andrew got noisy towards the end of the session.
Darin put tape over his mouth and colored on a mustache.

Despite his face, Andrew, and everyone else, thought it was really funny.

I will need to go back and re-listen to President Eyring's talk.

Between sessions on Sunday, we went to my parents for our Conference breakfast.

The grandkids found my parents death masks.

Every time we go, Andrew has to go to the basement bathroom to see the fish.

Matt and the girls played "dogs."

(And I wonder why he gets holes in the knees of his pants).

Family time wouldn't be complete without candy from Grandpa.

The kids have to say "The Gospel's True and I love you" before they can have a piece.

I tried to record Andrew saying it, because it is the cutest thing, but I didn't get it this time.

We went for a little drive and saw these wild turkeys!  So fun!

I can hardly wait for April Conference!

September's Service

This year, we chose the family theme, "Who Can I Serve Today?"

Every night at dinner we ask the kids who they served.  

Their daily service can be small like smiling at a stranger or sharing a toy.

Once a week, we try to do a family service that is a little bigger.

I hope to report or service each month.

I am NOT doing this for a pat on the back, rather, to to help my kids remember how good it feels to serve and maybe even encourage someone else to do a little service too!

So, here is our service for the month!

We donated a DOZEN bags of clothing to a boy in our ward to help with his Eagle Project.

(More on my decluttering later)

We picked our peaches and shared with our neighbors.

We took dinner to Lindsay's primary teacher that had had surgery.

We made and donated bookmarks to the library.

#WhoCanIServeToday?

V Date

Darin took us on a VICTORIOUS V- Date.

We VENTURED to Temple Square's VISITOR's Centers.

We ate at the NauVoo Cafe and got a VALIDATION for our parking.
We went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to check out the VIEW of the VALLEY .

Right now at the JSMB they have an awesome display of the "helping hands" that kids have sent in.

We sent in ours earlier, but we didn't find ours.  (Shocker, I know!)

They also had a cute place where you could write the service you'd like to do.

Lindsay = "I will smile at everyone I see."

Matt = "I will help push Sister Weber's wheelchair"

Andrew = (with help from dad) "I will clean up the messes I make."

 

Andrew loved seeing the choo-choo train (Trax).

We went to the Family Discovery Center.

It was my first time.  If you haven't gone...GO!!!
It was seriously so awesome!!  So fun for all ages!!

UDDERly beautiful MOOsic!!

I am the primary chorister in my ward.
(By the way, I am pretty sure that is the best calling in the world!  I LOVE it!)

We had our Saturday practice yesterday, so I put together some treats for the kids.
We did cookies and milk with a cow theme.

"Holy COW!  You sounder UDDERLY aMOOzing!!

Don't be fooled by the amount of cookies.
I only made one batch, and then bought the rest.

This is brother and sister Moody.
Lindsay said, "Did you do all this for the MOOOdy's?"
I thought that was so clever of her!

I sure love being in primary with this cute group!

And I have the MOST AWESOME chorister partner, Laurie, who missed this photo op.