***
"So Frequently we mistakenly believe that our children need more things, when in reality their silent pleadings are simply for more of our time."
***President Thomas S. Monson (Ensign May 1994)
 |
| Vance received treasures from his Grandma Godfrey and has been putting them to good use--but not sharing them with his brother. |
 |
| Flynn discovered that he loves listening to music on the TV --once the music stops, though, he's done watching. |
 |
| Nutmeg's been acting old and grouchy and she got a swipe of Vanilla's ear. I hate when they fight! |
 |
| Vance picked his little watermelon he's been growing. It was just getting too cold for it outside. The kids said it tasted terrible -- so I took their word for it. I was just impressed that he grew on a watermelon at all. |
 |
| Noah got his Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts! Super proud of him! |
 |
| We got a few pumpkins to carve . . . just a few. Flynn thought they were pretty awesome, but not too tasty. He did nibble on a few. |
 |
| Carving pumpkins is always fun at our house! |
 |
| Myshel carved all 3 of their pumpkins by herself. She was very determined. |
 |
| We had a few seeds when we were done. Myshel cooked them for us and even made some with pumpkin spices. They're very yummy! |
 |
| Noah turned 11! Wow, where does the time go!? |
 |
| All Noah talked about for a month was that he wanted a jean jacket. When he opened his present, though, he thought it was just a pair of jeans and was completely disgusted with us. Kids!! |
 |
| Happy Birthday, Noah! We love you so much! |
 |
| Trunk-or-Treating on Wednesday night AND Trick-or-Treating on Thursday night! What was I thinking??? Flynn made an awful cute giraffe. |
 |
| And Noah was a handsome, little cowboy. Boy, it's a good thing he got that jean jacket, huh. |
 |
| Carved pumpkins all lit up . . . they're just really fun! |
 |
| Checking out his stash. I'd love to say this was all he got, but I think this was only about a third of his take for the 2 nights. |
 |
| Someone else thought he should have a birthday, too. I just can't believe it's been a year since he was born. What a sweet little guy he is! He's such a blessing to our family. |
 |
| This is what Flynn did while his parents opened his presents. He wasn't interested in them at all. |
 |
| He did like the lollipop his Oma gave him, though. Silly, Oma! |
 |
| Happy 1st Birthday, Flynn!! |
 |
| He thought the cake was pretty good. |
 |
| . . . needed some milk to wash it down. |
 |
| He didn't get too messy, though. |
 |
| Chad and I helped take the youth on their temple trip. I always love being in the temple with the youth. It was especially fun this year, because there were several kids that just turned 12. So, I've known them in Primary and then got to be in the temple with them. Such a great experience! This is McKaylie and her 2 friends that rode up with us. |
 |
| These were actually taken the beginning of October, but I decided to add them here. We had a friend of ours take some family pictures for us -- before Vance leaves. She always does a great job. |
 |
| It was the beginning of October and we were thinking that we would have wonderful weather for our pictures. It turned out to be the hottest day in weeks. We were dying. I'm amazed that the pictures turned out so well, considering. |
 |
| Flynn did so good that day. He complained the least of all of us. |
 |
| Chad and I |
 |
| We really won't be together like this for much longer. Next year will bring a lot of changes for our family. |
 |
| Flynn and his Momma |
|
|
We went to the Raleigh temple over the weekend. It was really nice to get away from things, even if just for a day and half. The temple was beautiful, even in the rain! I wish I could have weekends like this more often.
Vance, Noah and McKaylie braving the rain for a picture.
We spent the weekend in Boston last week. We had a great time. I love family weekends like that.
Saturday the youth in our ward were up bright and early (5AM) and on their way to the Boston Temple. They had a great trip.
Myshel took these pictures while we were on the temple grounds. I think they're great! Her art teacher told us once that she has an amazing, artistic eye. I can see why she would say that!
Last Friday we went to the temple. It was fun to see McKaylie and Noah's reactions to it. It was the first time they had seen the Boston temple. I love the "oooo's" and "ahhhh's". McKaylie said it "amazingly beautiful". I agree with her. It really is. I love just being on the temple grounds with my kids.
We got our traditional picture of the kid's touching the temple. We get it with each new temple that they get to see. I am grateful for their love and reverence for the temples. It was even more wonderful that Myshel and Vance were able to go in with the other youth from our ward later that afternoon. And, that Chad and I attended Saturday morning.
We hoped to attend 2 sessions during our trip, but were only able to squeeze one in. I was grateful for that session, though. The peace we found there was so needed!
