Happenings from NOVEMBER

The highlight for me this month was the beautiful music in our home being played on this!  I have always wanted a grand piano and was SO BEYOND EXCITED about this one.  My favorite part is that my kids can record themselves playing a piece, so that the piano can play it back for me when they aren't even here!  That means when Bryan leaves on his mission, I don't have to miss hearing him play - I can pretend like he's just sitting in there on the piano playing for me, like I've grown used to hearing he and Morgan do every single day (Colton is starting to do it more and more also).  It has been really fun to have my kids be as excited by this piano as I am.  They LOVE to go sit down and play (with the exception of maybe Kyle - he's not quite there yet, but he will be!).  It is rare in our house when someone is not sitting at the piano playing to their hearts content.  That has been a long time in coming, and I am relishing every moment - finally!

Another highlight this month was taking our family to go see the Broadway production of The Lion King when it came to town.  Wow!  The costumes and music were amazing!  That was fun.

Mark and Bryan have discovered the joy of Mano Sherbet.  Safeway, in particular, makes a store brand that is their FAVORITE.  They hide it from each other so that they don't have one of them eat all of it and not leave any for the other.  I laughed so hard when I opened the freezer the other day and saw this note on the Mango Sherbet.  Just in case you can't read it: 

"Father, there are 4 reasons why you should not eat this ice cream: 
A - It's good, and therefore I want it
2 - You don't deserve it...go run 6.325 miles first
D - You just shouldn't"

Pictures of Morgan and her friends at our Stake Youth Conference this year...

I got to chaperone Kyle's class to the State Capitol Building...

Our new Gilbert Arizona Temple is almost finished!  So, so, SO, EXCITED ABOUT THIS!  It's right across the street from our neighborhood!  I had to go shoot some pictures.  Trying to decide which I like best so I can blow it up and hang it on our wall.  I'm going to let my kids each pick which one they like best for their room, too.

We took family pictures to send out as Christmas cards.  I set up my camera the way I wanted it and stuck it on a tripod.  I had my friend Sarah come along to not only push the button, but to also let us know if everyone's eyes were open, or someone was making a funny face.  She saved me SO much running back and forth.  Thank you Sarah!

June happenings

We started the summer out with Kyle going to Cub Scout Day Camp.  The boys always LOVE this.  The heat is INTENSE here in Phoenix, but each station you stop at, they literally SOAK you.  They keep you wet all day so you won't get hot.  The favorite part of day camp is always the BB Guns and Archery.  They also have a pool there, so the swimming is a blast too.  There are lots of games, and they boys pass off a TON of stuff.

I got this shot of Kyle tying his tie as we were walking into Church one Sunday...made me chuckle it was so cute.  He's getting so grown up!

I found this note Kyle had written to himself.  Mark was teaching him how to tie his own tie, and he took notes because he wanted to be able to remember.  I thought that was SO CUTE!

Our house is Grand Central Station for our kid's friends.  They love hanging out in the pool, and we love having them!

LOVE this shot!  I snuck it from inside the house when I saw Bryan and Kyle taking a breather from yard work together.  Kyle totally looks up to his big brother, and Bryan is such a great example to him!

We had fun making stuff for Mark for Father's Day!  We gave him a hammock...

but his favorite part is always all the homemade stuff...

Mark is OVER THE HILL!

This was the big 4-0 for Mark!  Of COURSE I had to throw him a surprise party! I invited all of his closest friends over.  When he walked in, the look on his face was priceless!

I made him all of his favorites: Better Than ....(anything) Cake, Pecan Pie, and German Chocolate Cake!

Mark was not so excited about all of those candles. Maybe it was the constant teasing that because of how old he was, those candles were going to burn the house down!

There were some pretty funny gifts mixed in with the regular ones - lots of indigestion medicine, Metamucil, and other "old people" stuff.  My favorite was a 7-day-pill container, full of colored pills (tic tacs).  So creative!  We all had a lot of laughs at Mark's expense!  He was actually very touched that so many people came to celebrate with him.