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!

Fun stuff in May

This month I got to chaperone Kyle's class on their field trim to the Musical Instrument Museum.  This place was HUGE and had every instrument from all over the world - thousands of instruments.  Really neat!   

 Before the Phoenix summer set in full bore, we decided to hit the zoo, just me, Colton, and Kyle (Morgan and Bryan are not as into the zoo anymore as they used to be when they were younger - which is fine because it gave me more individual time with these two!).  I love that my kids still like to pose for pictures - they actually ask me to take them.  Makes it easy to document our family!

Colton is working so hard in Boy Scouts.  As an 11-year-old Scout, he is well on his way to earning his Eagle.  His goal is to get it before he's 14, and I'm pretty sure he'll do it!

I always love watching my kids in their school musical programs each year.  They're just so darn cute, and they practice so hard to show off for their parents!  My cutie Kyle is on the top row, 4th from the left...

For Mother's Day, Kyle surprised me by pulling me out to the backyard where he had created a little sign out of blue painters tape, and he sang and played an original song for me he had composed...love him!  He also gave me the CUTEST homemade card!

I was the photographer for Colton's football team.  This was a great team, full of Colton's best friends from our ward, and coached by our Stake President and Scoutmaster!  How perfect is that!  They all had such a blast together!

One of the things I love about Kyle is he is extremely creative.  On this weekend, he grabbed a cardboard box and started cutting out pieces and putting them together to create a table.  He spent HOURS, nonstop, working on it.  He was so focused and it was so fun to see him measuring and reinforcing his table to make sure it would stay standing, even with weight on it.  

A table so good that he could actually eat a bowl of cereal at it, with a gallon of milk and the cereal box sitting on it too!  Can you tell how proud he is?  Almost as proud as his mom...almost.

I happened to look out my office window one day and saw Morgan like this...still fully clothed, sucking on her Circle K drink, staying cool.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!  WOO HOO!  This was a day full of games and treats.  Kyle had the most magnificent teacher this year.  She was so fun!  We love, love, love Ms. Richie!!!