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!

Our Family Pictures 2012

I LOVED how our annual photoshoot turned out this year!  It was really hard to pick which ones to use in our Christmas card.  For the shots with me in them, I brought my camera, put it on a tripod, fixed all the settings the way I wanted them, then gave the wireless remote to my mom, then had her keep pushing the button to make sure we had several shots to choose from in case anybody closed their eyes.  All other shots I took handheld.

Morgan wanted a non-smiling shot.  It's cute, but I love her SMILE!

 I like this shot of Kyle because it totally so his mischievousness!

Kyle asked if he and I could do some shots of us kissing each other.  I'm so glad he made the suggestion.  I LOVE THEM (and HIM!).  My mom had left by this point, and I had put my tripod away, so I picked the settings and had Bryan snap these for me.  He did great!

Bryan took this one too!

 Silly Bryan - he LOVES playing Mr. GQ.

LOVE this look.  Totally his, "I know something you don't know" look.

I kept asking Colton to tell me about the cute girls in his class.  He wouldn't give  any details away, but I got a lot of mileage with his grins out of it.

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!