It was so warm, we spent all of the time we could outside. We all went several nights or on the weekends to the park or outside just to enjoy the sunshine and warm temps while they were still around. We did a lot of biking, dancing, and running around outside. One day, we went and played football and tennis and crunch in the leaves.
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| Life is beautiful! |
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| "Here Mom, this is for you!" Cal is so tender, and always picking flowers and giving me the best hugs and kisses! |
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| What movie does this remind you of? When Em ad her friend were doing this yesterday, it made me giggle. "Do you think you could give me a ride into town?" Napoleon Dynamite! |
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| Lucy got these tap shoes from the D.I. in Utah. Grandma Sue, who tapped for years and taught dance classes showed her some basics and she's been tapping all over! |
Cal was finally old enough to play football! We've tried to talk him into doing other league sports or gymnastics, but he always has told us "I'm just waiting for football" or "I'm practicing for football!" He did the Smart Start football camp this year. It was all during the month of September, and he loved it! He was especially excited about some of his friends were on his team, including Mr. Wilk. They worked on fundamentals of football, and Cal loved every minute. They also got to appear at one of the high school football games at half-time. Cal thought that was pretty cool and hammed it up on the field.
We had LDS General Conference - yay! The week before General Conference, Emma was able to go to her first Women's Conference. It was the second one they've held for all girls and women 8 and over. It was so fun to be with her. The music and messages were wonderful! We had desserts and got cute necklaces from our RS presidency afterwards. My favorite thought was from President Uchtdorf: "Heavenly Father is constantly raining down blessings upon us, but it is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us." As we were leaving, it was raining, a perfect opportunity to talk about what we learned and how God is constantly blessing us but what"umbrellas" we might need to get rid of to receive the "rain". We decided to go down to Utah that weekend, since it's been a long while since we've been with family for Conference. Dave went to the BYU football game with Randy Friday night, and the girls hung out and went shopping. The next day, we made maple bacon donuts, and watched Conference while playing our favorite Conference games ("Bingo!"). The weekend was so uplifting, just what I needed. Some of the talks really spoke to me. Here are just a few of my favorite thoughts -
Elder Packer - Seek to understand the atonement, it will bless in all ways.
Elder Bednar - family history is a duty and a blessing.
Elder Anderson - Motherhood is not a hobby. It is a calling.
Sister Esplin - When we feel like we can't do any more, the Savior's enabling power will make up for what we lack.
Elder Uchtdorf -Seeking truth and light and living it will bless all future generations.
Elder Eyring - I need revelation constantly that streams.
Elder Nelson - Sustain leaders in word and deed.
Elder Callister - Give best and most creative efforts to my children, not just the 'left overs'.
Elder Holland - Bless others physicially and spiritually, do all I can.
Elder Parry - "Our homes must be holy places." The world is watching. Carefully evaluate performance as a righteous mother.
President Monson - He has given us all he can to help us. All we need to know in life, we learned from the Savior.
To see some of the amazing talks, go here to be uplifted and inspired. Emma and I went out to lunch with Grandma Sue, Aunt Shirley and Aunt Julie at the Corner Bakery Saturday in between sessions. It was fun to be with these great ladies! That night, the guys went to the Priesthood session of Conference, which Dave said was great like always. Then they always go out to dinner. They had a great night together. It's always so fun to see them come and go together, the five boys and their dad. What great men! That night, the ladies and kids had a pizza party with Grandma. It was fun!
Emma and Cal have been enjoying school. Emma is on Student Council and loving that. They helped plan Spirit Week, and our kids sure enjoyed that. They had Cowboy/girl day (I guess Cal tipped his hat to all the ladies on the bus, so the bus driver gave him some candy for his politeness. Hehe!), they had Superhero day and Cal dressed up like Batman, Emma was an Elsa Ninja (?!), best dressed day, Twin Day (Emma and Cal decided to dress alike wearing jeans and their Ryerse racoon t-shirts), and RES Spirit day. Those cute kiddos!
One weekend, we went up to the Snowy Range Mountains, which we'd never been to before. We visited Aspen Alley on the way there, which was so pretty. Unfortunately, fall in Wyoming is very short so many of the fall leaves had already fallen, but it was still beautiful. Cal was super excited to see all of the huge trucks and tractors out working in the dirt on the way there. The other kids liked looking at the clouds to see what they looked like. We saw lots of deer right by the road, as we have in town lately. These guys are smart. They know fall brings hunting season, so they're going where it's safe. We saw the Continental Divide and where Thomas Edison once went fishing and camping. Then we drove to Encampment to visit the Grand Encampment museum. It was a very neat place and worth the stop. We got to visit the double decker outhouse, see some state-of-the-art for the time mining equipment, and climb up the old fire watch tower. Then we played at the adjacent park for a while. We drove to and saw the Snowy Range Mountains, the kids were excited to see snow and they just had to make a snowball. They were pretty, big and majestic! Who knew this part of the state had mountains and trees? :) Then we went over to Laramie for some shopping and to eat dinner at Chilis, one of our fave places to eat. It was such a great day to be together.
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| In the fire tower. It was quite the ordeal to get the kids up the 5 flights of [rickety] stairs. But we made it and they thought it was pretty nifty. |
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| Chasing bunnies. |
We went down to Utah for another football weekend. While we were there, the girls went to Gardner Village. The girls were so excited to dress up like witches, and Grandma Sue was excited to visit for the first time.
We did some shopping, hit the temple, and enjoyed playing and talking with family. And we did Grandma's Pumpkin patch. Grandma got pumpkins for all of the kids and herself, and we all decorated together with everyone. It was super fun. The kids did a really great job decorating! Emma did a kitty, Cal did a skeleton face, and Lucy did a Hello Kitty. That was so much fuN!
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| We switched Cov to a "big boy" carseat. He thinks he's pretty macho now. |
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| Pooped out! My favorite, love how they're all slumped over! When we were driving home, they were all so worn out all 4 fell asleep at the same time. I don't know if this has ever happened, except for night time. |
I've had so many days lately where I wish I could just freeze time. The kids are growing up so quickly, and I enjoy this stage so much and I will miss when they're too cool to hang out with us. It's been a perfect fall, we're so thankful for this beautiful earth Heavenly Father has given us! And I'm so thankful for these beautiful people I get to spend my life with!
