Halloween Fun with Jem and Kaia

 Had a fun time with Jem and Kaia this morning going to the Scarecrow Walk at the Desert Garden.  There were lots of creepy and cute things to see there.  After that we had a little donut picnic and played Halloween Bingo and decorated little pumpkins.  Then we took a little hike over to the Scout Cave.  After that we came back to our house and read the Halloween books and played with toys until Supe came to pic them up.  It was a fun time with these littles.  

Here they are all dressed up to go Trick-or-Treating!  

Back to School 2024-25

 We got started on Monday, August 12th, and are going for half days all of this week.  We have 18 kids to begin the year and they look pretty cute.  Evelyn is full of ideas for fun.  At the end of the first day she did not want to leave.  She thought she would be eating lunch at school and was not happy to leave without having eaten the lunch her mom had packed for her.  Finally her mom got her headed out the door, but she still didn't have a happy face about it.  (Her mom was late picking her up too.)  On day two Lyla didn't like the fact that she had to share blocks with other people even though she wanted to use them all to build a high tower.  She finally ended up sulking under a table.  Evelyn went over and kindly said that she sometimes went under a table when she was sad too.  She invited Lyla to come and sit by her and that did the trick and brought her out from under the table and back to the rug.  Way to be nice, Evelyn!  So we are back at it for another year.  We are going to have some extra help for a while on Tuesdays and Thursdays with some college students coming in to help for several weeks I think.  That will be nice.  Happy back to school!

Here's my school picture for the 2024-25 school year.   And below is a picture of our Staheli Farm field trip and our Kindergarten Alphabet Fashion Show program.

Another Halloween!  

Halloween 2023

 This is it!  Supe and Beacher and kids dropped by, but the rest we just saw via pictures.  Paul and I sat at home and enjoyed watching Signs and eating Halloween candy that no one else needed!  

Halloween 2022!

 Didn't see anyone in person for Halloween except Jem and his folks, but thankfully we got to see how fun they all dressed up via the family GroupMe site!  

Halloween 2018, Eliza # 6 and Ryan?

Paul, Bean and I did the YSA Stake party and then on Halloween night we went to a movie since no one comes to Trick-or-Treat at our house anymore because of the neighborhood trunk-or-treats.  I did Halloween with 84 kids at school and then on the way home I caught up with Moss Christie and Eliza to wish her a happy birthday in a building Moss was measuring for work!  You do what you can when life is crazy busy!  We also got Ryan's birthday in there somewhere!

Halloween 2017!

So I'm a real party pooper about Halloween now days, but I love to see what the family is doing.  They sent me pics that are so fun!  We stayed home, watched a suspense movie and had one trick-or-treater, and we are still finishing of the candy ourselves.

Crazy busy month of October!

I am once again behind, but it has been such a busy month I just haven't been able to keep up with it all!  I'm just going to start where I left off after the Webelos Day Hike.  The next thing to enjoy was Jay, Brynn and girls coming down to have a 40th birthday unparty for Jay. He's not into being the center of attention and didn't want a big bash with a lot of trouble.  We tried to accommodate his wishes by having a bring your own lunch and something to share gathering at a local park.  Brynn brought the cake and ice cream. It was a nice afternoon of visiting and eating.  The kids had fun playing in the park with the cousins.  Relaxed and no fuss was what he wanted the pretty much what he got.  I was so relaxed, I forgot his present!  Happy 40th Jay!  We love you!

Next in the line up was my trip to visit my Mom the 14-20th.  Janet and Tony were out of town, so their grandson, Ian Toomey, and I were there with Mom. We had such a relaxed time.  We ate pumpkin pie and Taco Bell until we couldn't hold any more, visited, watched old movies, and found our way where we needed to go using my phone's navigation tool. It was just good to spend time. Mom is going to be 95 in December and as I left I felt a pang of melancholy wondering if this might be the last time I had to spend with her.  The only problem with the visit was that I got sick as soon as I arrived with a bad cold.  I don't know who was taking care of who!  

I was sorry to miss Koen's #8 birthday, but also relieved that I had done better than I had for Jay's birthday and had the present already bought so Paul could wrap it up and do the partying for both of us.  I will get to attend Koen's baptism and I am glad for that!  We love you Koen!

The Saturday after I got home Paul and I were both ready to get out and try to catch the end of Fall. Pine Valley didn't disappoint.  We did the waterfall hike and cooked lunch over a fire for a picnic!  It was so refreshing and relaxing.  How I love Fall!

Next up is Tasia - she turned the wonderful age 12!  Now she gets to leave Primary and join the YW! Sort of makes me sad to think that Weed would have been so happy to be with here there, but no crying for birthdays.  Tasia has grown up so much and blossomed into a pretty young lady.  So proud of her.  Happy Birthday Tasia.  We love you!  We all came over and surprised her a day early!

For our date we decided we needed to try a little more Fall.  We hiked the little trail between Brookside and Baker Lake. So pretty.  Not much Fall left, but still so nice.  

Next on the list of fun things was helping out at the climbing wall at Cub Day Camp.  I have now been released after 7 years in Stake Primary over Cub Scouting.  It was starting to feel like a change was needed.  I will miss it in a lot of ways.  I have met and become friends with so many wonderful Cub Scout leaders over the years.  I'm feeling a little lost, but also excited as Paul and I start serving at a YSA Ward.  So far, other than stressing out over speaking in sacrament meeting, it has been fun. These are some really great young adults (I just want to call them kids).  So Cub Day Camp at the climbing wall was my last hurrah...but I'm keeping my yellow shirt just in case!  I made it up the wall one last time!  Paul was there to help me out after the poor high councilman wore out after helping out at Friday's session.  Hope he wasn't permanently damaged.  

Halloween...it kind of crept up on me and I was pretty bah humbug about it.  Paul and I did go to a fun YSA FHE Halloween party the Monday before, but none of us got around to doing a family Halloween party this year.  Just wasn't up to finding the time and energy.  But the I did get pics of everyone at least.  I also helped out at school with the 3 class, 60 kid party.  Trigg got to attend as one of our class and seemed to have a lot of fun.  

The Borrowman kids and Brenden and Eliza.  

Smiths and Randalls

Weavers

Lillywhite girls and Jay

That pretty well wraps up the month of October!  It was a great month.  I missed Weed for Halloween.  She and Derek were always dressed so fun as a couple.  It was hard not to have her paint my cat face for the school party.  That may be some of the reason why we just didn't push a family party.  We will always miss her for the holidays.  So thankful for a testimony that sustains us.  

Happy Weaverween!

Juge and Lance had a wedding to attend in Hawaii, so between Lou and Bryan and us we tended the kids.  We just had them on the weekend of Halloween.  Juge had everything very well organized, so it went pretty smoothly.  We were pretty worried that Zion would hate us, but he had a good time other than not wanting to be a dog for Halloween.  Paul and the other kids went trick-or-treating and Zion stayed home with me to hand out candy and he was content to eat Skittles and look at the people who came.  Thank goodness the time changed and we had an extra hour to get ready for church the next morning!

Happy Halloween 2014!

Moss and Christie hosted a fun FHE/Halloween party this year.  We ate dinner, played games, decorated cookies and even celebrated Tasia's birthday just a little bit late.  It was a fun evening with some of my favorite people.  Happy Birthday #10 Tasia!  We love you.  We missed the ones who live away or who couldn't make it, but so glad they sent pictures!  (Still missed Koen.)

So glad Weaver spooks came all the way down from Cedar.  

The Borrowman spooks (Koen was sick and stayed home with his mom and Torin).

The Lillywhite spooks

Madi and Tahli sent their spooky hands and feet!  Paul, Weed, Bonnie and cookie making.

Tasia opening her present.

The out of town spookies!  Randalls: spooky ballarian, Davy Crockett, Pocahontas, furry monkey.   Lillywhites: Princess Celestia, rolly poly and Brynn (a portrait of herself) and Jay (dirt for the cow and the roly poly).  

On Halloween we went to see Kaebri and Derek's other costumes.  Weed painted me catish for school.  Kaebri would have to win the prize for best costume if there was one.