Pie Day

Last week we had our annual Pie Day at my Grandma's house. It was my Grandma, Bryce and I, my Sister Sandi and Preslie, and my cousin Audria and her two girls. Chloe came for just a little bit when school was out. It was a long, busy day filled with lots of fun.

I made some pretend play pies for Bryce and the other kids to give them something to do. They played with them for a little bit, but of course then they still wanted in on the real action.

 

Don't they look delicious?

I am usually in charge of the shells. Here they are just waiting to be filled and cooked.

I think we made about 20 of our famous squash pies and then a few cream ones.

Chef in the making.

Yummy!!! 

We couldn't wait to eat them until Thanksgiving, so we enjoyed on the day before!

Pie Day is one of our favorite days of the year and one of my favorite memories with my Grandma.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This year we just couldn't help getting in the Christmas Spirit a little earlier than usual. Bryce has been so excited about everything. Anytime we go into a store or drive down the street he points out all of the Christmas décor and items. We decided to pull out the Christmas totes and getting our decorating done. I think it's one of the first times we have had the inside and outside of the house decorated before Thanksgiving. In fact we even got our tree before Thanksgiving.

Landon and the kids hung the lights on the house. Bryce would not be left out from a trip to the roof.

Bryce really wanted a blow up Christmas Darth Vader for our yard; it was a little bit more than I wanted to spend. I bought him a little blow up snow man instead and I think he was pretty happy with it.

 We opted to just go to Lowes and buy our tree this year instead of cutting one down. Bryce kept telling us he wanted a little baby tree. He was not happy with any of the trees we were showing him. He walked down an aisle and a few minutes later came running back to us carrying a little Christmas tree. It was the only one he wanted to buy. I asked him if he wanted to spend his own money on it and he said yes. So we ended up buying it along with our other tree.

 

We "flocked" the Christmas tree. Or so we tried the stuff we bought turned out to be a snow paint type spray not actual flock. It still turned out pretty good. You can tell the spots where the kids bump into it a lot because those branches are losing their "snow", but it was fun to try.

The morning after setting up all the Christmas decorations I came into the kitchen to find Bryce and Chloe in their Christmas sweaters sitting up to the counter with a snowman having breakfast.

Broken Phone

Bad news at Tanner's Championship game I dropped my phone on the cement and broke it. It would not work at all. I was so frustrated! I thought at least I have insurance I'll call Monday and get a new one coming-well that didn't work out as planned. I called in Monday and they gladly took my $100 deductible-but only to tell me they couldn't send me the same phone cause they didn't make it anymore so I would have to choose a different one. Now for some that might have been fine, but that upset me worse than anything. You see I switched cell phone companies a few years ago-specifically to get the phone I now have. It was a high definition camera phone (41 megapixels)-that is the whole reason I got it-no other phone on the market today takes the same quality of picture! UGH!!! I am not happy! I guess I should just be grateful that at least I now have a working phone and can once again connect with society-that still doesn't me I might have shed a few tears. Oh well life goes on I guess. Hopefully a new camera phone comes out soon.

Baseball Champions

Over the weekend Tanner's team played in a baseball tournament. It was a fun weekend filled with many hours of baseball- 5 games for a total of at least 10 hours. Tanners team did really well. They won three of their four regular play games which put them in the Championship Game. (The one game they lost they only lost by one point). Then the most exciting part was they ended up winning the Championship!!! I was just so impressed by how well the team played together. They all did awesome. Tanner mostly played 2nd base, but he also played a few innings in the outfield and even pitched to a couple of batters. He made good plays and he hit the ball really well-in the Championship game he hit an awesome double. After the last game his coach told him that he had done a great job and had gotten on base the most out of anyone that tournament. I think they went into the tournament kind of as underdogs, but they surprised everyone maybe even themselves.

A few of the games were early in the morning or later in the evening, so it was pretty cold. We took lots of blankets and our portable heater-and spent lots of money on hot cocoa.

 The boys were so fun to watch when they got their championship awards-which were cool rings instead of the normal trophies.

 

Halloween

Halloween finally arrived-time to trick or treat. Of course Tanner was too old and too cool to go with us. He attended a Halloween party later that night though.

 Cutest little Yoda...

 Rockin the Mullet...

 Angry Emoji (Furious)

 Of course as tradition would have it we went trick-or-treating to my Grandmas house and neighborhood. She always makes a special treat for the kids-this year it was orange candied popcorn.

 Preslie came too...

 We went trick or treating to some houses in my Grandma's neighborhood. One door had a dancing skeleton at it. After that house Bryce was done-he wanted to go back to Grandmas house-poor kid. So he and I did just that-he promptly fell asleep on the couch. While Landon and Chloe went out to hit a local haunted house. After that we loaded back up and drove Chloe by a few houses to trick or treat at on our way home.

 

At home it was time to check out their loot. Chloe showed Bryce how to sort his candy. He sorted his by color.

 She should have enough to last her for awhile.

 Fun Halloween! I can't believe it is already over!!!

Hand Me Down Toys

Tanner gave Bryce one of his old stuffed animals. It is a build-a-bear alligator name Tyler. Bryce loves it so much and makes sure he takes it everywhere with him. The other day we accidently left it in a shopping cart, but luckily a nice lady noticed and ran it over to our car before we pulled away. I asked Bryce if he wanted to go to build-a-bear one day and make his own stuffed animal and he said no he just wanted Tyler. Sometimes hand me down toys are the best kind.

What's Up Bro

Tanner was gone one day and Bryce was in his room a few minutes later he came in my room dressed like this (hat on backwards, wearing a key chain, and some wrist bands). He said to me "what's up bro?". Yep-he definitely has a teenage brother.

Trunk or Treat

The Monday before Halloween our ward had a Trunk-or-Treat and dinner. This year Bryce was Yoda again. I bought him a cool dinosaur costume but he found his Yoda costume from last year and decided that's what he was going to be (luckily it still fit). Chloe was an emoji. (the little emotion icons on your phone) Her costume also double as a vocabulary word for the vocabulary parade at her school-her definition was furious.

I made some pumpkin poop to hand out to the kids.

 

Bryce got his first real taste of Halloween and decided there were parts of it (namely a few costumes) he wasn't a fan of. Whenever those few certain people with the costumes would come anywhere near him he would hide his head and cry. Poor kid. Other than that-he liked it. He liked getting lots of treats and seeing all of the fun Halloween stuff.

All in all it was a fun night spent with family.

 

Primary Program and Bishopric Photo

Last week was the Annual Primary Program. It was Chloe's last time participating-since next year at this time she will be in Young Women's-that is crazy to even think about! Here is the program.

Chloe gave a talk and also sang a song with a small group of kids-she was supposed to sing a solo in the song, but her and a couple other girls were too nervous so they ended up doing a trio.

Here is her talk. She wrote most of it herself with just a little bit of guidance. Her topic was the importance of family home evening.

In a conference talk Linda S. Reeves second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency said "it is okay if the house is a mess and the children are still in their pajamas and some responsibilities left undone. The only things that really need to be accomplished in the home are daily scripture study and prayer weekly family home evening."

Family home evening is a time for us to grow closer together as a family. It is a time to learn and have fun together. During this time our testimonies can be strengthened. Prophets have promised blessings to those who have family home evening.

President Thomas S. Monson said "we can not afford to neglect this heaven-inspired program. It can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family, helping him or her to withstand the temptations which are everywhere. The lessons learned in the home are those that last the longest."

I have always enjoyed family night, some of my favorites were my dad's scripture Olympics, my mom's object lesson on using kind words which involved shaving cream, and my dad's family feud game on the ten commandments. I enjoy the yummy treats we get every time, but most importantly being with my family and learning new things.

I know that family home evening is important and it you have it you will be blessed.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

The Primary Program turned out great-Chloe did awesome with both her talk and her song. It was nice to be able to have Landon get to come down off the stand and sit with the rest of the family during the program.

 

 The Bishopric had a picture taken. Great group of guys right there.

 

Neighborhood Pumpkin Party

The Friday before Halloween we had a neighborhood pumpkin party. Everyone brought something for dinner-we had two kinds or chili, rolls, homemade root beer, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies-yummy! Then the kids painted or carved pumpkins.

Bryce was so excited about the Yoda pumpkin kit I bought for him.

Little Ham

Crazy Girls-of course all of the kids ended up having a pumpkin seed fight before it was all over with.

Chloe's soccer ball pumpkin.

The wild and crazy gang.

We had a great night-I am so glad we have some great friends living next door.