Cross Country Banquet

Tink and I went to her cross country banquet last night. One of the runner's parents offered to cater the whole thing and the food was amazing! Tink lettered and got several awards, but the biggest one was most improved over her career. It was so sweet and she was so happy. She has had great coaches and friends throughout her whole time running cross country in high school. I'm so proud of her for working so hard and sticking to it.

Temple

I was able to go to the temple in Denver today. It was amazing. First, my friend texted me yesterday to ask if she could watch my littlest so I could go with some other ladies in the ward. So that was awesome and worked out beautifully. Then we hit traffic on the way due to a wreck so instead of doing an endowment session, we did initiatories which is what I needed to do for the names I had. It was amazing. The Spirit was so strong and I felt so strongly that my grandma was doing missionary work on the other side of the veil and needed us to do the temple work for them. I cried through the whole thing and my friend, Janey, who was also doing some of my family names was also crying through it all being so overwhelmed with the Spirit. After, we went to the celestial room and sat and prayed. The Spirit was strong there too and I felt like I was receiving answers and strength. At one point, I looked up and an older lady was walking by on her way out. When I saw her I thought, "Wow! She kind of looks like my Grandma!" Well she stops right in front of me and said, "Heavenly Father loves you." She just looked at me and smiled, and with tears in my eyes, I stood and gave her a hug. As we were hugging she said, "He knows everything you are struggling with. You are very special to Him." We ended our embrace and she walked out. Janey came over and asked who that was and I just said, "I have no idea" and then told her what she said to me. She said that angels can come in many forms. It was so touching and such an amazing experience to have in the temple! What a day!

Halloween

 For Halloween this year, we went as DC Super Heroes! I was Catwoman, PC was Superman, Tink was Wonder Woman, Bucko was Green Lantern, Minnie was Batgirl, Goofy was Robin, Shortcake was Supergirl, and Rosie was The Flash. It was fun to dress up as a family again.

Middle School Cross Country

Since Minnie's new school doesn't have sports teams set up yet, she was able to run cross country on her team from last year. It has been great for her, especially as she has a friend that moved in a few houses down from us that is also on the team. They have quickly become best friends, and I love how sweet they both are! Minnie had a rough start health-wise this season as all my kids had a bad cough from bronchitis that lasted over a month. So breathing was an issue at the beginning of the season. Today was their last meet, though, and it was a nice cool day! She did great! Most meets had been very hot, making a lot of the kids throw up. So it was great to have a meet with cooler weather.

 Their awesome YW leader was able to come to one of their meets. We have great leaders at church!

Homecoming

Tink went to Homecoming with a sweet guy from our ward. They lived here when we first moved to Colorado but moved to England about 2 years later. They've been gone for the past 4 years, but are now back and our oldest kids have hit it off. They both run cross country, so he had the best way to ask her to the dance. They hiked the Incline on Labor Day and at the top, he had a poster that said, "I'd be so eXCited if you would run to Homecoming with me..." It was so cute! Tink was so excited! We quickly ordered a dress, which ended up not being in stock so we had to go with this one, but she looked great in it! We got her sparkly Vans so she would be comfortable and not dying in heels! We had fun getting ready and I loved that one of her YW leaders wanted to come see her before she left. That one is my favorite because you can see how much fun they have together.

Don't they look great?

 The back was super pretty, but that took me over a half an hour to lace up!

He even got her a corsage! We totally blanked getting a boutonniere! They had a blast though. A little after they left, I got a text from a friend that said, "Just in case you're wondering how [Tink] is doing," along with this picture:

They had been out to eat at the same restaurant Tink went to with her date! Love that I have spies who can send my surveillance photos!

Triathlon

PC and Bucko did the tri-stake sprint triathlon this weekend. PC was one of the top finishers! Bucko did great and finished strong! They swam 100 meters, biked 10 miles, and ran 5K. I am so proud of them!

Movie Night

PC took the three younger kids camping. I thought it would be fun to take the older kids to the $1 theater, so we were able to go with cousins for a quick night out.