Happy Thanksgiving!

 These four girls just love to play together. M & C came in for Thanksgiving week, so while the men took the older kids to go play Laser Tag, we girls got together to chat and let the little ones play.

They had a lot of fun playing Laser Tag!
For Thanksgiving Day, we all got together and D & S's house. Nana wanted to do sugar cookies with the kids, so we let the girls go first. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the boys doing it, but we did let them!

 

 Tink and Bucko went to the temple with their cousin who went for the first time, along with some aunts and uncles.

 

 Then we all went out to eat at Guadalajara one night.

 And, of course, we did our Thankful Turkey for Family Home Evening that week.

Mini-course

Minnie signed up for the Cake Boss mini-course at school. She had a blast baking and decorating her cake. I think she was most excited that she got to keep all the bake ware and icing bags/tips. She loves baking!

Haircut

Minnie got her hair cut today. She has been wanting to get it done all week, but we were so busy I told her we needed to wait until Saturday. Unfortunately, I got sick on Thursday and have pretty much been in bed for the past few days. But I dragged myself out of bed and we went and got it cut. I think it looks great.

Dates

PC and I don't get to have "real" dates because of his schedule. There just is not an evening where we can work it, so our dates usually involve the little girls and us shopping. I realize I just don't take very many pictures of me and him together, so I made sure we did today. And of course, the girls needed their picture taken as well.

Randomness from September

 Tink went to the Homecoming game with her friends. They had a lot of fun and came back here for ice cream afterwards. I'm so glad she has good friends.

 This was a mutual activity and I just love Bucko's smile in it.

 Goofy went to the fire station that same night. He looks good in a fire truck!

 This little girl just cracks me up. She really wanted to dress up in the shark costume, so I helped her in and rolled up the pants. So stinking cute!

 And a bit rotten. I don't remember what she got into, but her face was covered in something red!

 And these two always want me to take their pictures.

 She's a good helper in the kitchen. Making bread.

 Minnie has had huge bumps on the inside of her eyelids for a couple years now. She has eye drops but they just weren't cutting it anymore, so we went to the ophthalmologist and she gave her some antibiotic drops that cleared her up. She has bad allergies that affect her eyes. She had to get her pupils dilated.

Time Out for Women

When I heard Time Out for Women was going to be in Castle Rock this year, I did not want to miss it! So I bought the tickets for myself, my mother-in-law, and two friends from my ward. We had SO much fun!
The speakers were absolutely amazing and I left feeling so uplifted and inspired to work harder and be better.

 Laurel C. Day has always been an inspiration to me. She was the first one I went to get a picture with! This time she spoke about tears and how she views tears as shedding the old "me" and embracing and molding the new me. She talked about the different kinds of tears, like the tears of laughter, tears of sorrow, and tears of sacred/reverence.

 Anthony Sweat is a religion teacher at BYU and talked about faith, hope, and charity. His talk is one that has stuck with me as it completely changed my understanding of these virtues. For example, he spoke about how charity is not just about service. Charity is the love of God and our love for Him. This relationship is charity! And it affects us more than any other gift. He said, "Feeling love changes people, and feeling divine love divinely changes people." The whole talk was amazing and I have 3 pages of notes!

 This isn't a speaker, but was one of my favorite parts of TOFW. She is one special girl who used to live in our ward but has moved across town so I just don't get to see her very often. Her smile is the best as well as her hugs!

 

Mary Ellen Edmunds is always a hoot. She talked about prayer and how it is a privilege and the hardest work we can ever be engaged in. She talked about praying with maturity; wrestle, plead, cry, and hunger. 

Jenny Reeder is just amazing. Her story was shared in conference and she is so strong and inspiring!

Calee Reed provided the music on Saturday which was just awesome. One of our favorite things she talked about, though, was being broken. She shared this about a type of Japanese pottery called kintsugi.

This type of pottery is highly prized and viewed as even more beautiful for having been broken. She said, "There are things to be learned while you wander, there is good to be done while you wait."
Sister Elaine Dalton and Tim Ballard spoke on Friday evening, and both of those were absolutely amazing too! Sister Dalton talked about holy habits and righteous routines. Brother Ballard talked about how "covenant makers are miracle chasers." The stories he shares are amazing. He shared how we must prepare and need to fill our lamps with light to withstand the darkness.

Halloween

The Saturday before Halloween, we had a trunk-or-treat in our neighborhood and a Punkin Dunkin at the pool. The little girls LOVED that! They had pumpkins and little rubber ducks to get and they all got a bunch! Goofy ended up with six or seven pumpkins!

 And that evening, we had trunk-or-treat at the church. We dressed as characters from Peter Pan. I was Nana the dog, Tink was Wendy, Bucko was Captain Hook, Minnie was Tiger Lily, Goofy was Peter Pan, Shortcake was the Crocodile, and Rosie was Tinkerbell.

For Halloween, they all dressed up as something different other than Rosie. She still wanted to be Tinkerbell. Bucko was a ranger (but I didn't get a picture), Minnie was Super Girl (also didn't get a pic), Goofy was a skeleton and Shortcake was ladybug Cinderella. Tink painted her face like this:

We even got a little pumpkin costume for Yeti.