Easter "Walk With Christ"

 

Our stake put on an amazing event for Easter, a "Walk With Christ", where each room had different pieces of the life of Jesus.  You walked through and contemplated his life and sacrifice.  They had beautiful music piped in from the chapel, which Annmarie and Eliza had signed up to sing (while I played) a few good Easter songs.  It was set up to run for two nights and took up the whole church building.  It was really amazing and so well done.  

Giving Machine

The Giving Machine was in McKinney from the week before Thanksgiving until December 4th.  It was a busy week for us and with the Eliza and Corey's work schedules opposite, we had trouble finding a time we could all go.  We ended up settling on going the first day of December, Monday night, after Eliza was done with her musical rehearsal.  It was really, really cold.  We also stopped in at this pie shop in McKinney and bought a "Father Christmas" pie, which was basically a peppermint pie with a base of white chocolate and a chocolate cookie crust.  It was really good, but it cost like $50, and I don't think I ever want to pay that much for a pie again.  

General Conference October 2025

General Conference we were down Eliza and Jonah at dinner because Eliza was at work and Jonah was at a marching competition in McKinney.  We made our own individual pizzas because we had lots of toppings to choose from and I thought it would be fun.  

On Sunday morning, we had the Fowles clan over for a pre-conference breakfast.  It turned out great and everyone left in time to watch conference at their own homes.  

 

Ward Campfire

On the day Corey got home from the trip to take up Travis and Caleb, the ward had a campfire activity.  I did not got because I was sick with some respiratory bug all week, probably COVID or the flu.  I pretty much spent the week in bed after Corey left with the older boys.  But Annmarie and Eliza sang together at the campfire, so Corey took a picture for me.

Brock's Baptism and Senior Parking Space

Brock was baptized the first Saturday after school started. He turned eight on July 20th.  I took a photo of the girls singing a musical number and Nathan with his girlie cousins.

Maggie helped Eliza paint her parking spot.  It turned out so amazing!  It says "Into the music I go to lose my mind and find my soul."

                                                    

 

FSY Jonah and Eliza

Jonah and Eliza got to go to FSY in Denton at University of North Texas. I signed them up for the same week. Eliza roommed with Hailey and Jonah didn't have a predesignated roommate. They both seemed to have a good experience. I love that the kids get to experience this.

 

Last Day of School and Feed My Starving Children

Travis' first day of school and his last day of school. He started school at Silver Crest Elementary in Herriman Utah. He went there for kindergarten and first grade. In second grade, he went to Foothills, also in Herriman. Then we moved in the middle of the school year to Texas and he finished elementary school at Groves Elementary in Wylie Texas. Then he went to Draper Intermediate, Cooper Junior High and finally Wylie High School. He was a Knight, a Mustang, a Gator, a Patriot, and a Pirate.

On the last day of school, the ward signed up to do service at Feed My Starving Children, a charity in Richardson that packs food and ships it to hunger deprived areas of the world.  Jonah and Travis were not able to go but Eliza and Annmarie went.

Seminary Graduation and Senior Reception

Some of the moms of seniors in the ward put together a little reception after church at the pavilion to celebrate all the seniors from our ward graduating, as there are a few: Andrew Whetten, Travis, Aaron Dahl, Sarah Rigby, Cooper Shumard, Spencer Gilbert, David Eric Campbell.  I believe there were one or two others who were not there.

Later that night was Seminary Graduation and Maggie was also graduating.  

Annmarie

Annmarie will be twelve in the coming March, so she'll be moving into Young Women's in January.  The Bishop organized a tour of the temple with the kids who were coming into youth in January.  We walked around the outside of the temple and went in the foyer where the temple president talked with them.  We did go to Braum's after for a treat.

And Annmarie FINALLY got her new team leo for competition season, which is coming right up.

Voice Recitals, Solar System Project, Ward Christmas Party

The super talented sisters Eliza and Annmarie each had their holiday voice recitals during the second week of December. We went straight from one to the other, which worked out well for us. Nathan had his solar system project that they have always done in third grade. He made his planets out of salt dough and painted them and then glued them to a canvas that he had painted with acrylic paint. It looked really good and he did the whole thing by himself. The youth were asked to participate in a musical number for the ward Christmas party, but the only ones willing were Eliza and Jonah, as well as Hailey Loveless, Caden Zeltner, and Austin Bach. The whole Christmas party was so well done, thanks to Katie Garrett who is over activities. And for once, we were able to go because it didn't conflict with the orchestra cluster concert and the In-N-Out party.