Friends Goodbye Party

I threw my kids a friends goodbye party. I let them each invite five of their closest friends to hang out all afternoon at our house. It was a bit disappointing how few of their friends showed up but they had fun with the ones who did.

Eliza with Ellie and Lily

Westley with Jeremy

Caleb with Will

Travis with Lance and Mike

Gorgeous Utah Scenery

I really love the mountains. Although I grew up primarily in Texas where it is flatter than flat, I grew to love the mountains while living in Utah from 1994-2000.  When we moved back in 2009, I remembered how fond I was of these Wasatch Mountains and how beautiful they are.  I will really miss these mountains when we move to Texas. 

Utah is such a beautiful place.  I am having a very hard time with the idea of leaving this gorgeous scenery to go somewhere completely flat. 

Only Snow of the Season

We finally got snow in Riverton! It didn't last long and wasn't much. We were disappointed that it was the only snow we have gotten this winter so far.

Axis and Allies

When I was a kid, my older brothers were really into a game called Axis and Allies. They were taught by some friends of theirs, who were also brothers, how to play this game and from then on, it was something they did often together. My parents found an old game of someone's in their house and brought it for my boys to play. One of Westley's friends, Isaac, also knows how to play, so they got together a few times before moving to play it.

First Grade Program

Eliza had a first grade program early in November and she was so adorable.  I was able to go without any of my other kids too, thanks to someone in the ward watching them for me.  It was rather enjoyable to attend without the other kids.

Fun Day at the Park

It was a gorgeous Saturday in November with warm temps, and since it was just about the four-month anniversary of my brother's death, I gathered up the kids and drove to the Salt Lake Cemetery to visit his grave. Then as we were driving back past Liberty Park to get to the freeway, we saw a donut place that bragged it had the best donuts in Utah, so we decided to stop and buy a dozen. They weren't kidding--those donuts were DELICIOUS!

 

We had to eat the donuts right away, so we stopped at Liberty Park down the road. The kids had a blast playing at the park and eating donuts on the beautiful day. It was our last big hurrah enjoying the great outdoors in Utah before moving.

Halloween 2014

Halloween this year was fun but tainted by the fact that we found out at the beginning of October that we would be moving to Texas.It put a bit of a kink in my busy days by adding the stress of keeping the house show-ready.

I made three of the costumes.  I had actually bought the fabric to make the Mario costume for Travis when someone dropped off a Mario costume exactly the right size for him.  I made Westley's FBI vest (and then realized that the FBI vests you see on TV are navy blue, not black), Caleb's Robin Hood cape and Annmarie's Boo costume (from Monster's Inc.).

The kids dressed up for the ward party.  Caleb--Robin Hood, Westley--FBI agent, Jonah--knight, Travis--Mario, Eliza--Rapunzel with the short brown hair at the end of the movie

Monsters, Inc.:  Corey as Sulley, Annmarie as Boo, Jenna as Mike

The kids had a Halloween parade at school and then I was in charge of Eliza's Halloween party as the room parent.

The 4th grade had a Halloween program that Caleb was in.  I didn't get to see it because I was doing Eliza's party at the same time.

Halloween night, right before Trick-or-Treating:

Travis as Mario

Caleb as Robin Hood

Westley as an FBI agent

Eliza as Rapunzel

Jonah decided to be Spider-man

Annmarie as Boo