Spiky Shoes

We have the most amazing bishop.  (For anyone who might not know, we call the leader of our local church congregation "bishop.")  Instead of scheduling tithing settlements at the church, he offered to come to every family's home if they preferred.  I know that's not possible outside of Utah, but even so, that's definitely going above and beyond.

As soon as Bishop James walked in the door, Annika, in her true quirky style, immediately asked if she could stomp on his foot.  (!)  A bit surprised, he agreed as long as she wasn't wearing spiky shoes, which led to an elaborate conversation all about spikes.

A few days later, we received the following in the mail.  In case you are wondering, he painted the shoes.

Outside of family, this is without a doubt the most tender piece of mail we have ever received.  I am so grateful for this thoughtful man who ministers to each member of our congregation individually...

...even those who are five.

November News

It's winter!  (Well, not technically, but our yard is covered in snow and we've been skiing twice.)  As such, it's high time to post these photos of fall.

Who doesn't love playing in the crunchy leaves?

For a brief spell, the colors were positively brilliant.

Pausing to build a leaf pile in front of the church.

At the beginning of November, I checked Annika out of school early so that we could visit the Tracy Aviary during their winter dollar days.  I remember when Annika was a baby, Papa Kay said that her hair reminded him of this bird's crown.

Maybe he wasn't that far off.

More presently, this is a recent photo of Annika with bedhead.

Back to the aviary, enjoy the pretty pink flamingos.

Speaking of pretty, I was jealous of the eyelashes on this hornbill.

Back at home, it was time for a game of Go Fish, accompanied by a guinea pig, of course.


Moving on to other children, here's Eli with a super cool star he learned to make at our Relief Society art night.  (He's an honorary member.)

And here's Brooklyn with her cute group of friends, celebrating a birthday at the Classic Fun Center.

Here she is again at an inspiring luncheon our council hosted for all the Girl Scouts who earned their gold, silver, and bronze awards.

Silver, bronze, and three summit awards.  I'm super proud of this girl and her commitment.  I'm equally grateful for the amazing leaders who have mentored her along the journey.  Brooklyn's silver award project involved volunteering at a local elementary school during their afterschool program.

Talia was recognized too for earning her bronze award via her Bags to Beds project where she crocheted plastic grocery bags into a sleeping mat for the homeless.


A photo with their cute Daisy sister.  Annika's got some great role models to look up to.

Talia (front center) with the Bronze Award recipients.

Brooklyn (mid-center) with the Silver awardees.

 I have a hunch that these sweet girls may be recognized again some day for going the extra mile to earn their gold.

Speaking of scouts, Eli got to wear his cub scout uniform for their school veteran's day performance.  Not quite sure why they stuck him in the back row.  (Far right.)  He said he was half-falling off of the bleacher the entire time.  Still, he performed beautifully.

Talia's sixth grade Veteran's Day performance at Wasatch was far more elaborate.  Pretty fantastic costumes!


My eyes filled with tears listening to them sing, and crinkled with smiles watching them dance.  Who knew Talia did such a mean Charleston?   Can you spot her in the front row?

Reciting poetry.

So proud of all these munchkins, both within our family and within our community.

Now if only they would stop growing up so fast.

The Halloween that Keeps on Haunting

When I was growing up, Halloween was a single day.  A parade at school, then trick-or-treating at night.  Well let me tell you, not any more!  We celebrated all month long, and then some.  I can't tell you how excited I was to finally put the Halloween costumes away for another year.  Dressing up may be fun, but it's certainly exhausting.

Brooklyn grew so much this past year that she decided to wear the Halloween costume NomiAnn made for me years ago.  She was the cutest Dorothy!  We watched the Wizard of Oz in her honor and were amazed by the precision of NomiAnn's replica.

Our first Halloween event was held at Mabey's Pumpkin Patch.  We'd been invited to a free event sponsored by City Creek Mortgage and weren't quite sure what to expect.  It was impressive...


Albeit very muddy.

We sloshed through the fields to pick out our free pumpkins.

Some were heavier than others.

The photo booth was next.

Can't forget face painting.

Add in free donuts and hot chocolate for an evening well-spent.

Our next event: Little Haunts at This is the Place with Ruby.  Ruby was the only one who remembered to dress up.

My children tried to adorn themselves with serpents instead.  Wow, Talia, that snake is quite the fashion statement!

This kind of gives me the heebie jeebies.  Is Annie holding one snake or two?

Next up, the pumpkin roll.


Can't forget the Halloween parade.  Ruby was an adorable dinosaur.

Just not quite as large as this one.  Best of all, the parade was followed by an actual candy cannon that shot out all sorts of blackened taffy.

We rode trains big...

...and small.

Many thanks to Justin, Brianna, and Ruby for inviting us to This is the Place with them.  We had a hauntingly great time.

Class parties.  Eli's class at Emerson celebrated Halloween early with cookie decorating, games, and more.

We sponsored the popcorn monster hand craft.  So fun!

Next up, Halloween at the Leonardo.  With such beautiful leaves on the trees, it was hard to want to go inside.

Fortunately, all the bubbly fun made it worthwhile.

Talia is quite the ham on green screen.

Waiting to mold sugar skulls.

Annika held an actual brain, then asked if she could hold the half brain, followed by a brain slice.  Perfect for a future veterinarian, although she's going to have to get used to the smell of formaldehyde.

My favorite part of the evening--observing how scorpions glow in UV light.  Now that's Halloween worthy.

Girl Scout Spook Alley.  You'd think the Leonardo would be enough Halloween for a single evening, but we crashed the Girl Scout Spook Alley as well where Brooklyn and Talia debuted as pirates.  Eli and Annie enjoyed crafts and snacks while their sisters volunteered.

Still not satiated, the kids asked to celebrate Halloween at the Gallivan Center the next day.

This Pinkalicious fairy godmother looks ready to turn her pumpkin into a carriage.

Fun, but a bit (read a lot) too crowded for my taste.

That evening was our ward Trunk or Treat. The donut eating contest was pretty epic.  Annika never succeeded in doing much more than licking hers,

One evening was set aside for pumpkin carving.

Our pumpkin has a visitor.

Spark thought his cage was pretty tasty.

Looking pretty good!

At last, October 31st arrived.  My office at work put together quite the spooky food party.

The evening was filled with trick-or-treating, chili, cinnamon rolls, and a cauldron full of bubbling root beer.  Justin, Brianna, and Ruby joined us for the trick-or-treating fun while Brooklyn's friend Chantal came over to help pass out candy.  (The eighth graders decided they were too old to go door to door.  Sad!)

Let's be honest.  By this time, I was too Halloweened out to even bother with pictures.  The kids were all pretty much the same except for Eli, who transitioned into Harry Potter courtesy of these cool glasses.

And yet, the festivities still were not done.  A couple days later we celebrated el Dia de Los Muertos at Emerson.  I helped serve burritos while Annika got her face painted and decorated sugar skulls.

All in all, Halloween had enough sugary fun to last all year long.