What happens when your birthday falls on Conference Weekend

Elise's birthday is always the week of General Conference, which is fun because it always kicks off the holiday season and Conference time together. She had a full calendar of bday activities with room mates and friends, but we were happy to get a little time on a special weekend!! The Wisers were in town, so that made it extra fun!

I think we overdosed on bday cake, traditional conference cinnamon rolls and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, etc.. but tradition is tradition! We finally let her go back to BYU Sunday night, after a "certain boy" (who was texting non stop all weekend) asked her to come back for a bday surprise... oh, it's hard letting go.

It's hard to believe 19 yrs ago this soul came into our world. We couldn't have been more blessed by 100 daughters. She makes our lives happy ;)

Conference Sunday

Football & Chili

Ahhh... fall bring lots of things, including 4th grade football. Despite all my begging against tackle, I think that's exactly where Jacob will be next year... Ughh. But, I won this year and flag it is! This boy is obsessed with football and he's great at it and fun to watch.. so here we go. Lynn has done a fantastic job coaching, it's a great group of boys.

This is Jacob's "hurry up and take it, I need to get back to the game and the other guys are watching" photo. I love that he will humor me though...

Reviewing plays- Jacob is in heaven.

The call came out for a chili contest at the harvest carnival- and Jacob was on me to enter since he first saw the flyer- which made me giggle. I made a pot from scratch and kept notes on the ingredients, which I'll post on the food blog. He was my advisor and test taster. Secret ingredients were braised beef (since I don't like hamburger) bbq sauce and bacon. There were a TON of pots at the church and he got a little worried. But, the YM judged and we received third place medal! That was one happy boy- who ate a lot of chili that night. lol.

Denver Trip

A fun trip to Colorado for Jared and Melanie's wedding in the Denver temple. We hadn't been to Denver for a long time-fun to be back, it's so beautiful! The wedding was really wonderful, wish I could have taken notes during the sealing-- lovely thoughts by the Temple President.

It was great to meet up with family and friends again. The outdoor reception was so fun. Below is a shot of Jacob before the reception started- he'd been rolling around playing (hence, the grass stains on his new pants) and ran over to take this "GQ" shot for me. That kid is so darn photogenic!!! I'm always pestering him to let me photograph him. I loved this one so much, I framed it.

Our trip to Denver had to include a visit to Hammond's Candy store which opened in 1920. They are featured on the Food Network etc.. a lot. The men humored us and mom and I loaded the back of the car with hand pulled candy canes ;)

Outdoor receptions are so pretty!

Jacob caught the wedding garter, which is not his first time... he really likes it.... ;)
Wedding Party
The happy couple! I was their photographer, and they were so easy and fun to take pictures of.
Jacob and cousin Luke gettin' their groove on.

Once Upon a Time..

We as a stake primary had so much fun putting this girl's activity day together. We based our theme on Elder Uchtdorf's talk to the young women this past spring "Your Happily Ever After" We made supplies for almost 300 girls ages 8-11 and went through it all! Each girl was given a pink bag to take to each of four workshops. Each workshop focused on something different and they received or made something in every class to take home. This idea could be used for ward activity days or YW's too. To start the day off, I gave a quick mini talk on Elder Uchtdorf's talk. I brought in a Grimms Fairy Tale book from my childhood and talked to the girls about how their "once upon a time" starts now.

Bookmarks

"Once upon a time" banner

These were a fast, economic centerpiece we can re-use. They are just vases from the dollar store with scrapbook paper rolled up and placed inside. Tissue paper, ribbon and paper crowns sprayed silver. Balloons came up out of the centerpieces. Rose petals and tulle all around the tables. I don't think we could make anything less expensive- and easy!

Princess Diaries we made from black and white composition notebooks Walmart had on sale for 25 cents each before school started. Yay for little miracles when we have a budget and 300 to buy! We made a card stock cover from clip art the girl's could fill in with colored pencils.

"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" workshop.

We talked about images we see in advertisements are not always "real beauty" Models have teams of people working on them, photographers take a million pictures and pick the very best one, then a lot of times it's put on the computer and altered to look differently. I showed the "Dove Evolution" commercial from youtube to the girls. I think it really made an impression on how distorted beauty ads can be. These young girls are surrounded by these ads and may start to compare themselves with them. They are comparing themselves to something that isn't even real most times!

We talked about Heavenly Father's idea of beauty and modesty and I wrote a story about a "Princess Perfect" who never was really happy until she stopped focusing on her outward appearance and started helping others. The girls each received a copy of the story and a rainbow sucker that represents letting your "true colors" shine through as we watched a "commercial" set to the song True Colors that I made, showing regular girls doing amazing things just like them. They are all amazingly beautiful!"Princess Academy" workshop. Lisa did a great job! The girls learned table etiquette and had dessert served. A massive amount of dessert quickly plated and served by Karen and Mary!! More importantly they learned that having good manners is more than how we act at the table, it's making sure everyone around us feels included and welcome. It's about being a good friend. The girl's "graduated" at the end with a diploma.
"Princess in Training" workshop by Tacy. Here, the girls learned about talents and how a lot of talents are more than just the obvious ones we can see, like singing etc.. The girl's thought about what talents they have that maybe can't as easily be seen. Then they made princess charm necklaces from Tacy's bead boutique- they were the big hit of the day!
Darling "Princess Diaries" workshop by Maria. Maria talked about gratitude and each girl colored the cover of her own Princess Diary gratitude journal.
Is there anything cuter than 8-11 yr. old girls?!?

Labor Day

Deer Creek!

Say what you need to say

First day of school for Jacob and "moving in day" for Elise to BYU equaled emotions that were a little tender. The whole week we were preparing to move Elise in, I kept hearing the same song on the radio, etc.. and found after she moved out, when I'd hear it again, it left a small knot in the middle of my chest. I know she's not far in miles, but it does mark a milestone of changing dynamics for our small family.

As the weeks passed we found her to be "made" so to speak, for BYU life. She is taking advantage of all the campus has to offer, loves her roommates and ward and fhe group and on and on and on. She tested out of freshman math and english classes which allowed her more freedom in her schedule to take classes toward a possible major choice. The social dating scene is a major source of fun these days and I love hearing her fun experiences!!

As the weeks passed the knot in my chest lessened as we heard how well she was doing. How can I be sad when she is so happy? So did I say everything I needed to say to her before she left home? I don't know. I sure tried.... ;-)

Dorm Decor- way fun to decorate!!
Parent Night
First day of dorm life for Elise!
First day of Fourth grade for Jacob!

What happens when you take the all star quarterback to your high school reunion?

Lynn took me to San Francisco for my birthday in August and that timed with my 25th high school reunion north of the city. What a memory filled trip! We used to have a lot of dates in SF. We love that city. We also stayed a few days with my brother Dave's family which was wonderful and got to see lots of old friends and more family. We had a great time driving all over our home town visiting favorite places and old homes. Good memories!

Lynn and me with Lynn's sister Holly (who I graduated with) and husband Dennis.

Okay, so Lynn was kind of the "Bell of the Ball". It seemed everyone remembered his football glory days... That's what happens when you take the all star quarter back to your high school reunion...
So much fun! I don't think we've ever laughed so much in a musical. Darling.

Fresh crab... mmmm.

Dave and Nikki took us to Powell's Candy Store- was a nostalgic trip... we filled up our bags easily!
Corner flower market in downtown SF where Lynn used to buy me flowers on his way home from work when we were dating- it's still there!
Historic Windsor trip with Dave and Nikki and kids.
To die for Mexican in Windsor- Dave and Nikki were such great hosts!