Friendsgiving

Ali and a few of her friends did a Friendsgiving again this year. Ali has been friends with these three since Elementary School! It's so fun that they still enjoy being together.

So Thankful

My good friend Jessica invited us over to their house for Thanksgiving and I was thrilled to accept the invitation! The food was great, and the company was better (even if some of my kids were less than thrilled about the idea of going to MY friend's house...or maybe more that it was the Bishop's house too, but everyone ended up having a good time). 

Jake decided that this was the perfect occasion to break out his cowboy hat and he looked so snazzy that Bishop chose to wear his too during the epic bingo game after dinner.

All the loot they got from the game may have been part of what changed their minds about how fun Bishop's house can be! When we got home Jake repeatedly sang, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." as they played with all their silly new toys.

I am truly thankful for this crew!

Dirty Clothes Tower

Eli's dirty clothes were so stuffed in his basket that they didn't crumble from the basket's rectangular shape when he tried to dump them in the washing machine!

Stake Conference

One of the counselors in the Stake Presidency asked me if I thought Jake would be willing to say the opening prayer for the Sunday session of Stake Conference, and I knew (without a doubt) that he would be happy to. The morning of the meeting he asked if Jake would feel comfortable sitting up on the stand until he said the prayer, and again, I knew he would have no problem with that! He looked quite at ease up there next to those adults and did a great job with his prayer.

Mole Day

Ali once again made a Mole project for Mole day in Chemistry. She spent quite a lot of time on this "Pirates of the Molibbean" scene.

Road Trip

One of Logan's best friends wanted to drive to Indiana to visit a ... friend ... and he recruited Logan and their other best friend to go with him. The three of them spent the day driving the 6-7 hours round-trip, riding RVs around the friend's property, watching her performance, and eating out. It was a great boys' trip! It felt very college to me, which I'm not quite ready for!

Updated Bulletin Boards

I've wanted to update the bulletin boards in our ward building for a long time, and some of the girls and I finally made it happen (along with a chicken nugget taste test because, fun).

Eli made the Team!

Eli tried out for his school's basketball team last year and didn't make it, and I thought that would be the end of that. But this fall, he decided he wanted to try again. He worked hard every day in our driveway, at our neighborhood park (which he would jog to and from), and even ran drills at the church a few times with his dad. He did everything he could do, including asking extended family on both sides to pray for him. He got tons of encouragement, and people all across the country were as anxious as we were to find out if he made the team...and he did! We were so proud of his hard work, and so pleased that in this case, it turned out the way we'd hoped it would. 

Jason and I have both been to most of his games (we each went to one alone), and each of his siblings came to at least one. It was a short season (no complaints from me) and the team didn't have a great record, but it was a good experience for him and I think he enjoyed it overall.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Jake and I had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing one of his favorite authors (Jeff Kinney) in person! Rather than a typical meet-and-greet, it was a silly show that was 100% perfect for his audience and it was fun to sit in the middle of 1,000 giggling kids and their parents.  

Ali

Cutest closeup.

Crumbl

Our friends own our local Crumbl Cookie Store, and one weekend they put out the call that they were slammed and would pay anyone who could come in NOW to help out. Jason decided to go (to help our friend) and I suggested that Logan go as well (as a potential way to get a job- since he'd been looking for one). They went and worked for a couple of hours, and when they were leaving Jason asked if they were hiring. "We're always hiring good workers," they said...and the rest is history. Logan works most Monday and Friday evenings, and Saturday during the day. It's actually kind of the perfect schedule for a High Schooler. He likes being busy and having a steady income, and we like the boxes of cookies he brings home (as do the people we minister to, Jason's coworkers, and our neighbors)!