Monday November 20

It's late late and I still need to wrap the gifts for my birthday boy tomorrow!

We had a fun day.

Laundry and packing.

I picked up some cardboard with dad at Lowes for an upcoming YW activity :)

Then I went and did a little shopping with Madi.

Max and Graham played all day.

Then this evening we had our November birthday celebrations.

It was a lot of fun and we had pizza, cake, ice cream.

Played games and had lots of fun.

Putting Port to bed he had a few requests for his birthday....

He wants breakfast in bed and he wants a scavenger hunt for his gifts :)

Hopefully those things work out for him!

Sunday November 19

We had a special day today.

Today was the dedication of the Meridian Temple.

I had it in my mind that we were to be there at 10....luckily I talked with Stacia, as we were getting ready to go (like loaded in the car).

Anyway....so we were all ready to go.....and still had almost 2 hours.

So we ended up finding a recording of the Youth Cultural Celebration that was performed yesterday.

We loved being able to watch that!

It was such a beautiful performance!!!!!

And we had fun spotting the Young girls and some other faces we knew.

My girls wished so badly they could have participated!!!!!

We will just have to wait for a Kuna temple to be announced and build :)

Anyway, the dedication was wonderful.

I am still so amazed how quite the chapel can be when there is no one younger than 8!!!!

I enjoyed the spirit felt there in the talks and the singing.

We are so excited to go back to the Meridian Temple now that it is dedicated!

Then this evening we had the Youngs over for hamburgers.

We watched the youth culture celebration again....and spotted the girls out again :)

Fun times!

We sure love spending time with them.

We are so lucky to have had them in our lives through all the many adventures we have had.

We really couldn't have asked for friends than ones that feel like family!

Saturday November 18

We started the morning with being invited to breakfast over at the Leavitts house.

She had quite the feast!!!!

The Edwards came too and it was a fun time.

We left that to go to Porter's and dad's basketball game.

They won!!!!!!

Yay!

It was a fun and intense game!

We came home and got chores done.

Port and Dad got yard work done....raking up leave, working in the garage, etc.

I should have gotten a picture of Port working on the 4-wheeler.

He's a good little helper!

The Hall kids came over for Madi and Cassi to babysit for a little bit.

Then Cassi left for another babysitting job.

Brent and I left for an early date to the movies.

We went and saw Thor.

We made a quick stop at Dickey's for dinner because we had to get home before Madi had to leave with her friends.

Then this evening, Bubble invited us back over to watch the BSU game.

We watched the first half. then headed for home to get the kiddos to bed.

When putting Elsie to bed, she told me that she is so thankful for Bubbles and Eldon 💗

Me too!

Friday November 17

Port had his Market in class today.

They each get $150 a week in class.

They have to pay for such things as going to the bathroom, or disturbing the class.

Well, the market they had today, the kids got to make something and then bring it and sell it.

Port made those cute egg carton animals.

Well, when he came home....he came home with a box FULL of cookies, brownies and cupcakes!!!!!

Oh man!

When i asked him how much he made.....he said about $5 :(

I asked him if no one bought them, and he said, no they bought them all, then I just spent it!!!!!

Dang kid!

We had a little talk about it and how it wasn't very responsible for him to take the time to make those and sell them, only to blow the money on stuff that won;t even last.

And that he probably can't eat before it goes bad!!!!!

His friend Kason came home with him after school and they had a late night, playing and laughing all afternoon together.

When Kason left, Porter got very emotional.

I asked what was wrong.

He said he just felt dumb for spending all his money.

I told him that it was okay, we had a talk about it and it is over now.

I told him that he learned a very good life lesson that was better to learn with fake money than it was with real money!!!!!

He still felt really bad.

He feels a lot of anxiety about stuff......but I told him not to worry.

Worrying does no good for anyone!!!!!

All you can do is move on and do better at the next market.

AND he has a really good story to use in a sacrament meeting talk sometime in his life!!!!!!

Could be related to several gospel topics :)

He also got his birthday package int he mail from Emmy and just could not wait to open it!!!!

Thursday November 16

I had a good workout at the gym this morning and then went and got some Christmas shopping done.

This afternoon I got to babysit my little friend :)

We had a fun time together 💗

She is such a fun little girlie!

After school, I helped Elsie with her Essay.

Then I had to leave to go and decorate a new Beehive room, so Cassi helped Elsie with her essay.

It turned out pretty darn good :)

Elsie is a stinker when it comes to something she doesn't want to do, but Cass has a good way of motivating her and making it fun.

Then I came home and made dinner and helped Porter with his items he will be selling in his class market tomorrow.

He made egg carton animals and they turned out pretty darn cute :)

Wednesday November 15

I taught Porter's ArtSmart today.

I wish I would have taken a picture!

They did some watercolors and then ripped the picture to make the edge look like the water froth in the ocean.

It was a fun project and fun to see how they all turned out.

Then I came home and got my grocery list done.

And then went grocery shopping.

I got that all put away and then decided I wanted to put a coat of paint on the side door :)

It will take another coat or two, but I am excited about it.

I just wish the front door was done :)

But it is a good thing I started on the side door, because I can tell it will take practice to get it perfect.

Madi had bowling after school and Cassi had a future city meeting.

When they got home, Elsie went to Activity Days and Port went to Max's.

Then Cassi left with her friend to go to DQ while the rest of us here at home had dinner.

I had a meeting tonight....well not meeting.

More like a visit.

We got a new Beehive adviser.

So that is exciting!

So I went to meet her.

And at home Madi helped Elsie with her essay project and Cassi helped Porter with a project he is doing for his class market.

I came home and I was pretty grumpy because there was still messes left around the house, and not everything I expected to be done, got done.......

I mean I had good reason to be grumpy.....but I do feel bad.

We got it all worked out, and everyone went to bed not mad :)

Tuesday November 14

Brent taught a class to the new recruits this morning.

After I took the kids to school, I went to the gym.

Saw Heather and Drew there, so that was fun :)

When I came home I worked on the ArtSmart project for Porter's class tomorrow.

I also put some tape on the exterior side door windows....

I am really wanting to get the doors painted........

BUT.....

I might have waited too long.

It needs to not be too cold......so I am crossing my fingers for really nice weather tomorrow :)

When Brent came home from the class, he decided to get the Christmas lights put up.

Not to turn on.......but just to have up so he doesn't have to hang them when there is snow on the roof!

They sure look pretty!

But, we will wait until after Thanksgiving to turn them on :)

This evening Port and Dad had to leave basketball a little early to go to Port's den meeting.

He got all his stuff to finish up his wolf.

Since his birthday is next week, and he will be moving up!

My baby will be 9!!!!!!!

The girls and I went to the church to meet up with the Youth for our temple trip.

We left Elsie there with Sherrie at the pack meeting until Dad and Porter showed up.

We took a bunch of names with us and it was really cool.

It is always such a sweet and tender thing to watch these youth take the time to go to the temple and do these baptisms.

I really enjoyed the spirit I felt there today.

The room just felt filled with love.

It was an honor to be able to go and be with them.

It ended up being a late night and Dad did a good job putting the little ones to sleep.

Except for Elsie bug......she was still awake, just waiting for me to come say goodnight.

And on my pillow, I had a note from Porter.

I wrote him a little note in our mommy and me journal earlier today.

But I just loved his little note to me 💗

Monday November 13

Spent the morning doing some emails and editing etc.

Got laundry done too.

Brent got some insulation up in the bathroom.

We have been getting  breeze coming through the in between of the floors.

The insulation will help out :)

He also picked up some Christmas lights from Lowes.

We threw away our old ones because they were in bad shape.

Hopefully we will get them up before it snows!

I got a work out......then I got a call from the school.

Porter had an earache.

I went and picked him up a little after 2.

Dad left to pick up Madi to take her to get her eyes checked.

She will be getting some reading glasses soon.

Hopefully that will be helpful for her.

I went and picked up Elsie and took her to PT.

Cassi took care of Porter until Dad got back and he ran him to the urgent care.

He does indeed have the start of an ear infection.

Sooooo....on the way home from PT, Elsie and I picked up his prescription.

We had pizza for dinner and then FHE.

There was a lot of fighting going on, so guess what we talked about!

We talked about loving each other better.

And we spent quite a bit of time talking about being a DRIP.

Like Grandma Ene always said....be a Decent Responsible Intelligent Person.

We talked about what each of those words mean and how we can do better at that, and how it can make our family better!

Sunday November 12

It was a pretty nice Sunday.

We had Everly with us all of sacrament meeting.

She spent half the time with me and the other half with Brent.

Who, by the way, is going to be the cutest Grandpa someday!!!!!

She was having such a fun time with him.

It was the cutest thing!

I had to teach the combined lesson for YW.....but we got a late start, and I another leader took about 15 minutes to speak to the kids.

We kind of split the lesson, but with the late start, we both had 15 minutes.

I talked about our bodies being a temple.

But more than just the exterior of the temple.

I asked them to think about the Meridian Temple.

We talked about the landscaping, the beautiful fountains, the amazing ponds.

I related that to keeping our bodies healthy.

Then we talked about the inside, the halls, murals, paintings, stained glass windows.

I related that to the health of our minds.

And then we talked about the Celestial room.

The feeling you have in the room, the brightness in the room, the beauty.

And I related that to our spiritual health.

Then we talked about how to keep those areas beautiful and healthy.

The temple wouldn't be quite as beautiful with black windows on the outside.

Or if there were zombies painted in the murals.

A definitely not if there were pink and turquoise stripes in the celestial room!!!!

Of course we talked about the Word of Wisdom.

And all things we usually talk about keeping a body healthy.

Then we talked about keeping our minds healthy.

Things like not being idle.

Staying away from vices.

That you need to develop your talents.

Then with our spiritual health we talked about gaining and building our testimonies.

Praying and reading scriptures.

Developing values such as patience, kindness, love, integrity and compassion.

Then I challenged them to pick one area and work on it for 2 weeks.

I hope that my message came across to the girls.

I was actually kind of excited about it....but then kind of rushed through it because of time.

Oh well.

I can only hope that they got what they needed from it. 

After church I had a meeting for the YW leaders.

When we got home.....ALL of the kids had homework they needed to finish!

We did a bad job this weekend with planning ahead!

So we got Port's camo turkey done.

On the kitchen floor :)

Elsie had some research she had to do.

Cassi worked on her homework, but then ended up not feeling well.

So she took a little rest.

Hopefully she feels better tomorrow.

Then Madi had to draw a cartoon about antibodies and she used a fun idea using characters from The Office :)

Oh, and while watching Madi draw, and while dad talked with Gramps on the phone, I taught Porter how to braid my hair :)

Saturday November 11 (add pictures)

Porter had a basketball game today.

We came home and did chores.

Then we had tithing settlement and Cassi had her bishop birthday interview.

Came home and did more chores.
Madi left with friends to some hot springs.

I worked on my lesson for tomorrow.

Cassi went babysitting this evening....which was all part of a plan.

Avery has been planning a surprise birthday party for Cass.

Well, Cassi was thinking she wanted to go to the stake dance.

So I had one of her favorite families call and ask if she could babysit.

Which was perfect....gave us time to get all set up and get friends here.

When she got home, Dad told her to go do the chores.

She went out and the kids all surprised her.

So then we spent the night with screaming and REALLY loud teens :)

She had a fun night.

Too bad it was so cold!

They spent the last hour hanging out in the basement.

I need some sleep now!