Trunk or Treat at Farm Hill Ward

Cute niece, Kate & Sydney comparing tans.

 Friday after the soccer practice, Sydney, Brandon and I went to my parent's ward Halloween party.  I really only knew a couple of people there even though my parent's are in the house I grew up in.  Their boundaries had changed from when I was little. It was fun to be back in our ward building.

 My cute parents!

 Boxer Brandon

 Garrett & Brandon

 Elyse

 Papa trunk or treating with Sydney and Brandon

 Mom in her witch hat and below....Mom & Cozette

Our kids haven't ever gone to a trunk or treat before and they liked it.  It was a pretty easy way to get lots of candy with minimal effort! :) It did make me glad for our neighborhood because of the abundance of kids and the grown-ups that love to go all out for Halloween.  It should be years before we have to trunk it

Afterward, we hung out with my parents until it was time to pick up Mike from the airport.  It was good to have him home.  He had a great time.  The place was beautiful.  He learned a lot.  He got to know our neighbor who was there, too, a little better and he always loves to hang with Reed.  Mike got Brandon a bat and himself a hat from the World Series game he attended and brought the girls ghiradelli chocolates. Yum! We are happy that he's home. Thanks everyone for a fun night!

Brandon's back!

This week we took Brandon to his first soccer practice since breaking his leg. He's started to walk better, so we thought we'd try it.

 He did pretty well, but started to limp again afterward.  I talked to one of the dads who happens to be an orthopedic surgeon.  He said it takes FOREVER to get back to normal after a break.  He watched Brandon walk and run and said he's perfectly normal, it's just going to take awhile.  He played in his game on Saturday, but only for a short time because he was hopping and it was really hard to keep up with the pace of indoor soccer.  It was hard on him. He was upset about not keeping up or playing much, so we are hoping he'll get back to normal sooner than later.

 Sydney came to watch practice with me because we were going to Grandma & Papa Gibson's ward trunk-or-treat right after.  The bleachers are this fantastic red, so we did a mini-photo shoot.

 Sydney is always willing to pose for pictures!

 This one was her idea and it's pretty cute :)

 Then she took a picture of me from behind talking with the other moms.  Soccer mom!

 Here is Brandon in action.  Looks pretty good B!

You played hard at practice and your hard work will pay off!

Contrasts

This is what we woke up to this morning!  My exclamation of 'It snowed!' is the only thing that made our exhausted teenager climb out of bed.  She had to see it for herself.  

Then, she ran and turned on the Christmas lights!

 Our cute neighbor who moved here from California posted a picture on facebook looking down the street from her house.  These Christmas lights being on caused quite a stir on her page.  Her CA friends could not believe we had them up already.  I chimed in explaining we put them up now to avoid putting them up in a snowstorm and assured them I had already turned them back off since the celebration of the first snow was over once the kids went to school.  I quickly snapped my own photo with my phone and sent it to Mike who is in California today!  He wrote back, 'WOW!' and then sent me the view from his hotel room.....

Doesn't it look peaceful and relaxing?  I hope Mike gets to relax while he's there.  Our trip last week with Baileys for the Allied convention is usually not relaxing for him.  He has meetings to attend and plays golf with the owners everyday.  You would think playing golf everyday would be relaxing, but it gets quite tiring and there are other things he might like to do. Like spend time with me!

Anyway, here is the view I had last week. The convention was at Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Hotel in Phoenix.  Becksteads and Joneses brought 2 of their kids each because it was UEA weekend. I guess if we had known, we could have driven down and brought our kids with us.  Next time maybe.

I did a little shopping with Tyra.  I got a manicure.  The lady was late for my appointment, so the spa brought me a plate of chocolate dipped strawberries and cream to munch while I was waiting. That was for sure worth the wait!  I read a book. I watched 'Pretty Little Liars' on my iPad.

There was a general meeting on Thursday where Newt Gingrich was the speaker.  He was fascinating to listen to.  Mike & I were first in line to get our pictures taken with him.  We also got to hear from David Feherty, a former pro golfer who now has a tv show.  He's Irish, so it was fun to listen to his accent.  He's had a hard life though, including being run over by a truck so he doesn't stay on track very well.  The resort was ok, but the food was good!  It was fun to hang out with Tyra and her girls and Judy and her boys.  It was also fun to get home to the kiddos and relieve my mom :)  Joking...how hard can our kids be to watch now....they are all pretty self-sufficient.  They also had a sleepover at Roger & Cozette's since it was UEA. Thanks you two!

So, it's 6:00pm and it is still snowing off and on....I'm looking at the picture Mike sent again and sure hope he is enjoying his nice weather!

Amanda's birthday

 We partied all weekend long as we had Amanda's Backer's cake on Sunday.  It was delish....

 On Monday, Mike stayed home from work in the morning and we went to buy her a soccer return that she wanted.  She also got new cleats and a ball last week when she forgot to take her cleats to an away game.  We ran to the store and bought new cleats and still made it back to the game in time :)

We picked up a Subway sandwich and took it to her school for her lunch.  Mike wanted Amanda to come out the curb to get her sandwich.  When she did, he blasted the Beatles' "You Say It's Your Birthday" from his stereo.  So cute!

Sydney did Amanda's candy's poster that afternoon.  It's pretty funny :)  Amanda had a soccer game that evening, so we went to that and also took donuts to share with her team.  Maddy, Sue, Liz and Reggie came to cheer her on, too.

Here are 14 things we love about Amanda!

1. She is a loving daughter that cares how she makes us feel as parents.

2. She is smart and works hard at getting good grades in school

3.  She loves her friends and is very loyal

4. She is beautiful inside and out!

5. She likes to get new clothes

6. She loves Max and always gives him a hug goodnight

7.  She is adventurous. She is always willing to try new things

8. She is a great waterskier, wakeboarder, snow skier and snowboarder

9. She is a great soccer player and dancer

10. She has a cute sense of humor and can be a prankster

11. She is a great sister to Sydney & Brandon

12. She is a kind person and is quick to say she's sorry after an argument

13. She is 100% loyal University of Utah Ute Fan

14. She's a hard worker, amazing, dares to do right and fun daughter and we are so blessed to have her!

We love you Manda!

Amanda's Birthday Party

 We celebrated Amanda's 14th birthday on Friday with some of her friends.  Liz was the first one to come over and gave Amanda fun gifts like a Barbie, Hello Kitty soap, etc.  Also a very cute necklace.

 They were laughing their heads off at Liz's gifts.  So funny!

 Then, the rest of them arrived and Mike & I  drove them to Nightmare on 13th haunted house in SLC.

 He and I went to sushi and watched the Utah State v byu game while we were waiting :)

Then we picked them up and brought them back to our house for cake and ice cream. She has cute friends and it was fun to spend the evening with them!  l to r front: Susie, Maddy, Landon. 2nd row: Erynn, Ally, Reggie, Amanda. in the back: Carson and Liz

Amanda soccer

Amanda's soccer team has been doing really well. They are in second place right now with 2 games left to  play.  We did play the 1st place team on Monday and lost, but we are really after 3 more 'points' in the ranking so that the team can move to D2 status for the spring season.

 Amanda says she's loving soccer and isn't loving dance right now.  I think once she hits comp season for dance, she might like it better, but for now we are loving soccer.  She's been to a physical therapist for her hip and back pain and is making progress.  She runs better and her posture looks great!  Who knew that her hip was rotated out of place...not us!

 She has had several shots on goal this season, but nothing has dropped.  She is missing half her soccer practices because of dance, so it's probably time to make a choice.  But for now, we love that she's having a great time.  The girls on this team are really nice.  They have made up a cute cute team cheer and now the parents do a high five line after the games. I've wanted to do that for 2 years now and am so happy someone put it together!  Go Shok!

Update on Brandon

The cast is off! Mike got a picture, but I need to have him send it to me.  Brandon was extremely apprehensive about using his leg.  The doc said he has full range of motion and is completely healed. Because of that, we opted not to get a walking boot.

He stayed home the rest of the day and used his scooter still.  Friday, he went to school, but we let him take his crutches.  Saturday, we took one crutch away.

The kids and I were shopping on Friday while Daddy was at Priesthood session and by the end of the evening, Brandon was walking without that crutch!

He is limping still and is still a little nervous, but will be running around in no time!

We're almost done or the reason I love my car!

We are almost done!  This Thursday, Brandon is scheduled to get his cast off.  It's been a long month.  I have had to take him to school, walk him in and go back in the afternoon to walk him out and take him home.  As I was sitting here thinking about that, I am actually getting a little sad.  I figured I better write it down before I forget why.

I love my car!  My car has magical powers!  When I am alone with one of our children in the car, they will talk and talk and talk.  Brandon and I aren't alone in the car very much anymore.

The first day I brought Brandon home, he was such a chatterbox!!!  It surprised me!   He told me all about his day, unprovoked.  I didn't even say, 'how was your day?' he just spilled every detail on our 5 minute ride home.  It was so fun!

It's been that way for the past 4 weeks and I have cherished every minute.  It's not like this when he and Sydney get home after riding the bus.  They both come in, dump their bags and start looking for treats.  It's not long before they are playing with friends or taking a minute to unwind by watching tv or playing with their ipods.  Even if I ask, 'how was your day' I don't get the same detailed stories I have been getting these past few weeks.

The other night when I was driving Amanda home from somewhere, it was the same deal.  I've been remembering the words I heard from a woman in our Murray ward and finding they are true;  if you want to talk to your teen-agers, it happens at night. Better take an afternoon nap!  We had a great conversation as my car worked it's magical powers again!

I love being a Mom. I love getting to know each of our kids better during this time in their lives.  They are growing into beautiful people.  I'm so grateful to be a stay-at-home Mom.  I'm so grateful for my amazing and loving husband who was the one encouraging me to stay home after we had Amanda.  I'm so grateful Mike is still so hard working and fun loving and is an amazing Dad to our wonderful children.

I know after Thursday I'm going to need to find another way to connect with Brandon each day.  I'm not sure I can still keep taking him to school and picking him up every day because I do love the bus! ;)  Maybe I'll just have to take each kid for a drive every once in awhile and enjoy the ride!