Pacers

With school starting, Pacers program also started. This year for Pacers the school decided that as soon as they run their marathon distance, they will get their sweatshirt and won't have to wait until the end of school year. Then, if they continue running, for each additional 5 miles they run, their name will be put into a drawing for prizes at the end of the school year.

 

Kylie received her sweatshirt at the beginning of December. She did awesome and I am so impressed with how well and easy running is coming for her. Even her teacher commented on what a great runner she is. I hope she'll continue to develop a love for it.

 

Merit Badge

Tyler is really into scouting. He had the opportunity to participate in a merit badge pow wow and one of the merit badges he signed up for was photography. He needed to take pictures of nature and put them in a presentation to pass it off. One day after school, Braden and I picked Tyler up and we went to the gardens on campus. He did a great job taking LOTS of pictures and I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by so I had to get a few of my boys. This is where I discovered my camera wasn't working anymore, so we did the best we could with what we had.

 

I love this picture below because Braden LOVES Tyler. He looks up to him and when refering to Tyler, he always says "My Tyler". Braden just kind of grabbed Ty's face and was going in for a hug, with "my Tyler".

Halloween

Halloween came again this year, and I am at a point where I am not really into buying elaborate costumes. So again, I kind of let them all come up with what they wanted to be and this is what they chose. Except for Braden - we had costumes in our Halloween bin, and he was so excited to be a fireman - except he kept calling it a fire truck.

 

Kylie was a football player. We even did the black paint under her eyes

 

 

Braden as a fireman/ fire truck

 

One night we were joking about the replacement refs - hence McKenna as a ref. We used black duct tape on a white shirt, gave her a whistle and black hat, and she had black pants on.

I didn't get a picture of Tyler. He wasn't going to participate in Halloween this year, but after seeing how easy McKenna's was, he also decided to be a ref since they attend different schools. I think they all looked great and it turned out well. Lots of candy. Successful Halloween.

Pumpkins

Loved carving pumpkins this year. The kids really took over and knew what they wanted to do. We didn't choose a pattern for them, and they carved everything themselves - except Braden. He knew what he wanted, and we had to help him. I won't bore you with the gory details, I'll just show you their finished pumpkins. They were all so proud and they looked AWESOME outside with a light in them.

 

Braden of course did Mickey Mouse

 

Kylie surprised me and wanted just a basic Y on hers (for BYU)

 

 

McKenna's was a little more detailed - a football with a Y at the bottom

 

Tyler's was the traditional BYU

 

Tyler's 12th Birthday

It is so hard for me to believe that my oldest is 12. I don't feel that much older so it's weird that the little people keep getting older! For Ty's birthday, he had a birthday party with lots of boys over. We set up the basement with the projector and band hero, food and the wii. They spent a lot of time down there and my favorite part was hearing them sing Taylor Swift songs.  HILARIOUS! After it got darker outside, they spent a long time outside playing night games. All in all, it was a very successful party and Ty had a great time.

 

As a family, we celebrated Ty's birthday on the 29th. Of course we had to do the "tradition" party hats. Braden gets so excited about these and we have to use them for EVERY birthday. Ty opened presents and had his traditional sam's club chocolate fudge cake!

 

One of my most favorite things about Ty's birthday weekend was he was ordained a deacon and received the priesthood on Sunday, the 30th. So special and so neat to see him each Sunday pass the sacrament and get excited to collect fast offerings. He also serves in the Deacon Quorum presidency and what a great leadership and learning opportunity for him.

 

Again, definitely growing up!

 

Primary Program

The primary program has usually always been held in October of each year. Tyler was so happy about this because that meant since he turned 12 in September, he wouldn't have to participate this year. However, for whatever reason they had the primary program on September 23rd, a few days before his birthday. He was not too excited about this.

 

The fun thing for him is that we got a new counselor in the primary presidency and she also has a daughter whose birthday was at the same time of the primary program. She did a great job making them feel needed and put together a little orchestra for one of the songs.

 

Lots of practice hours later - I even helped out by going over and over it with me on the piano and Ty on the violin. They did great!

 

The primary counselor also had a special song for all of the children who were baptized this year and had them wear their baptism dresses.

 

It was a great program and I of course had to get pictures of them on the day! I also couldn't leave Braden out. He was pretty well behaved this Sunday!