April

It breaks Kaycee and Luke's hearts to tell you that our big bunny rabbit named April passed away last week. We are not sure of the cause of death. She was found dead in her cage last Thursday (November 11th). Both of my kids cried and poor Kaycee had to head out to tumbling 5 minutes after we discovered her. Luke went with John to bury her.

Luke won April at a kids rodeo a few years ago. They put some rabbits out in a rodeo arena and then had a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds try to catch them. If you caught one then it was yours to keep. It's fair to say that April was full grown when Luke got her (of course he had to get the biggest rabbit in the whole place). We never new how old she was and we actually never knew if she was a boy or girl. Luke named her April and we have always referred to her as a "she" probably because of her white fur and pink ears and eyes. She was our own little "cadbury egg" bunny. She made a good pet because all she required was food, water and a little loving. We learned right from the start that she had a big attitude and at first she kept getting out of her cage and eating everybody's flowers. Hopefully she had a good life on earth.

May April Rest In Peace in Bunny Heaven!

FALL FEVER!

I absolutely love fall! I love the weather and I love the colors of fall. I always get in a baking mood when fall comes around but haven't had much time to do it. I did pickle a few bottles of beets and I finally got some super yummy pumpkin bread made today. We have been staying busy and having fun the last couple of months. Here's the lowdown:

Last night John and Kaycee went to a daddy/daughter NERD night for activity days. They had pizza for dinner and played a lot of "nerdy" games. Kaycee never gets to go to activity days anymore because it's at the same time as dance so she was so excited just to get to go! They had a blast! They won the award for best costumes. John was hilarious!!! He was a jock type nerd and kind of reminded me of the nerdy basketball guy on Maid of Honor - only John was way funnnier! I was impressed that he came up with his outfit on his own a couple of hours before it started (with a few touch ups from me). Kaycee was funny too in her swim goggles with her "kick me" sign. Too bad the pictures just don't do them justice. Kaycee also won the nerd quiz about her dad - apparently she knows John pretty well. I am so glad they had fun!

Kaycee and Luke participated in the primary program and did a wonderful job! They both had their speaking parts memorized and sang really great. The senior primary sat up on the stand for all of sacrament meeting and it kind of stressed me out to see Luke constantly talking to his friends during the sacrament. I kept giving him the evil eye and then he would be quiet for 2 minutes until he started up again. At one point he was making faces at me and making me laugh. What a nut! Kaycee keeps saying she can't wait until she can be in young women's. Only one more year now. It seems forever to her - she's ready. After the program I had 2 different people come up to me and tell me how they can't believe how grown up Kaycee is - I've only heard that from somebody after every primary program for the last 3 years. She stands so pretty and acts so mature. Where did my little girl go?

We celebrated Kaycee's 11th birthday with a Clue themed party. We had fun planning it and I think all who attended enjoyed themselves. Every guest was a relative of one of the clue characters. They all dressed up to match the part. They were cracking me up because they were totally acting out their characters so dramatically, it was awesome! We watched CLUE the movie and went on a weapons scavenger hunt - which at the end - revealed the death of Shamu the whale - whom we discovered in the basement killed with the rope by Gretchen Green. It was fun!

Sally Sue Scarlet

Petunia Peacock

Pollyanna Plum

Margaret Mustard

Gretchen Green

Winnie White

Matilda Mustard

Patricia Peacock

For Halloween we did the traditional pumpkin carving, twice actually. Luke carved a cute little one at my mom's house over Fall Break and then Kaycee carved her little one along with John a couple of days before Halloween. They turned out really cute. Kaycee did a really good job with her jack-o-lantern and John carved a cool haunted castle out of our big one. It was a difficult one to do (lots of little things to carve out) but the kids loved it when it was finished!!!

For Halloween Kaycee dressed up as a Southern Belle/Miss Scarlet and Luke dressed up as his favorite (dead) person in the whole world - Michael Jackson. Between Halloween parties, birthday parties, dance parties, school parties, etc., the kids got to wear their costumes several times making it well worth it!
I was in charge of organizing our Young Women in Excellence this year. We did an academy award theme and called it our 1st Annual Torch Awards. The colors were black and gold and we even had a real red carpet. We handed out black and gold torch trophies to all of our "winners"! We filmed each of the girls doing a talent/personal progress goal and our bishop was our M.C. for the evening. For refreshments we had a chocolate fountain with everything you can imagine for dipping. The dress was formal or church and everyone had fun getting ready. It turned out great and everyone said they had a wonderful time. It was a huge success!!!
Luke played flag football this year for the first time ever. He didn't really want to do it and at first he didn't love it at all. But funny enough right before the last game he told me he wanted to play next year. I think he was frustrated learning the sport - it's complicated to teach to little kids - but once he got to throw the ball and stuff then he liked it. He doesn't like to run the ball but he can throw. The kid has got a great arm! This is my one and only picture (I only got to go to 2 of his games).:(
Now I am looking forward to the Holidays! I only hope the snow holds off until Christmas Break!