We have had a lot going on this fall! I do so love the fall. I especially love fall cooking - pumpkin bread, soups, caramel apples, autumn fruit dip, hot chocolate, spiced cider. Yum!!! The weather has been playing the usual tricks - jumping from hot to cold and back again. The colors of the trees are beautiful and I am so excited to carve pumpkins! The one part of fall I hate - the dreaded sinus infection! I'm dealing with it right now as I'm typing. I get one every fall and every spring with the change of the weather and usually one more in between. I've been to the ear, nose, throat doctor and have medication but it doesn't really matter. I can always tell when one is about to start and then I know i'll be miserable for at least 2 weeks. I'd honestly rather have the flu or strep throat - at least they go away faster. The headaches and sinus pressure are so miserable. It hurts to chew and I want to cry because I can't taste the food I eat. Not to mention the constant blowing of the nose! Ok. Enough complaining....
So, moving on. Luke had his first Pinewood Derby! He was so excited and it's all he could talk about for weeks. He had a lot of fun! He is so dang cute in his scout uniform!
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| Luke insisted on having a Speed Racer pinewood derby car. John cut it out and Luke helped him paint it. He won the most original design. |
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| Speed Racer |
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| Luke wanted to win first place really, really bad. He ended up taking first in 1 of his 3 races but he didn't win overall. He was pretty bummed about it but now he's looking forward to next year's derby! |
Kaycee was crowned "Otter of the Month" for November in Mrs. Hackings class. Mrs. Hacking said she chose Kaycee because she was responsible, getting her work done on time, finding new things to do, and always enriching her learning. She stays on task, is friendly and helps the other students. We are so proud of Kaycee!
Kaycee was also chosen to be on the student council this year! She attended the Student Council Leadership Conference at BYU two days ago and loved it! He favorite speaker was John Bytheway. She had fun meeting students from other schools and she asked me if she could type her notes on the computer. She is so perfect for the job!
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| Kaycee Otter Award |
A new tradition we started last year was to attend Oddysey Dance Theater's THRILLER every October. Last year we watched our first show at Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake. It was so spectacular that we decided to make it a tradtition. This year we decided to watch Thriller at the Franklin Covey Center in Provo. We had front row, center seats. We loved it again!!! This time I brought my camera. You can't take pictures during the show but they have zombie's walking around at intermission and at the end of the show. They do every kind of dance like pointe, modern, stomp, tap and irish riverdance. The special effects are awesome and it's so funny and a little scary at the same time. Because we sat on the front row we got to interact with some of the characters of the show. A werewolf came down and sniffed John and said that he stunk. Lorena Bobitt (thank heavens my kids have no idea who she is) held John's hand and then brought Luke up front with her and danced with him. The whole crowd went wild and Luke just kind of looked down and smiled. I know he thought he was cool. It was so funny and so cute!
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| All the zombies are part of the cast, they are some of the dancers. They are really freaky and won't talk with you but will hiss at you and jump in your face. |
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| They have freaky eyes. |
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| Theses werewolves were hilarious and amazing stomp dancers. |
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| In front of the Thriller poster! |
We had a family Halloween party at aunt Josalyn's house! It was a warm, beautiful day and we all had fun getting dressed up. I was a lady bug, Kaycee was an 80's rocker, Luke was a Michael Jackson zombie and even John dressed up at the last minute as a nerdy 80's b-ball player.
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| Kaycee won the most original costume, Luke won the scariest costume and Luke's random pumpkin that he carved at a friend's house won 1st place:)!!! |
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| There was a cake walk |
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| a fish pond |
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| and Kaycee's famous face painting station |
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| Everyone kept telling me that Kaycee looked 16 in her costume. I wish she would quit growing. She's only 12! |
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| All the little boys - including dramatic Luke! |
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| All the girls! |
Kaycee was nice enough to allow me to run in the Las Vegas Ragnar this last weekend - starting on her 12th birthday!!! Luckily Kaycee was well taken care by Grandma B in St. George. She was served a favorite dinner and her favorite dessert, brownies. She also got to see The Lion King in Vegas. She had a fun birthday! Vegas Ragnar! Wow! What a thrilling experience. It was so much fun! I was on a team of all girls. There were 12 of us total - six per van. I was in van 2. I was runner #7. I had the longest, hardest legs of the race. My first leg was 6.1 miles, labeled very hard, my second leg was 6 miles, labeled hard and my third leg was 10.2 miles labeled very hard. I trained very hard all summer (starting in June) and all my training paid off! All of my legs were uphill but it was my first leg that was the hardest. It was so burning hot and my body had a hard time adjusting to the temperature. I got totally dehydrated and I wanted to die (literally) but in the end I pushed through and did it! My second leg was awesome and my third leg rocked. It was straight up a canyon for 6.5 miles but I didn't walk at all and then I booked it down the 3. 7 mile hill. It was an amazing experience and I would totally do it again. It has definitely taken a toll on my body (the lack of sleep, etc). I wanted to feel proud of myself and I do. I had a lot of fun with my fellow "jug luggers" and it was great getting to know the ladies in my van. We went through a lot together in a short amount of time.
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| Coming through the finish line! |
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| My team. The Jug Luggers. Our motto was "Running is hard, running with jugs is harder". The finisher medals were awesome! From left: Amy, Stephanie, Michelle, Amy, Kara (our team captain), Erica, me, Jessica, Emily, Stephanie, Marie and Tiffany |
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| My nickname was Nugget Natalie |
We had our annual primary program this month. My kids both did a wonderful job! They both had their parts memorized and they both sang the songs really well. This was a big year for us because it was Kaycee's last primary program. She is now in Young Women's. Because it was her last program, she had a big part in the program. She presented a New Testament to our ward mission leader, she led the whole primary in the 8th article of faith and then she wrote a talk about an experience she had with faith. The whole program was wonderful and all the kids did a great job! It was awesome!
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| I love these two! |
Yep. Kaycee's officially a YW now. She attended her first activity on Wednesday. We did a murder mystery dinner. Bradley Buff was killed during the Miss Hollywood pageant and we had to figure out who did it. Kaycee was Petunia Peacock - the reigning Miss Hollywood who was also known as "quick hands" for her piano playing ability. She was funny and played her part really well. I was a detective. In the end it was discovered that it was Rhonda Rainbow who committed the murder. Some mother's of our YW hosted different parts of the evening at their houses (drinks, appetizer, salad, dinner, dessert). It was a fun night and the girls had a lot of fun. I am so lucky to be in YW!
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| John carved these awesome pumpkins for the kids. They each picked out a design this year - nobody wanted to carve a regular old jack-o-lantern. John does a good job. The kids loved them. Luke picked the wolves and Kaycee picked the cat! |
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| The kids had fun trick-or treating with their friends. They got a lot of treats including 3 big candy bars, scones and cider. We love Halloween candy at our house.:) |
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| Luke and Karter had fun. Everyone was giving me a hard time for "driving" my kids around on such a beautiful night. We had a lot of ground to cover and I had a sinus infection. Go figure! |
