Thursday, December 9, 2021

November happenings

Little visit at Haley to hear the kiddos sing for Veterans' Day. I didn't see Taylor- he probably hid in the back, pretending to be signing behind his mask.




And I got to have lunch with Logan at his school.

Miss Felicia shared this picture of Alexis and Every working so hard on their stretch. It's beautiful!


I've known of Kiri my whole life, but we never met. Her mom, Anita, was one of three missionaries who taught the gospel to my parents, over 42 years ago, in Belgium. Kiri has the same birthday as me, but she's a year older.
She used to live in Mesa, so she decided to bring her kids down for the Mesa Temple Open House. I was excited when she reached out to me, asking if we could meet. We decided to meet at the Gilbert's Farmer's Market. 
Coincidentally, Kiri and Laura used to be roommates for a semester, and Laura used to be in our ward, so we all met together at the Farmer's Market.


Sunday best.


Twinsies.


School pictures: Logan (6th), Taylor (6th), Kendall (5th), and Alexis (Kindergarten).


Just had to show how long Kendall's hair is getting.


I chaperoned a special trip to the grocery store. Yep. 5 kids from each 6t grade class got picked to walk over to the grocer store, buy as many turkeys as they could with $100, and then donate them to a homeless shelter. It was pretty cool, actually. And it was nice to get to know some of the kids Logan goes to school with. Nico, Logan, Matthew, (forgot), and Katelyn.




The Kindergarten had a special Friendship Celebration. It was fun to see Alexis sing, dance, and floss.



William and I went to another Suns basketball game. It's fun when the Suns are on a winning streak. And this time they beat a huge team; the Golden State Warriors.
And at haftime, Brooke Simpson sang. She was on America's Got Talent and ranked 4th, I think. She's pretty dang good.



Logan walks around school with books on his head. It's his special talent, which got him his own post on the Ryan Instagram page.


 

Thanksgiving week

We love it when Grandpa and Grandma come visit! 

Day 1, we went to the Musical Instruments Museum. I legit had no idea there were so many different kinds of instruments. Rooms filled with all sorts of string instruments, blow instruments, etc., all organized by region. It was really cool.

We went out for lunch and ice cream afterwards, but I didn't take any pictures because I was busy picking needles out of Alexis' hand after she touched a cactus. Yep, that happened.

 

Day 2. I went on a 5K run around the neighborhood with Shelley. I used to HATE running. In fact, last year my legs felt like noodles for days following this Turke Trot. But I've been running 3-4 times a week, and it's actually not too bad. I can't believe it took me 36 years, but I might actually be in the best shape of my life. Or at least pretty damn close.

LeiLani and I split up the sides. I brought 2 different kinds of potato dishes, creamed corn, roasted Brussels sprouts, rolls, and a pumpkin pie. And that was lunch at Paul's.

For dinner, we went back to our place where we ate catered food ordered from Fleming's. There's only so much food one person can cook in a day.

The boys went golfing in the morning. Meanwhile, I set up for Christmas. Then in the afternoon, we went out to eat and went to the movie theater.

On Sunday we went to church, then the kids decorated gingerbread houses. I thought it was a great Sunday activity and the kids really enjoyed it.










Weekend with the boys

Fun weekend with the boys! Friday night we went to a Suns game, which, let's be honest, is so much more fun when they win. Which they did!


Then Saturday morning I took the boys to a Bubble 5K Run. Let's be honest, no one ran. But we got a nice 5K walk with some good talk.






 

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Stake Festival

We almost didn't make it to the Stake Festival, mostly because I felt like crap, following my Covid booster shot. I was so exhausted! I just wanted to stay home and go to sleep. But, for the kids, I decided to go anyway. And it was worth it, because they had a blast.
Alexis found her friends Juniper, Jane, Jones, and Blake. Kendall, Logan, and Taylor spent 75% of the time holding the baby chicks. They were definitely cute. Too bad they all turn into terrifying chickens.
Alexis did a cupcake walk, milked a (fake) cow, and went down the giant slide at least a dozen times. I went down the slide, too, a couple of times, with Angela and Ashley. Haha. 
The kids also help puppies and ate cotton candy, which I told them is called "barbe a papa" in French, and literally means "dad's beard." It was a lot of fun, actually!