Welcome to our World

Our first snow, of course, came soon after Halloween.  We had a Friday night and Saturday with nothing on the calendar and the same went for Natalie's best friends so we had a slumber party at our house.  They ate at the E family's house, set up beds in our play room, watched Tangled , played, hung out, slept from about 11pm to 5am, giggled, got themselves breakfast, played board games, played a pioneer role play game, cleaned up the play room without being asked, and made themselves lunch before separating around noon.  I'm missing one friend in this photo but I just had to grab a photo of what the girls ended up doing after ME went home and they were suddenly "bored."  I love the way they can have fun! Natalie's first orchestra concert was incredible, per usual at our middle school.  It was so fun to see students we've known since Natalie was little all up there on the stage together.  KT got a great picture of her for us that I am so very grateful for! ...

I adore the viola and softball pumpkins Michelle and Natalie created all by themselves.  They really make Halloween seem more complete.  Of course we've decorated, made the traditional Halloween shaped sugar cookies, light the pumpkin spice scented candles and have started making things like stew or chili and cinnamon rolls for dinner, but seeing these pumpkins and busting out the costumes for Natalie's "Halloween Clash" softball tournament made Halloween feel real.  *small pumpkins provided by my ministering sister, G. I loved their team costumes so much!  They played three games back to back to back on Saturday morning.  The first game was a little rough, the second game was really good and well matched, and the third game was against the team expected to win the tournament.  But the umpire was so kind and really helped the girls enjoy the game even if they were behind by quite a few points.  After day one of the tournament we made sure to watch Desp...

Michelle and I got home from Kansas with one day off school to spare, which she spent at the orthodontist, doing homework, and hanging out with her friends.  Another mom grabbed this photo for us since these girls go to two different high schools so it’s kind of a special occasion when they are all together now.  This week was also Michelle’s first high school orchestra concert titled “Into the Stars” where her group played: Meteor Shower , Quasar , and Jupiter .  The black and white photo is from a dad who was taking photos for the music wing’s Instagram account and he is doing such a great job with that account. My guys provided some basketball and softball games to watch as well!  I was shocked when Danny said he felt up to playing less than a week after getting his wisdom teeth pulled.  And he showed hustle!  I could tell when he was sitting on the bench during the second game that he was in a lot of pain but he got out and played again the next day. ...