i'm so bored

First day of Thanksgiving break and I was already hearing how bored my kids were. So, I told them to get the car and this is what we did...

I love where we live. For some reason Little Elm tends to get a bad rap....but I think a lot of it is about attitude. If you aren't happy here, you aren't going to be happy anywhere. And if you don't like something...stop complaining and DO something about it.

We are surrounded by a lake with lots of things to see and explore. My kids love this. Our little town continues to make improvements and I am always excited to see what they will come up with next. Little Elm really is a great place to live.

opposable thumbs

Every Saturday we bathe Sammy. After bathing him this past Saturday I said to Kate that I bet he felt so good and refreshed and clean. She said to me, "Especially when you don't have opposable thumbs." What??

Proud to be an American

See that scarf Joshua is wearing? It's no ordinary scarf. It was given to him by a Marine. Right around Veterans Day a Marine came and spoke to the students at Joshua's school. They had a questions and answer session and if the students answered correctly they were given a prize. Joshua got this scarf. It is warn by soldiers who go over to the Middle-east. To say that Joshua loves this scarf is an understatement. I couldn't get him to take it off for 3 days.

Temple Walk

The Young women in my ward did an 18.1 mile walk to the temple. In the end it ended up being a few miles more than that because of a wrong turn but thats ok...that's how life sometimes turns out as well.

We started super early at 4:30 in the morning.  

We made some stops along the way and shared some thoughts with them about the temple.

One of our goals as young women's leaders is to help our young women understand the importance of the temple. I found this beautiful picture and gave one to each of the young women. We want them to "keep their eye on the temple".

We also had tons of fun along the way....

About halfway through it started to get hard.  Legs were tired, feet started to blister, and it was hot.  We started to slow down.

But as we got closer to the temple the girls started to get excited.  They even began running towards the temple.

Our families were waiting for us.  Friends were there cheering us on.  It was a moment I will never forget.

We did it! I am so proud of these girls.  This was a very powerful experience for me and one that I will cherish forever....... and never, ever forget.

i did it

Halloween 2012

We did our usual thing Halloween night. We went to the Flores house and had dinner then set off for a night of trick or treating.

Braeden was not going to dress up but at the last minute he borrowed Alex's Darth Vader costume.

Love these girls especially Kate's pose.

six flags...again

We headed to six flags again for the last night of fright fest this past weekend. We LOVE this place!

trunk or treat 2012

While Cary and Braeden were in MO at the soccer tournament, Kate, Joshua and I went to our annual ward Trunk or Treat.  Can I just say how cute these kids look in their costumes?

Kate chose to be a gypsy so don't confuse her with a "pirate girl" as she likes to say.  I totally made this costume all by myself minus the shirt I found at Old Navy for 4 bucks.  LOVE the way it turned out!

Joshua was undecided as to what he wanted to be up until about 3 hours before the party.  I kind of bribed him to be a nerd with a new lego minfigure.  Hey, whatever works.  It was cheap and easy.  He is the perfect nerd.

And me, I am always a last minute costumer myself. I just raided Braeden's closet and borrowed his soccer referee gear.

The loot...this is the most fun for the kids.  Emptying the candy bags and organizing it all in to categories.

More Halloween to come soon...MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!

hooligans

Cary and I needed some alone time so we decided to take a leisurely drive without the kids. Cary was giving the kids the rundown of all the rules like we normally do when we leave , when Kate said, "Please don't leave me with these hooligans." (meaning her brothers) Too much TV maybe?

Braeden's first ER visit

Braeden participated in his very first soccer tournament in Springfield, Missouri over the weekend with his HSAA soccer team. It didn't go exactly how he had planned. In the last to 2 minutes of the first game he went up to head the ball and another kid on the opposite team going for the ball at the same time nailed Braeden in the head with his shoulder. Braeden went down and was taken out of the game. He thought he was feeling ok and tried to play in the second game, but at halftime he called it quits. His head was killing him and he was feeling nauseous. Cary took him to the emergency room and he was diagnosed with a slight concussion and told he was not aloud to play in the rest of the tournament. He was totally bummed. Cary and Braeden stayed in MO to cheer on his teammates and he did ultimately end up having a good time, despite not playing. His team took 2nd in their division and 5th overall. Their varsity team won won the championship so they were all super excited about that.

Braeden is home now and recovering. He is suppose to take it easy, but that is so hard for him to do. We will go back to the doctor in the next week or so and see what they have to say. Of course, Braeden is hoping he will be released to play in their first season game on November 3.

PS...Braeden has been playing soccer since he was 4. He has tried various other sports over the years and this was his first visit to the ER and injury ever...lucky boy.

josh's army

As I was going through all the pictures on my camera, I found this one. Joshua lined up all his lego men army-style with a fearless yellow leader.

biological compounds

Braeden recently did another lab for Biology. He was testing different substances to see whether or not they contained starch. It was very cool...and he even looked kind of mad scientist-ish.

fright fest

We took the kids to Six Flags a few days ago and had so much fun. Love that place!

too cute

friday night lights

Kate, Joshua and I went to the Lobos homecoming game on Friday night. It was tons of fun but it was freezing. We are wimps when it comes to cold weather...one of the reasons we LOVE Texas so much. Anyway, the Lobos won 49-12..I think, and we got to see Cole Beasely have his #11 football jersey retired.