Halloween in April

Audrey has been home while the other kids are at school for several years now. Sadly, this means that she often watches too much "Netflakes". But it also means that she is really good at entertaining herself. Today she got out the halloween box, full of different costume things from years past. I was impressed when she kept running in the kitchen to show me each costume. After a while, they were so cute, that we had to take some pictures. She came up with all of the dramatic poses herself. I am pretty lucky to spend my days with Aud. She is a lot of fun.

Girls and Dolls

Sophie and Audrey were excited to get American Girl Dolls for Christmas. Sophie wanted Molly and Audrey wanted Rebecca. My generous and talented sister-in-law Pennie helped me sew these matching pajama pants. She also sewed beautiful coats and rompers for the dolls. I will have to add more pictures later. They have had a lot of fun with these dolls. We have some big plans. We want to make them wooden beds and quilts and pillows and more clothes. Fun! Fun!

Holidays 2012

We had a great holiday season! It was nice to be in our own home for Christmas. We were able to be more consistent with our holiday traditions and have more of the Christmas Spirit. I meant to take pictures of some of the different things that we do, lighting candles each Sunday before Christmas, our Danish advent calendar, our jar that we fill with beans as we serve others. But I procrastinated and now Vince has put it all away. So hopefully next year, I will take some pictures of all of the festivities. We have had so much fun with family parties and games, gifts and decorations. But our biggest event this season was Uncle Spencer's wedding. Spencer and Ann were married on December 21, 2012. It was a beautiful day! They make a beautiful couple. We had a dinner at our house the night before and enjoyed getting to know Ann's wonderful family. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple and Vince's parents were there with all nine of their children. What a great blessing! I didn't take a lot of pictures but here are a few from the temple grounds.

First, here is the lovely couple about to share a kiss.


This is me, my sister-in-law Nikki, and Sophie Rose. There are also a lot of other family members in the background.


Here is Aud with her coat on her head. She is never cold and didn't want to keep it on.


I love this one of Landon and Will. Landon is sporting his candy cane cast. He broke his arm the day before Thanksgiving, just a couple of weeks after Will got his boot off from his broken foot. First broken bone for each of them.


Here is Vince, Sophie, and Grandma Peggy (Vince's amazing mother).

Halloween

I haven't blogged much lately and this will be short. Audrey wants to play a game on the computer. We had a fun Halloween. Landon dressed up as a hippie for his band concert. He plays percussion and he did great. He played a different instrument in every song. He played with both the eighth grade band and the ninth grade band. He really enjoys it. Audrey dressed as Rapunzel this year. I made her a long yarn wig. Sophie was Gothel, Rapunzel's evil "mother". William was a mailman. I didn't get a picture of him but I am going to try to find the family picture that they took at our Ward Harvest Party. We went trick-or-treating in Toni's neighborhood this year. We had a little birthday party for William and Carson first. We had dinner and broke a spider pinata that Will made. It was a lot of fun.

Tummy Ache & Lots of Bamboo

Well, I weighed in this morning and I am down 7 pounds from when I started keeping track three weeks ago. This sounds like a reasonable, maintainable weight loss. But I don't know. The girls and I have been sick the last few days with a stomach virus. The only symptom is a tummy ache, and less appetite. As long as that appetite doesn't come back with a vengeance, I should be good.

Audrey's birthday party was a lot of fun. It was great to have so much family over. This last weekend, we stayed at my mom's one night. She was watching Toni's boys and Carson and Drew had football games at the same time, miles apart on Saturday. So, I went to take Carson to his game while my mom took Drew to his. It was a fun time. My mom took us all to see Hotel Transylvania on Friday night. The kids loved it.

It ended up that they wouldn't let Will participate in soccer games while in a boot. So he has had to sit out the last few games. Now they are finished until Spring. But the good news it that he should get his boot off this afternoon, when we go in for a doctor's visit. Basketball sign ups are in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, he will be good to go for basketball.

I got accepted in to the Mater's of Education Program at Weber State. I hope that I am up to the challenge. I will start taking classes in January. Our orientation meeting is next week.

Here is a picture of Will in his boot. Notice the lovely bamboo wallpaper. Hopefully, it will be replaced with some nice neutral paint soon.

Sophie and Vince enjoyed an activity day, daddy-daughter, cowboy and cowgirl themed dinner a week or so ago. She was really excited about it. Our costumes weren't the best. I can't believe that we don't own a real cowboy hat. But they were cute, nonetheless. Here is Vince and Sophie and then Sophie and Audrey. Audrey didn't get to go, but she still looked cute in the dollar store hat that Sophie decided not to wear.



And last, a shot of our lovely autumn view from the living room. It was this view that enabled us to look past the bamboo wallpaper and the blue carpet when buying the house.

Audrey is Five!

Well, it has been a week. There are now only 84 days until the big 4-0. I realize that I am doing good things with my life. The kids are all basically happy. They are doing great in school. Vince and I have a good marriage. Our bills are all getting paid. I have a great network of supportive friends and family. I am blessed. I know this. So blessed. But I am not where I want to be in my personal life. I want more energy. I want to get more things done. I have been in that magical place before, where I feel confident, full of life, "on-fire". I feel far from there right now, so I am going to keep working on it. In the mean time, some highlights from the past week.

On Friday, I met Shea and Karen in Salt Lake for shopping and dinner. I am so glad that we have kept in touch over the years, even though we are no longer neighbors. I miss those days of meeting in Shea's basement to workout, and camping, and shopping. Good times. Shea and Karen are a lot of fun and oh so stylish. They were so patient with me as I bought a scarf at Nordstoms. And they will be happy to know that I wore it to church on Sunday. I can't promise that the way I tied it didn't look dorky. But I wore it. No picture, darn it. Maybe next time. We stayed with my mom that night. The girls had a lot of fun playing freeze dance with Grandma.

Saturday morning, we went out to the farm to visit Uncle Jim and pick tomatoes. The kids were good workers. We picked a few bushel. Then we came home and made salsa. We made over 40 bottles and it seems extra yummy this year.

On Monday, we went to Penny's house to pick apples and grapes. My mom and Penny have been friends for years. She is just down the road in Bountiful. We picked several boxes of beautiful apples. They are still sitting in the garage. Yesterday, I made grape jam. Hopefully, I will make applesauce and apple butter tomorrow.

My Tuesday morning weigh-in was not so good. I was up a pound. I will keep trying. I know that better planning is what I am missing. But I am going for three days in a row with the exercise. Not giving up.

The highlight of the week was Audrey's birthday on Monday. She turned five years old. She opened presents from us that morning. She got a couple of board games and a new book. Vince took her to lunch at Dairy Queen and they shared a shake. We are having a big family party for her this Sunday. She is excited. She's never been able to have family over for her birthday before, because we have lived too far away. She is cute. I have been a little troubled that my baby is five and getting too big, so she assures me that five is still little and I don't need to worry. Here she is today. I sure love this girl.

Baby & Barnes and Noble

Aud and I spent the day visiting Kellie and Charlotte again. We all ran to Barnes and Noble so she could pick up a book for her book club. They had some great clearance deals, so I got Audrey her birthday present while she was distracted with the lego table. Back at Kellie's, I held and rocked that baby for hours. When we returned home this afternoon it was busy, busy. We had to hustle with dinner, run to Will's Pack Night and Landon and Vince's Young Men Meetings. The kids needed help with all kinds of homework. But it was a great day. Cuddling a new baby and a trip to Barnes and Nobles. It doesn't get much better than that.

Tuesday Morning

Last week, I weighed myself for the first time in months. It was difficult. I knew my weight was up because of the way my clothes fit (or didn't fit). But I decided to weigh once a week on Tuesday Mornings. Today I was pleased to see that I weighed 2.4 pounds less. Off to a good start.

95 Days - Yoga, Phone, & New Shoes

Most of today was spent hanging out with Audrey around the house. We cleaned, did laundry, and played Polly Pockets. I did some yoga this morning. It felt so good to stretch. I need to do it more regularly.

Anyone who has known me a really long time knows that I hate to call people on the phone. Hate it. Today I had to call and set up visiting teaching appointments with people that I have barely met or have never met. I had to take a huge step out of my comfort zone. But I did it and I survived.

After Family Home Evening, I took the boys shopping. William needs new shoes. They didn't have his size in the style that he likes, so they are on hold at a nearby shoe store and we will get them tomorrow. We ran over to Target for some groceries. It was fun to hang out with my boys. They are growing up way too fast.

96 Days, New Temple, & Fall Leaves

A bit tired today. I have been up with poor Sophie and a bloody nose the last two nights. Hopefully tonight will be different.

This morning, Sophie, the boys, and I attended the televised dedication of the Brigham City Temple. It was a nice meeting. We attended the temple open house a few weeks ago. It was beautiful. While in Brigham City, we stopped at Aunt Pennie's house for a visit and had a great time. She and Dennis have collected a lot of interesting things over the years. The kids loved checking things out and eating all of the yummy treats that she offered. We also bought a box of delicious peaches. Here are a couple of pictures in front of the temple.

We drove up to Snow Basin Ski Resort this afternoon to look at the beautiful fall leaves. It was gorgeous. The weather was perfect. We had a little picnic. We took a few pictures. I love this time of year.

97 Days & Back to School

Well, I was not so productive on the 97th day until my 40th birthday. I took William to his soccer game this morning. I wasn't sure if he would be able to play in his walking boot. But he wanted to and they let him. He played three of the four quarters. He can't run as well as usual but he got a few good kicks in. The doctor said he could do whatever he wants, as long as he wears the boot. I will have to get a picture next week. We stopped at the library to return books and checked out a couple of dvds. Then I took Will to where they were taking team pictures. We hung out at home the rest of the afternoon. Vince and I just got back from a faculty dinner party for his department. He works with a lot of nice people. We had a good time. We hadn't been out without the kids for quite a while.

I downloaded some recent pictures from the camera today. Here are the kids on the first day of school. Landon is in eighth grade this year. His public junior high requires uniforms, which explains the polo shirt. He is otherwise strictly a t-shirt guy. William is in fifth grade. And Sophie is in third. Audrey is home with me, so she is wearing her nightgown in these pictures. She did a little pre-school last year but we haven't found one here yet, and so she is just staying home with mom. We put together puzzles, play memory match, read books, build with blocks, and call this our home pre-school. The picture of the four of them is in our front yard. The picture of Landon is on our back patio and shows our lovely view. I will have to take another picture when the light is better. It was the trees and the views that sold us on this house.

98 Days & Baby Charlotte

Counting today, there are only 98 days until I turn 40. Aging has not been a big deal to me in the past. But this looming 40th birthday has been weighing on my mind lately. I feel like I should have things figured out a little better by now. I am still not really sure what I want to do when I grow up, and here I am middle-aged. But you know, those birthdays come, ready or not. So, I have some goals in mind for these next 14 weeks. I want to get in better shape. I gained at least 20 pounds this summer. Moving is stressful! I want to update our new home, that is still sporting 1978 decor. And I want to do this on a very limited budget. Moving is expensive! I want to figure out how to use the nice camera that I bought about five years ago, and take more pictures of my kids that are growing up way too fast. I have a few other goals in mind too. And I plan to blog about them all right here. So maybe when I turn 40, I can look back on the last 98 days and see that I do stuff beyond dishes and laundry.

When I took the time to calculate that there are 98 days until my birthday this morning, I thought that I should have counted them up two days ago. Then I could have set goals for a nice even 100 days. But I didn't. But I will update what the last couple of days have entailed. So I will have a history of the last 100 days of my 30s. Working on my family history and my personal history are on my to-do list as well.

I spent most of Wednesday, the 100th day, with my sister Kellie, her sweet new baby Charlotte, my cute little Audrey, and my mom. It was a good day. We did some shopping. My mom bought me some great smelling soap and some new earrings. She bought Audrey some paper dolls. We shared a yummy lunch. And my favorite part, we snuggled and cuddled this cute new baby. Wednesday evening, we all went to a Boy Scout Court of Honor. Landon conducted and he did a great job. He also received a few merit badges. He has great Scout Leaders.

Thursday, the 99th day, I went up to Weber State for a writing assessment. I applied to the Masters of Education Program there a while back. The next step was this writing assessment and then I'll have an interview with the Education Department in a few weeks. We'll see what happens. I hadn't written an essay in fourteen years. I was pretty nervous but thought that I did OK. Later that day, I took William to the doctor. His foot had been hurting him for a week. They took some x-rays and found that he has a fracture. So, he is in a boot for at least a few weeks. This is a bummer because he has really been enjoying soccer lately, both at recess and the community youth league. But that is how it goes sometimes. Hopefully he will be healed and ready to run again soon.

Today, the 98th day, was pretty relaxed. While the kids were at school, Audrey and I cleaned and ran to Ross. I had bought Landon a dress shirt at Ross last December when we were in town for Christmas. He didn't like it and I didn't have time to return it. So I left it with Kellie to return after we were gone. Well, everyone forgot about it and it just re-surfaced, still in the bag, a few weeks ago. I saw it at Kellie's on Wednesday and thought that I would try to return it now and see what happens. I was surprised and thrilled when they took it back with a receipt that showed it was purchased over nine months ago. Now I have some credit that I get to spend at Ross. Woohoo. I spent the afternoon hurrying to get Landon ready for a Scout Campout. Then the other kids and I went to the bank, picked Vince up from work, got ice-cream cones at Artic Circle, and played at a park in South Weber. We also drove on what I believe is the only toll road in the beautiful state of Utah. It is called Adams Avenue Parkway. It cost us a dollar. It was a nice little road.

Missionaries & Lazy Morning

One thing that we will really miss when we move back to Utah is having the missionaries over for dinner. We have been blessed with Elder Scobes and Elder Hall lately. They are great and have shared some really fun lessons with the kids.

School is out and the other morning, when I came out of my room, I found all four kids reading in the living room. The boys have been enjoying the Fablehaven Series. Sophie just finished The BFG and is starting Despereaux. Audrey had a stack of Dr. Seuss. I am so glad that my kids enjoy reading. It is quiet and doesn't make a mess. (And it is probably good for their brain development or something like that too. LOL)

Dance, Scouts, Friends, News

Sophie has loved taking a ballet class this year. Her recital was on Saturday and she danced beautifully.

William earned his Arrow of Light Award in Cub Scouts this week. His expression in these pictures doesn't show it, but Will really does like Scouts. This first picture is with Sister Kelli Holman. Kelli loves Cub Scouts and I love her for that. She has been a tremendous help to Landon and William and a dear friend. The second is with Zach and Mikey, two Scout friends.

Sophie was only two years old when we moved here. Hannah and Eliza are wonderful friends that she has grown up with that she will miss terribly. Amber (Eliza's mom) was nice enough to help them make pen-pal kits to stay in touch and take them on an adventure to a peony farm nearby. The second picture includes Audrey and Yvy. Such pretty girls!

I am hoping to take more pictures the next several days and blog about all of the wonderful things that we will miss about our little Missouri town. But I also have to pack up the entire house, so we will see how far I get. We have had a great six-year adventure here. Vince was released as the Branch President today. It was a good meeting. The Spirit was there. He served just over four years. I know that we will remember this time and the friends that we have made here with such fondness. The people of the Maryville Branch are truly some of the best people that we have had the pleasure of knowing and loving.

A New Year

Last year, I wrote two blog posts. I have a lofty goal of blogging more frequently this year. I am sure that our life isn't completely boring, yet when I think of blogging, I can't think of anything that we are doing that seems all that interesting. Guess we've got to spice things up around here or just pay better attention to the wonders and beauty of our everyday life, and attempt to document them.

I did get two cute pictures of Audrey and her pre-school friends from one of her teachers today. I have to say that the boys are not carrying their fair share of the domestic duties at pre-school.

Seven Pictures

This year, we took a new route home. With the flooding in Iowa and Nebraska we had to detour North anyway, so we decided to head a little more North and see Martin's Cove, Crazy Horse, and Mt. Rushmore. It was a pleasant and scenic drive. I had never been to the beautiful state of South Dakota before. It was a great day.


This was the first day of school 2011. I wonder how much longer we'll be able to pull off the Bates Family Totem Pole. Audrey is quickly gaining on Sophie in height. This year Landon is in seventh grade, William in fourth, Sophie in second and Aud in pre-school a few hours a week.


This was the girls first sewing project. They designed the bags and we sewed them up, all from things we had in the sewing box. Sophie loves stuff like this. She is the arts and crafts queen.


Audrey turned four and wanted a Barbie Cake. I had to double the cake recipe to get that skirt up to Barbie'e hips. We have been eating way too much cake since the big day.


These girls love to be silly.