October

 October was a busy month!  

Joseph's parents came to visit us for five days toward the beginning of the month.  We had a lot of fun with them and they were here to help celebrate my birthday and Eden's birthday.

Joseph and I met them at the Palmyra temple and we enjoyed a nice sealing session together.  We had lunch at a cafe in Palmyra and it was a really nice day.

Joseph and his parents hiked to a waterfall.

We took family pictures...

This was just a fun candid shot as we tried to stay warm, but it turned out really cute!

There wasn't a lot to say about my birthday.  It was great.  We took family pictures, we ate delicious food.  I didn't have to make my own treat this year, so that was a bonus! For my birthday I asked for a pickleball set.  I was quickly opening presents before rushing off to soccer practice with Lincoln and Annika.  When I saw the pickleball set we spontaneously decided to play pickleball during their soccer practice.  It was a lot of fun.  I think we will enjoy playing this as a family.

Fall Festival at Critz Farms.

This outing was a lot of fun.  We hadn't been to this farm for their 

fall festival and it was worth the drive.  

Corn maze

Wagon ride to the pumpkin field. 

Celebrating Eden's 9th birthday.

Eden's birthday was on a Sunday.  It was also our first Primary Program practice so I was a little busier than usual with meetings before church and extra things after church.  She still had her special breakfast--cheese danish--and a special dinner.  She asked for a crustless quiche.  

Where has my baby gone?!  I can't believe Eden is NINE!  She is such 

a joy in our home and I love that she is still so snuggly!

For dessert Eden asked if she HAD to have a cake and I told her I would make her anything she wanted.  She requested a marbled peanut butter bark.  The bark is white chocolate and peanut butter melted together and then you take melt semisweet chocolate and marble that into the peanut butter chocolate before it sets.  It's yummy!

Grandma and Grandpa's last day with us was Columbus Day and the kids were off school.  It was raining outside so we decided to go bowling.  Grandpa and Kimball were with us, but they missed the picture.

We had so much fun with our parents/grandparents visiting.  We missed them when 

they left and we appreciated them making the drive to visit us.

Celebrating Lincoln and Annika's 11th birthday.

I can't believe Lincoln and Annika are eleven!  It seems like they should still be toddlers, but they are pre-teens!

Lincoln and Annika both requested very time consuming treats this year.  Lincoln's brownie bombe is a frozen dessert so I could make that a few days before and stick it in the freezer.  I just like them having individual desserts instead of sharing one cake.  They enjoyed their birthday; Lincoln was especially excited.  We rushed off to Eden's soccer practice and Lincoln and Annika both came because Eden's coach had invited them to play in the parent scrimmage against Eden's team.  They had a lot of fun.

We have come to the end of the soccer season.  The season was great this year.  Some seasons feel really long and we are either sitting through miserably hot or cold games, but this year we had very few of either.  The kids all progressed as players and love soccer.  Our weeknights are a little calmer now and our Saturdays are no longer filled with games and there are pros and cons to both.

Halloween Fun

Halloween is always an after thought for me after celebrating four birthdays.

Elementary School Trunk or Treat

Eden was excited to see some of her friends at the school party.

Costume parade at the elementary school.

I completely forgot to take pictures before I took the kids trick-or-treating.  It was raining and I was more concerned with staying dry and warm!  The kids were determined and we made it to a lot of houses, but after we finished the small 1/2 mile loop in our neighborhood they were ready to head home.  We were all wet!

School is going well for everyone. Somedays the kids have a lot of homework and other days not so much.

Kimball finished his six weeks of physical therapy.  He knew the therapy wasn't working, but had to show the insurance company that we tried other methods before surgery.  Kimball will now have two elbow surgeries to move the ulnar nerve out of the cubital tunnel and burying it into the muscle.  We hope this will help with the daily nerve pain and numbness that he experiences.  He isn't exactly looking forward to having two surgeries in 3-4 months, but he is looking forward to having a better quality of life.  His first surgery is scheduled for December 1.  No one knows why an otherwise healthy 18 year old is suffering with ulnar nerves slipping out of the cubital tunnel, but the doctor is afraid that the constant rubbing of the nerve over the elbow bone will eventually cause nerve damage.

We had our Primary Program on Sunday, October 26. The program went so well.  I was so proud of all of the kids.  They all said their parts and sang nicely.  There were a few kids who I thought might be too shy to speak, but my prayers were answered and it was perfect.  We had our second annual art gallery after church where we displayed art work that the kids had created about the Doctrine and Covenants.  The adults were very complimentary of the children's art work.  We had a cookie buffet and that was a hit, too. I received a lot of compliments on my chocolate-dipped heath bit cookies.  

Here were some of my favorite drawings that my kids did: