November

Well, here it is, December, and I am ONCE AGAIN looking back on a month's worth of memories I failed to report, in a timely manner, on this here blog of mine. So, ONCE AGAIN, here is a LONG WINDED, super in depth, probably not interesting to anyone but us, re-cap of November happenings (in no particular order):
My little (BIG) Brother's Birthday-

Yes. It is hard to believe, but Kirk is now TALLER than me and 14 years-old! He is such a good kid and I am glad he's around, not only for someone fun to hang out with but also for my boys to look up to. He has always been such a fun, good uncle to them. We had an enjoyable dinner with cake and ice-cream and then opened presents and listened to a private concert:) A typical, relaxing birthday occasion!

I found this picture of Lewis (on his first Thanksgiving) while at my mom's for Kirk's birthday. People are always asking me if any of my other kids were as chubby and huge as Brayden, I think this is sufficent proof. I actually think Lewis looks chunkier in his picture, and notice the two teeth! Lewis had two teeth by the time he was two months old and kept getting two more every two months after that! Brayden still has not had any teeth cut through his gums, but he has been working on it for a few months now. Hopefully they will just come in already and leave him BE! Anyway, I thought it was fun to see a picture that really showcases how similar Brayden and Lewis look.

The END of Football Season 2009-

Um, sadly this is the ONE AND ONLY image I have of EITHER of my boys playing football this year (and they aren't even playing)!!!! Our computer crashed last week and some of our photos are gone forever! That is indeed a whole 'nother story (a sad one) that I might feel up to telling later. As for this post, I just want to say that football season was pretty good this year. There are PROS and CONS to going with the Washington City League this year as opposed to the pricier SUSA that we have done in past years. With SUSA, the kids have way more playing time and they get to have custom jerseys and mouth guards and weekly games and practices. With the city league, there are WAYYY more kids per team and they wear the city jerseys. Also, apparantly nobody is at risk for losing their teeth 'cause mouth guards aren't required and, they have some different rules that I am not sure I liked or understood, but whatever. I guess the only thing I really liked better about city league was having the games on Saturday as opposed to week nights and you save a few bucks. I really think the boys had better opportunities to grow and shine on the pricier teams. Hmm, I really didn't think I'd come to that conclusion or even notice! I am so not a sportsy person! But, I guess as always, you get what you pay for. REGARDLESS, the boys had a great time and isn't that all that matters:)?!

Young Womens-

Man. This calling has certainly been keeping me busy! Between meetings, events (like Young Women In Excellence that we had at the beginning of Nov.) and other weekly activities, I am BACK in the saddle for sure!

Could not ask for a cuter group of girls to be hanging around with though! I have amazing girls who are so WITH IT! Here's something sort of funny, one of the girls in this picture I used to babysit when I was in college! She was THREE at the time! Now she is fifteen (and still cute as ever)! This really shows my age. . .

Yep! She is still such a sweetie. I can still hear her little three-year-old voice saying "Nick Jr." 'cause that is all she wanted to do (watch Blue's Clues on Nick Jr.)! So funny. Her little sister is in Y.W. as well. I used to change her diapers (she was one at the time). Oh, I am sooooo old:)

Being Thankful-

This year we did a Thankful Jar where the boys chose a paper from the jar each day and on it, it had something for them to be thankful for and a task to perform representing the item. This turned out to be a really simple and fun family thing to do each day. I was amazed at how little I had to do to help the boys perform their tasks. They were really cute about doing them and seemed geniuinely excited to choose a new one each day. I am thankful to Lindsay for sharing this cute activity with us. Otherwise, I never would have known about it and never would have done it. I think our family truly benefitted from this:) Here's the link in case you want to give it a go next year: Thanksgiving Thankful Countdown

First Place Lewis-

So, Lewis memorized a fairy tale for his school's Story Telling Festival and as no surprise to me, he took FIRST PLACE in his division and went on to perform for the district. He is such a great storyteller, a natural, and I am so proud of him for giving it his ALL! He had some pretty stiff competetion in the second round, but he did his best! Everytime I crack open the book, "Falling for Rapunzel" and read the words. . ."Once upon a bad hair day, a prince rode up Rapunzel's way. . ." I will hear Lewis' funny, little British accent-voice and smile! He is such a funny kid and never ceases to amaze us with his hidden talents.

Time to Ourselves-

One great thing about Steve's mom is that she is always begging to have the grandkids come and stay with her and Grandpa. Since we were up to their house in Richfield for Thankgsiving, we decided to leave our boys there for a few nights of fun with them and some of their cousins. While they were off riding four wheelers, building gingerbread houses and Christmas caroling, Steve and I had some time to re-connect and relax at home with Brayden.

Steve is soooo super busy all the time. He is always running from one thing to the next and it's hard to carve out time for just us and for just FUN!

We spent our three days getting Christmas shopping done (yeah Black Friday!), doing odd jobs around the house and just CHILLING! It was so great! We even got a jump start on the holiday decorating and surprised the kids with most of it done by the time they got home on Sunday.

Of course, Conner was soooooo stoked to see his baby brother again. He is such a sweetheart when he wants to be. He played with Brayden for HOURS non-stop and was just so obviously excited to be with him again:)

Of course, we saved the decorating of the tree for the boys to do with us that night. It was the perfect way to send November out the door and welcome in the December festivities. We had a fun and packed month and look forward to more of the same in Dec.

ONCE AGAIN, I am going to make a promise to myself to not wait until the very end of the month to post the happenings! I am going to try harder to keep that promise this time:)