What I Can Remember

In September we celebrated Brian's 19th birthday.  Soon after he received his missions call.  No one correctly guessed where he would be going.  We were told by the Elders serving in our ward that there was no way he would be going overseas because of the world wide influx of new missionaries.  Everyone guessed places like Washington D.C., the Deep South, New York and South America.   When he read the letter from the First Presidency we were all surprised when he said he will be serving in the London, England South Mission.  We are pretty excited for him.  He is pretty nervous.  He has only been outside of AZ once, and that was to Texas.  He has never been anywhere cold.

At the end of October we celebrated Halloween.  Alexis dressed up as Piper McLean from the Percy Jackson books.  Tommy went as Link from the Legend of Zelda video games.  Michael was a Zombie.  Amy was a puppy.  Burke and Amelia were Care Bears.  We went to the ward trunk or treat, and then they went trick or treating the next night.

Then in November we celebrated Alexis' 13th birthday.  That morning she had the State Cross Country meet.  After that the team went out for burgers.  Then I took her shopping for a few new clothes.  That night she had her friends over for Just Dance 2014, and pizza, nachos and ice cream. I think she had fun.  

Amy's birthday was 9 days after Alexis'.  Amy wanted to stay home from school for her day, and of course I was all for that.  She opened her gifts in the morning so that she had all day to play with them.  I bought a doll bed from IKEA that is the right size for AG dolls.  I put it together and painted it earlier in the week so she wouldn't have to wait for me to find time.  I also made her a silky doll quilt to go with the bed.  I made it out of left over blanket binding that I used for another project.  It turned out really beautiful.  She also was given a game for her Nintendo DS.  She was pretty happy.  For lunch we took her to Red Robin.  She felt very special to have her very own ice cream sundae. She was super cute.

Then it was my favorite day of the year.  Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving was great.  We started the morning with a short 2 mile Turkey Trot run with the ward.  Steve came in second and I came in third.  I cooked all day, and we invited two families over to join us.  It was such a nice day.  The weather was perfect and the kids played outside nearly the entire time.  

This past Friday we had the ward Christmas party.  It was fun, and the food was delicious.  The program was perfect.  My mom is coming out to visit this week.  I'm looking forward to having the kids home for Christmas break.

Tommy and I went to the midnight premiere of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug".  It was so fun.  It was a surprise for him.  I picked him up from school and told him that I needed him to go to bed early, and that I had a surprise for him and that he just needed to trust me.  I went to school at 8:30 pm and came home at about 10.  At 10:30 I woke him up and told him it was time for his surprise.  He dressed and we left.  We arrived at the theater over an hour early so that we could find good seats.  We found the best seats!  The movie was awesome.  I loved it.  I loved going with Tommy.  Next year we will do it again for the last of the series, "The Hobbit: There and Back Again".  I am looking forward to it.