Family Home Evening

Tonight Grant was in charge of family home evening. He decided that he wanted to decorate the house as a family for Halloween. This meant that I had to brave the dangerously crowded garage to retrieve the Halloween boxes. It was a tricky process to squeeze by a big motorcycle and frame for a gate, climb over a chest with stuff piled on it, manuever over a tetering box and move a shelving unit to retrive the boxes. Despite the high potential for injury and becoming trapped, I managed to get all of the boxes into the house so our night of fun could begin.
The boys had to try on old Halloween costumes as they decorated. Grant has fit into this Ninja costume for the last 5 years! He says it is so comfortable. Mitchell was in charge of decorating the front window. He taped up several scary pictures.


Mitchell loves the clown hair. He said that he is going to keep it in his room for the rest of the year. I think the variety of colors brings out his softer side.

Mitchell doesn't care much for the LOVE glasses. He wore them for a good half hour before deciding that. I'm thinking that I'll find them in his room too later on tonight!

Our Home

This posting was Amy's idea. When her and Bob were out here a week and a half ago, she mentioned how I should post pictures of our home since most of you haven't been in town yet to stop by. So I will give you a virtual tour of our home. You are still welcome to come by anytime for a visit. We love company! This is what you will see from the curb of our home. Neither car will fit in our three car garage. It is so full of stuff I am too embarrassed to post a picture of the interior of it. I need to let you know that the Brent couldn't park in the garage before we got married so it's not all my stuff filling it up. Now that the weather is cooler, the garage is a project we can tackle.

This is our living room. I just painted it this week while I was on fall break. The walls are now a lovely tan color. The room looks so much better now that there is some color on the walls. The coffee table and the table with the candles on it are tables Brent made. He is a talented furniture maker!

This is the view of the living room and dining room from the balcony. The sailboat painting leaning against the wall still needs to be hung. It is a huge painting that Brent's grandfather had in his movie theater a number of years ago. It is a neat print and it will look great above the sofa.

I am not decorating the family room yet. Brent has had these sofa's for the entire 14 plus years he as lived in this house. The plan is to get nice leather sofas for the living room and move the tan sofas into this room. Then someday we will get a sectional. I won't paint this room until we are done remodeling. We are going to put a second floor above this room so that there is a game room upstairs. We should be starting on that within the next year. Anyone want to come and help? Also Brent plans to build an entertainment center for us. I think that is on the 5 year plan.

This is our wonderful kitchen. There are lots of cabinets in this kitchen. I painted it yellow right before we got married. A lot of the greenery on the cabinets is from our wedding. It is some of the ivy that was used to decorate the reception.

This house has an indoor laundry room. I couldn't fit the whole room in from any angle. It does have a deep freezer in it too. Very cozy. I painted this room a happy shade of blue. But it's just a laundry room. Grant told me yesterday that he didn't even notice it had been painted.

At the top of the stairs is the loft. There is a lot of space in this room. When we build the game room above the family room, we will also build another bedroom in this area. My vote is to put two bedrooms in. Then I can quarentine my little office in one of them.

This is Grant's bedroom. It's a pretty good sized room.

This is Mitchell's room. Yes, it looks like a teenager lives here. And according to Amy, it smells like it too. Yuck! I aired it out while he was on the pioneer trek so it's not so stinky anymore!

This is the masterbedroom. You can only see a portion of this room. I painted most of the walls in this room "cookie crumb" and the wall you can't see is a shade of blue that matches the comforter. We also put up new blinds in this room because the old plastic blinds had portions cut out of them so the cats could climb into the windows. I like how this room turned out. Very comfortable.

This is our master bathroom. Not too exciting. It also has a double sink so we don't have to worry about sharing.

So this is our home. It also has a great sized back yard and Brent has his office attached to the house that he built this last year. Come for a visit anytime.

Back From Pioneer Trek

Mitchell made it back from Pioneer Trek early this afternoon. I was disappointed when I pulled up to the stake center, with my camera out, and not to see him still dressed up like a pioneer. However, don't you think he looks more mature in this picture? The reason he wasn't dressed like a pioneer anymore is because at 3am this morning it started raining. Everything got wet. His sleeping bag was not only soaked, it was also covered in sand. Mitchell said that he slept in a creek because the sand would be more comfortable. I guess no one thought of possible flash floods and you don't sleep in empty washes!

He said the trek was pretty good. He was a member of the Smith family. He said that there was another family that was the Mitchell family. That would be kind of funny for him to be Mitchell Mitchell for a couple of days! There were 7 kids in his family: four boys and three girls plus a ma & pa. On the first day he pulled a handcart 16 miles. They pulled the cart well into the evening (more like 1am). He was super tired that night and didn't feel the cold. They pulled the handcart half has far the next day. He said it wasn't that hard to pull the cart. I'm guessing they needed to put some more weight in it :)

Mitchell isn't one for divulging the whole story all at once. I get little pieces here and there. I'm sure when I teach the teenagers in his class for Sunday School tomorrow, I'll get more of what happened for the last three days. Then I'll fill you in too.
Update: Tonight we had a post-trek fireside. It was wonderful! Afterwards they had all of the lost and found stuff on the stage. This is where we found Mitchell's hat. It is hammered! It is completely destroyed. Mitchell said that it was pretty windy and it kept blowing off. So he stuck it in the handcart. He blames the handcart for ruining his $3 Goodwill hat.

Fall Break

The Kyrene School District and Tempe High School District has had this entire week off for Fall Break. I can't believe that it is Friday and the break will be over soon. I still have so much to do. My week has been filled with uneventful things.

For example, on Monday both boys had dental cleanings and Mitchell had a bonus appointment with the oral surgeon about getting his wisdom teeth out on October 17th.

Tuesday I had an ultrasound in the morning and a orthodontist appointment in the afternoon. While I was in Phoenix, I surprised Grandma at the Senior Center with a visit. Too bad she was in the middle of a board meeting and couldn't chat for long.

Wednesday was also filled with appointments. First I had to take Brent to the airport so he could spend the next 10 days in Alabama working on his brother's house. Lucky! I wish I was going. Then I had a chiropractor appointment and a follow up visit with my OB doctor about the ultrasound. The update is that the large fibroid is about the same size. This is good. The small fibroid doubled in size since July. He also states that the lining of the uterus is thicker than normal. Since neither fibroid tumor is intruding into the uterus cavity, I should be able to get pregnant someday. Bummer. I was hoping that the fibroids would be gone.

Thursday started off with taking Mitchell to the Stake Center to go on the Pioneer Trek. I wish I took a picture of how he looked when he left. He had on tan pants, plaid shirt, and a cowboy hat. He's never looked like this. He definitely seemed taller. Then I was at the dentist again. Grant had 2 of his cavities fixed and had two of his chipped teeth fixed. Later that night, Grant and I went on a date to Olive Garden. It was his idea. We had a splendid feast and then watched movies at home. He is so adorable. Lots of hugs and kisses.

And now it is Friday. My week has been sucked up by somewhat meaningless appointments. We were back at the dentist again to have Grant's other 2 cavities fixed. He was an expensive kid this week. As for the rest of my time on this blessed break, I'm planning on going to the temple, getting work done for my job and getting various odd jobs done around the house. Although my week off hasn't been exciting, I'm really glad I've been home!

School Pictures

Its that time of year again where schools hire exceptional photographers to take pictures of all of the students and teachers. The pictures are always memorable. Some are fun for a laugh. So here are our 2008 school pictures!

Mitchell is a sophomore at Corona Del Sol. His shirt is advertising his interest in BMX Biking. He rides bikes almost every day after school.
Grant is a 6th grader at Pueblo Middle School. Grant is trying to make friends and get good grades this year. His scary skull shirt represents his desire to try to fit in.

This is my scary school picture. I have naturally super straight hair, don't be jealous, I don't even iron it. Although the picture isn't that great, Brent was nice enough to point out that my teeth are super straight. Smile!

Ultimate!

Are you planning on gaining pounds during the holidays by eating tons of the delicious foods that will be available? Are you planning on eating tons of delicious food during the holidays but haven't thought about all the extra pounds you get to keep when its over? Well, if you need a way to deture the pounds that are in your future, come and join us here in Chandler on Thursday nights for some Ultimate Frisbee!

Brent has rounded up a few interested athletes and play Ultimate at the stake center on Thursday nights starting at 8pm. Grant is a natural at the sport and eagerly takes on the big guys as they play. His skills are improving each week. Mitchell thinks all the running is stupid but goes anyway and does pretty well. Last week they had 10 athletes show up to play. Come and join the Ultimate exercise program and play Ultimate. You will be able to shed pounds now so when you induldge during the holidays, you won't feel guilty!

Life is Busy!

I guess it has been a month since the last posting. Life has been predictable and busy. My job at the middle school is great. But being a new teacher creates a lot of extra work. I go in early and stay late every day. But the students are wonderful. They try hard, they are smart, they are respectful, they are fun to be around. I am so grateful for this job. The first quarter of school ends on Friday. That means that 25% of the school year is over! Next week is fall break so it will be nice to catch up on things around the house.

Grant is getting the hang of going to middle school. He is acing his math class and Spanish class. His math teacher has turtles, I can't remember which kind, so now Grant really wants a turtle too. This particular turtle happens to live 150 years. So he could potentially have a pet for the rest of his life. Too bad all the turtle babies were sold before Grant could get one! Actually, Grant would really like to have any pet that was his own. He even claims he would take care of it 100% of the time. Maybe he will get a pet someday. I'm hoping when he does, it will be more cuddly than a turtle.

Mitchell has made many friends this quarter. He still loves BMX biking and would like to have his own bike shop some day. Mitchell will be going on a pioneer trek with our stake next week. He will get to spend 3 days pulling a handcart, dressing like a pioneer, eating like a pioneer and sleeping out under the Heber, AZ stars. It may be a little cold in the evenings. One of the days, each kid will receive letters from their parents. Brent and I already submitted our letters; however, if you would like to write a "love" letter to Mitchell, just mail it to me ASAP and I will get it to the lady in charge of the letters (she is my neighbor). Then Mitchell will receive it while he is out on the trek. He could really use the positive encouragement and a little moral boost to know that lots of people care about him.

Brent has been creating our new side gate. It has to be 10 feet wide, I think. But it will have a 4 foot section and a 6 foot section. On Saturday Brent and Mitchell welded the frame together. It looks great. There is still quite a bit of welding left to do on it though. But once the gate is installed, we can move Brent's trailer out of the garage and start organizing the garage. It is a DISASTER! And most of you know how I feel about things that are unorganized...

So here we are out in Chandler just going to school, going to work, and chipping away at organizing our new life together. Not very exciting at all but its all good!