November 2016

These pictures were taken the night before Grandma & Poppy left for the MTC...

As a surprise to them, the kids performed "So long, farewell" from The Sound of Music and even dressed up as the Von Trapp children!

After flying home from the MTC late on Friday the 18th, my parents drove out for their mission in Florida on Saturday the 19th. It was kind of sad to watch them drive away :(

Later that day, we took Noah and Sophie to the Gilbert temple to do baptisms for their first time! They each had found a family name to take with them. We thought that the temple would give them more but they were baptized for just one person each that day. Noah did a few more confirmations in addition to his family name.

I was so proud of this progress report Noah brought home. Everything on it was 100% besides 2 things, and those 2 things were still A's. He got a perfect behavior report also. He is such a great student!

Thanksgiving morning started out with a 5k turkey trot for me (with Suzanne - that my stake put on), dirtbike riding for Russ, neighborhood turkey bowl game for Russ and Noah, and cartoon and parade watching for Abby.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Sherwood family and Grandma and Poppy's house even though they weren't there. The only thing missing besides them was the turkey. haha!! We originally planned to not even eat Thanksgiving food which is how the name "junks-giving" came about. However, we decided that we did in fact want all the good Thanksgiving carbs, but nobody cared to prepare or eat turkey. The new lightbox that Christy gave me for my birthday as a hit...

We took this picture to send my parents as a joke... that we were all slumber party-ing in their bed while they were gone. The lightbox says "it's wonka time" because the grandparents in the original Willy Wonka movie all share a bed.

I take Noah to a doctor in North Scottsdale / Phoenix every 3 months and I always get very sleepy at the wheel. It's hard for me to stay awake on that long of a drive during the middle of the day. I guess both kids felt as tired as I did!

October 2016

General Conference fell on the weekend starting October 1st, which meant that's when we updated our 72-hour kits. The kids love doing this as we watch conference, because they get to snack on everything that we remove from the old kits!

Russ took the kids on a few Teryx (and dirtbike) rides this month... here are some fun pictures they took:

We took a day trip up to the Flagstaff house during Fall Break - Abby had fun climbing on the dirt pile while Ellie and Noah hung out underneath the house doing some work for Poppy...

 

I'm sure it will be fun someday to look back on these pictures of what the cabin looked like before being completely built.

Noah on the morning of his 12th birthday: we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and he opened a few small gifts (including basketball cards) before heading off to school...

He invited a few friends (Nathan and Wyatt) to have a fun night with him going to Extreme Air, then picking up pizza and taking it - along with their bikes - to Discovery Park. Afterward we went to Dairy Queen for dessert!

 

This is a picture of Noah and his scoutmaster, Ryan Forman (and his son Garrett) before heading off on Noah's first campout as a Deacon. They went to the lake and went fishing, kayaking, and of course camped overnight in tents.

Ward trunk or treat!

Sunday the 30th, Noah was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood by Russ. It was a special day to have all these people there supporting him...

(All the men who were there for the ordination)

(Grandpa & Grandma Hunt)

(Grandma Vicki and Poppy)

(Bishop Smith)

(Cute cousins Ellie and Roxy)

(Grandpa Price)

(Mom and Russ, proud parents!)

I thought we would like having a picture of these 2 together...

Last... this actually happened in November but I'm adding it to the October blog since that's when Noah turned 12. He was spotlighted in sharing time and then taken to priesthood with the Deacons. He is such a good and handsome boy!