Raingutter Regatta

We love that our ward started doing a raingutter regatta.  It is a lot of fun!  It was originally scheduled for August but it got "rained out" (meaning it sprinkled a little bit that afternoon and cleared up but we still canceled anyway.)  October may have worked out better because the weather was so much nicer outside!

William and James raced each other for their first race.  James beat William by a hair.  He played it cool but I saw him do a little arm pump afterward.  He was pretty stoked to beat his big brother!

The boys did great in all of their races and had a wonderful time racing their boats and hanging out with their friends.

We are so grateful for wonderful scout leaders who help and teach our boys and plan fun events like this!

Lovely Little Lydia

Lydia is one!  She went from this tiny, sleepy little thing

to a crawling, moving, cuddly little girl!

She loves cuddles, playing with her brothers, getting into the marker bin (she plays in there forever!), scooting into the playroom to play, dancing to music, blowing big spit bubbles, and yelling really loudly when people aren't paying enough attention to her.

She loves to get into the kitchen cupboards and empty them out for me.  I really don't mind as long as she's happy and content to make dinner!

She loves to try any food we are eating but has really enjoyed salsa, black beans, and craisins lately.

Lately she's been giving us many sleepless nights.  Here she is falling asleep in her seat... but of course she wouldn't consider going to sleep in her crib!  Oh, silly girl.

Even with the sleepless nights she really is a calm, happy baby.  We can't imagine our family without her in it!  Happy birthday sweet little Lydia!

Daily Sunshine

One Sunday after church Rich decided to make cookies with Alex and Henry.  It was so much fun to watch them work together in the kitchen.  And even better to enjoy the fruits of their labors!

Talk like a pirate day

Talk like a Pirate Day fell on a Saturday.  At the last minute I decided that we'd dress up and claim our dozen donuts at Krispy Kreme.  We had a fun time rummaging through our costume stuff to find some pirates costumes.

The boys loved getting a dozen donuts each... they lasted for days!  We will have to remember this again next year!

My birthday

Rich and the boys always make sure that I have a great birthday.  They made sure I didn't work too much, showered me with gifts, and made dinner.  Plus I got lots of phone calls from my family.  It was a nice, low-key day just like I wanted.

For dinner Rich grilled steaks for us.  He also made this fancy pina colada and put it inside a pineapple!  So cool.

 After dinner we opened gifts.  The boys were dying all day to open them!

  

 They even made a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting.  Yum!

It was an all around good day.  I'm so grateful for my little family that makes me feel special!

Pack Meeting

It's been a while since we went to a pack meeting for cub scouts.  We missed the one at the start of summer and we haven't had another until September.  James finally got his Wolf.

We pinned his badge on upside down... he has to do a "good turn" in order to get it facing the right way.

William earned his Webelo.  His den leaders made sure that all the boys earned their Webelo before the program changed over in June.  We are so grateful!!

We have been so blessed in this ward that we have such amazing scout leaders!  They are on top of it and plan great, fun activities for the boys every week.

William for Treasurer

William decided to run for Treasurer again this year.

He made it through the primary elections and on to the general election!  WooHoo!   He had to write a speech that was broadcast to the entire school.  Here is what he wrote:

"I'm William and I'm going for treasurer.  You should vote for me because I know how to budget, I'm good at math, and I was in student council last year.  I'm responsible.  I'm a straight A student and I'm awesome.  So vote for me for treasurer."

Unfortunately he didn't win.  Oh well!  He wasn't too broken up about it because he ran for Class Representative and won.  So we're in for another year of student council.

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I love that they do a "swearing in" of the officers--with a real judge from our area.

This year Judge Wiess talked to them about the importance of them being good followers in order to be good leaders.

 I love that William has chosen to do student council again this year and that he seems to enjoy it so much!