Feed My Starving Children Packing Session for Wisdom Natural Brands

We had fun tonight at our work packing session at Feed My Starving Children! Daniel had another volunteer event and Andrew already had other plans so we took Jonny. It's always a wonderful time doing service for those in need!

Christine's Birthday

I had a good birthday today! I got a manicure and pedicure. I dropped off some donations at House of Refuge. I went to Ross and bought a couple of dresses and decor and a new carry-on suitcase. I also got some wall hangings for the office. I went to Joe's Farm Grill to get my "free" birthday dinner. They actually took $15 off the bill, which was very nice. This evening, I opened my presents and we had the cookie cake so that was nice.  I watched Dancing with the Stars and by then it was time for bed.

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice week. Emily flew in on Tuesday night. She and I had fun watching the Taylor Swift Dancing with the Stars night. The boys had early release on Wednesday. I was pretty proud of myself for getting the sweet potatoes done on Tuesday. I had Jonny help me make the cranberry sauce when he got home that day. Andrew helped me with the crab dip on Wednesday. When everybody got home from school on Wednesday, we went to lunch at Costa Vida, but first we went to Sam's Club and chose two children from the Angel tree. Then we went home and finished getting ready and went to see the movie, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I really enjoyed it. I had just finished reading the book. It was pretty true to the book but quite a few details have been changed. 

Thanksgiving Day was long but it was nice. The only thing that went wrong with the meal is that I tried to boil the yellow potatoes whole and they turned into a big gummy mess. I was trying a different way to peel them and it definitely didn't work. Oh well. I'll know better for next year. The turkey and ribs that Betsy and Geoff brought were amazing. They were all cooked in the pit and the turkey was so moist. I made a double batch of stuffing but that was way too much. And hardly anybody ate my sweet potatoes this year. I had everybody say what they were grateful for as we went around the table. Rich was very nice and glad to be there to meet all of us. It was a nice meal. Afterwards, we cleaned up and had a picture. 

Then we had dessert and played a few games. We played Herd Mentality and then Taboo. Steve won the first round of Herd Mentality and then Michael won the second. It was funny because on the second round of Herd Mentality Michael and I were tied and they had that we have a question again about who is the best dressed and this time I said Steve but Michael said me and that ended up being the majority answer so he won and everybody had a good laugh about it. For Taboo, Emily and I were on the same team so we were pretty much unbeatable. We also had Daniel and Rich and Geoff against everybody else. Even little Aaron joined in for a little while. Cody and Andrew didn't play. They went out to the park to play some football. After the games, the Akers and Steve all left. We played a couple games of Jackbox. Emily and I wanted to watch some of our TV shows and Erin and Rich watched with us for a little while and then left. 

On Friday we started at about 11 AM to set up for Christmas and it took us a little over an hour. Michael and Andrew handled everything outside and the rest of us worked inside and got the tree up. Emily did the railing. Johnny did the little tinsel trees and Daniel helped put up some other things.  I'm always so relieved when we get that done. Emily spent the afternoon with Kayla. That night, Andrew went to the game. 

On Saturday, we read the Come, Follow Me lesson and then I gave the kids a finance lesson on budgeting, banking, and insurance. Michael had a lot to say and I hadn't planned on that so I ended up taking quite a while but it was nice to have his input. We had to quickly get ready to make it to my reservation for lunch at Hash Kitchen. As soon as we drove up we could tell we wouldn't want to stay there because the music was so loud. I put in our name for Texas Roadhouse so we went there instead and we didn't have to wait very long at all. It was nice because we were done with our lunch pretty quickly and made it home in time for the football game at 1:30 PM. Michael and Andrew were happy about that. Emily worked on some homework and I did some chores on the computer while the boys played on their media.  

Emily's flight was this morning at 11:10 AM. Apparently it was delayed by about 45 minutes but she made it to Provo and Nathaniel picked her up and they went over to the Eldredge's.  We had a good day at church. 

It was a wonderful week! Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekend Trip to Provo for Dancesport and BYU vs. Iowa State football game

We sure know how to pack a lot into a short weekend! We flew up to Provo to see Emily dance, tour BYU campus, and go to the BYU vs. Iowa State game. 

First, we had a fun lunch at Brick Oven. Audrey couldn't join us because of work, unfortunately.

Then we went to BYU for a campus tour in a golf cart with Emily and the boys. It was very informative and Andrew is excited about the prospect of going to school here.

That evening, we tried axe throwing. It turns out, I'm terrible at it. However, the kids had a great time!

On Saturday, we got up bright and early to watch Emily's samba at the BYU Dancesport competition.

She was called back twice and ended up winning 7th place!

We went to Tucanos for lunch and it was delicious! It's a Brazilian steakhouse and they keep bringing you more and more meat. We were stuffed and we laughed when Jonny was the only one who wanted to see the dessert options.

In the afternoon, Emily danced the tango.

Michael, Andrew, Audrey, and Nathaniel all went to the football game against Iowa State.

Emily, Daniel, Jonny, and I went to visit my brother Joe, his lovely wife Brandie, and their two adorable girls, Delilah and Veronica. 

It was a packed schedule like usual, but it was wonderful and I am so glad we were able to go!

Daniel's Swim Season: Final Meets and Banquet

Daniel has had a wonderful swim season!  We are so proud of him!

Here he is with his Swimmer of the Meet Award from the ASU Forktoberfest!

October 18, Charger Invite at McClintock High School

100 meter Breaststroke, lane 8 (furthest away)

October 19, Home vs. Campo Verde

200 meter Freestyle Relay, lane 7, Daniel is 1st

200 meter Freestyle Relay, lane 7, Daniel is 1st

100 meter Breaststroke, lane 7

400 meter Freestyle Relay, lane 7, Daniel is 1st

November 8, Swim Banquet

Congratulations on a great season, Daniel! We are so proud of you!

Phoenix NASCAR Championship Race Weekend

Dad was so excited to go to the NASCAR Championship Race this weekend! 

On Saturday night, we had a fun event with JTG Racing at Popstroke in Scottsdale. I didn't love playing mini golf because it was so cold, but the putting greens were amazing!

Andrew and Dad had a blast at the race! Last year, Daniel got to join Papa for all the fun VIP events, so this year it was Andrew's turn. Jonny wasn't interested so that worked out great.

In the pit box

With Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 

BYU Vocal Point and Noteworthy Concert

We had a great time at the BYU Vocal Point and Noteworthy Concert at the Queen Creek Performing Arts Center!  There were some technical difficulties, but they handled it well and the singing was fantastic!  The boys didn't want to go, so we invited our friends, Jay and Ashley Lee and their son, Sebastian.