Just Another Day in Paradise: November 2014

November 5th marked the end of my duties preparing the youth for their cultural celebration. I was able to be a mom again and focus on my family again and be home! From the cereal art you can see that made the kids happy.

Adam looking dashing after a long awaited haircut.

We were able to refocus on our school goals, English for Adam,

math and music for the girls.

Rachel got her braces off!

They gave her a giant cup of "forbidden candy" that she now can have.

We were sad to see on the way home from the orthodontist that our favorite Valentine's ice cream shop has closed.

We loved all the cute attention to detail. So sad. We sure loved going to Mary Coyle's, but we'll have to make a new tradition next Valentine's.

We started our Thankful Tradition in the the thankful basket to prepare us for Thanksgiving.

We babysat sweet little Liz more.

I had time to take the kids to the bank and let them deposit their savings and get their match.

We did a little Christmas shopping and found these cute missionary stockings.

We had time for science projects. This one is about different amounts of water making different tones in glasses. Sarah, my little musician, had her first orchestra concert of the year, in second chair.

I took the kids to the park to play!

I was able to go through old school materials and clean out! I had to take a picture of these old games I made. I would put chocolate chips or goldfish or cheerios on the letters and if the kid could find the right letter they could eat it. We had hours of fun doing this.

I touch-up painted the downstairs. We went through Adam and Rachel's closets.

We were able to go to the temple and do lots of temple work. Preparing for a new temple is so motivating! We are so lucky to have so many temples available.

Finally the day of the Cultural Celebration came! We dropped off Sarah with her giant bucket full of food and supplies early in the morning.

That night we went live to see the 4300 youth do their special performances for the prophet.

Sarah was to the left of the podium about 9 kids back.

It was Awesome. President Monson had been sick, so all the kids prayed for him to be able to come. He did come...straight from the hospital and went straight back after the celebration.

The Temple Dedication itself was so special. We left Adam at the Abegg's and enjoyed such a special day with our girls. We were sitting in a sealing room and just before it started they invited us to use 4 extra seats in the Celestial room. It was very special to see and hear President Uchtdorf and President Oaks in person. Their body guard sat right by us.

Two Sisters who love the temple and family history work. Rachel can't wait to come back and do baptisms next October!

Tyler and I came back later that week to enjoy a session in our new temple.

This is the best picture he let me take.

After the celebration there was a girl who wore her bright orange shirt to school and texted all her ward to wear theirs too. The school wondered what was up with the matching fluorescent orange shirts and they were able to tell the whole school, "We're the Mormons celebrating our new temple in Phoenix." They took pictures for the yearbook and everything. The next Monday all the kids from every stake wore their shirts together. It was a day Sarah went to orchestra so she wore hers too.

I was finally able to re-foam and reupholster the dining room chairs.

Before

Foam falling out, fabric ripped, these are looking pretty bad.

Finding the right supplies is half the battle. I was so happy to finally find some good foam and fabric.

One finished.

Adam loved playing with the extra foam.

All 4 Finished! Just in time for Thanksgiving!

The kids were so surprised to see that I'd finished while they were sleeping.

Thanksgiving morning we relaxed making a puzzle on our new chairs. They are so much more comfortable with the new foam!

Sarah made our Thanksgiving apple pie. She will be a great Mommy! She has been watching the Jarvis triplets (age 3) every Wednesday from 2-5pm and loves it. She is sad there will only be one more month of it. Their Mom is finishing up a class and so Sarah has done this consistently all semester!

We went for a bike ride past the house with the huge light display.

We checked on our garden growing so beautifully. We are getting lots of yellow squash and the green beans are growing nicely.

The family worked together making the feast.

Then we thankfully sat down to our Thanksgiving feast. We ate then went through our thankful basket and read all the things we are thankful for this year.