September started with my trip to take Eve back to BYU. We arrived in Utah on August 31st and spent the day picking up her stuff from Ivan's house, checking in to her new apartment, and starting to unpack. On Friday Sept 1st we did some shopping, had an eye appointment, and met up with Allison. We then headed up to West Yellowstone to see Joseph Robinson in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat." It was so fun to see him on stage and be with the family! We stayed in Island Park Friday and Saturday night.
On Saturday we enjoyed breakfast, a hike. meeting up with our aunts and cousin Sherry, and then watching Joe play Gaston in "Beauty and the Beast."
Watching Joe on stage is such a treat!
On Sunday we went to church in Island Park and then headed back down to Provo to finish getting Eve settled. She was happy to her cousins Sabey and Carson again!
We finished setting up her apartment on Monday, Sept 4th and I left Tuesday Sept 5th. I definitely felt sad to leave and said lots of prayers on the drive home.
Here is what the rest of Eve's September looked like.
She is happy to be sharing an apartment with Sabey, her cousin (though she is sad that Camille is gone - on a mission)
Here she is heading to church.
Eve has proactively reached out to get to know her ward and make friends.
Football games
Beautiful campus
Fun weekends
Her favorite class, Bio/Geo Chem. takes her on field trips to study the water in various areas. She has enjoyed what she is learning and getting to know people in her major better.
The weekend after I got home Matt went to Colorado to visit his mom for her anniversary. They went to the temple, to dinner and enjoyed the mountains.
Back in Texas ... I arrived back in Amarillo on the 6th. Here is what we have been up to this month.
Football games are every Friday night. Some are at home and others are away so the kids take the bus to those. Of course band practice is still every Monday night.
Sheri and Kate
On Saturday, Sept 30th the band went to the High Plains Marching Festival. Can you see what their formation spells? Their music piece is called Paranormal.
Sheri has resumed flute lessons on Wednesdays and continues to dance Monday, Tuesday, Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings (when not traveling for band).
Christian has soccer every Saturday. I have been so proud of how hard he works on the field! He is a great asset to his team! He also has practice on Thursdays.
I enrolled the boys in gymnastics at Amarillo College. I absolutely love to watch them mastering the various skills!
This last one is a bit far away, but you can see Christian in the back in his white shirt.
Here are some additional highlights for the month. Christian was able to attend and witness for his friend, Andy's baptism.
Christian did a fundraiser and earned this fun hat along with some other fun prizes.
Saturday, Sept 16th was the homecoming dance. Sheri went with her 3 friends. They had the most fun taking pictures beforehand. Sterling also went and had a great time!
Matt had the great idea to take photos of Sheri on our land with lots of wild flowers.
I have been trying to use up all the produce from our garden. Here I made stuffed peppers for dinner.
Sterling was recognized at the school board meeting for earning the Rural Town Scholar award.
Sterling helped decorate the Senior Hall for Homecoming week. I'm glad he is getting involved and maximizing his Senior year. The Senior hall theme was Barbie and the dream house.
Sundays are for resting! :)
Christian turned 11 on September 23rd but we decided to have a friend party on Friday the 22nd because the kids had the day off of school and the 23rd was quite busy for me. Here are some pics from his birthday party.
L-R - Andy, Eli, Lynnox, Charlotte, Kale, Christian, and Blakely
Crazy Kids!
We sure love Christian!
The next day Matt took Christian and his friends to the rodeo.
I'm so grateful Matt could treat him to a fun time on his actual birthday!
This month has been especially busy with my Just Serve calling because our stakes have been participating in the annual 9/11 Day of Service and I have been coordinating with all the ward representatives to share and receive details. I specifically helped our ward with a blood drive. We had a very successful month of service. We had a total of 20 projects, 205 volunteers, with approximately 562 hours volunteered.
Josh Duncan helped coordinate the blood drive for our ward.
This is Jen Hendricks, a good friend of ours...
and her husband, Bishop Hendricks, who is just awesome!
This is Lani Hall, my Communications Director. She trains and supports me in my calling.
Donating blood is one of my favorite ways to serve!
I got another calling in addition to the Stake Just Serve Specialist which is 2nd Counselor in the Stake Young Women's Presidency. I am excited to spend time with the youth and their YW presidencies. On Sept 23rd we had a youth bi-stake fall festival. It was so much fun to watch the kids and I even got the chance to dance when Sterling and Sheri each asked me.
This month I have started attending ward conferences and presidency meetings as part of my new calling. I have also taught RS (before I was released from my previous RS calling), continued my service in other community and church projects, and substitute taught when I could. It has been a very busy season but I can't complain because it is all good things. I feel so grateful that God is helping me to manage it all, support my family, and stay healthy. I feel abundantly blessed!
