November 2019

November was full of wonderful things to be grateful for!

To begin with, Matt is really enjoying our small yard and is always looking for more area to plant fruit trees.  This is a passion fruit tree that he found a spot for.  Such a beautiful and unique flower!

The first weekend of November was soccer tournaments for Sterling and Sheri.  Sheri was very sad that she couldn't join her team for the last game on Sunday but was a great asset on the Saturday games.  They gave a special shout out to her on Saturday.  Their team was undefeated and won the tournament for her age division!

Her coaches were so encouraging and really made the season fun!  Here they are at a end of season parents vs. girls game at their team celebration.

Sheri had her first band concert at the elementary school.  She loves to play the flute and has really absorbed a ton in the few classes a week that they have.  She has also learned a lot with Eve.

Ms. Carpenter teaches at the elementary school and at the junior high.  She has really created a fun environment for Sterling this year.  Since Sterling made the higher Symphonic Band and the Jazz Band she has had him learn the French horn for Symphonic.  She says that he has really great tone on the French horn.  Here he is in his first concert.

One Saturday while shopping at the mall the kids decided to use their own money for this fun bungee jumping apparatus.  They loved it!

Sometimes our cats join us inside for a few minutes to snuggle.  We  think they are pretty sweet.

This month was parent/teacher conferences.  The kids are doing great and are well liked by their teachers and peers.  This is always a great feeling and a relief as a parent.

In Young Women's we had our Night in Excellence to honor the girls and all that they have accomplished this year.  The theme was "A Work in Progress" Instead of focusing on the Personal Progress program we just highlighted an area that they have been working on.  Each girl got to share an area of growth.  All of the YW leaders helped and made the night a success.  I was able to share my thoughts about having faith in God and relying on Him to develop into our best selves.  These are cute handouts my advisor made.

The trees are beautiful here.  This is the tree in our front yard  The autumns are long with the mild temperatures.

This is our street.

On the 15th Roberta and Terri (her daughter) invited me to join them for a special tea/luncheon at the retirement community where Roberta lives.  I felt honored to be invited.  I have grown to love both Terri and Roberta.  It was a lovely event and I enjoyed getting to know Roberta's daughter in law, Darlene.

Eve's final band review was at Lincoln High School.  They performed concert pieces for the judges in their formal attire and then marched afterward.  It was a fun event and I was able to volunteer with the band booster's Thanksgiving meal they prepared and served the kids.

On the 19th Sterling had a jazz band concert.  He is learning a lot about improvisation and other jazz elements.

The girls had pictures taken for their upcoming recital.  Those are forthcoming.  This is one of their main teachers, April.  She is sweet, fun, and encouraging.

Sheri had a talent show for Activity Days and she chose to play a duet with Danielle and also performed her jazz dance (with a few gymnastics moves to finish it off).

During the last week of the month we took the opportunity to visit Matt's sister, Katie and her family for Thanksgiving in Durango.  We have traditionally spent Thanksgiving with Matt's siblings on the east side of the US.  We thought it would be great to continue the tradition on the western side since we won't have to travel any treacherous mountain roads to travel.

On the way  to Colorado we passed through the Grand Canyon and got to enjoy about an hour there.  The kids had never seen it. We would have loved to spend more time but thoroughly enjoyed what we did get to see.

Thanksgiving Day was wonderful with cousins, baking in the kitchen with Katie, Matt, and my MIL, Wendy.  Here she is with our sweet new niece Marcy.

 The food was especially delicious to me this year.

I am especially grateful for this guy!  He is always looking for ways to help me or make me happy.  I don't always feel like I deserve all the kind things he does, but it inspires me to be more selfless and more thoughtful.  I have truly enjoyed this extra time with him!

What visit with Grandparents would be complete without rope games?

In past years we have always had an obscene amount of pie.  This year Matt was not to be outdone by the eastern siblings.  Now look closely at this photo.  Notice anything?

Yep, he resorted to using a mirror.  Pretty hilarious!  Of course he was just playing around and the easterners were not fooled by the above photo.  It was great for a good laugh!

The day after Thanksgiving we did a little bit of shopping while Matt and his parents took the kids to play games at the church.  Then in the evening we went ice skating.

We had a wonderful time and are grateful to Katie and Rodolfo for their hospitality!

We headed back and decided to visit Mesa Verde since it was right on the way home.  Good thing we allotted 2 days coming and going!  We're also glad we could use our annual park pass that we got this summer in Yellowstone.

Here are some pics from Mesa Verde.

I'm so thankful for this beautiful land that we live in and for my family which I love so much!  I feel so blessed to have the gospel of Jesus Christ which brings true peace and joy amidst all the busyness of life.  Truly we have an abundant life!