November Highlights- Lots of flute performances

One crisp fall afternoon we decided to go play in the leaves. However there are no leaf bearing trees near us (or big enough ones) so we had to head to the school to play in the leaves. Ethan wanted to take a rake, but I told him, if he wanted to take a rake over there, he would have to take it himself because I didn't want to carry it. Then he decided he wanted to ride his scooter over to the school, so this is how he managed it.

Looks pretty precarious doesn't it? (He DID make it to the school unscathed, surprisingly)

Fall leaves are so fun!
Star enjoyed it too!
Super heros!
An attempt at Charlie's Angels.
Considering the kids have never heard or seen of it... not bad :-)

Itchy, itchy, scratchy, scratchy leaves

Cool moon

November has been full of performances for Samantha on her flute.

First was the Veteran's parade

Then was the Ensemble concert in Sunriver.

Samantha's teacher, Pam Hughes, Sam and her ensemble flute trio
Samantha's Ensemble concert in Sunriver

We took the Elders out to eat at Pilot Butte Burger and Elder Yost polished off this 16oz. burger without any problem. Elder Simpson settled for the regular burger.

Our YW in Excellence night was really nice. These are our girls.

Samantha also performed on her flute at the YWIE.
Samantha, a beautiful "example of the believers"
Check out the WIBC/Seattle post for more of Samantha's flute performances this month.

October in a nutshell

We got a VERY early first snowfall here on Oct 4th. The kids were so excited! Ethan came running in my room at 6am telling me to look outside it snowed! I expected to see a skiff on the ground, but to my surprise it was coming down pretty good and had already accumulated a nice amount.

Here they are out in their jammies at 7am

It was especially wonderful that it was on General Conference Sunday, which meant we had no where to go and nothing to do. A PERFECT snow day!

October also brought Youth Conference and a temple trip for Samantha and I, so Brad kept the others entertained at the Pumpkin Patch

Lots o'pumpkins

Ethan and Abby are in the first car. The driver had a "skill testing question" and guess who won?

Yes, of course Ethan, our lucky boy!

Here is Abby shooting the pumpkin cannon.

Pumpkins are loaded into the cannon, and you aim for vehicles out in the field Let Ethan demonstrate...

How testosterone loaded is that cannon??

Some cool looking gourds

Bruce came out to visit us for a couple days which was nice. He hadn't been out to Bend yet, so it was nice to be able to show him around and spend some time with the kids.

Ethan was in a play at school: "The Legend of Damon and Pythias". He was a soldier and had a few lines. Unfortunately my batteries ran out on my camera, so I didn't get any video of our star, but here are a few pictures. The production was REALLY well done!!

They had a civil war encampment at the High Desert Museum, so we headed out to see what that was all about. Here is Abby playing a game with one of the soldiers. I got to pick up and hold up one of those rifles with a bayonet on it and wow, are they ever heavy! Makes you appreciate their fortitude and dedication.

Here, Ethan is signing up to join the troops

Pumpkin carving
The final product
This year's "goblins"
Ethan could not get over this King Size candy bar someone gave him trick or treating. He was SO excited about it!! The only way to describe it is kindof like in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Ethan kept turning it over in his hands and admiring it, and couldn't wait to eat it the next day. So funny!!

Birthday Trip to hot springs, September happenings, and... MY HUSBAND ROCKS!!

Ok, I've got some MAJOR catching up to do... so here we go...

In Sept. for my birthday, all I wanted to do was go to the Belnap Hot Springs... so to the hot springs we went. It was a PERFECT day to go, not too hot, not too cold.

Can you see us in the reflection? Beautiful gardens at the hot springs

On our little jaunt around the hot springs the kids found this and thought it was fun to climb on

Ahhh... so nice and warm...

I am now 36!

Look at that steam... it was WONDERFUL! So RELAXING!

We could only take it for an hour though... then it got to be a little too much.

Just behind us you can see/feel the springs coming out of the ground. Super HOT!

A couple times this summer we went to what they call "Munch and Movies" It is a family friendly movie in the park at dusk. It is so much fun. Here the kids are getting ready with their sleeping bags and blankets

I think we're watching "Kung Fu Panda"
Last, but certainly not least is the ring I got for my birthday/our anniversary from Brad.

I have been admiring my girlfriend, Shelagh's ring since I noticed it not long after we moved here. She is from Ireland and had got her ring there, so there really wasn't a chance of me finding one here. Brad, being the awesome hubby he is, when he found out Shelagh was going home to Ireland asked her to buy the ring for him so I could have it. Shelagh, being the super cool gal she is took some time out of her vacation to go pick the ring up for me. Isn't that so cool?

So here is my BEAUTIFUL IRISH ring- directly to me from across the pond!!

I LOVE IT!

Speaking of rings...

Ethan had a little mishap with his. He got his CTR ring for his birthday, but it was a little big, so one morning he decided that if he bit it and squeezed it a little tighter on his finger it wouldn't slide around. He kept biting it and trying to reshape it until it was on his finger so tight we couldn't get it off. So... before school we headed over to the fire department (across the street) and they were very nice and quickly cut his ring off for him, and we were out of there in time for him to head off to school. Quite an exciting morning!

Monster Mash

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Adventures with the Lund boys

August 30th- Sept 7th we had the great pleasure of having the Lund boys stay with us. You couldn't ask for better boys! They were so much fun to have around. While I didn't get to take pictures of all our fun, I did get a few.

One day we headed up to Todd Lake for a little picnic

BEAUTIFUL Central Oregon day!
The kids played in the lake
Ethan LOVED being able to tag along with the big boys
And what would a trip to Todd Lake be without some frog hunting??

On another trip we spent the day at Tumalo State Park with our friends the Adams and Jacksons.

What a good sister, helping her brother across the creek

Brighton having a great time teasing the girls

Floating down the creek proved to be a fun time for everyone

Samantha even took this little girl with her one time, as she had been longingly watching the fun, but had no tube of her own

We also had a lot of fun having backyard fires with the boys

and "The Weston" was born. As we were getting out the fixings for the s'mores Weston asked if we could peanut butter on the graham crackers with our s'mores. The result? Perfect deliciousness we now call "The Weston"

It was sad to let the boys go home. We had such a good time with them, and they really became part of the family. We are so happy that Weston now drops in a few times each week after school to hang out with us, 'cause he really is like a big brother for Ethan and a good friend to the girls.