Bria's Baptism

It's hard to believe that Bria's birthday was at the beginning of November and I literally have no other pictures of that month! I know we were busy, but I suspect we were busy with Christmas projects, Thanksgiving, school, and life.

After waiting almost a whole month, we finally made it to Bria's Baptism day. She's been SO excited all year long! It was such a special day for her and our whole family. I was amazed at the love and support she received that day.
 

Bria was able to get baptized by her dad. I'm so grateful that our kids have such an amazing father. I'm grateful that Bria and Dave got to share this experience together. 

The whole fam.

Grandma Martin came all the way from Albuquerque to celebrate this special day with Bria.

Bria with Grandma and Grandpa Webster. Grandma Webster gave Bria (and me!) a really special gift. I really wanted to sew Bria's baptism dress. I got the pattern and material but soon realized it was WAY above my sewing level. Thankfully, Grandma volunteered to sew it and she did AMAZING! Even if I had been able to somehow throw together a dress, it would never have been this beautiful and intricate. She did quite a bit of handsewing to get all of the detail work done.

Good thing Bria has some talented relatives! I cannot French braid to save my life. But, I really wanted Bria's hair to be French braided so it would still look pretty after she got out of the water. Luckily, Aunt Andrea kindly helped in that area. Andrea is a French braiding wizard.

She even added some ribbon.

Bria also got her very own scriptures from Grandma Martin. They're a really nice set that should last her pretty much forever.

It was such a special day that I hope Bria will remember for the rest of her life.

Bria's Birthday

Bria's birthday was really over a month ago. I can't believe she's 8! She is growing up to be such a lovely young lady. It always amazes me to watch her get older because she's the one who made me a mom. I remember dreaming for so long about my first child and now she's already 8!

We skipped out on a birthday party this year. She had one last year and we also wanted her to have more focus on her upcoming baptism. Ironically, though, she ended up having a whole birthday weekend.

Friday, we sent treats to her school and she celebrated with her class.

On Saturday, we decided to have a family activity at the movies. We saw Dolphin Tale. I think the only one that didn't like it is Logan (with his two-year old attention span and all). We went to the show with some of Dave's family. One of Bria's favorite cousins has her birthday only a few days after Bria so we had a combined celebration. Grandma was so nice and baked a cake, too! It was tons of fun.

Sunday was Bria's real birthday. We saved the presents from Mom and Dad to open then. Plus, Bria got recognized in Primary.

Phew! We really felt like that was A LOT of celebration. Then Monday came around....

Bria was very surprised when she came home to TWO packages in the mail for her! One from Grandma Martin and one from her best friend Ellorie.

A few things about Bria at age 8:

• She is learning to love reading. Not just being read to. She started out the school year a little rusty, but has since gotten to almost a 4th grade reading level!
• She loves, loves, loves Selena Gomez and Wizards of Waverly Place. Her dream is to go to New York to meet Selena.
• She is a great big sister. (Sometimes she's almost too good and forgets that she isn't actually the mom). She'll make a great babysitter when she's older.
• She loves anything to do with art. Drawing, painting, crafting. She can spend hours on her projects.

We sure love our Bria!!!

Life's been busy 'round these parts/Halloween

My blog is my home page. I made it that way so I wouldn't forget to update it. Every time I get on the internet, I see our blog. And, up to this point, I've seen TWO cute kids in their Halloween costumes at the Trunk or Treat. But, we have three kids and I am reminded that I haven't updated our blog. But, we've been busy. And it's really just being busy with life. Laundry, cooking, homework, our businesses, etc, etc, etc. I look at ALL of November and I can hardly tell you what we did. Nonetheless, time continued.

Anyway...on to the post at hand. Halloween.

I realize that Halloween is actually in October, and it is already December. But, our blog really won't be "complete" without the major holidays and birthdays. So, as I'm listening to Christmas music, I'm blogging about Halloween.

Captain "Max" Sparrow - pirates are his FAVORITE!!

"Bria"-patra - Bria loves Cleopatra, but she was really concerned that I was putting TOO much make-up on her.

"Lo"da - I'm not a huge Star Wars fanatic, but I couldn't believe how many people asked "what's that guy from Star Wars, again?"

We had a really crummy Halloween this year. Don't get me wrong, the kids were adorable. They got tons of candy. And, they will even probably have good memories. But, our poor kids were sick. Logan missed the Trunk-or-Treat because he was throwing up. Max had it the next day. And, I really thought Bria would skip out. A few days went by with no throw up. Until Halloween. She complained that her stomach hurt. She really didn't want to miss trick-or-treating; she really toughed it out. So, Halloween night came and we went trick-or-treating. It was crummy outside. There was a cold, hard wind. It seemed like every house we went to was empty. It got to the point that we didn't feel like it was worth it. Instead, we went to the grocery store to get donuts making supplies. It didn't take long for us to realize how sick Bria was. We decided that instead of having her walk around the store, she should sit in the car, so I took her out. On the way, I told her to dump out her candy as soon as we got in the van so she could use her Halloween bag to throw up if she really needed to. But it was too little, too late. As soon as we got in the van, she threw up. Thankfully, in her Halloween bag. But, also all over ALL of her candy. Poor girl!

We got home and she went straight to bed. Meanwhile, the rest of us had fun making donuts and drinking hot chocolate.

Trunk or Treat

Our ward had the trunk or treat last Thursday night. I was looking forward to it all week! Then, Thursday afternoon, Logan started throwing up. A lot. On me. It was gross. But, I knew I couldn't take him. Thankfully, Dave volunteered to take Bria and Max. They had so much fun! They came home talking a million mile a minute about all the fun they had!

 Can you guess what they are? More Halloween to come!!

Quick Oregon Trip

In the middle of our crazy month, we got to take a quick break and head to Oregon. I'm really kicking myself for not taking more pictures! It was SO fast, though. It's about a 12 hour drive from our house to Salem. We left Friday after school and drove as far as we could. Finished the drive on Saturday and drove back home on Sunday. Dave only has a few personal days he can take off and he has all of them scheduled out for wedding stuff.

For this trip, we thought it would be a fun surprise for our kids, so we didn't tell them where we were going. I knew it wouldn't take Bria long to figure it out. I was so wrong! They literally had NO idea until we pulled in the driveway. 

We were so grateful to get to see Faith get baptized. And it's always a treat to visit Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Frank. I wish we could have stayed longer! It's one of our favorite places.

What Today's Women Want Expo

This year, Dave and I were partners in the What Today's Women Want Expo. It was a really awesome experience. It was probably one of the hardest things that I've ever done, but it also helped me learn and grow in so many ways.

A lady named Ranae is actually the one who started the whole thing. This was the third year, but she did it all on her own the first two. I really cannot believe she put this event together on her own! She is an amazing person.

Last year, Ranae arranged a trade with Dave. We got a booth and Dave did a video for the website. That's how we met Ranae. But Dave, being the amazing person that he is (see previous post) made a huge impression on Ranae and she asked us to partner up for this year's expo. So, for all of this year and part of last, we've been planning and preparing for this huge event to be held in the middle of October.

It was a TON of work! We ended up with almost 80 vendors (up from 53 last year), which is a huge amount of coordinating. Plus, all of the stage presentations, the advertising, the graphic design work, etc, etc, etc. October has been the busiest time, of course. It felt like we were eating, sleeping, and breathing the expo.

When it finally came, it was a huge relief. We had a very successful year. We had very few complaints and I think overall everyone that came or presented were quite pleased. It was so fun to be there meeting new people and talking to the vendors. I'm sure I spent too much money (I bought the most incredible curling wand for Bria).

Dave and I got to stay at the hotel where the Expo was for 3 nights. Dave's sister Andrea was SO generous and watched our kids. What a lifesaver she was! I don't think we could have pulled it off without her! We brought the kids and let them stay with us the last night. They had a blast in the swimming pool and getting treats from some of the expo vendors.

I didn't take very many pictures, but here are a few:

The tooth fairy was there with one of the dentist booths. AS soon as Bria heard about the tooth fairy being there, she was DETERMINED to go.  I'm so glad she still gets excited about these things.

Dave and I were in charge of the Minute to Win It games for the Education Foundations. It was so fun putting it together and Dave was such a funny MC. We also helped put together the spelling bee. We had kids in 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades competing. The kids that won got to take money back for their school. It was obviously not planned this way, but three of the winners were kids from Dave's school.

It was really a very fun and rewarding experience. Not long before the Expo, we had a huge company in our area offer to buy it. They own quite a few of the big radio stations in the area. As much fun as it was, we knew selling it was the right thing to do. I'm so glad we were part of the expo, but I am also so relieved it's over with. Now we can get back to normal life!

Excellence

Dave is a pretty amazing guy. He'll be the first to disagree, but he is truly amazing. It's been fun for me to watch him learn and grow. When I first met Dave he had only completed one year of college. He had no idea what he wanted to be when he "grew up".  It's been fun to watch the Lord lay a path out for him and to watch him excel in his field. He is such an exceptional school counselor. He helps the kids at his school in a way no one else could. They are really lucky to have him.

I knew he was great, but it is so awesome when others agree. Dave was nominated by his school district to receive the Emissary of Excellence Award. It's huge honor to get. They only choose one or two recipients per year and anyone in the district is eligible. It's awarded to someone who has made a noticeable impact on the district and though it's not a requirement is mostly given to people who have served in the district for many years. Dave's principal told him that he's never seen someone as young as Dave receive the award.

So, here's my brag post about what an amazing guy Dave is. I feel really blessed to be his wife.

Dave's actually already started his path to the next chapter. This summer his district mentioned that they would like him to become a principal. He checked into the school requirements. He miraculously found a program that was only 30 credits, but would accept 12 of his master's credits as transfer. They even had an opening and accepted Dave into the program starting this fall even though the deadline was back in February. So hopefully in about 1 3/4 years, Dave will be able to be a principal!

First Snow

Every year we get an early snow storm. Every year I am always surprised at how short summer is in the north. Every year the kids are thrilled to see wonderful white stuff falling from the sky.  Every year the kids leave the back door open when they rush outside to play, not even realizing the cold air is keeping our heater on overdrive. Every year, the first snow melts and it warms back up temporarily. It's like a preview of what is to come.

This year's first snow storm came on our anniversary. October 6. So early. And so pretty.

When it started snowing, I was working on the computer. I didn't even notice. Logan came and got me and said "Whassat? Whassat?" He dragged me to the front window. He was so thrilled to watch the snow falling from the sky! I guess he is too small to remember that it was snowy all last winter. Boy is he in for a surprise!

Fall Carnival

Dave's school had a fall carnival this year on what proved to be the last warm day of the year! It was a gorgeous October day. It was even warm enough for shorts! Shorts in October are totally unheard of in Idaho.

I love school carnivals! The kid's school had one too, but we couldn't make it. It's fun having ties to two different elementary schools. It's like we get double school activities!

Our State Fair

13 years. That's how long I've lived in Idaho. I know. It's hard for even me to believe (especially in the middle of the winter). Time sure has flown by. But in all my 13 years here, I have never been to the State Fair! So, this year, we decided to go.

For being a small state, I think the Fair was GREAT! We went after school so we didn't get to do a lot. Honestly, I don't know if Logan would have held on that long anyway.

First, we stopped by our favorite Face Painters booth. She's painted our kids faces lots of times before and we think she is amazing!

 

 

 

Afterward, we headed over to the petting zoo. It was an amazing petting zoo! They had tons of animals. Big. Small. Some were so big, they scared the kids a little bit!

 

The kids wouldn't even go near this beast! I think it was the horns.

By this point it was getting late, so we hurried and got some yummy food and then headed to the midway.

We let the kids pick out a prize. They, of course, decided on light sabers.

My awesome friend Emily and her family came to the fair with us. I've know Emily forever. We grew up together and later were college roommates. We were even bride's maids at each others weddings. She's definitely a keeper. There was a small moment when I wasn't sure, though. She really wanted to go on a ride. Not just any ride, but one that went upside down. And she was determined that I go with her. It took a lot of pleading begging on her end, and I finally gave it.

It was such a fun night! Now that our kids are getting older, I hope we go every year!