Trunk or Treat

The weather was beautiful for the Trunk or Treat.  I'm sure it was hot for some of the costumes!  It was almost 80.  I was in charge of set up and talked the Bishopric into doing it outside.  They've always done the dinner portion inside but who wants to stay and clean the church.  Not me.  I think it was a success.  The kids had a great time and so did Justin and I.  We even dressed up as our favorite TV show (The Middle) charecters Mike and Frankie Heck.

 Nathan was Mose Schrute from a TV show called The Office.  He nailed it.  After the night was over, I had the thought though that I bet everyone who didn't know the show and who he was suppose to be probably thought he was dressed up as a terrorist.  Whoops.

 Roman and Josh also dressed up as The Office charecters.  Roman was Jim and Josh Dwight.

Hannah and her friends were Snapchat filters.  It is an app on your phone where you can filter your pictures and put things on your head/face in the picture.  Lu and Hannah were butterfly snapchat filters , Izzy was a flower snapchat filter and Autumn a deer filter.

 Isaac wanted to be a classic cowboy.

Pumpkin carving contest

Tomorrow is the ward Trunk or Treat and there is a carved pumpkin contest.  Each household can submit one entry.  Justin thought it would be fun to have some families over to have a contest before the contest.  Each family could come and carve their pumpkins and then decide which one would represent their family.  I was a little hesitant because I generally think it is a big mess but I am glad we did it.  It was a lot of fun.  The pumpkins turned out great!  We had the Potters, Hurdles and Warnicks over.  The winner would get the prize plate and glow stick for inside the pumpkin.

 Poor Wilson.  He cannot handle the smell of pumpkin guts.  He tried to use the gas mask but still ended up feeling like he was going to dry heave.  He drew on his pumpkin with sharpees right outside the porch.  I cleaned up all the guts when everyone was done scraping them out and then he was able to come back inside.

Marianne brought two friends in town visiting.  The mom Nicole is hiding in the picture and Gretchen is by Josh.

 We had the voting boxes left over from raffles when Justin put on his 5k race in Arizona so he set those out.  Everyone got three tickets to vote for their favorite.  Marianne ended up winning.  It made me laugh because she used the scraping technique and didn't carve the pumpkin so the prize of the insert candle wouldn't work for her.  The winning pumpkin is fourth from the right in this picture.

My pumpkin, Hannah's and Jusitn's

 Isaac's and Nathan's.

There were some sticky spots in the kitchen the next day but not too bad!  I would do it again next year.

No more braces!

Hannah has been counting down the days until she got her braces off for months.  Today was finally the day!  She was so EXCITED.  Her teeth look great!  It is amazing how much older she looks to me after having them removed.  She is loving her beautiful, braceless smile.

19 years!

Yesterday was me and Justin's 19th wedding anniversary.  Wow, that seems crazy.  I was married at 19 so I have now been married as long as I haven't.

 I went to tennis practice while Justin worked that morning.  I came home to these beautiful flowers on the table.  They smelled so good.

Justin took the afternoon off and we went to a late lunch at Red Robin and then walked to the movie theater and saw Keeping up with the Joneses.  It was pretty silly but fun to watch.  It was great to spend the afternoon together.  As soon as we got home, we had to divide and concquer.  He took Nathan to Kennesaw to meet Josh for a concert and I took Isaac to tennis lessons.  

Hibachi

One of my Laurels, Isabella, has been wanting to do something different for mutual.  We have tried to make a hike work, camping work and a day at the fair but schedules have just been too crazy to get anything other than the Thursday activity to work.  She is one of my girls that struggles.  So, when she blurted out that she really wanted hibachi and that she was going on Monday night because she got paid from work and it was half off that night, she said, "ya'll better be there".  At first I thought that I probably shouldn't promote it since it is on family night but I decided it would be really good for her and for the rest of the class.  So glad we did it.  I had 11 girls show up.  That is all but one Laurel.  My advisor came too.  Everyone had a great time.  Our chef was a lot of fun.  His name was Tye and he even let the girls try the tricks he does while cooking.

Shea (above) was able to do the trick her first try!  Chandler (below) was not successful.

Cydnee couldn't get the lighter to work so Isabella did it.

 I love these girls.  It is hard to watch them make life harder than it should be at times.

Roller skating and Dalton Rapattoni Concert

Hannah talked me into taking her to see Dalton Rapattoni who was an Amercian Idol contestant she really liked last season.  It was in the middle of the day on Saturday and tickets were only $18.  She was so excited.  Justin had taken Isaac to a friend's birthday party and dropped him off.  While Hannah and I were standing in line to get in, I got a text with this picture from the mom at the party.  She was laughing because Isaac was so bad at roller skating he had to use the helper.  She said he was the only one over about six using one.  Well, Justin and I haven't taken the kids roller skating.  Whoops.  He eventually caught on and had a great time.  I think this little girl, Ashlyn has a pretty good crush on Isaac.

As Hannah and I got into the room where the concert was, I went up toward the front while Hannah bought a Dalton t-shirt.  There were only a couple people ahead of us and I knew they were parents there to watch the opening act which was School of Rock.  They are a band made up of kids taking music classes from the school.  They were loud!  I was ready to go after that.  As soon as they were done, I told Hannah to be ready to move in when the parents stepped back.  She was able to get right up front against the barrier.  She was so excited.  It was so fun to watch her video and sing and dance throughout the concert. 

Homecoming week - Tacky Day, Mathlete vs. Athlete day and Decade's day.....and driver's permit!

This week was homecoming week so they had dress themes for the week.  I can't remember if it was all week or what the first couple days were but I do remember Wednesday through Friday.  Wednesday was Tacky Day.  I got a picture of Hannah but didn't get one of Nathan.  It is nice when Hannah posts them to Instagram and I can save them.  I was suprised that Nathan actually participated.  He wore argyle socks, plaid shorts and a mismatched shirt.  This is Hannah and her friends Annabella and Izzy looking cute.

Thursday was Mathlete vs. Athlete day.  Both kids dressed as Mathletes.  Nathan's friend Kate goes to a different school and had a picture taken with her "nerd" friends at seminary so I saved it.  Nathan borrowed his friend Math competition shirt.

Nathan, Taylor, Autumn, Kate and Daniel

 Hannah and Izzy are outside their math classroom pointing to a picture of themselves holding up 100% papers from one of their math quizzes.  They both work so hard for good grades!

Friday was decades day.  The kids decided to raid Justin's closet for 90s clothes.  We were up late the night before trying to find the right look.  Good thing Justin saved some old concert shirts.  I couldn't help but post a picture of them dressed like the 90s and Justin and I actually in the 90s.

Hannah remembered that her proof of being a student paper that she needed for getting her driver's permit was expiring at the end of the week so she wanted to go take the permit test so she wouldn't have to repay the $3 fee.  I paid it the first time but told her she would have to pay to do it the second time.  She studied Wednesday night and Thursday and we went to the DMV right after school Thursday.  She ended up not passing the test.  She found a better website that had Georgia law included and studied again that night and Friday during school and on the way to the DMV to take it again.  She passed that time!  One with a license and one with a permit.  Yikes!

Fire and Family Home Evening

Last weekend was General Conference.  There were so many great talks.  I decided that for the next five Family Home Evenings we would each take a turn sharing our favorite talk while they are still fresh in our minds.  Justin started tonight.  Since it is starting to cool off just a little (into the 80s), he decided he wanted to share his over the fire making smores.  It started sprinkling a little but we still did it.  I do love sitting by the fire.

Quidditch

The Priests were in charge of the combined YW/YM activity tonight.  They set up a Quidditch match.  It is a game from the movie Harry Potter.  In the movie, the kids fly on broomsticks to play.  So, the YW and YM had to run with broomsticks.  The boys did a great job setting it up and I think everyone had a fun time.

Two Door Cinema Club Concert

Hannah has found Justin's weakness, concerts.  She loves going to concerts and she now knows if she asks her dad, he will take her.  Of course, the tickets have to be cheap ones, not the crazy expensive shows.  She even gets him to take her on school nights.  I would say no.  They had a great time last night seeing Two Door Cinema Club in Atlanta at the Tabernacle.  I don't even know who that is.  They got home just before midnight and Hannah was up and ready for seminary this morning.