Happy 15th Birthday Grant!

Well… it finally happened! We all blinked and you turned into a young man right before our eyes.  And a pretty amazing one at that.  Grant, you have grown in so many ways this year- and not just in the physical sense, though there’s been plenty of that as well.  You are thoughtful, mature, wise, disciplined, considerate and you love life.  You are a highschool student at Poway High! You enjoy being at the highschool and look forward to playing soccer for the school.  You love seminary and especially your teachers: Dianne and Jeff Wurtz.  You go to bed on time and wake up without any help from Dad or I. You read your scriptures and say your prayers each night.  You love the gospel and love your Savior. You choose the right and look out for others.  You split your time at school between your freshmen friends and also the sophomores and juniors.  You are well liked by everyone and you treat all the kids with love and respect.  That being said, you are not incredibly social after school.  You prefer to come home and relax on your own.  You go out 1/2 the time on weekends but also really enjoy just spending time with your family and watching the Padres games! Or really any sport. 

In your free time you like to lift weights, train for soccer in the backyard, and surf! Surfing is definitely your favorite pastime and you’ll wake up at 5:00am on Wednesdays (late start) in order to get out on the water with your friends.  This summer you taught your cousin Wade how to surf and he was thrilled.  You are amazing with all of your little cousins and with little kids in general.  Everyone adores you!  When it comes to your siblings though- you have to put in a lot of effort to have patience!  You struggle with Anna on a daily basis, and with Dane and Evelyn.  You hold yourself to a very high standard and you do the same for your siblings so it is not always easy for you enjoy and accept their personalities.  But one of the most incredible things about you is that you are so self aware and ready and willing to work on any problems you see in yourself.  I love how accepting you are of your faults and how important it is to you to work on these things… you get that from your Dad! Your personality at age 15 is mostly serious but you are also adventurous and willing to try anything and everything.  You are flexible and easy to be with. You are a hard worker and you have so much passion for everything you do whether that be Spanish or math or soccer or surfing.

At this stage in life your favorite TV show is Simpsons, favorite foods are Canes Chicken, smash burgers that you make at home, brown butter chocolate chip cookies, chocolate Oreo ice cream from Cold Stone and shredded mini wheats. You love watching Mr. Beast and Padres games. Your closest friends are Davis Rodriguez, Kai Matter and Carson Klein.  Your favorite subject in school is math and PE.  

This past year you traveled to New York City for the first time since you lived there as a baby! You had so much fun seeing Hamilton on Broadway and a Nix game! You traveled to Honduras and West Caribbean with the Stevens and Grammy and Papa aboard the Royal Caribbean.  You and Papa went on a 2 week adventure to Outerbanks, NC for an HXP humanitarian trip which you loved and which grew your testimony in many ways.  You went on High Adventure to Lake Tahoe, skiing at Brianhead, UT,  FSY in San Diego and all over the place for soccer tournaments! It’s been a busy, fun year and we’ve loved watching you grow through it all.  You are an incredibly special young man and I cannot put into words how amazing it is to be your mom.  You make my job very easy because you are outstanding in every way and you teach me to be a better person just by your example.  I love you Grant! Happy 15th Birthday!

October Happenings

Can't imagine anything more pleasant than the month we've just lived.  A visit from Jamie and Katie, Knottsberry Farm, Seaworld, Coronado!  Homecoming for Dane, Kenzie and Grant and friends. Grant's 15th birthday- celebrated at the beach surfing.  Ding dong ditching, trick or treating, trunk or treat, the Cliffords Haunted house, Haunted trails, lots and lots of soccer and Dane's patriarchal blessing! Phew! It was just one wonderful event after another and here I am at the end of it all, doing my favorite thing ever.... remembering and documenting all the fun. 

It's been so fun to have Grant in high school and homecoming was really such a great evening for he and his buddies.  We hosted pictures and appetizers at our house before the big dance and then the kids all rode down together to the Birch Aquarium where the dance was held. Dane and Kenzie looked just as cute as could be and met up with soccer buddies after dinner for the dance.  Really grateful for all these darling friends my boys spend their time with. Here are a few fun pictures of the Haunted Trails down at Balboa Park-- Grant, Dane and Anna and all their friends- such a fun night.

This year our family helped out at the Cliffords haunted house and we had the best time.  We helped set up for youth night, we took shifts scaring inside the house-- it was just overall so much fun and we loved every second!  Especially me...3 hours of scaring people? yes please!  We also enjoyed the trunk or treat this year- Anna dressed as a construction worker, Dane and Kenzie a deer and a hunter, and I dressed as Joy from Inside Out 2.  So much fun! Elizabeth and I made a big balloon arch for the front entrance and it looked so cute.

Sophia and Junior- some of the kids I work with - dressed as Donald and Ronald

Bob's Burgers show:)

Dressed as the tooth fairy

the scare crew at Cliffords haunted house

me at my scare location!

Loved our annual tradition of ding dong ditching with Grandma! This year we had plenty of helpers as ALL of Anna's friends wanted to join in the fun... hehe!  And of course Kenzie and Dane.  So grateful to Grandma for always making these special traditions so much fun.  

Jessica put on the cutest Halloween birthday party for Molly this year- an Adam's family themed party! She is THE most creative lady I know!

Having Jamie and Katie in town was just about as fun as anything could ever be.  We stayed up late watching movies, we shopped, ate lots of yummy food, talked for hours, walked around Coronado, visited amusement parks, became ill from said amusement park rides, like so ill that I could barely drive home!  Last but not least....Jamie took Dane's senior pictures and our family pictures! They turned out amazingly and though it was a brutal night getting everyone there on time, totally 100 percent worth the effort and near nervous breakdown.

Evelyn has kept busy with the usual business of line dancing, traveling with Amaya up to LA, lifting weights, writing papers, hiking with friends, and new this month.... making lots and lots of cake pops! No one around here is complaining.  She is looking forward to being back in Utah in a couple months- with her clinicals starting in January! I'm so proud of her for taking time away from dating after her difficult break up with Eli.  She has really used the past 6 months to heal and grow and feel herself again and I am going to have a hard time getting used to life without her here!  She is so helpful and we have a good time together.  But I'm very excited for all that lay ahead in the next chapter of her life.

painting by Chris Mummer of Evelyn!

Dane joined the choir this year and it was heaven on earth for this mama to watch her cute son sing in the Poway High Chorus-- I love Poway's chorus and always go to support the youth from our ward--- so just beyond amazing to have Dane in the choir! For sure the most special night of the month was the night Dane received his patriarchal blessing from Patriarch Konold.  It was an incredible blessing that truly demonstrated God's love for Dane.  I recognized how well He knew Dane as I listened to that blessing and I felt so grateful for the opportunity to be his mom. Special special night.  Dane was just called to be the 1st assistant in the priest quorum and he has led meetings, conducted and been more involved than ever in our youth nights-- it's been very cool to watch.  Aside from soccer and work where he is fondly known as "Mr. Dane," he spends all free time with Kenzie.  Going to art museums, painting and carving pumpkins, Kobys swap meet, decorating haunted gingerbread houses, celebrating 6 month anniversary, watching movies, playing pickleball, cooking and doing homework together.  They are best friends and really very sweet together.

6 month dinner date

Grant works so hard in school, seminary and in soccer.  He is busy busy busy with practices down in Chula Vista 3 to 4 nights a week and then games anywhere from LA to Phoenix to North Carolina on the weekends.  His happy place is for sure the beach and surfing.  That was what he asked for his 15th birthday- a day to surf with his friends and a wetsuit powerful enough to allow him to continue surfing throughout the winter months.  Love seeing him full of joy doing this activity that allows him to live in the moment. High school soccer starts next month and he is very much looking forward to a change of scene and opportunity to play for Poway.  Love that he enjoys being in high school and has good friends and awesome seminary teachers.  He's living his best life!

soccer team!

birthday in Spanish class

acai bowls for seminary!

Anna also works pretty hard in school and is enjoying the year thus far.  She has a tutor 2 times a week for reading and then takes tennis lessons as well and she's thinking about dance again- which makes me happy since she is such a great dancer! Every moment she can, she wants to be with her friends.  The girls do everything together- murder mysteries, Starbucks runs, soccer at lunch break, get air to jump, photo shoots, haunted houses, and lots and lots of singing and dancing together.  Anna is definitely growing up and I'm both happy and sad about this.  Her personality and sense of humor make me laugh so much -- I love her flexibility and courage.  For Halloween, the girls all decided to be football players.  Anna waited patiently for her jersey to arrive but alas, Halloween morning came with no jersey.  She could have cried or shouted, but she ran into the costume box and grabbed a referee's shirt and decided she'd be the ref in the group of football players.  THANKFULLY her jersey arrived that afternoon after school so she could trick or treat with her buddies in matching fits~! But I loved how she just went with the flow, despite the hiccup. A friend (mom to one of Anna's friends)  told me that last night Anna hopped in the car and said-- "Hi Bestie!"  she was talking to the mom!  It made her night because this mom loves Anna and Anna loves her.    She really is an extrovert in every sense of the word!

Enjoyed teaching seminary a few days this past month for the Wurtz's (Grant's teachers).  Also started teaching Emotional Resilience classes for the youth in our stake - it's a 6 week program and it's been wonderful to meet up with so many awesome young people and discuss unhealthy thinking patterns, stress, and building faith in Jesus Christ! Morning Skills class and Young Women keep me busy- although I was just released as 1st counselor on Sunday.  I may get called in as an advisor- we shall see! But for now, I'm happy to NOT be in charge of activities every week-ha! 

General Conference Sunday!

Morning meeting meditation

seminary!

YW- Murder Mystery!

Enjoyed celebrating all sorts of friends this month- Nikki's birthday- paddle boarding at Mission Bay;  Elizabeth's birthday- brunch at my house;  Kesley's baby shower- acai bowls at Dorothy's; and Laura in town visiting from Utah--an open house in our backyard.  Loved seeing everyone and so happy to host!  Loved seeing Brandy... in town for just a few days from Idaho.  Spent some time helping Helen move to a new place across town-- it's lovely and I'm so happy for her.  A month full of so many lovely moments and events.