What a beautiful month it has been. So much to be grateful for- all year round but particularly in November, the month of thanksgiving! And speaking of...we enjoyed a beautiful Thanksgiving day this year. Started the day out by playing in a turkey bowl with friends and not to brag- Eric Weddle!!!!! How many people can say they actually played a game of football with a former NFL player? We can now! Haha- it was a great morning. Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Stacy was lovely in every way and we enjoyed every minute of spending time together. The turkey grandpa cooked was delicious, Grandma's sides too! And the kids are now at the age where they actually enjoy the thanksgiving menu! We played Thanksgiving outburst and the quiet game. We enjoyed chocolate cake and Dane's home made blueberry pie. We tried to get Evelyn signed up for an LDS dating app (hehe). It was a special afternoon and we are so grateful for our wonderful extended family.
The entire week of Thanksgiving break was filled with all sorts of fun adventures. We hosted a Friendsgiving for all of our friends one day- we made turkey, cheese and cranberry sliders with salad and pumpkin bars for dessert. The kids ran around all afternoon and it was such a fun day. We made turkey cookies and a thankful tree. My donut stand came and I enjoyed setting that out all week for various visitors to munch on donuts- made things look rather festive! Loved having the Jones over for a big try-tip dinner. All of their kids were home from college so it was an amazing time to be together and enjoy their company. My friends and I enjoyed a Lizzo concert whilst Grandma came down to watch the kids- she had to miss a big USC football game to do it-- the ultimate sacrifice!!! We were so grateful to her. She never minds missing out on her own things to be with the kids- she is the best Grandma on earth. Thankfully, the boys and Grandma were all able to attend the USC v Notre Dame game Saturday after Thanksgiving for a USC win! Grandma had given each of the boys a cute sweatshirt to wear to the game and they loved it!
Speaking of games, the kids and I watched our good friend Emily Farr play her first Varsity basketball game at Poway High. We were so happy to support Emily and watch her impressive skills on the court. Its so nice to be able to walk across the street to see our friends' kids play sports. The kids love it and so do I! Makes life easy when we are so close.
Other highlights for November included a wonderful extended visit from Grammy and Papa. Loved that Papa really dove right into the pickle ball scene. My friend Sara- connected him to the local play and he never missed a day! He fit right in and enjoyed meeting new people and playing his heart out. Grammy and I did a lot of Christmas shopping and projects- we made ornaments, shopped at Queen Bee and the local St Michaels craft fair, we put together a scripture gift and cooked yummy dinners! Grammy helped Grant make a Day of the Dead Mexican bread for class. She helped Dane learn how to make blueberry pie. We visited the Encinitas Botanical Gardens, went thrifting with Dane, enjoyed the Taco Stand and Handel's ice cream! Probably my favorite evening was attempting an escape room with the whole family. It was really fun AND we got out! Haha! Harder than we thought, but a really fun evening. Loved being with my parents and enjoying that special time with them to just catch up, play card games and enjoy their company. So blessed by those times they come down to visit.
Blake was in charge of the combined youth night for our young women and young men this month and he did an amazing job creating a life sized HUMUNGOUS Twister board! Along with organizing Hungry Hungry Hippo. The kids had a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed videoing and taking pictures of it all- haha!
Had the best evening celebrating Elizabeth's birthday. She is such a blessing in my life and I don't know what I'd do without her. LOVE this friend so much.
Evelyn is wrapping up college courses this month- she is doing well....I think? I actually have no way of knowing her grades, but I do believe in her and feel good about all that she has accomplished in just a few short months away from home. She is growing up for sure. I rarely get any pictures of her any more because I suppose people don't take as many pictures in college. But was so excited to hear that Ev had won 2nd place at the BYU dance competition on campus this month under the country swing category! So fun for her! LOVED having Evelyn home for her birthday. We celebrated with our family plus Emma and Amaya with chocolate cake and chipotle dinner. We decorated her room and she opened up a few presents- headphones, clothes, a big basket full of fun items that Anna had picked out and put together for her big sis. Ev enjoyed seeing her buddies and also Eli of course. I had fun going on walks with her and planning for the future. We organized her upcoming classes and planned out a few ideas for work next semester. We had our down moments too- like when she neglected to turn in a paper on time, or when she arrived home after 1am. Being in charge of a young adult is not as easy as it might first seem. But we are working out the kinks and overall I'm very excited for Evelyn and all that lies ahead for her.
Dane has had a busy month with high school soccer tryouts. He was very excited to make the JV team- but bummed to find that most of his friends did not get so lucky and were cut. Such a bummer. Dane has set up a soccer website for college recruiting and he works on it quite a bit- uploading videos and pictures for college coaches. He is seriously wanting to play for college one day and has made a goal to work towards this. The World Cup has been keeping him quite busy and he has LOVED watching all the games with Grant and Blake. It's been really fun to see the three of them so involved and enjoy the various games so much! When he's not thinking about soccer, Dane has been busy cooking up a storm- he has perfected his Mac n cheese recipe and we are so grateful her enjoys this endeavor so much- we get yummy dinners more often than not when he's in the mood to create a new recipe! I love to go into Dane's room and read the little notes he makes himself. Sometimes it's just bullet point lists of what he'd like to accomplish for the week, other times it's his Christmas list or a list of ideas of businesses he wants to create. He is a writer- and I love when I happen upon something he's come up with and written down. Dane is the most helpful, sensitive and kind person you'll ever meet. He is not having his best year and feels a little down but he tries his best to use the coping skills he's learned to lift himself up and be the best he can be. I pray that he will start to feel better soon. It's hard to see him a little flat when I'd love him to as he was last year- happy. But as Glennon Doyle says, "life is not about feeling happy, life is about feeling everything." Right now he's feeling a little discomfort and that's ok!
Grant has also been busy writing down a few goals this month. He is working on eating more nutritiously and working out with Coach Conner more consistently. He puts a lot of heart and soul into his soccer and frankly into everything he does. He never half heartedly does anything. He has 100 percent in all of his classes and never misses a single day of practice. He is currently organizing a soccer business in which he coaches kids individually in our backyard. He has already contacted a few parents asking if they are interested for their son or daughter. So cute. Grant enjoyed a day trip to Vegas with Blake this month for a big soccer tournament with this team. Quick trip but very fun. Grant cares a lot about his friends and has created an awesome group of boys and girls he enjoys spending time with at school and on the weekends. Grant, like Dane, is also a little baker and loves to make cookies and brownies on Sundays for various people in our ward in need. I am truly so proud of Grant and all that he does. Last week I spoke with him about being more helpful in our home when I asked for his help. He listened and then the following few days, he stepped it up 100 percent. It made me so grateful that he'd be willing to work on his weaknesses! He has so many strengths but the few things that are hard for him- are hard for our entire family! Contributing is so important and I'm grateful he's working on changing this behavior. Love that kid so much.
Anna is going through a boba phase. She adores boba drinks and desperately wants to go whenever possible. Anna is playing volleyball now and is getting quite good! She loves trying new things and that makes me happy. Anna adores little Sophie- Kate's sister. She would spend every minute with her if she could. She adores her. Anna loves snap chat on my phone and immediately opens it up during school pick up to take pictures of all the kids in our car- both elementary and middle school carpools! Ha! She still loves doing her nail and having her friends over. She has many friends and wants to be with them always. This month Anna participated in a Japanese dance project and danced in front of the school board at the PAC. She had the best day with her buddies beforehand and then did a beautiful job on the actual performance. Again, so happy that Anna is willing to try new things and be involved. She is still the best little safety patrol around. A few funny stories: a few weeks ago we dumped out all the Disney figurines for Sophie to play with while she was over. I left them out and found Anna playing with them day after day after day! It was so so so so so cute because she feels she is too old for such things, but just had the time of her life playing and I never wanted to clean them up! Anna helped me so much in decorating for Christmas- she just felt so sentimental about each and every ornament on our family tree and I adored that entire afternoon unwrapping and placing these sweet ornaments on the tree with Anna. Earlier this week Anna didn't have time to eat breakfast and we got into a little tiff on the car ride to school because she blamed me for not making breakfast and I blamed her for not giving herself time to make her own breakfast. Anyway- I apologized for getting upset with her and told her I was impatient because it made me sad to think of her hungry and I wanted her to always make sure to eat before school. Well, she picked up on my guilt and kept sending me texts all day from her watch about how hungry she was. Hahah! It was too funny. Love my cutest little girl.
I've been keeping pretty busy practicing for SO many choirs- school performance is next week and then we have our Stake musical fireside and our ward Christmas program. The best part is that Anna comes with me. This gives me an incredible amount of joy. I love looking out and seeing her sing in our big choirs. Though she doesn't necessarily love singing in choir, she does it and I think it's growing on her! Maybe one day she'll thank me. I've also been pretty busy subbing at Chaparel- an awesome school for me to be at since the starting times allow me to drop the kids off before I head in. I especially love subbing in classrooms during holiday times- loved reading Halloween and Thanksgiving stories and festive games with the kids. Loved being their for the balloon parade! The kids are so much fun. So choir, primary music, subbing, working still on my business with Tony, researching lots and lots of things for the kids, spending time with my parents, and friends and taking care of dinner, household chores and homework. These are the activities that fill my every day and I love each and every moment of it all. So grateful for my life and my family.
