Halloween

Halloween was weird this year. All of the kids had their own things going on so my job was just to sit back and watch them have fun. The boys were available to go to the trunk or treat with me at the church. That's always a hoot as the kids can just go around and around the parking lot gathering unreal amounts of candy. They participated in the costume parade and are absolutely loving their inflatable costumes. It means I don't have to sew anything anymore, which is a little bit sad for me. But they look great and I'm glad they're happy. 

Daxton was also able to go to the school trunk or treat. Even though I know his friends really well, I didn't recognize more than half of them in their costumes. Some of them had such intricate get-ups that I was impressed. Here he is with some of his guacamole gang. Pretty fitting that Elle was able to find an avocado costume.

We miraculously found time to carve pumpkins together. McKenzie invited Lily over and she joined in the fun. I found some awesome fangs while we were shopping for Daxton's costume, and I have to say that they may be my new favorite pumpkin build. They even glow in the dark which is great. 

I was asked to sub on Halloween, and I realized the night before that I needed a costume too! I dug through the stash and was able to find my Princess Leia costume. 

On the actual night of Halloween, McKenzie and I were at the gym. Some genius at the school district decided that Halloween night was the perfect night to do regional championships for high school gymnastics. So I watched a lot of gymnastics while the boys went trick-or-treating with the friends They went to Garrett and Elle's house for dinner, then they cruised the neighborhood together. By the time I got home they still weren't home. They stayed out late! I could not believe the amount of candy they came home with. I bought half of it off of them and they still have too much! But they were pretty proud of their work.

McKenzie didn't get to go trick-or-treating because of the gymnastics meet, but she did go hang out with Lily for an hour or so. And it sounds like Cambrie and her friends had a great night. They all dressed up as planets in the solar system. Cambrie got to go with Saturn and found a great golden dress and figured out something with the rings. So even though we ended up celebrating separately this year, we still had a lot of fun.

October bits and pieces

One day will come when my children don't randomly walk into the kitchen wrapped in blankets, but that day is not today!

Our favorite stuffed animal.

Living his best life as a taxi dog.

Daxton chose a cookie recipe book out of all of the choices at the book fair. Our goal is to now bake our way through the entire book!

Daxton and his bestie, Lucy, both received SHINE awards the same month. I was lucky enough to be subbing that day and congratulate them.

Camille had a baby! Beckham James Thurston. I went out for the weekend to help the rest of her family while she recovered. I had a beautiful drive through Logan canyon, and was loving the fresh layer of snow. (Which came after a really rough drive through Wyoming).

I forgot how much energy preschool kids have! It was my job to play with Audrey and she kept me on my toes the entire weekend. There was lots of pretend, a lot of snacking, and a lot of playground time. I don't often get the chance to just be an aunt, and it was a fun way to remember my littles.

 

Surprise Purdue visit

As soon as Cambrie joined the rugby team we knew that we wanted to go watch her play. It made it a little bit tricky because she is a freshman, with zero experience, so we wouldn't sure how much play time she would be getting. Every school they compete against has an A Team, but only about half of them have a B team. If there was a B team then she would get to play and that's what we were hoping for. We wanted to take the family out to watch her but didn't want her to stress about it, so it was going to be a surprise. At the last minute. I decided we should probably reach out and let her know to keep her evening available so we could take her out to dinner. It was going to be a crazy quick trip for all of us: fly out, watch her play, and fly home the next morning. When the Argyles learned we were coming out they wanted to get in on the fun too. We went over to their house for Sunday brunch before heading over to the field with the entire crew. Unfortunately Michigan didn't bring their B team and we realized pretty quickly we may not be able to watch her on the field. Oh well. We were still able to watch her interact with her team and tried to learn as much about rugby as we could. 

After the match we went out to dinner and may have spoiled her a bit. It's crazy to me how much I miss seeing all four kids together at the same time. 

Cambrie was in a good enough mood after dinner that she invited the boys over to her dorm. The loved seeing her room and where she's living now.  

The next weekend Leesa and Dantley surprised her again by showing up to watch her play. She had no idea she had so many supporters!  

I'm fully planning on flying out once a season to watch her play, it is so much fun to see her in her element. Rugby was made for this girl!

Westlake XC

Kelton decided he wanted to join cross country this year. The kid can run, so when he jumped right into it I wasn't surprised he did so well. The middle schoolers run a 2-mile loop. He he did his first race in 14:14, and I was so proud of him. There were only three meets this season so it went by really fast. But he always ended in the top 10 of the 6th grade boys. Will he do it again next year? I have absolutely no idea. But I'm proud of him trying something new. And I never thought I'd say this, but he actually made the run singlet look good. I didn't even think that was possible!

They ended up as district champions! Congratulations guys, and Kelton I'm so proud of you for putting points on the board for them!

 

MRHS

I can't believe another year of high school gymnastics has come and gone. There are only two more years of this and I'm not ready for it to end! I love watching this girl shine. She competed on the varsity line-up for bars and vault this season. It was a night and day difference from last season where she was sidelined the whole year. She felt so connected to the team, especially the other sophomores and freshmen. They got along so well and I loved watching them giggle out there during every meet. I am just so, so grateful that his girl has a chance to do what she loves. I could go on and on about her work ethic, her dedication, and how she manages to juggle everything in her life and still be a good person. But a post like that would take up the entire blog book. 

Team photos:

Sophomores

Mustangs

She finally competed her giant this season! That was the happiest, giddy jump I've ever see from her. I was so proud.

Meet photos:

Senior night send-offs. (Spoiler alert, I'm going to be a mess.)

Leagues Champions

I am so grateful for the professional photographer out there during the meets. They do such an amazing job of capturing how this girl shines.