Leaves

Moments to Remember

Last Sunday I gave my last sharing time about service, and how we can serve our families. I told the kids that sometimes we hear our Mom/Dad ask us to do something with our ears, but if we don't listen to what they have asked, then we are not listening with our hearts. One of the children in Primary (who lives across the street) said, "In my family, we have the rule that we need to do something the first time we are asked." I told her what a great rule that was, and then in Senior Primary (where the girl has 2 siblings) I mentioned this rule, and told the kids what a great rule I thought it was. I then said to Charles the brother, "Wouldn't it be great if your Mom asked you to go and make your bed and you said, "Mom, it's already made!" Sometimes, we can do things without even being asked. So later that day at home, I told Morgan & Jackson (who love Charles & his sisters) their family rule and how we should do that too. So for the past couple of days, Jackson will say to me, "Mom, call me Charles so I can go and do my job." and Morgan will say, "Mom, call me Ash-a-lee or Elizabeth, and I will go and do my job." I'm so thankful for good examples of my neighbors across the street. I"m sure the Hirst kids quickly obey, and never argue with each other. :)
This past Sunday, my sweet friend Liz, who is now the Primary President, gave a sharing time on serving. I'm not sure exactly what she taught, but I know she gave the kids hearts & told them to try to serve their families this week. I had been sitting in the living room for a while, and heard the water running. I went in to see what the kids were doing and this is what I saw. They were washing the dishes together. I LOVE this picture! I love that they are serving, and doing it together. I'm so thankful for good friends and leaders who are helping me teach my kids how to serve, and the good feelings that come from doing so.
The plate that Morgan was washing got a nice scrub down. I think she washed each dish 3 times. Jackson kept filling up the green cup to get all the soap out of it.
A job well done!

Brian's way of Cooking

Last night we had my parents come over for dinner. I needed someone strong & handsome to pound the chicken breasts for me so they would be 1/4 inch thick. I gave Brian a wooden spoon & within a couple of minutes, I turned around to find this. I think we need a mallet for Christmas. :)

By the way, the chicken is for Parmesan Chicken, which is absolutly delicious!! You pound the chicken, dip it in egg mixture, then bread crumbs, lightly fry it on each side, and then place it in a 9 x 13 pan, pour tomatoe mixture on top followed by parmesan cheese and mozzerella cheese & bake it. It's one of our favorites!

I love Fall!

The other day I went to pick up Jackson from Pre School and I found this cute little Indian Brave. He was so excited about the Indian vest, necklace & feathers. When he was getting out of the car I said, " Okay, little Indian, keep your Indian clothes on so I can take a picture." He replied, "But Mom, my teacher already took a picture." I said, "She did, well I need to take a picture now." Jackson then said, "But Mom, she said you couldn't take a picture of me!" I had to take a least one picture of him. :) Somehow this same teacher has also told Jackson that he doesn't need to share. :) I think she is telling the kids they don't need to share their food with each other so they don't pass any germs around.
Brian & I love our tree in our front yard. The picture doesn't do it justice! It is gorgeous & looks so pretty right around 4:30-5:00 when the sun is getting ready to set. I love how bright the leaves are.

Last night we had my parents & Kaylie come over for dinner since they haven't been over for awhile. The kids loved climbing on Grandpa the Horse and had a nice ride around the family room. I remember going for horsey rides when I was a kid.

Happy Halloween!

We had a lion, BYU cheerleader, & Spiderman (again) this year for Halloween. The kids were so excited to go Trick or Treating this year. Hallie wasn't quite sure what it was all about until the first house when she got a sucker and then she decided it was fine as long as she got candy. :)
Morgan was going to be a princess (the costume she wore to school & the ward party) but after talking to my neighbor about Halloween costumes (she told me she had a BYU cheerleading outfit that might fit Morgan) Morgan quickly decided that she would love to be a BYU cheerleader.
She was so excited about it, and went around the house saying "Give me an M, O, R, G, A, N" and do then do a little dance. She made the cutest cheerleader. :)
Jackson was our spiderman again, and Uncle Cameron taught him the song later that night at Grandpa and Grandma's house "Spider man, spider man...." Jackson would then roll all over the place and roll over Grandpa a couple of times for the full effect. :)
Jackson loved going trick or treating with his best friend Makell or Cinderella as he liked to say.

During the day, before they got their costumes on, Jackson was helping Brian work in the back yard and getting it ready for winter. At one point Jackson had gotten really dirty and wet, so he came inside, went to the bathroom, took his clothes & shoes off, & then talked to me for a little bit. He soon left and went to see Brian outside. Brian looked up as Jackson was coming outside dressed only in his whitey-tighties & said, "Uh, Jackson, aren't you forgetting something?" Jackson looked down and said, "oh yeah, my shoes!" Ha ha ha ha :) Brian had a good laugh. Jackson helped daddy out a lot on Saturday. He loves helping Daddy, and the other day we were playing & he told me I had to come to work with him because we had a lot of soil we had to dig. :)


The kids had such a fun time and it was the perfect night. Daddy took them trick or treating with the Heatons, while Analice & I passed out candy, and then I met up with them for the next block over. We had such a good time and it was fun seeing all the neighbor kids dressed up. We went to visit
Grandpa Boyd and then went to see Grandpa & Grandma Smith & eat with them. Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treating

Hallie loved getting all the candy. Her favorite were the suckers. At the first house she got a sucker, and it immediatly went into her mouth. By this point, she was on her 5th sucker, with 2 more in her hand.
Morgan was so sweet to go and ask each door if she could get some candy for her sister. She would then choose some candy and come and drop it in Hallie's bucket.
Jackson and his loot of candy. He loves all of it and has a hard time deciding what to eat. The kids are funny because they ate a little bit on Halloween, but now they'll choose one or two a day and then not eat or ask for any more.
We stopped by to see Grandpa Nuttall. He was excited to see the kids in their Halloween costumes and Morgan was excited to show him that she was a BYU cheerleader. The kids loved answering the door and handing out candy. Morgan would hold the bucket of candy and Jackson would say to the kids, "You can only have one! Only take one!!!" :)

Breakfast in Bed

This morning Brian and I stayed in bed just relaxing for a while because of the time change & the fact that we didn't have to be anywhere until church started at 11:00. Morgan, Jackson, & Hallie all played for awhile, and then Morgan had the brilliant idea to have a surprise for us. She closed our bedroom door and said, "Don't come out, we have a surprise!" We could then hear them in the kitchen and soon the door was opened to this sweet picture. They had each brought us a bowl of cereal on their trays so we could eat in bed. It was so sweet & they were so proud of themselves! The gave us our food and then went and ate their own food. I'm not sure where they got the idea from, but I think we should have them do it every Sunday. :)
Even Hallie helped by holding the bag of cereal for me in case I needed more (which, looking at the bottom picture, you can see I definatly needed more.)
I'm not exactly sure what the expression on her face means. :)
Here was my bowl of cereal. I was lucky enough to find a couple of pieces of cereal hidden in the milk. "Life" cereal doesn't sit in milk for too long without getting soggy, so I was grateful Hallie had brought some cereal for me. Morgan poured the milk all by herself and was so happy about it. It was very yummy. :)
This picture was taken the other day, but I forgot to blog it. Hallie loves trying on our shoes, and is constantly trying on mine & Morgan's. Funny girl.