Party Time!

I never know what to get my kids for their birthday.  So I kept hearing from people how fun the plasma cars are, so I went ahead and got one for Holden. I was going to buy one online but I didn't want to pay shipping, so instead I drove to 8 different stores before I finally found one.  I definately should have just paid the shipping.  Lesson learned.

They are fun, though.  I may or may not have given it a try...

We kept asking Holden what kind of presents he wanted.  Every time he would say "green".  So I made sure he had green presents.

He's just a little excited to open presents.

I made him an "Alphabet" book with pictures of him in it and he loved it so much.  I didn't think he would get so excited about it. :)

The only thing he consistently asked for was a "Dream Light".  He was pretty excited to get it from G-Ma and G-Pa Naylor.

Madagascar 3-he loves to sing the "Afro Circus" song.

A fun winter hat.

And a pumpkin cake. 

Happy Birthday, Holden!  We love you!

A Happy Birthday Boy

Holden had his 4th birthday and once I got past the sadness of my "baby" turning four, I knew I wanted him to have a great day.  So we hopped in the car and headed to Toads.

He just opened his card from Aunt Gloria.  "Whoa" he said when the money fell out.  Too cute!

Riding the motorcycle game.  Toads gives $25 cards to people on their birthday.  I like that.  Logan and Jensen spent their own money on season passes, so all the activities (except for the arcade) were paid for.  So I only had to pay for Ally-nice.

Logan won 100 tickets on the plinko game.  The kids decided to give Holden all their tickets so he could get something for his birthday.  They are such good kids. :)

Holden liked riding the merry-go-round.

Ally like it too.

The roller coaster game.

The kids were finally tall enough to drive the go-carts for the first time!  They were pretty excited about that!

Holden loved it!

He also loved laser tag.  It was fun to see him in the giant gun outfit.  He would just stand in the same place and get hit over and over, but he had fun.

Then we tried mini-golf.  Jensen wasn't happy about how his game was going...

Green ball and a green club of course.

Holden and his prizes.  He had so much fun and talks about going back every day.  It was fun to see him enjoy his day so much.

Teenager in the House!

That's right.  I am now the mother of a teenager!  So weird, but she's a good one, so I'm okay with it.  The only thing I don't like is how old it makes me feel to SAY I have a teenager!

She really liked it when I gave her a new shirt on the morning of her birthday last year, so I did the same thing this year.  The blue shirt made her eyes look so pretty!

 

Birthday girl with her birthday gifts.

I thought the look on Holden's face was sweet.  He was pretty excited for her to open her presents.

 

We usually take the kids somewhere fun to eat on their birthday, so we asked Ally where she wanted to go.  She said Pizza Plus...but can I please invite a couple friends to eat with us?  It wasn't a "friend party" year, but we have a hard time resisting those blue eyes so we invited them to come with us.

 

Of course, since it was a Friday night, having her friends come to dinner with us turned into "Can I please have a late night...and go to the corn maze?" 

So off I went with three giggly girls to the haunted corn maze.  We made it through the haunted swamp without getting scared too badly and then made our way into the corn maze.  We didn't know if the maze was hauted or not, but after a while, decided it wasn't.  I think we took every wrong turn possible, but we finally got on the right track.  And that's when the guy with the chain saw appeared!  The girls ended up on the ground, in the corn.  Such screaming! It was pretty funny!

Then we made it out.  They were pretty happy about that!

Ally and her cake.

Then the late night turned into a sleep over...

She says it was her favorite birthday ever, though.  We love you, Ally!

A Post About Logan

Logan has been working hard in Cub Scouts and got his Weblos badge last month.  I got another pin for my collection. :)

The theme for the month was "cooperation".  Logan and Nick had their legs tied together so they would have to work together to walk-hence they went everywhere together.  That is why there is a random kid in our pictures. ;)

They also did a puppet show about leaving no trace.  Logan got the honor of being the dog that pooped.  He enjoyed that.  Gotta love little boys...

Logan was also one of the winners of the "Be Fire Safe" coloring contest this year.  This is his second time winning.  Ally also won it twice.  My kids are great colorers!

 

He did a great job and won a t-shirt and a bag.

Good job, Logan!

Temple Celebration!

Whenever a new (or remodeled) LDS Temple is dedicated, the night before they have a "Cultural Celebration" and invite all the young women/young men of the temple district to participate.  It is a HUGE undertaking and a lot of work.  Just imagine trying to coordinate 4000 twelve to eighteen year olds in a dance production!  Crazy!

Ally was able to participate in our stake's dance "Harvest Celebration".  Isn't she a cute celebration girl?  She was really excited to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event.  M. Russel Nelson and L. Tom Perry of the Twelve were in attendance that night.

I got the lucky opportunity to be a chaperone for the whole day.  That's right, from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm on September 22, I hung out with these girls (and a few boys from our ward, too).  So fun, but so exhausting!

Running on to the field to perform "Harvest of Faith".

They had a special dance that celebrated the Bird Refuge and Ally got to be in that as well.

She was "wind".

Between the dress rehearsal and the evening performance, Ally got interviewed by Carol Mikita from channel 5 news.  Unfortunately, they showed her interview on the five o'clock newscast while we were still at the celebration so we didn't get to see it. :(  She remembers saying that she was excited to dance for the temple and her Heavenly Father.

One of my favorite moments was when the entire 4000 kids were singing "I Love to See the Temple" and they all pointed towards the Brigham City Temple and sang "we love to see OUR temple". So touching.

This was Ally right in front of the official LDS camera man.  They broadcast the performance to the Stake Centers in the Temple District.  Unfortunately, because of copyright issues, they can't ever show the broadcast again.  Lame.  All those kids didn't get to see their performance. Kinda sad.

But it was definately something they will never forget and made them feel a bond with our Temple.  I'm so glad Ally and I got to participate!

Our Temple

For the past three years we have been anxiously awaiting the day that "our" temple would be completed.  It was such a wonderful surprise when President Monson announced the temple in Brigham City.  It has been so fun to be a part of the process and watch it grow.  It was always fun to see how things changed every time we went to Brigham.

Josh and I had the privledge to serve as ushers during the open house.  We got to work the opening shift together.  We started out on the Temple grounds, basically just standing there, directing people back to the buses.  Then Josh got moved to the hospitality center where he watched the video over and over and over and guided people to the next part of the tour.  Then they gave me the most wonderful job!  I got to open the doors for the visitors to enter the Temple.  I felt like I was welcoming them into "my" Temple!  It was so fun!  I was one of the few people who got that experience because the next day they replaced that job with a door stop!

Josh ended up doing almost the same thing every time he ushered-kinda funny.  He also got to do the closing night shift.  It was neat for him to be there opening morning and closing night.  My second shift was kind of...shall we say....not very fun.  I got stuck in the parking lot.  At first I was just directing people to the buses.  Then they needed help in the corner of the lot.  They told me they would switch me off, but they forgot about me. :(  I stood there directing cars in the August heat for 3 and a half hours.  I didn't even have a chair or some water.  But it was okay.  People were super nice and you could still feel the special spirit of the temple clear out there.

My last shift as an usher was my favorite.  At first they put me by the water fountain up front.  I basically became the official temple picture taker.  It was really fun!  Then they needed someone "young" ( I like that I still fit that category) to help with the wheelchairs.  I spent the next three hours kneeling on the floor washing wheelchair tires.  That sounds miserable, right?  Well, it wasn't.  It was such an amazing experience to be able to "wash people's feet" so they could enter the temple.  Simply wonderful.   Then for the last little bit I got to stand in the baptistry and direct the visitors where to go.  It was an exhausting day, and I was very sore the next day, but I loved it!

Here's the cornerstone.  They put a picture of every ward in the temple district in the cornerstone.  So our family is in the Temple!  Pretty special.  It really is "our" temple.

The bus ride.  We could only get a morning time to go to the open house so the kids got to miss part of school.  They loved riding the bus to the temple!

Too bad the sun was in our faces.  It was awesome to share this experience with my Mom and Dad.  What a blessing this temple has been for our family.  They took all the Young Women in the Temple District to see the beautiful bride's room.  They talked to them about the temple and I'm so glad Ally got to see it.  She can now picture what it will be like to be married in the Brigham City Temple!

Back to School!

Just imagine me singing "It's the most wonderful time of the year".  Only I'm not refering to Christmas, I'm refering to the first day of school!  Yup, the summer ended and they returned to the class room.  I remember the days when I missed them....just kidding.  I do miss them.

 Kinda.

Jensen is in 2nd Grade and has Mrs. Ensign.  He and Logan are in the same school for the first and only time ever.  It's nice having them be able to walk to the bus stop together.  We just had parent teacher conferences and he is doing great!

Logan is in 5th Grade and has Mrs. Singleton.  He is turning into such a character and knows his own style. He loves his new purple shirt.  He is also doing great in school.  I am a lucky Mom.

Ally is in 7th Grade and is on the Student Council-hence the ugly green shirt.  She wasn't too thrilled to have to wear it the first day.  But she is loving the Student Council.  She got selected as one of the two students to be a school representative for the Governing Youth Council.  They have monthly meetings with all the schools in the Bear River District to talk about drug, violence and smoking issues in schools.  She even gets paid!  Quite an honor to be chosen!

*Side Note: I got to help out with the student council on the first day of school, so I was sneaky and took a picture.  I helped with the Back to School Assembly.  I went and watched it and there was a talent section and they had Ally play the piano.  She played part of Beethoven's Turkish March and did awesome.  She did so good, the kids in the audience thought she was faking it!  Too funny!

 

This was my first time not going to parent teacher conferences with Ally.  We've reached the "optional" stage and I know she does great so I didn't go.  I kinda missed hearing how wonderful she is, though. :)  I'm glad I still get to hear it about my other kids. :)

Before you think I'm too full of pride about my kids, let me just remind you that Holden will be entering school at some point and he makes me nervous. If you've met him, you know what I'm talking about. ;)