Loving those Succulents

I love how my parents have beautified their backyard. I'm kind of obsessed with the great color and texture of the succulents. I brought my camera over today and took a few pictures in their back yard. Photography is very relaxing and helped me to forget about feeling under the weather.

Annual Trunk or Treat.

I wasn't feeling up for the Trunk or Treat last night, but I'm glad we went. Celia was so independent, looking for her friends, sitting with them and going to all the games. Good thing, since I didn't have Emmy there to be her escort.  Joseph hung out with the kids his age too! The grandparents decked out their trunk and I visited with friends Spencer and Brian enjoyed the time they were there and my folks and Brian and I finished off date night at Pete's restaurant. It was fun and we checked out Dunken Donuts hot chocolate afterwards. It is definitely feeling more like fall around here and like the holidays. I have to remember to scale back the activities to avoid being over busy and getting sick. It is dark when we leave for seminary and it gets dark early now too. I feel grateful for the comfort of home, great family, and things to look forward to. I appreciate all the efforts put forward to get together in the ward and with friends and family.  Serving and supporting one another feels good. Brian and I had a lovely time at the temple the other night and enjoyed seeing ward members there after for a tail gate snack. We do lift each other and enhance our lives as we care about and for our neighbor. We carpool to school and good thing. The new traffic pattern was horrendous for drop off today. When we share the load, we can be more patient, more understanding, and more appreciative. I'm glad to have the friends and support group I do. All is well.

Moving into Fall

 October has been full of activities and volunteering. I've have been at John Adams a lot prepping for the Dance a ton. It was a great success, although some organizational endeavors definitely need to be revisited there.  Spence had his first EEG and was able to be compliant and did so well. He has been doing to great lately. Last week in church he stayed all the way through sacrament meeting. Then came back for class too! Celia and Joseph get out of school early on Fridays and Celia has tutoring with Liz, so we meet Liz at McDonald's sometimes. The kids love it of course and Celia gets a chance to play on the play structure outside. Spencer has had a lot of days off this month so we go hang out with the grandparents. We go walking on nature trails and have meals at their house. Spencer is really get some great time with them and I am so pleased about the bettering of our family relationships.

Mom's Birthday

It was a great time going and visiting my mom for her birthday. It was even more fun to have Jan and Howard with us too. Rah Rah's guacamole was yummy and went great with my Dad's fajitas; chicken ,steak, & shrimp! We had a lovely meal, conversation and enjoyed the outdoors. We missed Joseph, he was at Dillon's beach for a camp-out. Joseph is having more to do and his last two Saturdays were busy to with temple day and shot gun shooting. He is growing up and I am so proud of him for acclimatizing so well to John Adams Academy. We are getting excited for Emmy to come home for a visit soon. She seems to be doing well in school making friends and is doing plenty of fun activities with her roommate, family home evening group and friend; Jackson and Brandon. She has been to Yellowstone, to corn mazes, pumpkin patches, to Salt Lake city for a concert and In N Out burger, and a Lindsey Sterling concert. Let's say I couldn't be happier for her and the wonderful time college is. There was a beautiful sunrise on my Mother's birthday. I was so happy to view and capture it. I know she feels so loved and is so happy to be retired with my Dad in this beautiful area where we live. I enjoy all the time we spend together these days and feel so blessed.

Spontaneous Pumpkin Patch Visit.

We had a play date set up for Celia and her new friend for Friday. It happened to fall on a Friday that there was no school for the elementary aged kids and Spencer too. Joseph got out of school at 12:30 and then we headed to the Pumpkin Patch nearby. We had a hay ride and I really enjoyed being near all the fall harvest ambiance. Celia has so much fun with this little friend and we found out she lives nearby. Liz the tutor got to come with us and she enjoyed it too. I love to be spontaneous and for all to have fun so this was a great experience. Celia had a little drama with her friend Olivia before this date and I'm so glad they resolved it and we moved on so that fun could  be had by all.