Week in Review...

We have been working on this puzzle for a full month, it was hard. I worked on it for 1 day and then got too frustrated to keep working on it. Rick and Ashlyn persisted and got it done. Wow!

We were so lucky to have my niece Brielle and her new husband Jake over for dinner on Thursday night. It was so fun to get to know them both better. They're living in Scottsdale while Jake is going to ASU for law school. It was fun to hear about the realities of law school, it sounds very different than what I pictured. We are hoping to see them lots now that they're so close!

I got this sweet note from one of the teachers from the Netherlands, it made my day!

Abby being silly....she's still enjoying volleyball even though this season they've lost every game. She's growing as a volleyball player and is excited about the strengths that she's gaining. 

A memory popped up for cute Ashlyn with her friend Sara dropping off cookies for her birthday a few years ago. Sara just dropped off a gift for this years birthday too, she's the sweetest!

We have been taking walks around the new soccer fields by our house and it's nice to be able to get out of the house and enjoy this cooler weather. We finally made it to the great seasons we love. 

Yesterday Ashlyn had call backs for her audition in the temple pageant for an angel. She learned a dance with the other 43 girls that were there and then they performed it in groups of 5. They were video taped and told that 20-22 girls would be chosen and they would find out in Mid-January. She's really hoping to make it in, she loved dancing again. 

Rick took Ashlyn and the kids out to dinner yesterday at Red Robin for Ashlyn's birthday. I wasn't feeling well, so I missed out. They enjoyed getting wings, burgers and chicken strips with endless fries. It's always a family hit. We are excited to celebrate Ashlyn for her birthday tomorrow, can't believe that she's turning 19. We have been reminiscing about the day that she was born and how Rick set our alarm for PM instead of AM, and we woke up late and had to rush to the hospital for our scheduled c-section. She was the only child to be born in the morning and in the American Fork hospital. It was the smoothest delivery that I had, despite being late for our appointment. Ashlyn was an angel baby, we got to bring her home for Haley's 4th birthday-her own real life baby doll. Ashlyn was a momma's girl, like all of my babies but she especially loved milk so we called her our Missy Moo. She also had this yellow duck that she loved, it had some silkiness to it. She still has it. We love our Ash and we are so grateful for her in our family. She's our peacemaker and she's been through so much but she's so brave and I'm so proud of her. I love my Ash bash!

Week in Review...

Abby had a Halloween party at school, they made catapults and launched things! Sounds fun to me!

Ashlyn painted this cute pumpkin like the Oogie Boogie from the Nightmare before Christmas, it's so cute!!

She went to a Halloween party on Halloween and went trick or treating with her friends, they had awesome costumes! Ashlyn is Blossom from the power puff girls...

Abby had another volleyball game on Saturday, they didn't win but she got all of her serves over the net so that was exciting...

Abby and her special ed teacher were having fun dancing together during her class party...

Abby was Red from the Descendents movie and she didn't want her picture taken, pre-teen grumpiness has set in...

Abby painted a pumpkin for Activity Days....

On Monday we had a group of 47 teachers from the Netherlands tour through our school and then I was on a panel answering questions along with some other teachers. We are "teaming" in partnership with ASU and it's sparking interest around the world. It's pretty cool to be a part of, but also nerve wracking. We have 2 more tours coming through this year, our next one will be this Thursday. On Wednesday night I had a hard time sleeping because my throat was killing me and my whole body ached. I went to school on Thursday because it was Halloween and I didn't want to miss out on the fun activities. Then on Friday I was still feeling super sick but I had my observation to get through. I ended up leaving work early because I couldn't hack it anymore and went to the DRS. where I found out that I had strep. ugh! I'm finally starting to feel better after starting antibiotics. Being that sick makes you grateful to not be sick. I missed out on trick or treating with Abby because I was sick in bed. She went with our neighbor friends and had lots of fun thankfully. Also on Wednesday it was my brother Ryan's birthday and I got to chat with him for awhile. It's always fun to catch up with my siblings and I hope they all know how much I love and admire them.