Halloween Fun

While we were in California, we went to the Trunk or Treat for my parents Ward. Ashley's costume was not one that would pack well, so we talked her into Alyssa's Racoon costume from last year. We enjoyed the Chili dinner, participated in the costume parade and then the girls braved the spook alley. I think it ended up being scarier than they expected, but I went through with them and we made it out safely. Then we collected candy and went home.

On Halloween night, Alyssa had play practice until 6:30. The other kids started trick or treating at 6, so Alyssa didn't make it into our pictures. Ashley decided that she wanted to be a skeleton dog for Halloween. They do not sell that costume, so I had to get creative. I bought a skeleton costume and then connected a tail and ears to it and made her a snout. I thought it turned out pretty good.

 Earlier in the month, we went to the pumpkin patch across main street from our neighborhood to pick out pumpkins. Alyssa chose a really big one.

 Ashley enjoyed the dogs there.

Camden and Tyler had fun riding in the wagon.

 We also took advantage of the Halloween event at the Family Fun Center.

The kids really had fun in this corn crib. It had slides that you could ride down on top of a sled and land in the corn, plus buckets and shovels to play with. Alyssa buried herself and then filled her shirt up with corn.

 

 We had a lot of fun during the month of October.

California Trip

We pulled our girls out of school and took a trip down to California the last week of October. Danny had a work conference in Pasadena and we thought it would be a good opportunity to visit my parents. We went a couple days before the conference started so that we could also spend some time with Brian and Maryn and their kids.  The kids were excited about the plane ride because it has been a while since we've flown anywhere. Here they are on the shuttle bus from our car to the terminals.

On our first full day in California, we went with Brian's family to Knott's Berry Farm. These cousins get along so well together. We sure wish they lived closer to each other.

  Some of the rides they went on...

 These girls are two peas in a pod. You would never know that they are 3 years apart, in age.

 The day after Knott's, we met Grandma and Grandpa Miner at Disney's California Adventure. My Mom really wanted to take the girls to see the new Frozen play there. We also wanted a chance to ride the new Soarin over the World and to ride the Tower of Terror before it changes. We were worried about how the kids(and adults, if we are being honest) would handle two days in a row at Amusement parks, but they did great. Here we are on the tram ride into the park.

 Waiting for Grandma and Grandpa(which was only a few minutes wait).

The park was not too bad for crowds that day. Our only regret was not getting our Tower of Terror fast pass early in the day. We ended up having to wait in the normal line. Alyssa and Ashley got to ride most of the big rides 2 or more times thanks to the baby swap. They rode California Screaming a lot, just because it was so fun. The kids enjoyed Radiator Springs. We got to see Lightning McQueen.

 The Frozen Play was a lot of fun and it gave Camden and Tyler both a chance to nap.

 

 The kids all enjoyed the Pixar Parade, as well. Tyler loved Woody, from Toy Story, and was so excited to see him in the parade.

Grandma came with me and the kids to the beach on Thursday, while Danny was at his conference. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with us, but the girls still braved the cold water to try our boogie boarding.

Camden enjoyed the sand and Tyler had fun chasing away the flock of seagulls that kept coming back and settling down near us. The best part about it is how brave he would be while running towards them and then as soon as they would start flying, he would run back saying "They're gonna get me." Then he would do it all over again as soon as they would settle back down.

We had a lot of fun on our trip and more than anything, enjoyed spending time with family. Alyssa did learn during this trip that she doesn't like flying very much. She got sick during both flights.

Alyssa in "School House Rock Jr."

Last week, we got to see Alyssa in "School House Rock Jr." at the Lehi Arts Center. It was a big time commitment for a couple of months of practices, but she sure had fun doing it. The play is based on the TV show from the 70's and 80's. It really didn't have much of a plot besides a teacher getting ready to face his first day of work and the students(in his mind) coming up with ways to teach certain things to the kids. The songs they sang were about nouns, adjectives, math, the solar system, etc. The thing I liked most about the play is that they were able to split the speaking and singing parts up between a lot of different kids rather than just having a couple of stars of the show.

 Here is a picture of the whole group.

And a video clip from one of the songs.

Conference and Visitors

We had a great Conference weekend. We were especially excited to have Brian, Maryn, and their kids come to visit. Our kids get along so well, so it is always fun to get together with them. We were all so excited that they were able to get Conference tickets for all of us that were old enough to go. I took the girls along with Maryn, Robbie, and Gawbie for the the Saturday afternoon session. We decided to avoid the pain of traffic and parking and ride the train up to Salt Lake City instead. It was actually really easy and the kids all loved it. Here we are waiting for the train to arrive.

The train was pretty crowded, at first, but we finally managed to find some seats together and enjoyed the rest of our ride.

 We paused for a quick picture with the temple on the walk over to the Conference Center.

We got there about 10 minutes before we were supposed to be in our seats and found a super unorganized mass of people trying to get in the doors. We slowly maneuvered our way up towards the front and finally got inside.

We made it to our seats about 10 minutes before the session was to begin. The kids all did really well throughout the session. Ashley was a little more restless, but we kept her occupied with note taking and the dot game and she made it through the whole thing. We loved being in the same room with the amazing missionary choir and getting to sing Called to Serve with them for the rest hymn. And of course, it is a very special thing to be in the same room as the prophet, being able to see him walk in and out, and wave to everyone as he goes.

After wards, Alyssa and I stepped out on the balcony for this picture, only to discover that we could not go back into the building. We got separated from the others and were thankful for cell phones so that we could reconnect.

The boys rode the train up to Salt Lake City with the little kids so that we could swap and let them attend the Priesthood Session in the Conference Center. We all grabbed dinner together along with all the masses of people who attended Conference. Then the boys rushed off to attend their session.

We visited for a bit before slowly making our way across temple square and back to the train to ride it home. I'm including this last picture because it is so cute. These two are such good friends. I'm glad that our kids have close cousins that they consider to be their friends. We only wish that we lived closer.

Laura's Mission Reunion

My Mission President FINALLY had a mission reunion(I thought it was their first ever, but was told that there was one, maybe 10 years ago, while we were living in the Midwest). It was one of my companions, Sister Weeks, that put it into motion and therefore ended up being the one to plan the whole thing. She asked for help from me and a couple of the Elders she still had contact with to help plan it. One of the Elders had was able to secure a location for us right across the street from Temple Square in SLC. We started a facebook group and tried to get everyone to add their friends so we could get the word out. In the end, we were able to contact about 1/2 of the missionaries that served under the McCarreys, and of those 250 missionaries, there were about 25 of us there. Of those 25, I recognized maybe 5. It was well worth it thought, just to be able to see the President and his wife and introduce them to my family. Alyssa even made friends with Cami's (Weeks) oldest son and wants to see them again. Here are Cami and I at the reunion.

We had a potluck in which we divided the food by last name and spent the first hour visiting. Then we sang I Am a Child of God, in Portuguese and had an opening prayer. Then we got to hear from Sister McCarrey.

After Sister McCarrey, then we got to hear from President McCarrey.

 Then we had a closing song, Called to Serve(also in Portuguese), a closing prayer, and then we took a picture of all the missionaries there.

It was hard work getting close to President and Sister McCarrey for a picture, but I finally made it and said thank you and goodbye.

Then we took our overly tired kids home. It was so fun to catch up with the McCarrey's and to see a couple of the missionaries I served with. More than anything, it was fun to stir up those memories of the mission and attempt to speak Portuguese again. I'm so glad that I got to go and that my family was willing to go with me(even though they were probably super bored). Hopefully it won't take 10 years to have the next reunion.

Tyler's Swimming Lessons

We started Tyler on his first round of swim lessons. He is doing so well with it. I feel like he is fairly safe at the pool as long as he has his floatie on, but I really worry about him jumping into deep water without it, thinking that he has it on. He gets along really well with his teacher, Peter. There are just three little boys in the class.

I tried to put a short video of him floating on his back all on his own, but I'm not sure it is going to work.