November little things

We had a good time and felt like Max hit the jackpot not only with the girl, but with her family.

As you can see in that picture up there, I’m still holding on to that boy rather tightly.  Ha!

We ran into friends, went to the women’s BYU volleyball game…

…took engagement pictures,

…and ate and talked our way through Provo.  It was a pretty great trip that blanketed this mama with lots of peace. And that was important in that stage of the game I have to say.  Lots more details about that trip back HERE.

Grace got a special blessing that I still keep thinking about.

It was race-prep time.  And Dave and his “team” ate, drank, and thought about what felt like nothing but turkey trot.

Lu took great care of her friend for her bday…she had learned how awesome that can make a friend feel when this cute friend did such nice things for her birthday!

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but they re-seed ALL THE GRASS IN THIS WHOLE AREA EVERY SINGLE FALL.

My brother says when you type in all caps it means you’re practically yelling, but I figure that statement kind of deserves a little yell…it’s quite an undertaking.  And also quite a pain.  And it’s also quite puzzling because why can’t we just get grass that will really stay all year round like the rest of the world?  Hmmmmm.

But this was how the air looked one morning as I was walking back from walking Lucy to school and they were “scalping” all the old grass to get ready for the new seed:

It was kind of a pretty sight…prob not the best for the lungs though…

Grace tried to teach me to curl my hair more fancy.

That girl’s got to get to work I tell you, because I’m counting on her and her know-how to get me through old age…

Sometimes when you are at Costco with your mom you just need to do a little coordinated dance with your sister.

These are outtakes of the dance because these girls probably wouldn’t want me to post the whole deal, but look how cutie they are.

Wedding bridesmaid ideas:

Gosh I still don’t know how we have a son who is married.  When will that start seeming normal to me?  I wonder.

Claire wrapped up high school volleyball and had the little end-of-the-year banquet:

(more about that season back HERE.)

When Lucy remembers to wear her watch to school she has a knack of calling me to meet her in this spot:

…and whenever I can I do, especially with Bo Jangles…and sometimes on the tandem.

(Bo Jangles is a horrible bike-side-walker, btw…if anyone has training tips on that one, send them on over, please.)

We wrote thank you notes in preparation for Thanksgiving for our Activity Days.

…and made a “thankful” candy bar poster for our bishop.

Grace got to go on the student council trip to Disneyland.

And that was a pretty grand adventure!

Lucy and I got busy with the business of filling up the Thankful Tree…

…it gets tougher and tougher to get everyone at home at the same time these days.

We had a traditional three-day-weekend cousin sleepover…

…which extended out to this second-aunt who these girls ADORE.

…and who is so so fun.

Love you, Heather!

The sky looked like this one night:

…and Grace got answered to Winter Formal from the very nice boy she asked.

Lucy and her young women group got to go to the temple for their activity one night.

That’s a group of good girls up there, love them.  Lucy was a little bugged at the exact moment of that picture, from tjhe looks of it, but she came home glowing.

This Young Women thing is a little bit of an adjustment…for her and for the leaders.  She adores it but there are some tricky things about losing your vision in an atmosphere like that.

There are some tricky things about losing your vision in any atmosphere for that matter.  But that’s not what this post is about.

Let’s move on to Elle’s feet.  Because that’s always a fun topic.  Remember a few months ago when she got a horrible infection in her foot from an encounter with a coral reef?  Well, this was the latest in her foot-problem-saga:

She walked around with that thing in her foot for days…not really knowing what it was that was bothering her (it was imbedded up in there so she couldn’t see it well).  I guess that’s what you get for going around barefoot in Hawaii??  Anyway, she finally headed to the student health center and they extracted this puppy from her heel:

Nice, right?

Yeah, bet that felt nice to get that out of there.

There is something so heart-warming about growing teenage moody girls having moments like this:

High school is fun.

And having a winning football team was REALLY fun.  This is just a snipped of how the front hall looked during one of their pep rallies:

…but more about all that fun football and high school jazz back HERE.

We finished turning Max’s old bedroom into a guest bedroom:

Claire tried out for club volleyball:

…and didn’t make the team she had her eye on, but made a team she’s sure learning a lot from (more back HERE).

Max and Abby came to town for their friend’s wedding:

So we soaked those two up (Max had thought he wouldn’t be able to come because of volleyball so it was an extra bonus to have him around), and we had our own little mini-pre-thanksgiving together since we wouldn’t get those two for the big day.

And also, we cut Claire’s hair off while they were here late one night:

…and she’s never looked back.

More about that whole pre-Thanksgiving weekend back HERE.

Then it was off to the races for the Turkey Trot.  Every year we roll t-shirts at BrainFood in preparation for all those racers.

Elle arrived…happy to put that guest room to use, as would lots and lots of other people the next month!

I wrote all about that Thanksgiving weekend back HERE, where we loved having these girls reunited:

And missed these two, but were glad they got to be in a pretty good place (Texas with Abby’s family).

My nephew got married the day after Thanksgiving which made for some good gatherings…

…before AND after Thanksgiving.  More about that wedding HERE.

And then, there was this:

…and this:

…and this:

And all that goes with that Turkey Trot.

So so grateful for that thing and all the many helping hands that go into it.  (the post with details about that is back HERE.)

After the Turkey Trot it was on to THANKSGIVING DINNER.  Which Nana hosted and I was oh-so-grateful! (back HERE).

We hiked.  As a family (minus Lu and Max& Abby, but we’ll take what we can get these days), and there is just something so beautiful and grand about hiking to me.  Especially in the desert.  I love it.  Even more with these guys:

More hiking pics, mixed in with the Thanksgiving weekend post over HERE.

It was a fun time to have Elle home.  Most of her high school friends were home too and I like those guys.

She helped me figure out our Christmas card with her graphic design know-how:

Dave gave me the sweetest-ever gift….which I talked about back HERE.

Elle left.

🙁

We pulled out Christmas…figured we better get our act into gear since that wedding was creeping closer and closer…

We worked to read the abridged version of the Book of Mormon during scripture study to get it done by the new year:

Claire was sick one day and I used it as an opportunity to sit and read Christmas stories for once.

We used to read a Christmas book under the tree every single night during the Christmas season (here).

Oh those were the days!

David had a birthday.

…and I don’t think I ever wrote a post about that special day.  That picture up there was breakfast…

Loved having Nana and Papa here to help celebrate.  Glad they could participate in this tradition 🙂

I got to go observe Grace in her student council element at the school to wrap up November.

She was a shining light in front of those thousands of high schoolers.  More back HERE.

And that, my friends, was November 2018.  Wrapped up in a nutshell.  Or a novel.  Whatever you want to call it.  But if you’ve made it this far you are a gem.