Kid talk

These happened back in January, I just forgot to post them:

We were reading the scriptures as a family and someone had a question about something so we said to look it up and Kitty asked, "Should we look in the Tropical Guide or the Bible Dictionary?"

I asked MJ to unlock the front door for her sisters because they were going to be home from school shortly.  MJ responded with, "Thank you for asking me that. Because I love doing that."

Fun with boxes

November 22

We decided to try and make some little doll houses for the girls' polly pocket size dolls with some of our extra boxes from the move.  They had fun coloring them.

Life of a teenager...

Thursday, November 13

Where is M&M?

ACT registration

Friday, November 7

M&M registered to take the ACT test. All of the registration is done online now and it took quite a while to fill it all out.  Our favorite part was when it was asking what careers M&M is interested in and what she would like to study at college.  M&M is not sure what she wants to study or what field she would like to go into.  This part of the survey cracked me up so I had to take a picture of it:

And just so you know, M&M is very sure that her choice of occupation is undecided!

Marching Band Fall Trip

Tuesday, October 14 - Sunday, October 19

M&M's marching band took their Southern California trip this year over the fall break instead of at the end of the season.  They left early in the morning on Tuesday and arrived in California that night.  The next day they spent the whole day in Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks.  Thursday through Saturday they participated in some marching clinics at Riverside City College and participated in the Western Bands Association Competition on Saturday.  They also were able to spend time at the beach, in Hollywood, went to the Medieval Times Show & Restaurant and had some down time for swimming at the hotel.  They left late Saturday night to return home and arrived home in the afternoon on Sunday.  Here are a few pictures that I managed to snag from some of her friends:

Disneyland!

These are the girls that M&M roomed with in California.

Marching Band - St. George

Saturday, November 1

DH and I really wanted to go and see the marching band perform in St. George, but we didn't want the younger kids to have to miss out on trick or treating.  So we decided to stay in town on Friday for trick or treating and then DH and I traveled down to St. George on Saturday morning to watch the band in the BOA competition that afternoon.  Luke watched the kids in the morning and then my parents came over and spent most of the day with them.  We got there in time to see the band perform and then we stayed around to hear which groups were going on to finals and then we left to drive back home.  We got back around 11:30 that night.  It was kind of a fun day just the two of us and not having to worry about the kids at all!  The weather was a little crazy down in St. George.  When we got to the competition, it started to rain a little - big drops of rain.  It was a little windy and cool as well.  It poured during one of the bands that was right before M&M but then it cleared up again before they went on.

It was a little bit of a disappointing season for M&M's band this year.  I don't think they placed at all in any of the competitions.  I'm not sure if it was the show itself or they just didn't quite click when they needed to or just that the other bands improved more than we did.  It was also quite a different makeup than last year - last year they had a lot of seniors who graduated and were not part of the group this year.  They also did their trips a little bit differently this year.  Instead of taking one big trip to Southern California and St. George at the end of the season, they took a trip to Southern California in mid-October and then another 2-night trip to St. George for the state competition and BOA competition.  There were some plusses and minuses to doing it that way.  We will have to see what they decide for next year.

A beautiful rainbow as we were watching one of the groups before M&M.

Here are some pictures of M&M with her flute/piccolo section.  She was the section leader this year.

Trick or Treating 2014

Friday, October 31

M&M was in St. George for a band competition on Halloween.  Luke went to our old neighborhood and went trick or treating with friends there.  Blondie went trick or treating with a friend in our new ward and so did Kitty.  DH took MJ and Kay trick or treating and I stayed at the house to give our candy.   I think everyone had a good time.

Picture of the sunset that night!

Halloween Parade & Parties

Friday, October 31

Our new school does a Halloween parade like our old school did so I took MJ over to the school in the morning to watch the parade.  Afterwards we went and helped out in two of the class parties.

MJ posing in her costume.

MJ showing me how a caterpillar crawls and eats.

Blondie dressed up as a "smartie pants"

They made lava lamps in Kitty's class.

Fall Band Concert

Wednesday, October 29

This is M&M's band and early morning symphony group.  They had their fall/Halloween concert just right before the marching band went to St. George for the state competition and BOA competition.

Pumpkin Carving - 2014

Monday, October 27

We carved our pumpkins for Family Home Evening this year and M&M was with us this time - she has missed it the last couple of years because she has been out of town on marching band trips.

Left to Right:  M&M, Kitty, Blondie, MJ, Luke and Kay