Monster Mash

The 6th graders at Mcdonald Elementary always do a Monster Mash and this year was Savannahs turn! It was great! Savannah was the Phantom of the Opera! She looked Awesome! She was a little stressed in the morning when we were painting her face white and spraying her hair black - but we made it through - and she looked fabulous!! Below is a video of some of there performance! They had 3 shows - one in front of the whole school, 2nd at a nursing home and 3rd at the mall! They sang halloween songs, told jokes and acted out the Monster Mash song - Savannah was a doo -op girl! And a cute one at that!

Here is our little Phantom

This picture reminded me of wheres Waldo - instead wheres Savannah! hehehe

Pumpkin Carving a Dangerous Tradition

For FHE we carved our pumpkins - Grace was so excited she was doing it all herself and didn't need much help so I started roasting pumpkin seeds and then heard screaming and looked at the table and Derek being the cute 15 yr old boy that he is had apparently cut a huge hole out of the front of his pumpkin - and had been building a fire inside and now the pumpkin was engulfed in flames! I sometimes do not even understand where these ideas come from! We got the pumpkin outside safely and he protested putting the fire out -so he sat and watched it and continued to put things in it to keep it burning! Maybe he needs counseling? The rest of the pumpkins turned out cute! Of course all made by the girls!

Here he is trying to burn down the house! Notice the earbuds which are constantly in his ears - maybe he was listening to Burn baby Burn! hehehehe

The flaming pumpkin! it started smelling like Pumpkin pie after awhile

See girls are so cute!

Grace carved this pumpkin all by herself! She was very proud!

Savannah and her pumpkin! No fire just a cute little candle!

Busy Weekend

We had a great but busy weekend. Elder R. Bruce Merrill of the Quorum of the Seventy came for our Stake Conference and brought his wife. It was a so nice to visit with them all weekend. They were Mission Presidents for the Provo, Utah mission not too many years ago. They had some great stories - I remember after they left that Jacquie was there on a mission in St. George I wonder if they were her Mission President- Laurel you will have to ask her. We also had President and Sister Baker from the Spokane Mission and President and Sister Schlerf from the Spokane Temple here. I did a lot of cooking and entertaining but it was really fun and very uplifting! It is amazing how I think every talk was for me!

Sunday was also Dereks birthday! He got to wake up early and sing in the Youth Choir for Conference! All his favorite things to do! He was a good sport about it - plus how many people get a room full of religous leaders to sing Happy Birthday to you! He loved that too! He finally got to open his Presents about 4:00 after everyone had left and had hamburgers and home made french fries and chocolate cake! He is a great kid and we love him! I have been having a hard time with him growing up! He was such a cute little boy - Now he is like a man - I have been mourning the loss of my little boy these last few days! I guess that has to happen - thats life right!
I don't have many pictures of his birthday because he wouldn't let me take any - he said he didn't want his life blogged!! What a goof!This is him getting cake before we could light the candles and have him blow them out! I did light the candles and before anyone could sing Happy Birthday or get a camera he blew them out and then as I tried to light them again and again he kept blowing out the match - Isn't he cute!

Phantom of the Opera

Savannah & Lauren Skipped school and we went to spokane to see a Matinee of Phantom of the Opera! It was Fabulous!!!! I love the music! We have all been humming the songs since we left!! Both girls really enjoyed it! The set was unbelievable! The last time I saw this it was in Nashville with Derek & Diana! It has been a long time! It was a really fun day to spend with the girls! We also brought along some friends from our ward - It was great fun! Now I am frantically cleaning my house because this weekend is Stake conference and we have a visiting General Authority and Mission President coming for the weekend and Dereks Birthday! I can't believe my baby is going to be 15!

The sign outside the Performing Arts Theatre

We have to get T-shirts!

Our fun Broadway group! Me, Lauren, Savannah, Pat Tassanari, Ricki Martin & Carma Morgan!

Perfect Season

Derek football season ended last night and they went out with a perfect season! The score ended up 55 -7! Biggest win yet! Derek had a great game - below is a clip I actually caught on tape! I hate taping games because you end up taping the entire game to maybe get only a few clips you can use and then since your were taping you didn't even get to enjoy the game! So I only bring the video camera to one game a season and hope they do something good to catch on tape! It isn't hard with him to catch good clips! I also had some friends that are really into photography come and take pictures from the sidelines - So of course this is not my camera as you can tell!

The Cartwheel Queen

With a house FULL of teenagers - it is so great to have a 7 yr old! She is the greatest! She still loves us and is so cute! For the last 2 weeks - instead of walking everywhere - she does cartwheels! She does them down the hall, in the kitchen, outside and even to bed! It is so silly! I am starting to think she has forgotten how to just walk anywhere! What a goof!
We have a lot of Youth Firesides on sunday evenings at our house and so Grace and Steve spend that time together - since she is the only non-youth in our house - she is so cute - While she is waiting for Steve to get home from his sunday meetings she makes a list for her and him to do while the fireside is going on! What would we do with out her!!! I think we would get old!

Cancer Free & Homecoming 2008

Jackie is Cancer Free!!!!YAH!!! Next test date April 2009. It was a long day with a lot of waiting but it was worth the wait when we got the good news!!

Lauren went to homecoming this weekend! It was pretty low stress I think she is just doing what she has to - and finish the year and get out of this one horse town! She is so ready to be done with High School. She had fun - just not stressful! She went with a big group out to mexican food and then after the dance they went and had breakfast and watched a movie over at a one of the boys house. All in all she gives the weekend a score of 7!

All the kids!

The poor boy never had a chance!

Lauren & Micheal have been friends since 7th grade - he is a running back for the varsity team and in all her smart kid classes!

When you get a homecoming date with someone from the Varsity Football team you get to wear their jersey for school and the game!

More Football!

Derek's team had another football game last night! There star quarterback got hurt last week so the backup quarterback had to step in and then Derek had to take his place as running back along with being wide reciever! Derek was really nervous for this game because there was a lot expected from him - without the starting quarterback they were not going to throw very much so it left it to him as running back to make the plays. He definatly made the plays- they won 32-8. Steve estimated that Derek had about 250 yards in rushing. He was either running the ball or catching the ball! He also was a play maker on defense - but that is harder to make sound exciting! I am thinking I should become a sports writer! They have two more games and if they can pull out wins they will have been undefeated since 7th grade! They are starting to call themselves the Dream team!! I love baby testosterone!
Jackie and Justin made it in had we are off to the cancer tests! YUK!

GO BEARS!!! We love #11!!

Derek approved of this picture - you see the ball in the air - and you guessed it - that is him about to catch it!

More Senior Year Fun!

Homecoming is this week for the Moscow Bears - so last night was Powderpuff football - that is where the girls play football and the boys are the cheerleaders. Lauren was the Senior girls quarterback - she did really well! Her brother was very proud of her - she even ran 20 yards on a quarterback sneak for a touchdown! Needless to say with Lauren as their fearless leader they won it all! I am really going to miss Lauren! She is so much fun!
Jackie and Justin come tomorrow to visit for the weekend. They are going to watch Dereks football game, be here for all the homecoming festivities and Jackie has her cancer tests on Friday! YUK! But the other part of the weekend will be fun!! We are excited to have them!

Scary!! Football is all about intimidation! They kinda look more like Pussycats rather than football players!

Not a very good picture but that is Lauren in the back (with the grey legs) making her sneak to the goal line!

If you look back a few posts these girls are into making a sweatshirt for every game! AGHHH! Good thing Lauren has a job and can now fund all her own projects!!!

Rexburg

We had so much fun visiting Jackie and Justin and The Skinner family (they use to be our neighbors and moved to Rexburg - they are Justins Aunt and Uncle) Jackie and Justin have a very cute apartment it was fun to see them living in their own little house! They have it fixed up so cute! We visited Jackie at work (Quiznos) went out to eat ALOT, did some shopping, saw a movie and got some interesting ice cream (see jackies blog about sub zero ice cream) and the girls played with their best friends who we haven't seen since the wedding! Rexburg is a cute little town they all seem very happy there! We drove home today so we missed most of conference - thank goodness for DVR - I will watch it all week! Steve and the teenagers here at home seem to survive - although my favorite was when I walked through the door Lauren said "Oh good your home! I have been starving all weekend - what are you going to make us for dinner!" Isn't she a funny little gal!!!

Grace, Jackie & Justin in the guest bed! It was very comfy!

Jackie hard at work at Quiznos!

Savannah and her twin Katelyn - They are two peas in a pod - We miss her so bad!!!!

Grace & Kindra - We went out to eat during the priesthood session while the boys were gone!

Having lunch at quiznos after Jackie got off work

Football

Derek had a football game! They did not play very well the first half and were down 22-6. CRAZY - they had never been behind that much in a ballgame for as long as I could remember. Nobody was playing very well, it was like we were watching some other team playing. After halftime they came out all fired up and didn't let the other team score at all and they scored 26 points to win the game 32 -22 and continue their undefeated record! It was a really fun game! I didn't get the best pictures - I really need a new camera (hint, hint- christmas is coming!)

The little girls and I are off to Rexburg for the weekend to visit Jackie & Justin and the Skinners - I will update when I get home on Sunday!

Derek(#11) and Josh(#15) going out for the coin toss!

If you look really close that is Derek with his arms up to catch the ball - He caught it but didn't get very far because of the 3 guys right behind him! (I will try to get down closer to the field and catch a better shot of our Hot little wide reciever!