JACK POT!

Don (Steve's brother - who is also an Orthopedic Surgeon) came to do surgery with Steve and he brought our cousin Ryan with him. So Savannah and Grace got to skip school today and play! We went out to lunch at the mall and then went over to the arcade. First they played on the bumper cars and that was fun! Of course I didn't bring my camera! Ryan has a history of being so lucky and it proved to be true! The kids were playing games and hitting all the Jackpots!!!! It was crazy! Ryan ended up playing this one game and the tickets just kept pouring out the machine - the kids thought they should go tell the guy because maybe it was broken! In the end Grace ended up with 420 tickets, Savannah got 525 and Ryan had the most with 720! Crazy! We are never that lucky! We will always go with Ryan!

Savannah with all her loot! (amazing you can have that many tickets and
end up getting about $1 worth of junk)

Savannah, Grace & Ryan with all the prizes! Grace got 20 little alligator guys with hers!

Grace has been waiting for this package for 2 weeks - she ordered with her own money some stuff from the american girl store and it finally came today! She was so excited! She has been looking every day for it! One is a letter writing kit! Maybe some of you will be lucky and get a letter on fancy stationary!! hehehehe

HELP!!!!!

AND

As most of you know I am a Wish Granter for Make a Wish and Macy's has launched a big campaign called “BELIEVE” just in time for the holiday season. Macy’s is a great supporter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and we are so lucky that they have come up with another way to give during these tough economic times.

Make-A-Wish Foundation volunteers are encouraged to have children (and adults too!) write letters to Santa Claus and place them in envelopes that are STAMPED AND ADDRESSED TO SANTA AT THE NORTH POLE.

These letters must be returned to a local Macy’s who will have collection boxes at each of their locations.
(if you don’t have a Macy’s in your area, send them to me & will get them to a Macys)

Macy’s will be donating $1 for each letter that is turned in to their stores, up to a $1 million limit.
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is for you is to get the word out to everyone you know!!!! Collect as many letters to Santa as you can and turn them into your local Macy’s. Have your family and friends, coworkers and neighbors, maybe even your kids’ school get behind the campaign. It is a great way to teach kids about giving in the Holiday Season.

Please remember each letter must be in a stamped and addressed envelope to count.

Please help to fund wishes for the kids in your local area. All it takes is a letter and a stamp! (Okay, an envelope too!)

If you have any questions, please give me a call or send me an email!
Thanks so much!
Best wishes,
Rachel

Halloween

Celebrating Halloween on a Friday got all the kids involved! Derek dressed up as Ninjas and headed out to a haunted Barn, Lauren dressed up as an elf and went Halloween bowling, the rest of the clan headed out with Steve to Trick or Treat! Grace told me it was her favorite holiday! I bet that changes here in a few weeks as we get ready for Christmas!The Scary Ninjas! Derek is Purple - Aaron is Red

Lauren the elf - Annie the cat

Steve and the Trick or Treating crew

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!