Now what!?!

November was filled with all kinds of "now whats?"!
 First of all, our ward was split, making us a part of a new ward, Lone Pine Ward. It is very small compared to our previous Somerset Ward. It includes our street, 2600 & 2700 East, and just the last row of unfinished townhomes in Somerset, and Canyon Rd. It is now a very intimate setting in Sacrament Meeting, barely opening the overflow on some occasion. Brad & I left the surprise Sunday night meeting for adults, with mixed emotions. Feelings of sadness like your best friend just moved to another town, but also great hopes of getting to know new neighbors and the old ones better. Our comments to each other as we left with only a bishopric in place, was, "Well, everyone will have to step up and serve. Where ever we get called will be challenging, but fun."
Change is good, right!?!
Unless that change includes me being called to PRIMARY PRESIDENT! One week later I got this call, and remembering that the Executive Secretary was wondering through the hall looking for Brad (I pointed him in the right direction, thinking Phew! I dodged a bullet. Brad will be getting a big calling.), we sat down in the Bishop's office and he said, "Bristy this one is for you." As, Brad sat back, we could all hear his sigh of relief, (as I'm gasping for air), the bishop told him to not get comfortable. Brad says, "Oh, I'm comfortable."
I walked out of there with a partial ward list to fill 28 callings, mumbling something like, "I did not see this one coming.", over and over. Two weeks later, Brad is called to be the Deacon's Quorum Advisor. He did not understand this one either, (being Logan is in the Teachers Quorum). He did have a parent come to him the week he was sustained telling him they are so relieved he will be there for their son, who's older brother he had coached previously in city-league soccer. I keep telling him, it's all for a reason, bigger than we can understand.
That being said, the day after I recieved my call, I went to the Nuerosurgeon to meet my parents, learning that the doctor, feeling the spirit after visiting with us and our concerns for 45 minutes about the golf ball size meninginoma between mom's skull and brain that we just found out about in August, did not want to wait any longer and do surgery before the holidays. Mom went to preauthorize her insurance, and came out 2 seconds later and asked, "How's this Saturday?" My dad's reply to me was, "Thanksgiving?" Taken care of! (With the help of my supportive husband, sister and Logan winning the turkey at the Annual Turkey Shoot for Scouts coming in 2nd for shooting clay pigeons we pulled it off!)
So 5 days later, on November 5th, my dad, sister and I, along with a lot of everyone else by the phone, waited 3.5 hours for the doctor to come out and say to my dad, he is so glad we pushed for this and she is very fortunate she didn't stroke or something worse sooner. Imagine the relief we all felt when she met us in the elevator on our way to Neuro Trama ICU and she opened her eyes and said clear as day, her throat was dry she wants ice chips. It has now been 1 month since this miraculous surgery and she is back to work, doing great!


We went the night before surgery to cut our hair in support of Mom.




Addie wasn't sure she was ready to cut her own hair yet, so Tisha had a great idea to cut Gma's ponytail to donate to Locks-of-Love.



After
What a great bonding experience we had. I love them so much! So fun to have short hair together!

Thanksgiving really is my favorite holiday! There is no commercialism or pressure. I will definately never forget this one! I am so grateful for my husband and the priesthood he honors, my beautiful blessings of children we were so lucky to get, the support and closeness of family and friends, tasty food, a wonderful home, the ability to work and serve, the powerful outcome of fasting and prayers, the comfort, security and personal revelation I feel in the temple, and the precious time Heavenly Father has blessed me with to fulfill everything I still need to accomplish in a day after focusing so much time on primary and my growing testimony because of it, and my magnificent parents for teaching me all of this. I know we have truly been blessed this month and the best is yet to come!

Octoberload!!

Taggert gets his Wolf in Cub Scouts.



Taggerts field trip to the Red Barn in Santaquin.




Our annual Girls Weekend in gorgeous Park City, with my gorgeous sisters, mom and niece. Brittany couldn't stay over, but met us the next day in Orem.
Lori, Tawna, neice Krysta, Andy, me.




Lori, Mom, niece Krysta, me.
We shopped till we literally dropped, ate alot, laughed alot, and stayed up late.
Great times!




My craft project back at Mom's, uninterrupted that Saturday after lunch and a walk through Hobby Lobby.




Over Fall Break, we took the kids out to the FarmFest in Payson. My sis-in-law Brittany had a Papparrazi booth, so we went to check things out. Addie, Tag, and Drex did the bungy jump, and all were masters of the backflip, after having some good practice at Grandma Camp this year.




Tag and Drex rode the little ponies for quite a while, that guy was so sweet!




Sunday dinner followed by the annual combined birthday party for niece Aubrie (Oct. 30) and Taggert(Nov. 1).  I seriously can't believe they are 9!




Taggert, Adelin, and Drexton at the Farm Fest. Logan really was there, of course he held out that day till we went out to lunch, then he bolted with friends.




Carving, and painting pumpkins, again without the teenager.



Cute!



Scary!




Taggert is Frankenstein with Drexton's Sunday suit and green eyeshadow all over his face, he looked perfect! Drexton was the pumped up black Spiderman. So glad the snow waited for the next day, the weather was perfect!



Love this time of year!

Labor Day Weekend at the Property, hopefully next year, we will have a new trailer to stay overnight, not just for the day! But it's always a fun-filled, relaxing day!!

Taggert in the sand box with little cousin Libby, under the newly built fort.




Drexton going down the slippery slide, on the new fort built by Gpa, and most all the grandkids. Taggert was voted best Project Manager of the year, (guess he takes after his Dad). The highlight was when Brad surprised him one Friday, and checked him out of school to go help Gpa work on it.




Me and Drex cuddling as the sun goes down, waiting for s'mores.




My terrific mother, me, Addie, and Drexton popped in.




2 exciting looking teenage boys!




Beautiful Sunset looking West from our property.




Brad teaching Joe to ride the ATV up a steep, rocky hill.



Yes, I'm a Boob!

Drexton started Kindergarten this morning! The last of our 4 children. I thought I was ready. I knew he was, sort of, (little momma's boy sometimes), but intellectually, and socially, yes. We've been talking for several weeks that I'm not going to school with him this year. (As Addie put it, I retired!) He kept saying, "I know", but then has not gone to Primary by himself for a couple months. Last week I finally got him to go to Primary by bribing him he could do gymnastics, but only if he was a big boy and go to primary and school by himself. Then yesterday I had to substitute his primary class and I thought, "Oh, no! We may have just ruined what we've been trying to accomplish."
So last night, we set the school clothes out, set the alarm, he even put his backpack and shoes by the door. And he was up at 7a.m., dressed, and ready! Yay!!


Drexton's not too sure about going inside the classroom without me.




On our 2nd of 7 rotations, he started smiling.




By the end of the rotations, and found out how nice his teacher, Miss Mellor, and the aide who Taggert also had, Mrs. Kingery is, he said, "You can go now."

 The teacher asked all the parents to come to the classroom and help the kids find everything this morning, and I thought, "What is she thinking! I'm never gonna get out of there now." But then once I had to leave, and he was fine, (probably because he had 4 girls on his table and 1 boy), I was not! I had my adorable little nephew with me and thought that would take my mind off it, but it didn't. As I was putting him in the carseat I realized how fast these little kiddles grow up and I got a big lump in my throat, texted Brad, and the tears started rolling. Yes, I thought I had looked forward to this day when all my children were in school, but like I've said for 3 years now, can I just freeze them!?! Then I tell myself enjoy it now, next year's even worse, 1 in high school, the girlie in jr.high, a 4th grader, and the baby in 1st grade-ALL DAY!

Bronze for 2?

This cutey-patooty, helped carve, sand, painted it himself, and put together his own Pinewood Derby Car. He ended up taking 3rd, and got a Bronze Medal, (just like Logan-this summer). He was so excited about the medal!
I should've used his car for the Mother/Daughter Heels on Wheels race last night! Dang! Instead I attached one of Logans old cleats to his old car. Oh well, Addie & I still had fun, but I think we will leave the racing up to the boys from now on. Maybe her & I will stick to shopping & Yogurt Bliss.

Can you say "Soccer Mom" ?

Made these cupcakes for the team after practice one day, for our parents meeting. They were gone in about 2.3 seconds.

This kid has been smiling alot lately! Yeah!! Brad & I took 15 boys from the team down plus our own other 3 kids to the SUU Utah Summer Games for 4 days. We had a blast! They were so much fun all week and we had great support of the parents who met us down there. We made it a mini-vacation, doing a hike in Red Cliffe's Canyon and cliff diving, swimming, eating out every night, and we even got a movie in, and of course watched lots & lots of soccer.

When I say we took the team, I mean Brad seriously took the team down in a 15-passenger van, and I followed him in the truck with all the gear and bags. Our first stop at a Walmart and I came out to see the boys writing all this on my windows. They were so excited. I wish I got a pic of the van, they wrote all their names and #'s on it. We got home late Saturday, so it took a couple days for us to wash it off. But good thing, because it got Brad out of a speeding ticket the next week on the freeway on the way to his first day back to work for Mellor Eng. LOL!

My Sugar-Addie is 11!!!!

We call her Sugar, because she is so stinkin sweeet! She is constantly asking if there is anything else she can do for me, and loves playing with the little kids. She is always thinking of others, and leaving little notes for them. I can't believe she is 11, and going on to 6th grade! (Thank goodness they moved it back to Elementary School, I don't think I'm ready for another Jr.Higher.) Addie has just decided she might want to try soccer-again-but has been really dedicated at the piano. I never have to ask her if she is ready for lessons, and I love to hear her practice while I am cooking dinner. She has also come to the conclusion it's okay to be the only girl in the family, because she can do crafts, lunch, and shopping with mom all to herself. We love her soooo much!!

Shake that Groove Thing, shake that groove thing! YEAH, YEAH!!!

Taggert and Drexton have been taking dance only since January with Miss Corrinne. They were hoping it would be more hip hop, they love to groove to Usher, but this is a good start, and they had fun!

                                                                The Classic YMCA!

                         Peter Pan Lost Boys Theme Song. My favorite part is the leap frog! Just watch!

It's been an Eventful Month to say the least...

Disclaimer: Picture Overload!

Thank goodness this guy is not so little anymore to help with yard work.



And this one finds any event/excuse to pop popcorn.  This was when we were taking down the rest of tree, (thankfully before the microburst hit the next week).

And we are never sure what is going on in this little guys brain. Don't even ask about the glove.?.

This little princess is mastering her tricks on the tramp we've nearly had to shovel every other day.

All the Hooper grandkids, and Marshall, racing through the very traditional, mythotical Easter Scavenger Hunt.

Turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. So easy the kids could help.

And this same growing teenager goes through my strawberry freezer jam like its powerade, so he got nominated to help this year. I can't tell, but I think he's snitching whole strawberries.

I hope we did enough, those pint jars are doubled behind them too!

And last, but not least, this baby FINALLY graduated preschool after 5 years!  Bittersweet for me, Addie asked if I was retiring, Drexton is more than ready to move on! I will definately miss being with him, my sister, my nephew, and all those cute preschoolers who put life into perspective everyday, but I know it is time for me to do other things and be home.

Rube-Goldberg!

Logan's latest science project! These two best friends came up with this all on their own. They did however start outside, then 5 hours later decided to move the whole thing into the garage because they were losing daylight and warmth. 6 hours later they finally got it filmed and ready for an A!

In Time of Need...

What do we hear every General Conference?  Service  & Family is the key to true happiness.  Well, we got to experience that first hand Sunday Morning.  The storm that blew in Saturday night finally took in it's victim. Our beautiful, ginourmous Willow Tree. (We are really surprised this hasn't happened sooner. And so grateful it wasn't the house or the neighbors car it hit.) But with the help of All, and I mean ALL our family, and one neighbor with his cute daughter, it was cut (thanks Clark Griswald, I mean Dad), cleaned up, and loaded on the truck and trailer in less than 1 hour.  Just in time to enjoy a hot cup of cocoa and on their way to catch the last 2-hour block of conference at home.