It really is winter, somewhere...

Nov. 17... it is a nice and warm day in Mesa, AZ. Went to the temple with the Stake Relief Society.
One week later, in Utah... strawberry plants, ready to hibernate. I didn't know that strawberry leaves could be so gorgeous!
The kids with their Aunt McKell and the Mama Kitty. Coats, gloves and scarves needed for us Arizona warm blooded people.
Of course... 4-wheeler rides. Thankfully the weather was sunny enough to have rides on Thanksgiving day and on the Saturday afterward. Grandpa and Daddy have something in common... they both like to smile goofy for the camera. Same look in all three pics.

Tucker, sticking his tongue out to catch snowflakes? Nope, he is a few days early, the snow didn't come until Tuesday, and we were back in Arizona. He sure liked sitting on Uncle Andy's shoulders while we were at Temple Square though.
Beautiful place all year round, extra fun with the Christmas lights. Salt Lake City Temple and Temple Square. The kids really enjoyed the nativity scene and story told with it too.
Cami, Grandma, Grandpa, McKell, Samantha, Andy and Tucker, Eve, Wes and Jeremy, and Melece. The weather was chilly, but we were bundled, after all, is IS WINTER!

Happy Birthday USMC!

Well, today is the Marine Corp Birthday, and since I am a very good Marine Wife (10 month deployment is proving that, right?) I will not let the day pass without acknowledging it.

"Semper Fidelis" is about the best motto you can adhere to. "Always Faithful" If we live our lives, always faithful, to our committments, to Heavenly Father, to ourselves and our family, how much hearthache could we avoid?

Here is a picture of my favorite Marine. I took it last fall and I still love it. The kids each have an individual copy of this picture in a frame while he has been deployed.

To our favorite Marine, "We love you Daddy! and Happy Birthday!"

Girls Scouts again?

We officially invested our Girls Scouts this week. Eve rededicated since she was invested last year. All in all, Girls Scouts is going well.
See how well it is going? I even have put them behind bars!!!

We had a field trip today. We took the girls to the Territorial Prison here in Yuma. A lot of fun for a bunch of silly girls. This finished up the requirements we were working on to earn them their Arizona Try-It Badge.
Eve as a convict, with Samantha below. YIKES!

A little post script: This last picture was taken on the stairs this morning. The kids were acting out the story parts of "Peter Pan". Eve is Tinkerbell, Samantha is Peter Pan, and they each helped Tucker Dress up as Captain Hook. They were having a lot of fun, I hated to have it stop when I did, but I needed to go and donate my blood! Peter Pan and Cars have dominated Tucker's viewing choices for a few weeks.=)

Dentist Visit

Tucke had his first Dentist visit this week. He did wonderfully! He sat on the chair like a big boy and even got to help hold that tube that suck the water out of your mouth. He liked that responsibility.

Hooray Tucker!

Blood Hero

HOORAY! I did it! I haven't been able to donate blood in years because my iron was always low. After all, if you are trying to build your calcium intake, you are inadvertently lowering your iron intake. Did you know that? The opposite is also true. You really can only be trying to absorb one or the other. SO, the key is to work on your iron intake and ignore your calcium boosting for 3-6 days before you want to donate blood.
I went in kind of tenetively, but my face was sure glowing when I found out that I could donate! So, I hope I am back on track to a donating schedule. It will be nice. Next opportunity: after the first week of January.

Halloween

Of course, the kids had a fun Halloween. We have a Maid, a Witch and a Ghost. They each picked what they wanted to be and I did my best to accomodate.

Tucker originally wanted to have his face painted, but it only lasted two minutes before he wanted me to wash it off.=) He had fun twirling and waving his arms. He said he was a wiggly ghost. All the costumes amazed him when we were trick or treating!

Eve had to have rosy cheeks, you can't see it above because we took these pics before dinner and put makeup on after. I don't know why, but a maid needed rosy cheeks.

Samantha opted for no makeup, but insisted on wearing these pink ballet style flats that she has worn for years! I bought them a few sizes too big to be dress up shoes for the girls in North Carolina, probably about 2 years ago. They cost 2 dollars. She had worn them for the last year to school as often as she can. They are getting worn out, but they are still the shoe of choice.

I am glad they had fun, and they are glad they got candy.=)

The only thing that would have made it better would be if Daddy were here to raid the candy or dress goofily and add to the atmosphere of the holiday. Daddy also would have carved the pumpkin that mommy forgot to carve.

Oops. We will have a post Halloween Jack-o-Lantern, I guess.