November

These are just a few of the fun things we did in November.

We had our first BIG snowfall which gave us a SNOW DAY! We loved having the day at home to play in the snow. It was also a Friday, so our dad got to be at home with us too!









I took the three younger boys sledding and we all had a great time!!







Levi got to bring the Estimation Jar home and fill it with anything he wanted. He filled it with some of his favorite toys. Miss Erin let all the kids estimate how many things were in the jar and then she put them out to count. Levi absolutely LOVED this experience! It made him feel so important and special and to show off some of his favorite things!







Benjamin was introduced at Pack Meeting as a new cub scout. He is excited to be a cub scout and all the fun adventures that he will get to be a part of.



Nathan decorated another tree for the Festival of Trees for St. Al's. Sarah and Andrew went with to "help". I think the tree turned out beautiful and it was definitely my favorite one there!











So much of our family came for Benjamin's baptism. It was such a wonderful baptism!





After the baptism everyone came over to the barn for Thanksgiving. We were so grateful for our family who traveled a long ways to celebrate Benjamin and Thanksgiving with us!

















After the lovely meal and visiting with our family, we tried to get a family picture for our Christmas cards.





Nathan and several people he works with volunteered to do Rake Up Boise which was postponed due to our big snow storm earlier in the month so after all the snow melted, they were able to get out and rake up all those leaves.








We got more snow near the end of the month after all the other had melted. Benjamin was determined to make a snowman. He built this one all by himself and we think he used ALL of the snow (and leaves) out front to make it. Love it!!



Having so much snow so early in the season got everyone thinking about hitting the slopes. (As you can see from the background, Nathan was very busy putting up our Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving.)



What a wonderful month FULL of fun times and fabulous memories!

It's GREAT to be EIGHT

In our family, we have a tradition that the eight days leading up to our children's baptism we celebrate them every day in a different way.

On the first day of Benjamin's "It's Great to be Eight", Benjamin got to go to his first Pack meeting as a new cub scout. Afterwards, we went to Dairy Queen for a yummy Blizzard to celebrate.







On the second day, we went to a movie, Dolphin Tale 2 and out for pizza as a family.



For the third day, mom and dad took Benjamin on a date. We stopped at Toys R Us for something and just happened to be there the same time the Marines were their with a tank. Benjamin was very excited that he got to actually go inside and stand on top of it. Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Benjamin and Nathan shared a Chinese Chicken salad and Macaroni and Cheese balls and then we all split the Oreo cookie cheesecake for dessert.









On the fourth day, Benjamin got a new set of scriptures from mom and dad. He was SUPER excited and had looked forward to getting them for quite some time.


The fifth day we celebrated Benjamin with a special Family Home Evening with talking about the importance of following our Savior and getting baptized like him. We played fun games for the activity and had a yummy treat. (Too bad we forgot to take any pictures!!)


On the sixth day of "It's Great to be Eight", Benjamin got a new lamp for his bed so he can read at night and so he can remember to be "The Light of the World".


For the seventh day, Nonnie gave Benjamin a special "comforter" for his bed so that he can remember how the Holy Ghost will always be a "comforter" for him.


The eighth day of "It's Great to be Eight' is always the most special because that's the day you get baptized. Benjamin had a lot of family members and friends come for his special day. Nathan conducted the baptism, Alexa (his cousin) gave the talk on Baptism, I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, Sarah and Andrew played a duet for the musical number, Sarah played the piano for the other songs, Palmer (his cousin) led the music, Grandma Smith and Aunt Angie offered prayers and Grandpa Smith and Uncle Jon were the witnesses and stood in the circle during the blessing. It was an absolutely wonderful service and we hope Benjamin will remember it forever. We are so proud of his choice to be baptized!! We love you, Benjamin!!

EIGHT

Benjamin had a birthday and turned EIGHT! He woke up early (like every morning) so he could open his presents before Dad and Sarah left for work and early-morning Seminary.



He got an iTunes card, Nerf gun, ping-pong set, hover craft, mini scooter, scout book, shirt and scarf and money from grandparents.
He got really spoiled!!



For dinner he wanted chicken nuggets and tatortots and mom thought it would be good to have a salad, too. Benjamin wanted brownies and ice cream for his birthday treat and then we broke the "no electronics during the week" rule and watched Maleficent. It was a fun day!





Eight things about Benjamin...

1. He is our most "techy" kiddo. He loves anything electronic and from a very young age has excelled in electronics.

2. He is SO easy going. Not much will faze him and he is always willing to "go with the flow".

3. He still wakes up early every morning.

4. He loves to snuggle with his mom.

5. He is super smart in Math!

6. He started taking piano lessons at the beginning of the school year and can't understand why he doesn't sound like the Piano Guys yet.

7. He always has a smile on his face!

8. He is VERY excited about getting baptized later this month.

We love you very much, Benjamin! Happiest of Birthdays!!


(He did get to bring in one of his favorite treats of Krispy Kreme donuts for his classmates at school - the teacher was sick so I didn't get to go in and get a picture.)

October

October is one of my favorite months. There are so many fun things for our family to do together. I also love the changing of the weather and leaves. We had a beautiful display in our neighborhood.



The first weekend of the month, the kids had a four day weekend so we went to McCall. We went up Wednesday after Nathan got off work and thoroughly enjoyed the long weekend. Since it was General Conference weekend the kids got to eat all the sugar coated cereal they wanted.



The weather couldn't have been more beautiful. We explored by the water, went on lots of bike rides and spent time in town.




































On Friday, the Ramey's came up and we spent a lot of our time in and by the lake.























The girls rode their bikes to town and enjoyed a treat.



Spencer caught his first fish.





We love going to the Pancake House and eating lots of yummy food!! Can you believe the size of those pancakes?












Hotdog Bob came often and brought a friend. I think we must have fed them over 50 hotdogs over the weekend. I'm sure they were sad to see us leave.















These two little boys were the best of buddies the entire weekend. They loved playing outside and "digging".





We could not get enough of the beautiful weather and that gorgeous lake!!




Andrew played in several games and did really well. Luckily he wore his orange shoes so I could always see him on the field. Can you see him?







Nathan celebrated his birthday. The kids and I decorated his office after a football game so he had no idea until he walked in the morning of his birthday. It's always fun when we can pull off a surprise. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Our dad got to "ride the bull" to celebrate. Can you guess how old he turned?






Of course, our dad decorated our home for the holiday. He always does such an amazing job making our home look so festive!







Our family went to see Disney on Ice. We absolutely loved it!





Our neighborhood had their annual Halloween party. I love that it's at the barn. We had soup and donuts and the kids played lots of games and then went through the corn maze.











Our family went to Boo at the Zoo and trick-or-treated amongst the animals. We had a really fun time! Spencer entered the contest and did great!





After being at the Zoo we went to the Botanical Gardens to see the Scarecrow Walk.









The Ramey's came over for our traditional evening of carving pumpkins, eating soup in pumpkin bread bowls and decorating pumpkin sugar cookies.











The boys worked on a puzzle one night.



The kids had the day off of school on Halloween due to parent/teacher conferences and since it was a Friday, Nathan also had the day off. It was absolutely dreamy to have the whole day together and do whatever we wanted. We decided to go trick-or-treating at the mall and had such a fun time. The kids got a ton of candy and since we'd never gone to the mall on Halloween, it was a fun new thing to do!



Here's our favorite spooks!! Sarah is Miranda Sings, Andrew is the Blue guy, Spencer is Fruit Ninja, Benjamin is a snake charmer and Levi is Venom.





Halloween evening was perfect weather and we all enjoyed being out and seeing so many friends in our neighborhood.





Look at the cavities loot they got!!







We think Levi really got into the Halloween spirit when we came in after he fell asleep to find him sleeping in his "coffin".



What a wonderful, fun-filled month!!!