November

The month began with the girls playing in their last ever High school Soccer game. They played a semifinal game against Northland Prep. In Flagstaff. Snowflake wasn’t able to win, but is was a fun game to watch and the girls played SO good!

Adam and Caleb had fun at the Traditional Harvest Valley ward Young men’s Four peaks Hike. 

On the 12th, we took a tour of the Mesa Temple. The open house was held after extensive renovations on the Mesa temple took place. We loved seeing all the changes, and seeing that many things stayed the same.  The new visitor’s center was pretty neat as well. 

The following day, we went repelling with the Andersons  and the Hulses. At Coons Bluff. 

We went to Florence for Thanksgiving this year. We had a wonderful feast and the day afterwards, Adam and the kids had crazy adventure with the buggies. 

While Adam and the kids were on their buggy ride, Heather and I went hiking. We had a great time hiking and visiting together.

 We stayed with the Andersons and had a fun time enjoying games together. 

On the drive home from the valley after the Thanksgiving weekend, we got into a discussion about Christmas and how it may be the Kid’s last Christmas at home all together and how it will be different since we’re in a new home. I started feeling overwhelmed with all of it, so I Turned Christmas over to Adam. Usually, I take care of all the decorating, shopping, wrapping, and baking. This year it was Adam’s turn. His first item of business was to declare that our Christmas tree would only have homemade ornaments. We have had lots of fun making new ornaments for our little tree. 

For His second item of business, he set up a giant inflatable Santa Claus to put in front of our barn. Haha!

 I have a feeling we are going to have a fun and “interesting” Christmas this year!

October

We packed a lot in this month! 

We started with a trip up to the mountains to watch General Conference. We don’t have internet service at our apartment and our phone signal is pretty weak, so we decided to go up to Green’s peak where the cell signal is phenomenal! We plugged our TV into a battery powered inverter and then connected my phone to the TV! It worked like a charm! We got to squeeze in a buggy ride between sessions too! We call that a win!

The following Weekend we went down to the valley to help my brother Ben put new shingles on his roof. When we arrived at my moms house I was surprised to see decorations up for a birthday party! Adam had arranged for everyone to come to my mom’s to celebrate my birthday and enjoy some pizza together! It was such a fun surprise!

Re-roofing Ben’s home took almost the entire day, but it was fun to work together with the extended family!

Eliza and Sarah had many soccer games this month. They are such awesome players.

Adam and the kids broke out the repelling gear that we’ve just had sitting in storage for the last few years and went to this cliff just outside of Snowflake. They had a great time and thankfully, were all safe and protected while they had fun together.

On Friday the 22nd,  Caleb ran in his last cross country race. He has worked so hard and has improved so much over the past few years. We couldn’t be more proud of his determination and dedication. His coaches were SO uplifting and motivating. We are grateful for them and this sport. It  has not only helped Caleb grow physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually as well!

Near the end of the month, We took a Sunday drive out to Woodruff. In all our 14+ years of living here, we’ve never bothered to check it out. Along the way we came to a neat area where silver creek and the little Colorado come together. 

We had fun exploring this new (to us) territory. 

The girls had “Senior night” with their soccer team on the 26th.  We were so proud to walk with both of our girls, as they were being recognized. They are strong, amazing athletes and proved it out on the field! They beat Showlow in one of the most exciting games I’ve seen! What an awesome night!

Caleb built an RC airplane out of an old motor that a friend in the ward had given him. It flies wonderfully! We’ll done Caleb!  

 

September

We got some Senior pictures of the kids taken this month. They all turned out so good! Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

The Girls and I were able to cheer on Caleb at his CC meet in Flagstaff on the 4th. He did awesome, and we enjoyed a fun day together. 

The following Saturday, September 11, Caleb had a cross country meet at Fountain Hills, in the valley. 

That same day, the girls had a soccer tournament in Showlow. I decided I’d go support Caleb, since I am usually able to go to the girls games during the week. Caleb had an awesome run. He Got a personal record, and earned a medal!! GO Caleb! I had plans to get a haircut and stop at Costco while I was in the valley so after Caleb‘s run, I let him stay at the meet to support and travel home with his team while I left to go run my errands. 

No sooner had I gotten to my car then I received a call from one of the other soccer moms from the girls team. She told me that Eliza was injured during the game and that they would be taking her to the emergency room at the hospital. So, of course I canceled my hair appointment and forgot about going to Costco, and immediately drove up to ShowLow. My friend, Christy Solomon was kind enough to wait at the hospital with Eliza until I could get there. They did an x-ray on her shoulder and thankfully there were no broken or dislocated bones. It turns out, it was just a very painful sprain.

That same evening, the girls had their homecoming dance to attend. Eliza was so excited to go, that she wasn’t about to let her injury keep her from having fun at the dance. She had a great time with her date Andrew.

Sarah went to homecoming with Jacob (a friend of a friend).

And also enjoyed her time at the dance. 

Caleb Didn’t plan on going to homecoming, which was a good thing, since his bus broke down just outside of Payson on the way home from his cross country meet. What should have been a 2 to 3 hour delay, turned in to being stuck on a bus for over eight hours. His team had been up since 2 o’clock in the morning, and didn’t arrive home until after 8 o’clock that night. Poor Caleb! 

Our lawn started growing this month it’s so nice to look outside and see green again!

Sarah received a special gift from her grandpa Burk this month. She was given my grandma’s KitchenAid mixer! It’s well over 50 years old, but still works perfectly. She uses it for making her amazing chocolate chip cookies, and is excited to have a mixer of her own to take with her when she’s ready to leave the nest. 

 

August

It was the last “first day of school” together for these three. Taking this picture was really hard for me. First, because I miss the trees and beauty of our old back yard where I used to take their “first day” pics. And second, because I knew it would be the last first day of school picture that they’d take together. Next year, Caleb will be on his mission and the girls may be going to college in two separate locations. It’s hard for me to think about the kids growing up and leaving the nest. 

Other than the typical “Back to school” hoopla that we had in August, the girls started another season of soccer and Caleb began running cross country again. 

We also spent quite a bit of time and effort on some home improvement projects. 

Adam and Richard and Caleb installed this awesome concrete wall at the edge of our property on Papermill rd.

We planted several trees!!!!

We had a sprinkler system installed and had hydroseed grass sprayed out on a big area of the yard.

Adam built a flagpole. I’ve wanted one for years! I’m so glad to finally be able to show our patriotic pride! I think it looks awesome.