Looking Good

 

About a week and a half ago, I looked like this.  

And I felt worse.  I got sick.  Blah. As my good friend said-- Moms don't have time to get sick! 

So as I sit down this afternoon to write this, I see that there are plenty of pictures to record the happenings as of late, but it's all feeling like a very big, fast blur.  Consequently, this post may be particularly disjointed.  Frankly, my brain is feeling quite disjointed at the moment.  Thankfully, however, I am feeling much better from my nasty cold/flu.  

Cannon likes going to the orthodontist so he can play the vintage Pac-Man video game.  He wishes our orthodontist wasn't so punctual:)

It's dark outside in this picture-- but she wasn't eating a bowl of ramen for dinner.  It was breakfast after an early morning swim practice.  She was gone and home again from practice before the sun rose.

High school swim season is well underway.  It's good.  It's busy.  Faith likes it-- well, I think she likes it.  Truthfully, I'm not seeing a whole lot of her these days, so I cannot confirm that she likes it.

George broke his own record for the largest snowflake ever created in our house.  It is impressive.

Peter celebrates his victory with the Tinkercrate Labyrinth he made.

Grover is doing well.  He's always ready for a snuggle with anyone in the family.  

My cute niece Emi having a snuggle with Grover.  

Grover is good for our family.

Last week I paid Clark a little visit at his work.  For the last year or so, he has worked part-time in the accounting office at UVU.  This past Monday was his first day in his new full-time position as Travel Coordinator for the University.  

He's been hoping to go full-time for a few months, so he's pretty happy about this.  He even got to move into his own swanky office:)

Abe and George putting up Christmas lights before it gets too cold and snowy.

Not too long ago, it was Peter's baptism day.  Now it is Eric's turn.  

The little sisters:)

We're embracing Christmas early this year-- snowflakes and Christmas chains.  The kitchen table is, more often than not, covered with Greta's crafting and artistic endeavors.  It's messy, but it's also cute and temporary.  

Cannon in his dapper new dance warm-up suit.  His newfound height keeps catching me off guard.

We enjoyed Lucky Stiff at Hale Center Theater with our friends, the Allreds Friday night.  None of us had ever seen the show before and it was a lot of fun.  

The Actual Halloween 2022

 

Sometimes there is so much fun leading up to Halloween, that Halloween itself is a little bit of a let-down.  That was NOT the case this year.  The actual Halloween day was Halloween done right!

Eric, Peter. Kate & Graham

Our beloved Schramm Fam came over for pizza and trick-or-treating.

Ethan, Andrew, Greta, and Aly.

This was the cutest moment when Abe was walking around with these little ones and when they walked by a scary house, Aly suggested they hold hands.

Hayden, Cannon, and Ryan

Faith and her friends dressed up as their dads.  So funny.

She nailed it!

A little blurry-- but I love the smiles.  We live in THE BEST Halloween neighborhood.  

It was so nice to have Elinor come over and walk around with us while we chatted with Bethany in Texas.  

We even got Clark for a bit.  It was so nice to get to at least talk to all my kiddos on Halloween.  

Of course, the next morning it was tough to get back to regular life after so many days of fun and treats.  But it was worth it.  We Halloweened HARD this year!

Sunday, October 30, 2022

 

In very exciting, and somewhat overwhelming news, I have recently been called to be the Young Women's president in our ward.  

Wow, Betsy!  That seems like a lot.  How are you going to manage that responsibility?  

What an excellent question.  I've asked that very question myself.  The answer is, with God all things are possible. Enter this remarkable group of ladies that will make up the presidency with me.  Together we will counsel together and pray and ask God to help us help the young women in our ward to come closer to Christ.  It will be a learning experience for all and I'm sure there will be tears and smiles and fun and frustrations and growth.  I am grateful to have these good women by my side.  And I'm grateful to have this time with Faith as she finishes up her time in the young women's program.

Our wonderful friend, Ben Johansen had his mission farewell last Sunday as well.  I wasn't able to go down, but the rest of the gang went to say goodbye and Godspeed.

While I had my first Sunday afternoon of meetings, Abe and the kiddos carved pumpkins.

Those are some fine jack 'o lanterns you have there.

Top L to R:  Betsy, Abe, George, Faith

Middle:  Bethany, Brandon, Elinor, Cannon, Tessa

Bottom:   Greta, Peter, Clark (Weezer not Wonderwoman)

Abe carved mine, his, Peter's & Bethany's. George carved his, Faith's & Greta's.  Cannon carved his and Tessa's.  And Clark, Elinor & Brandon showed up and carved their own!

How many Halloween costumes do you do every year?  

Well, that depends on how many Halloween events we have to attend:)  We have a large collection to choose from.

We hosted a Cannon family Halloween dinner/party on Sunday evening.  Everyone brought soups to share, so it was an easy host.  We all dressed up and played Halloween games and just had a marvelously fun time together. 

We sang happy birthday to Kaylee and Uncle Matt.

Cousins round of musical chairs was a hit!  There was controversy regarding a call involving Cannon and Rosalie.  Lucky for Rosalie, there was video evidence from two different angles proving Rosalie had two bum cheeks on the chair before Cannon pushed her off.  He tried to argue, but all the judges sided with Rosalie. You be the judge

I love this of Aliyah begging forgiveness from Greta for besting her.  No need to apologize for playing the game!

How cute is this of Takara's two younger sisters exuberantly hugging her after her big win-- love, love, love!

It came down to the four of us-- three of the siblings and Laura.

And then there were two...

Seriously, what is wrong with me?  Why can't I be a lovely, gracious winner?  Alas, this has been going on my whole life.  How do I even have any friends at all?

The cousins all lined up for the handless donut eating contest.

1st place to Eli-- 2nd place to Brigham---- 3rd place to Aliyah!

To wrap up the evening, Cannon read scary ghost stories to the cousins.  He is quite an entertaining lad.

I hope to repeat the Halloween family dinner next year and for many years to come.