Arrow of Light

Ben worked hard (and so did his leaders to make sure that it happened) and earned his Arrow of Light before he moved up to Boy Scouts. He also worked hard (and again because of his amazing leaders) earned every pin possible and award in Weblos. He was blessed with awesome leaders in cub scouts (in particular this one named Sister Ely--she rocked).

The Arrow of Light ceremony was great. Ben had been looking forward to it since he was a wolf. A group of Indians (I do not remember what tribe they were from) came and talked to them, they did a ceremony, and then presented them with their arrow and badge. We combined with another ward for the presentation, which was great because his best friend, Dallin, was in the other ward so they got it together. His cousin, Austin, is in our ward, and he earned his too. He was excited about the night.

Brothers, Brothers

These two are the best of friends. Inseparable.

Decorating for Christmas

Karmin with part of the burning bush

Lydia getting in the spirit by breaking out her dancing moves

This year's experience of decorating for Christmas went so well. Nothing broke--it was great. The kids had a lot of fun putting everything where they wanted it to go. For the most part it was reasonable. I just went through the next day and nonchalantly rearranged. We always put the Christmas tree by the wall with the stockings. For some reason this year, we had to put it on the other wall. I think it had something to do with the cord for the lights. I don't know, Grant is in charge of that part. You would have thought that we were torturing the kids and asking them to do something awful by moving the tree. They were not happy by the needed change. So they took out a fake plant that I had in the corner, decorated it with I think 6 strings of lights and garland and put it where the tree should have gone. It looked like it was on fire. Now we essentially have two trees. Oh well. Merry Christmas!

Veteran's Day

There he is in the blue shirt looking for us with his hand blocking the lights!

There is his sweet shy smile..blue shirt in the second row from the bottom---kiddycorner from the girl rubbing her eye (has no one ever taught her the germs she is exposing herself to?)

The third grade did a Veteran's Day concert this year. Trevor was so excited about it! It was awesome from a mother's stand point. I got to see and be proud of my son singing up there on stage. Then it only lasted 20 minutes; which was awesome for the other kids so they didn't get too rowdy out in the audience. He was so excited to be able to hold up a picture of him with Nana because she is a Veteran. He is a cute kid!

Reflections

Trevor entered the Reflections contest at school. The theme was "The magic of a moment." He wrote the story about how we surprised the kids with the trip to Disneyland. We got to go to the awards ceremony with him. His story is moving onto the next level. We are proud of him for taking the time to enter his work. He is pretty talented with writing; which is good because he wants to be an author when he grows up.

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

My sweet baby boy turned 11. Last year at his birthday I reminded everybody what this means. For this year it means 3 years until stake dances. 3 years, People. 5 until driving, and with the new mission ages, he could be going in 7 years. Do you all realize how short 7 years is?
Well, this was the most interesting day for us. He wanted me to surprise him with breakfast, so I did crepes because that is a crowd-pleaser around here. After school, he had his best friend, Dallin, over. We had pizza for dinner, and pumpkin pie for dessert.

You know you are getting old when your brother can warm his hands with your candles.

Ben is an amazing person. I am constantly in awe of him and what type of person he is because of the choices he makes. He is so good with Piper. She lights up anytime she sees him. He is a great communicator and leader. He can talk to people and hold conversations with people of all ages. He totally didn't get that from me because I never talked to anyone up until a few years ago. I'm excited to have the opportunity to spend more time with him in the coming years than we have had in the past. He is a great kid and I'm excited to see where life takes him!