November-ing

The biggest problem with having to do a major catch up on this blog is that the details go missing.  My poor mom-brain just can’t remember all the little funny things they do and say or sometimes exactly WHY I took a picture.  I feel bad about losing those moments.  Oh, well, here we go with November …

West Point City put up a military memorial at their big park and I attended the dedication with my mom.

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There were speakers and music and a minute of silence at 11 o’clock.  It was Veteran’s Day.

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The speakers included Senator Orrin Hatch and a member of the House of Representatives (I can’t remember who it was now, I think Rob Bishop).

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It is a nice sized memorial with walls for each branch of the military, flags, a statue, benches …

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My parent’s names are also on the donor wall …

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Dad’s name is on the Navy wall. I’m very proud of my dad’s service!

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We took our friends the Bucks out for dinner to celebrate Brian getting a new job after having been laid off a few weeks.  We were brave and tried the sushi plate.  I can’t really say I enjoyed it.

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Another friend, Shelly, had a few months where her life was just turned upside down and twisted sideways.  I took her to the “When Life Gets Hard” conference where we got to laugh and feel good as we listened to Hank Smith, John Bytheway, and Meg Johnson share humorous and inspirational messages.

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Before the weather turned bad, Kevin worked on our new rabbit hutch.  He’s been super patient with me since I had a design in my head and a picture online and he’s had to create it!

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Bobby thinks he’s helpful.

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Rusty actually is helpful and quite enjoys helping his dad with this project.

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Mid-November was our church’s Primary children’s program.  I just LOVE seeing my boys on the stand saying their parts and singing the songs.  I really like hearing them sing the songs!

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Billy is the most easy to pick out on this recordings I snuck.  I just hit record on my phone and taped the audio of the songs.  I couldn’t resist.  The tears that flow from happiness, laughter, and the spirit … I had to capture these moments!  We get lots of comments after the program about what a good group of boys we have … and how enthusiastically Billy sings!  You can hear 7 minutes of it HERE.

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The Primary children colored the front of the program.

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I don’t think we were supposed to end up with all three that our boys colored!

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I love the stage of life we are in right now.  The boys are all fun and we can do so much.  I miss the baby-ness a little, but at least Bobby still sits on our lap for stories.  He was particularly captivated by my telling of the Grinch this November.  It was new and amazing to him and I loved every minute of it!

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I sold the desk that we’ve had in Ricky’s room.  It was old when I bought it for $10 three years ago and I never did any repairs or painted it and it just got older.  I listed it for $20 and sold it right off!  But that doesn’t stop people.  This woman pulled out all the manipulation tricks except “and her parents are military overseas.”  Sorry, lady!  The desk is sold and gone.  I had dealt with a couple of other manipulative women that week and this was just the cherry on top!

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Council PTA Reflections awards were given out mid-November.  These three were very excited to see if they would advance to the next level…

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It turned out that only Tommy is moving on!  The other two took it well and were happy for their little brother.

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Kevin and I took Ricky to see “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”  It was a good movie and we had a really good time.

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We really don’t go out to movies much, so it is a big treat when we do!

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We ended our fun with dinner at Warrens.  Love these two!

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Kevin is the Elder’s Quorum President in our ward and they had an Elder’s Pinewood Derby.  This was for the men and it cracked me up to see them getting into it so much!  Kevin didn’t have time to make a new car, so he raced Ricky’s car (far left).  It did pretty good against all these men designed ones!

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Sometimes when you sing, you need to hold fake squash in your ears.  I think it makes you sing better.  Or at least Bobby thought so!

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Thanksgiving was coming and we were enjoying ourselves!

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The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Billy got his braces off!  It was only his first phases of braces – he will have to have them again in a couple of years, but his teeth already look so nice!  He loved having nothing metal or foreign in his mouth for a whole week before he had to start wearing a retainer!

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There you go!