General Conference

When the kids were younger, I would plan a bunch of different activities to keep them interested.  Now that they are older it is great that they can get on the internet and come up with their own ideas.  They printed themselves, packets, had a conference store, etc.!

This General Conference Morgan decided to do a personal progress project so she watched all 5 sessions.  This was the first year that the priesthood session was even broadcast on tv.  Morgan did a great job of paying attention and taking notes using different colors of pens.  Her note taking notebook is really cute.

 It looks like Maddie is sleeping in this picture, but I don't think she was.  You can see Rob's feet.  I tried to take a picture of Rob being obnoxious and throwing things in the air at one point, but the minute I would grab my camera, he would stop.  Ha, ha!!

 A view with the tv in the picture.

I made a sheet with each of the apostles and we all had our own post-it note pad.  After a talk, each person could add a post-it note to the paper with their favorite quote from the picture.

Dinners by Maddie

Maddie has only been in Young Women's a few months, but she wanted to finish the Good Works value by the night of Young Women in Excellence.  For her project, she decided to help me cook dinner for a week.  She had to put in at least 10 hours and she did quite a bit more than that

 Broccoli and cheese twice baked potatoes.  Everyone in our family LOVED these and it was probably the healthiest meal she made.  The centers of the twice baked potato had ground cauliflower mixed in with the potatoes and no one even knew!

 Cornbread Tacos - This is a recipe Maddie found on pinterest.

 We used a cornbread mix and cooked it on the waffle iron for the bottom of the tacos.  When I was trying to cook the cornbread waffles, they were sticking bad.  Maddie did a much better job of cooking them then I did.  She figured out they needed to cook longer.

 Personal Pan Pizzas - They weren't quite small enough to be individual pizzas, but they were on the small side.

Mozzarella Sticks - We had spaghetti sauce out to dip them in!

This was an amazing project for Maddie to do.  It helped her to learn some more cooking skills, but the greatest thing about it was that she learned how much work it is to cook dinner.  She also realized that when you've gone to the work to cook dinner, it isn't fun when the other members of the family are complaining about it. 

Maddie presented her project at Young Women in Excellence and she did a really great job!!

Random September Pictures

 Maddie with her pet hairless rat - Nicki!

 I saw this stuff laying on the living room floor and I was about to throw it away because it looked like a bunch of garbage.  However, it was really Reagan's treasures from the state fair.  I ended up gathering up the stuff and putting it in Reagan's room.

 Reagan sleeping in a funny position!

 Waiting for the Andover Days Parade to start.  Maddie & Reagan could have been in the parade but they opted to get candy instead.  Morgan marched in the parade with the band.  She would have rather been with the cheerleaders, but she didn't get to choose!

 Gary & Michelle in their fancy car in the parade!

Kate has decided that she likes to sleep in Rebecca's (Reagan's American Girl Doll) bed.  She got in here on her own and we've seen her here several times since.

Cheer Clinic and Football Game

Andover Central's home football game on Sept. 27th was against Goddard South.  

 Since it was the featured high school football fame of the week, the helicopter delivered the football!

 The cheer clinic was that week.  The middle schoolers got to cheer the whole first half.  Reagan cheered in the second quarter.

 Maddie & Morgan

 Reagan and Morgan being photobombed!

 Maria, Reagan & Morgan!

 Morgan is also in the marching band.  Here is a picture of her playing her clarinet at halftime.

The middle school girls got to participate in the half time cheer with the cheer leaders.  Maddie and Morgan are the two flyers lifting their leg in the air!

Rob's Photography

Rob is taking a photojournalism class at school and so he had to take a bunch of pictures.  I picked out a few of my favorites that he took.  I know each picture was portraying a specific concept, but I don't know what those concepts are.  Ha, ha!!

 Baseballs.  I love this picture!

 I really like this picture of Maddie!

 Love this close up of the dog treat with Kate looking on in the background!

Love this picture of Reagan pretending to hold Maddie!

The last 2 years our ward campout has been held at Santa Fe Lake which is only about 10 minutes from our house.  It seems like we get a really good turnout when we have it somewhere that is so close.  Quite a few people come for the evening and then go home, but lots of people also stay the night.  We are always in the group that stays.  This year we even lent out tents and camping equipment to 2 other families.  I think we had about 3 more tents at home that weren't being used.  We are definitely not lacking in the tent department at our house!!

 A picture showing alot of the parked cars from our ward and some of the tents!

 Rob helping Brad set up the tent for him and his girls.  Brad said he go "shamed into spending the night".  He was telling Mark he couldn't stay because he didn't have a tent, but Mark took care of that problem!

Mark and Bret eating some deer chili.  Mark had me make a huge pot of chili with deer meet so we could share it.

Courtney shows off the baby frog she caught to her sisters and some other girls!

 The baby frog!

Reagan climbing on the playground equipment!

Morgan Cheering

Some random pictures of Morgan cheering at two different games.  Due to her size, she is always a flyer - one of the ones being lifted and thrown in the air!