Trick-or-Treat

Halloween was cancelled in many neighborhoods.  There was no power in most of town and trees and power lines were down everywhere - not exactly safe for kids to walk around.  Our neighborhood was one of the few with power, so kids flocked here to get some candy.  Zoey and Kaia didn't want to miss out, so they came to our neighborhood and we were so glad we got to see them in their cute costumes.  They scored big and had a great time.  Happy Halloween!

We Were Lucky

We weathered the storm with no real damage and actually didn't even lose power.  We were very lucky as many millions were without heat, power, or help.  Our home was busy with visitors.  We offered warm showers, internet hook up (after the first day and 1/2), TV, something to eat, and most of all plugs to charge phones and other devices.  The kids' friends congregated in the basement and others came and went as they needed to.  There were so many trees down around town that we were out of school for a whole week.  Our Stake has been asked to help every Saturday and Sunday for the next 2 months in the clean-up efforts in New York and New Jersey (I'll blog about that later).

It is amazing how paralyzing a disaster like this can be in such a densely populated area.  There were so many people who needed help that it was hard to know where to even begin.  I am grateful for the emphasis our church places on preparedness and the confidence we felt as the storm approached.  We have a generator, extra gas, lots of water, food storage, and so many other necessary things.  We also knew that our Home and Visiting Teachers would be checking on us and there to help should we need it.

I'm grateful that we were safe through the storm and I continue to pray for those who lost so much.  The pictures of our willow tree are pretty insignificant, but it was an amazing site to see it thrashing about in the wind.

Greetings From Inside Hurricane Sandy

My family thought they would celebrate the eye making landfall with a game of frisbee.  For some reason Dallin looks like he lost his head in the last picture. Don't worry - it's still there :)

College Application #1 - Done

After many weekends and countless hours spent writing, revising, and editing essays... application #1 is in.  Whew!  These applications are a little bit stressful.  We are lucky to have many good friends who really helped Dallin get his work polished and he feels good about the final product.

He applied early action to Stanford because it almost doubles his chance of getting in.  It's actually due Nov. 1st, but with Hurricane Sandy bearing down on us we were afraid a power outage might prevent everything from being submitted on time.  Better to get it in before all the excitement begins.

BYU's application is due in about a month and MIT is due in January.  We are hoping to have everything settled by early spring.  That will be about the time he can submit his mission papers if he decides to go at 18 instead of 19.  I still need to write a post about that, but it was making me quite emotional and I put it off.

Anyway, we are very proud of all his hard work and excited to see what his future holds.

The Pride

Taylor joined The Pride this year at East.  Dallin and Evan are officers of the club and she and Matt were able to be inducted with the first group of kids this fall.  It's a great club and I'm proud of both of them for being willing to stand up for what they believe in every day.

Halloween Howl

The annual 6th grade Halloween Howl was last weekend.  Cami has really been looking forward to this big party.  She and some of her friends decided to be different color crayons and they all got ready together.  I got to help set up the haunted house on the stage - which is also the entrance to the Howl.  The DJ did a great job of playing fun music for them to dance to and they had a blast.  Parents had to be in costume to get in to help, so I was a "Smarty Pants" - see last picture.

Sweet 16 Party

Taylor went to a Sweet 16 party with lots of her friends.  We took this dress and modified it into a party dress.  She looked adorable.  I can't believe she will be 16 in a few short months.

Spelunking in 6th Grade

The 6th graders did a unit about ancient artifacts and created caves in their classrooms to explore.  The windows were darkened and all the kids brought in headlamps and flashlights.  Parents were invited for one of the morning adventures to see what they were doing.  They really loved learning in this fun way and were very serious about completing the work.  Cami's teacher brought in dry ice to give the room a misty, cave-like feel and it was perfect.  The pictures don't really do it justice because the flash ruins the overall feel of being in a dark cave.

Halloween Party

We kicked off Autumn with a hayride and bonfire at the Farm.  It was the perfect weather for a Halloween Party - really chilly!  We brought lots of hot chocolate, s'mores, and other goodies.  The hayrides were full of smiling people and I loved the smell of campfire filling the air.

We did have a few problems with invitations getting delivered (note to self: don't use googly eyes on invites even if it's cute because it makes the letter get stuck in processing), but lots of our friends came and we had a blast laughing and talking around the fire.

Dallin and Taylor's friends have been coming for years and it made me smile that they showed up early to help set up and were happy to pose for a big group picture.  I think we even got our family Christmas card picture - woo hoo!  Cami's friends are old enough to really love the hay maze and going on the late hayride with the older kids :)

I love this family tradition.  I got a little choked up thinking that this was the last year before kids start leaving for college, missions, etc.  I'm so grateful that my kids are happy, healthy, and excited to move forward in life.  I'll try to smile and cheer along with them, but I know in quite moments I will wonder how the time could have flown so quickly.  For now these pictures make me smile - Happy Halloween.