October Happenings

Last, but not least, for October is our random Happenings post...  Bree had a playdate with cute Jasmine and they made caramel apples together.

Bryan found these coveralls on clearance last year.  He thought they would be great for working in the garage during the cold winter months.  Bree wanted to try them on.  Perfect fit!

Bree made this little snowflake.  Another perfect fit?!

Finally, the kids had a "hat day" at school.  Miles chose the Cat in the Hat's hat and Bree wore a beanie.

Happy Halloween!

Another fun Halloween in the books!  Tess was a cute 80's girl...

...Bree was a pretty butterfly...

...and Miles looked great as Chewbacca (complete with the mask that makes Chewbacca sounds).

Search & Rescue Field Trip

Another field trip with Miles, but this time with the Cub Scouts.  I took our Bear Den to the Farmington Search and Rescue facility.  A woman in our ward works for them and so she showed us around.  The boys thought it was awesome.  First off, they got to see the big SWAT vehicle (it just happens to be parked in their same building; they don't actually use this for S&R stuff.)

This is the dive gear for any water rescues/recoveries.

This Humvee is used as an off-road ambulance of sorts. 

Each boy took turns pretending to be the victim/patient.

This is the mobile stretcher that they can carry in.  It folds up and the wheel detaches so they can carry it up the mountain or wherever they need to be, then they assemble it there.  It can maneuver easier on trails with one big wheel than it can with four legs on wheels.

It was a cool field trip (and my last one since I just got released from scouts.  I was a little bit sad, but Miles is moving on to Webelos in December anyway, so maybe it's a good time for something new.  My new calling is ward organist, which I'm really looking forward to!)

Volleyball & Braces!

Tess has had quite an exciting October!  First of all, she tried out for the volleyball team at Roy Jr. High and she made it!  I am so proud of her!  They had about 80 girls try out and I think there are about 18 girls on the team.  Only three of them are 7th graders.  Tess and two of her friends, Mari and Sierra, are the only 7th graders.   It has been a lot of fun for her, and also a lot of work.  She practices every day after school and also has games once or twice per week.  She is the tiniest little gal on the team by far (she even got an award at the volleyball clinic the week prior to tryouts, called the "Tiny but Mighty" award.)  It's a lot of fun to go and cheer on her team.  Unfortunately the coach hasn't put her in the games (boo) but I told her this is all for a learning experience and she will hopefully make the team again next year and be able to play.  Maybe she'll get a little growth spurt before next year's season.  In the meantime, I'm just so proud of her for making the team.

In other exciting news, she got her braces off!  It has been a relatively easy process for her--she only had braces for about 18 months, with her appointments for tightening only about every 2 months.  That's a cinch compared to a lot of kids (I had mine for 2 1/2 years, with appointments every single month!  Of course, my teeth were pretty horrendous to begin with, and hers were not.)

Her orthodontist's office always does fun things for their patients and here is a picture of a goody bag and balloons they gave her, plus all the assistants sang her a little song.  The goody bag was filled with all the food, candy, and gum that she was not supposed to eat with braces.

Her new smile is just beautiful.

She wanted to get a caramel apple that day to celebrate!

Her new retainer is even super cute.  She chose a glow-in-the-dark teal color with a decal.  The lady told her they could do basically any decal--if Tess could find a picture of it on the internet, they could do it!  So she found a cute mandala style picture.   It turned out pretty well, I'd say! 

Hooper Halloween Haunt

We went to the Hooper Haunt again this year.  Here is Bree getting her fortune told.  Thankfully she has a very long lifeline! 

The Haunt organizers ask local school kids to decorate paper bags for luminaries to light up the paths, but the 4th grade Spanish Immersion at Freedom decorated skulls for the Dia de los Muertos booth instead.  Here is Miles, pointing to the one he colored.

And the old "floating decapitated head in a jar" photo...

Tess just had fun climbing on the two cannons that are part of the veterans war memorial at our park.  You can see some of the luminary bags under the cannon.

Bree was sooo excited to get her face painted.  She was literally the very first person in line.  She asked for a butterfly.  (I can't say that I really see a butterfly in this, but she was happy so that's fine with me.)

Environmental Center Field Trip

I really enjoy going on field trips with the kids.  In all my years of Freedom Elementary field trips (14 years if you count all 3 kids' grades so far), they go to the Environmental Center each year and I have not yet ever had a chance to go on that day!  No matter what, when one of my kids goes there, I have something else scheduled that day and I can't go with them.  But this year, finally, I was able to go with Miles and his class!  It is a really fun place to go!

First, on our way up to the center (about a 1/2 mile hike) we saw a mama moose with her baby.  That was really cool.

My little group to look after was only 3 kids: Miles, his buddy Brigham, and his buddy Henry.

Our first rotation was frisbee golf.  Here's a great shot by Miles:

Our second rotation was archery.  Miles and I both really like archery!  There's something so satisfying about hearing that "thwunk" of the arrow hitting the target.  (And I love that there is no kick-back like there is with a gun--that part always scares me so bad when we shoot guns!)

After all the kids got turns, they let the parents go too. Here we are with our targets...

Our last rotation was Geocaching but we were running around so fast trying to find all 6 geocaches that I forgot to take any pictures.  It was a great day.

Reflections

Bree entered the school Reflections contest this year.  The theme was "Within Reach" and she did a pretty drawing with colored pencils and crayons. Here we are at the awards night.  Bree is in the blue/white/coral striped shirt (front row, middle of the group shot.)

Mighty Hunters

Bryan and Miles went elk hunting this year, but unfortunately didn't get one.  They did take some great pictures though.  (This one is just of them being goofy with our new "selfie-stick.")  Even though they didn't get an elk, they always have fun camping and hanging out with the guys.

Fun Run 2017

We just had our 3rd Annual Freedom Fun Run at school.  It is such a fun event.  Usually, with school fundraisers, each year is a little bit less successful (monetarily) but the Fun Run just keeps getting better each year!  It's really exciting.  I love that it makes a lot of money for our school, but I especially love that every kid can participate (whether they pledge any money or not) and they all seem to love it!  Here is Bree in the navy shirt/red hairbow.

And Miles in the white shirt.  They are supposed to get 30-35 laps, but most kids are so competitive that they keep going and going until time runs out.

I am also very happy to report that, while I am still in PTA (as secretary this year), I was sooooo much less stressed out about this day!  I could just help out and enjoy the run, without the pressure of being in charge.  It felt great.