The Blink of an Eye

 

Avram was the youngest in his Sunday School Class growing up.   He was a grade younger than the other boys.  But all these boys are returning from their missions.  It kind of makes me sad to see this part of their lives ending.  This boy, Jack Goodrich just came home from Liberia.  

Amy Jane

Amy Jane was in her first play this week.  The Lion King.  She was made for this!  You could see she really enjoyed performing and she did a great job!  

Amy wanted to go to Cold Stone afterward so we all enjoyed ice cream on this chilly evening.  😂
 

Hoggle Zoo

 With all the kids growing up and mom and dad are finally settling down, it gives all of us more time to focus on some of the moments that pass so quickly.  Quentin is the beneficiary of this time.  Crystal decided to take Q to the zoo and invited us along. 

It brings so many memories of me and my boys making our weekly trip to the zoo.  Q would love having a brother to run with (like Avram and Briggs).  But he will have to be satisfied with these old people tagging along.  

Love

 Nothing makes me as happy as hearing Avrams updates and seeing his pictures.  

The two men below were baptized this month.  They are both people that Avram worked with and built a very close relationship with.   Avram was transferred but shortly after they committed to baptism.  It was hard for Avram not to be part of the baptism but he was so happy that they made this important step.  

The two men in the next pictures were temporary workers in Australia from the Solomon Islands.  They both committed to baptism but they decided to complete the baptism after returning home.  Avram is hoping that they can meet up with the missionaries there and that the missionaries will work with them and their families.  

Avram is teaching English Class.  It makes me laugh just thinking of Avram as an English teacher.

Avram recently taught his first lesson in Tongan.  He loves the Polynesian people.  He was born the wrong color because he has become one of them.  

School-Ila

 

Ila had a class devotional.  To prepare for the devotional she had to write a two page paper about an ancestor that was a Christ like example to her.  

She wrote her paper on Martha Blackham Robinson who, with her 3 children, survived the journey to Utah in the Martin Handcart company.  She had to put together a short paragraph and memorize it so that she could recite it for her class presentation.  

They sang songs and every student did a short presentation of one of their ancestors.  

I have to volunteer for a minimum of 30 hours each year at Ilas school.  I went on a field trip with her classs to the family history museum. I had the girl below in my group.  Her name is Humna.  She is from Pakistan. Her mother passed away and her father wasn't able to care for her so he sent her here to live with her Uncle.  Her Uncle is LDS so he has sent her to this school.  She and I had an amazing experience together at the family history center.  It was very apparent that her mother was there with us.  I didn't know if she felt the same way I did but later I got an email from Ilas teacher.  

Lisa, 

 

Thank you so much for your help with Hamna on Friday. You are proof of why parent volunteers are so important. I couldn’t have done what you did.

 

Hamna told me on Friday after school that she felt the spirit so strong in the Family History Center. She knows that her family is very invested in her doing her family history. It still gives me chills to think of it. She told me she is so grateful to you and she felt like you stepped in as a mother figure to support her in the FHC.

 

Thank you, 

Tracy King

This is Ila stopping in when she saw me at the school volunteering one day.

One of my past YW is now one of the coaches for the Utah State Women's Volleyball team.  We took Pearl and Ila to one of the games.  It was a great game to attend because due to that victory they won the conference for the 3rd year in a row.  

Making money

 Ila has a couple of customers that pay her really well to watch their dogs when they are on vacations.  The dogs stay at my house so it ends up being more work for me then I like but I keep reminding myself that it is better then mowing lawns...I think.  

After 10 years I sold my mom car.  This 9 seat vehicle has driven hundreds of kids to school and home, youth groups to activity, and friends/ family to events.  I loved this car but it was time to say good bye.  

Mission call

Another close friend of Avrams got his mission call.  He is going to Bakersfield California!  

We are excited for Issac and his adventures ahead. 

 

Babies are perfect

One of Avrams best friends was married last month and then a couple weeks later his new wife delivered their baby.  

This sweet little half samoan half Haitian baby is so adorable.  

We hope, even though their marriage has had a rough start, that they have a happy marriage and future.  

 And we get to enjoy and spoil this baby girl! 

Happy to see the completed work

This project took me a year to complete.  I built a retaining wall between my neighbors house and mine.  it ran the entire length of my property.  We got a bid on it and the bid was for over $40000.  That wasn't in the budget but we needed to do something so our neighbors didn't keep flooding our house/yard.  

Once I completed the retaining wall I started the putting green.

Once the putting green was done I started the pizza oven.  

Once the grass grows back, due to stone sitting there all summer the project will be complete but it feels so good to see what I was able to accomplish and it is even better that I don't have to worry about our house flooding every time it rains.  

 

Wisdom Teeth

 Briggs had his wisdom teeth removed this past month.  He only had two wisdom teeth but he also had to get implant put in where he doesn't have teeth.  He was miserable for a week and then he got sick just as he was healing.  For about 3 weeks he was not a happy camper.  

Halloween

 Some of our festivities for Halloween;

Crystals and I took Q to Gardner Village one day.  The weather ended up getting really bad so we didn't stay long but we had a lot of fun because there wasn't many people there.  Since the water was so bad we decided to take all the kids back later, over fall break.  It was still fun but it was so busy that it was hard to get around.  

For Halloween Ila and a few of her friends decided to be the Winnie the Pooh gang.  Ila was Piglet.  

Our ward always does a trunk or treat.  Ila left us to go hang out with friends so instead of going to the trunk or treat without any kids we went and got Q.  We had fun walking around and loading up his candy bucket.  

Fun Dinner

Mom put together a fun halloween dinner for us this past month.  

I was uncharge of bringing this fruit dish and vegetable dish.