October Blur...

This picture is how I felt pretty much the entire October. We had general conference, fall break, Arizona State Fair, Temple Open House, Halloween and a lot more! Here is pretty much our month.

Happy Halloween 2013 + Christmas Comes Early

We had a great Halloween this year. For John, this was the scariest part of the week:

 Thomas wiggled his tooth so much that it fell out in his sleep. Our boys know that loose teeth gross their dad out.

Halloween & Skabelund Reunion 2012

We decided to go to our new neighborhood for Halloween this year.  They do a big block party for dinner and the boys were excited about Trick or Treating there.

Jonathan - Iron Man, Taylor - King Peter, Thomas - Batman, Rebecca - Winnie the Pooh

Ward Halloween Party

After a long day working in the yard, our kids were very excited to go to the Ward Halloween Party.  This year they changed it up a bit and we missed the dinner portion, but my kids only go to these things for the candy...

Rebecca did not go.  Dad volunteered to stay at home with her.  She did not get a nap all day and was just beat!  Jonathan was Iron Man, Taylor was a knight and Thomas was Batman.  I got a few pictures of them.  I decided to go as a mom being rushed out the door.  Everyone thought my costume was brilliant AND I was getting ready for Sunday at the same time!

Family Reunion, Halloween Carnival & Church

Last week John's Dad and Maxine came down for the Skabelund family reunion that we had last Saturday.  On Friday night, we went to John's Uncle Max's house to visit with them.  John's Uncle Max makes flutes (Mad Max Flutes) and he let Jonathan & Taylor play them.

 Thomas fell asleep in the car on the way over and was kind of grumpy that night.  He was being a little stinker here.

 We had to get a picture of our children with Grandpa & Grandma Maxine.  These two were the best ones.

Saturday the reunion started at 11.  We got there about 5 minutes early and we were the first ones there still.  John put up signs and we got the food tables ready.  John borrowed an air compressor and we did air rockets with the kids.  (I have John's permission to remind him that this was not worth it for the next reunion.)  The kids all had a great time watching the rockets being blasted into the air.

 Cheryl (Russell & Kalynn) & Hayley (Chris & Amber) walking around.

 Bryan (Russell & Kalynn) & Emma (Chris & Amber) chasing the big ball.

 Bryan (Russell & Kalynn) & Emma (Chris & Amber) getting ready to launch the rocket.  Jonathan in the background.

 Cheryl (Russell & Kalynn) & Taylor trying to catch the rocket.

 Kevin (Russell & Kalynn) taking a picture of the kids with the rockets.

 Jonathan, Bryan (Russell & Kaylnn) & Emma with the rockets.

 Taylor getting ready to launch.

 Cheryl (Russell & Kalynn)

 Sarah, Rebecca, Shari & Aunt Jeannie

 Aunt Karen & Lori

 Maxine, Uncle Dan, Dad, Uncle Max

 Aunt Judy, Tom

 Maxine

 Uncle Dan, Dad, Uncle Max, Kirt

 Those a bit older opted to play volleyball.

 Aunt Karen, Lori

 Aunt Judy & Aunt Jeannie

 Thomas

 One of the Ramada's next to us had everyone release balloons.  You can kind of see the orange balloons in the sky.

 The weather was perfect.  It did get a bit warm, but nothing compared to the reunion 2 years ago.

We left around 2:15 and then had to be at the church by 5:30 for the Halloween Carnival.  The Cub Scouts were able to sell water and soda this year at the carnival as their fundraiser.  This was the last thing that I was helping with to get everything ready.  It went really well and we sold everything!  Thanks to donations the boys have more than half of their funds for Cub Scout Day Camp.  We did not get pictures of our kids together, but plan to do that tomorrow night.  Here are some pictures from the night though.  Rebecca was a cow.  (I have the last three of my kids as cows now. Here is Thomas in the same costume.)

 Jonathan was Harry Potter.  We found the robe 1 hour before the carnival and I had him color the top with a marker.  He did ok for a rush job.

 Taylor found the Firefighter costume and wanted to be that this year.

 Thomas at the fish pond.

 Jonathan getting ready to do the milk jugs.

 This is all Thomas wanted.  You can tell by his smile.

 Grandma holding Rebecca.

 Jonathan & Taylor working the soda & water station.  We had each boy work 40 minutes with a parent. Poor John split his finger.

 Thomas also was looking forward to having soda all day!  He finally got that and his hot dog.  He was a happy camper!

We came home EXHAUSTED around 9:30pm.

Sunday we went to church and there was someone sitting on the stand that we did not know.  We learned it was Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. of the Seventy.

He was speaking at a fireside that night at ASU institute, so he decided to visit a ward.  He picked ours for some reason.  At the end, he asked for a few minutes and when he stood up he said a few things.  He could feel there were some there that were hanging on by their fingertips, but promised them that the Lord does hear their prayers and will answer them in his own time.  He also said that there were those that had family members that were not in full fellowship with the church and if they continued to live the gospel they would be blessed.  He gave 5 things we could do to make sure we stay close to the Lord and have things always work out:

1- Pray morning & night

2- Open your scriptures each day

3- Have FHE

4- Attend Sacrament each week and partake worthily of the sacrament

5- Attend the temple

It was a great sacrament meeting!  I have never had a Seventy come to Sacrament Meeting unexpectedly, and I don't think it ever will again.  I am very grateful for my family.  Despite things that we go through, I believe that our family is here to teach us how to get along, to forgive and to love.  Without our families, we would lead very boring lives.  I have been very blessed by my family and love them.

Halloween 2010

Last night our ward had a Halloween Carnival as they always do.  This year however it was new and improved! We had about twice as many people there as well.  Taylor thought it was the best half birthday present anyone could give him.  (Yesterday he turned 7 1/2.)

Here are our cute boys:

Taylor was Commander Cody.  Commander Cody protects Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Clone Wars.

Thomas was our cute M&M again.  This is his second year in a row.  He is the one that picks what he wants to wear.  I do not have a shortage of costumes for this age. (2009 photo)

Jonathan was King Peter from Narnia again.

Here they are as a trio:

At the party, Taylor and Thomas got these balloon hats.  They loved them!

Jonathan entered the costume contest.  There were at least 30 kids that did so.

John and my sister Kathryn ended up helping my dad run the pop and water area.  That was crazy busy the entire night.  They had to go and buy more of each just after it started when they realized they would run out soon.  Kathryn taught Jonathan some dance moves as everyone was cleaning up:

Today for singing time I did "Ghost" Name that Tune Bowling.  The kids had a great time and the room was full!  It is nice to see the primary grow.  Before when I did bowling I could have everyone take a turn.  We only had 12 though.  Now we have close to 40.

Halloween Night

I remember how hard it was to wait for Halloween night to come - especially when it was on a Saturday. At least when it was during the week you had school to occupy some of your time.

The time FINALLY came when costumes could go on. We had the best Sir Peter from Narnia, Batman and the cutest M&M! We went to our ward's Halloween party and had a great time. The boys received a lot of candy from the games and trunk or treat. Thomas did the cake walk with Jonathan and won on the first try. He picked a pumpkin cake.
Taylor played games and won lots of candy.

Taylor and his left over tickets.

Thomas and Dad at the fishing pond.

Jonathan, Thomas and Dad trying to pop balloons.

From there we went to see Grandma Black, and then John's Aunt Nansi's house. We were able to visit with them for a bit. During that time, Jonathan just about donated all of his candy to his two brothers while sitting on the couch.

When we got home we had the boys sort their candy. They sorted it this way.

All three were asleep by 9:15. A Halloween Miracle for Mom & Dad!