Our Brand New Advent Calander
Sam typing our daily activities on strips of paper.
(Yes, this is my very messy desk)

The cute tins Liz and I put together!

It has been such a long time since I have done an all out

craft project. But this year I am feeling better mentally

than the last several Christmas seasons. So even though

I am terribly busy at work, I am trying very hard to

do fun things at Christmas, and not let everything

bog me down. Since Sam is in High School, I feel like

I have very few years left, so we are making them very fun!

I decided we would do a fun advent calander. Ofcourse I

still need to make sure they have treats in them every day.

Heaven forbid, the kids really don't change all that much do they?

Then the kids and I sat down together and made a list of all

the things we wanted to do this year, like watching our

favorite Christmas movies, making our favorite treats,

see the lights at the temple. Make gingerbread houses, ect, ect.

I was kind of surprised how excited the kids were to help. Even Sam.

Now ofcourse he could care less about cute paper, and such. He left

that up to Liz and I. But he printed and cut the stips out.

I put the strips in the containers, plus a few surprises of my

own. So they don't know everything. But we

are very excited for a fun holiday season!

Here is a picture of Liz's Girl Scout troop doing a food drive.

Their group brought in 20 boxes of food that was donated

to the local Lutheran church. Here they are at the church

helping put all the food that was collected from the church, and their

private school. There was a ton of food! The girls helped put

together boxes that held all the fixings for a Thanksgiving

dinner, plus another dinner or two. The girls had a great time~

Busy Lizzy!

Since football is over, there

is a little more breathing time.

Very little actually. I thought I would

catch you up on what Liz has been up to.

Since June, she has been working really hard

with her YW personal progress.

Our ward had a baby boom over these last

several months with 6 babies being born.

So the Beehive class made quilts for each of

them. Since Liz has sewing experience, she

made 3 of them. And with all her hard work

she was able to complete her first 10 hour

project. for Good Works ofcourse.

She loves YW! They have some wonderful

leaders. She has also joined some friends in

a girl scout troop. As if we weren't busy enough.

But they have done some great service projects,

and have a great group of girls and mothers.

Both she and I are having lots of fun with that.

Sam gets some play time!

Here is Sam during his second game. This

time he got some good playing time in. And

a couple of nice tackles too! The great thing

about being a photographer, is that I volunteered

to help take pics for the booster club and do

some fund raising, so that allows me right

on the field with the team and such.

So I was lucky to get this great picture. This is

Sam getting ready toward the end of the game.

I loved it! I think this one is getting framed

and put in his room!

Freshman Football

Here is a picture of Sam at his

first game last Wednesday night.

The freshman won 20-6.

Go Agua Fria!!!

Teacher In Service Day

Last Friday Liz had a day off. Because in the area we

live in the elementary and Middle School districts are different

districts than the High School. ( I have no idea why, seems

kind of stupid to me.) So Sam had school, and Liz and I had

a girls day. So we decided to make cookies. Our choice for the

day was Monster Cookies. Boy were they good!!! We also had

pizza for lunch. What a fun day!

JROTC

Every Wednesday Sam will wear his uniform to school
Doesn't he look so nice?

Dad performing his own inspection.

I don't know who was more excited Sam or his dad.

As stated in an earlier post, Sam has decided to participate

in JROTC. Ofcourse his dad is pleased. Even if it is only

"Air Force" And Jake quietly let me know that he wouldn't

be dissappointed if he entered the Air Force, "only if he went in as

an Officer though." I thought that was very funny. Because as

you know if you are in one branch of the military, you kind

of look down on the others. However, if you look at the BIG picture

they all have to work together when push comes to shove, and

that is what makes our country great. And whether he goes into

the military or not we are very proud of him.

August Special

Get great School pictures this year!

Step1: Call for an a appointment

(woo hoo no sitting fee!)

Step 2: Pick a background

Step 3: Pick a pose from the 5 taken

Step 4: Pick which package you want

It can't be any easier than that!!

Call 623-332-6968 today for an appointment

The First Day of School!

So I am officially old! Yesterday was Sam's first

day of High School. He attends Agua Fria

High School. He had a great day. Ofcourse in

this school district on the first day of school all

the Freshman go to school and then on the second

day of school the rest of the grades attend. Which is

nice because it gives the Freshman a day to get the

lay of the land before everyone else gets there.

He is playing football this year, he is also going to

be in ROTC. He is also excited about taking a

Theatre class. So I can tell this is going to be

a busy year for us. Not to mention he starts

early morning Seminary on Wednesday morning!!

Miss Liz starts 7th grade this year! She is excited because

she has Art as one of her elective classes. She is also

going to be playing the trumpet again in band this year.

She is planning on being in the Art club and Drama club

this year as well.

And as per our family tradition since moving to Arizona,
we can't have a first day of school without going to
Coldstone! Since it is still very very hot in AZ when
school starts we always go to Coldstone afterschool to
celebrate! Yummy!!!

The Great thing about going up to Washington is

that I was able to take pictures of my parents

with their Grandkids. How cute are these pictures.

It was so fun to see them all together. Though I

have to say, it is alot easier to take pictures of people

I don't know very well, than people in my own family.

Liz Checking in before leaving for GC!! Look

at the cute bags her ward leaders made.
Look at these adorable ward t-shirts!!

Girls Camp


Its liz here and I have just came back from girls camp. It was so fun. We did a hike, repeling,hatchet throwing ,crafts, we were able to wash our feet and it was so nice and we also got to do skeet shooting.