Piano Recital

Hannah and Eliza had a Christmas Piano Recital at a nearby retirement home.  The piano students play Christmas songs for the residents and then pass out cookies.  This was Eliza's first recital and I think she looks a little nervous.

Here are the girls waiting for their turn.

Hannah gets to go 1st.

Eliza goes next to play a duet with her teacher.

The students pose for a post recital photo.

I am Thankful for....

Bill:

Good Job, Good Family, Good Friends and Ebay

Kathryn:

Besides, of course, My Savior and the Atonement, Bill's good job that gets us a "Verizon Wireless Card" so I can update my blog while driving to his parents home for Thanksgiving :)

Hannah:

Church and Family

Eliza:

Great Friends and Turkeys

Sophia:

Envelopes and Chocolate Milk

And we are thankful for you!  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Halloween

Halloween pictures.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumkin patch on Thursday before Halloween.  It was a last minute thing and Bill and I decided that we were not going to spend money on the "activities" and warned the children not to beg.  We were going to buy a pumpkin and leave.  That's it!  Walking up to the pumpkin patch I saw that they had little trampolines with the acrobat ropes/wires and kids were jumping so high, flipping and it looked so fun.  At that point I knew we would not be able to hold to our "buy pumpkin then leave!"  Here are some pictures of the girls jumping.

Do you think they had a good time?

Prop 8: Comic Relief

"Take Courage"

More High School Musical 3

Jibjab.com has all sorts of fun stuff. The girls and I had fun making these videos!

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High School Musical 3

I am such a nice mom.  The girls came home from school today and I said, "let's go see High School Musical 3!"  They each invited a friend and off we went.  I was the official popcorn refiller (we went through 3, yes 3, big tubs of popcorn!) and they had a GREAT time.  It was good that we sat in the back because Eliza couldn't resist getting up to dance and even Sophie sat enthrolled during the whole movie!  Here are the girls dancing with some of the cast from the movie:

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Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY!

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2008/10/marie-thrse-gown-giveaway.html

Prop 8 supporter gets attacked

Sorry for so many posts on this stuff, it has been consuming so much of me lately.  There is so much anger and hate towards Prop 8, it's scary.  I just hope we can stay focused on loving all people regardless of their position.  Still lots of work to do -- I'm glad it will be over soon.  

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20081013/pl_usnw/prop8_supporter_violently_attacked_for_distributing_lawn_signs

Opposition to Prop 8 Targets Mormons

This makes me want to donate more so I can be on the target list.

  

www.article6blog.com/2008/10/21/californias-proposition-8-open-season-on-mormons/

Obama supporters in Harlem

I am not a big Howard Stern fan but this is something I had to share.  

Trick or Treating this year!

Naps on the couch

I hope Eliza can forgive me for this one.  I found her asleep on the couch and had to take a picture!  

And here is Hannah trying to take a rest on the couch when Ashes decided to snuggle with her.

Sophie and Lindsay

I love this picture of Sophie and her cousin Lindsay.  We went camping over the summer with Bill's side of the family and had a great time.  This hammock was a big hit with all the kids!

Pumpkins

Click here to see some creative pumpkins with complete step by step instructions.  My favorite is "The Midnight Hour" Cinderella pumpkin.  If I can get motivated maybe I'll give it a try....

Another good YES on Prop 8 Video

Camping in Big Bear with YW

We went camping this past Friday with the young women in our ward. Well, not exactly camping since we stayed in cabins - with heaters! I was so glad to have the cabins and the heaters since is was FREEZING cold up there. It got below 30 that night, so having heated cabins was great, although I still was kept up most the night by giggly girls. Bill came along as our "Priesthood" and taught a photography class Saturday AM. Sophie and Eliza got to tag along too.
(Hannah missed out and went to a sleepover party instead).
Saturday morning, after the photography class, we went on a hike. It was beautiful and we had a great time. Here are some pictures:

The girls take a break from climbing.
The view from the top.
Eliza and Bill making their way down the mountain.
We made it!
Bill, Eliza and Sydney made it too.
Sophie in one of the "A" frame cabins. This is where the YW sleep when they come up for girls camp. Luckily, we didn't have to sleep there this time.

Save Now

Yes on Prop 8

This is an excellent video on the consequences to our families if Prop 8 doesn't pass in California.  I don't know if enough people understand the far reaching effects of the disintegration of marriage.  This video is only one example. If you live in California PLEASE GET OUT AND VOTE! If you don't live in California please encourage any family/friends in CA to get out and VOTE this November. This is SO important!

An Inspiring Message!

Reflections

This year for the PTA Reflections Contest at school both girls wanted to do photography.  Since their daddy loves that stuff he got to help them.  It was fun to see the girls get excited about their ideas and have Bill help them try out some new things.  They learned a lot about photography and came out with some great photos.  

Hannah wanted to try "light painting" so she got to stay up late when it was a full moon and go out with dad and take some pictures in the orange groves.  She set the camera for a long exposure and then walked around the picture with a colored flash and flashed color into the image.  It is amazing to me that, because of the long exposure, you can't see Hannah in this picture but only the color she flashed into it.  

This is her picture:

Eliza caught a Praying Mantis the other day and decided she wanted to shoot that for her photo.  We kept the bug in a little cage for a few days until she was ready to do the picture (or rather, until her dad had time to help her).  They put the bug in a big bucket with leaves and she was able to get an awesome close up of this Praying Mantis.  

This is Eliza's picture:

HGTV Stars

My brother's family is going to be on HGTV this Saturday!  "Hammer Heads" did one of their rooms last spring and loved the family so much they are using them as the season opener!  

If you want to tune in, here is the info:

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_hheds/episode/0,3172,HGTV_30516_59848,00.html

It's Oct. 4, 2008 at 10:30 am est/pst 

(7:30 am in CA according to my dish's schedule)

http://hgtv.com 

A Farewell Party for Cassie

Eliza came home from school a few weeks ago very sad that her good friend Cassie is moving to New York in two weeks! Being the trusting mother that I am, I called Cassie's mom imediately and sure enough they were moving ASAP.  We had to plan a farewell party for Cassie and I had to come up with some party ideas quick.  Eliza, Cassie and another friend loved art and crafts and had an "Art Class" once a week that rotated houses with the mom's planning the "Art" lesson.  With this in mind, I came up with the idea to make Cassie an "Art Apron."  Here is what I did (and I am quite proud of it since I DO NOT consider myself creative at ALL!)

First I made the apron and embroidered it.  Yes, I have to put names on everything because I can and it's so FUN!:

Next the girls at the party sign their name and add a hand print.

And now Cassie can take some California friends with her to New York!

Here are some pictures of the girls at the party:

Hannah's Before and After Pictures

A year and a half of braces, a little $ and WOW!

Picture Day

Today is picture day at school. 

 The girls wanted to get all dressed up with hair curled so I had to take a few pictures.

Eliza poses for some pictures first.

Notice Hannah got her braces off and has a cute new haircut.

Hannah is getting so grown up!

Sophie ran up stairs and came down in her dress for pictures so I had to take a few of her too.  So cute!