Movin' right along...

Sorry once again for the "no post" last week. I am first counselor in the Relief Society and the President had fallen and really hurt herself, and so I had to take over all her responsibilities. So, I was out doing food orders and meetings and other things that she gets to do. This Sunday is a little more quiet, even though she is still not able to come. Hopefully next week she will be back and all will be back to whatever normal is...

Halloween was fun. We ate soup/chili at Rod's and then went trick-or-treating around his neighborhood. I noticed that with bigger houses, you have further to walk, than in my neighborhood where the houses are small and as soon as you take a couple steps, you are at the next house. It wears the kids out faster and they get less candy! Dallen and Ashton are the only ones allowed to trick-or-treat. I have issues with teeager coming to the door in their low voices "trick-or-treat". So, after the boys enter Young Men's, they get to find other activities on Halloween. Calvin had a friend that did a spook ally in his backyard, and so Calvin went and helped him scare little kids. Derrek and Alec wanted to hang out with all the adults at Rod's. Derrek had a party he could have gone to, but he just didn't feel like it. Ashton's costume started out a Ninja, but then he kept adding to it. This is the final product. After the third house, he was done with the mask, but kept the hands and feet.

I do have a cool story, though. Tuesday (I think), we were in a hurry in the morning and Ashton needed to get to school because he does Safety Patrol and I couldn't get him there on time. So, I went against my better judgement and let him borrow Derrek's $300 bike. He got done with Saftey Patrol after school (it takes about a half hour after school gets out), and went to get the bike and it was gone. He, of course, didn't tell anyone. So, we are getting home for the evening and Derrek is walking through the garage and says, "Where's my bike?". Panic went through me and I said, "Yeah, Ashton, where is Derrek's bike?". He quietly said "it got stolen". I was sick. Derrek handled it REALLY well and just said, "Mom, it's OK". I was freaking. Anyway, we said prayers and went to bed. The next day, we got ready, got the first shift going and sent Calvin off to the bus stop. About 10 minutes later, Calvin walks in with Derrek's bike. We were in SHOCK. We have never been able to find a bike after it has been stolen. Calvin said that he had prayed about it in his morning prayers and on his way to the bus stop, he saw out of the corner of his eye bike pegs in an ally. Calvin said he never goes into that ally because there is usually someone there doing drugs or something, but there was no one there that morning. So, he went down the ally and looked and there was Derrek's bike. So, he just took it back. He and I talked about it and realized that it's those little "practices" we get on listening to the Spirit. He was happy about the experience and I think he realized what really happened. Anyway, we were glad to get the bike back and the school was notified because they have people there to prevent this. I just thought it was a great experience.

Well, have a great week...we are getting rained on and it is finally cold today.

Not Shy...

Ashton has always been our quiet one. Last year, on Christmas eve, we went to a Chinese restaurant because we didn't want the kids to see what was in the backyard (half-pipe and trampoline). We got done and came home for a little Family Home Evening about Christmas and looked around and realized that Ashton wasn't with us. In a panic, we called the restaurant and Ashton was just waiting there in the front for us (we're saving for therapy on that one!). He is always so quiet, especially in public. Anyway, the reason I bring that up is because he had a concert this last week and in one of the songs he was the "announcer". He had no problem getting up in front of people. I would show that video, but it is really long! Here are videos of him playing the drum and violin in the same concert. For the drum group, he signed up to be in that, but the violin group, he was picked (as well as the others that played) out of all the fourth and fifth graders to play. That means he is one of the better ones. We love seeing him "blossom", for lack of a more manly word! Anyway...that is all for this week. Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

Life moves on...

Today is Calvin's 13th birthday (my third child). Another teenager in the house! The boys were all commenting how they think he should be turning older. Derrek thought he was turning at least 14. Calvin just tries to keep up with him...always has.

Last week I didn't write anything, well, because I was able to take a nice long nap! I love those Sundays. So...this is what has happened for the last two weeks...

Derrek received his drivers' permit. I included a picture above, just so that you can grasp with me that this is for real! I have found that I have never wanted $90 more than I do now to pay for the drivers' ed teacher to teach him and not me! To his credit, he does really well in our big, 12 passenger, van. I am just waiting, though, for the day he parks it in the garage and accidentally pushes the gas instead of the break and crashes into the water heater that is right there! As long as I am prepared for it, then when it happens it won't be a big deal! I just hope I don't let out a cuss word! I am more worried about that!

This last week, we (Alec) have taught our dog, Shep, how to shut the door. We usually leave the door open for him in the mornings so he can just roam in and out while we get ready for the day. It has been quite cold, in the morning, and so I mentioned to Alec that we should teach Shep how to shut the door. So, he grabbed the bag of hot-dogs and started teaching him. Within a day, Shep knew the word "close" and as proof, we video taped it (shown below). I told Alec, the next thing we need to do is teach him how to throw his trash away. When he is done chewing up a toy, he needs to pick up the mess and put it in the trash! I haven't been able to teach my kids that, so why do I think the dog could? Hope, I guess!

Third, we can't go on without something crazy happening. Two nights ago, Alec was out with his brothers and some kids from our ward. The dad bringing them home (12:30 am), was driving "crazy"...stopping, starting, moving side to side. He just lives around the corner, so the kids were in the back of his truck. So, when he got to our house, he pulled up to the curb, and at that moment, Alec stood up, and the dad driving accidentally hit the gas instead of the break (his foot slipped off the break) and Alec fell out of the back of the truck onto his back. Scott and I were asleep and Derrek and Calvin run in "Dad, Alec got hurt and there is blood everywhere". So, Scott ran outside, and there was a nice puddle of blood where his head was, and so they checked to see how bad it was. Thankfully, it was just scraped up...enough to bleed alot, but not enough to worry a doctor. We took him in the house and had him shower (blood everywhere on his head, hands, etc.). When he took off his shirt, the above picture shows what we saw. He is a little scraped up, but he is good. We are just grateful that he was being looked after. The poor dad driving the kids home is just kicking himself about it. He has called a lot to see if Alec is okay. I keep telling him that Alec could have just done this himself! Anyway, never a dull moment.