Halloween Happenings

Sara's all dressed up for the school celebrations. I think she may have a few treats out there.

 

I had to get a picture of how she spent her time this morning curling her hair. So pretty!

Madi left the house at 6:30am to get ready with her pink-lady friends! I'm grateful she sent me this picture from school yesterday!

 Such cute lifeguards ready for a quick dinner and then heading out to pick up their other friends around the neighborhood for some Halloween fun!

So fun to be surprised tonight by these two at my door. Great Costumes!

 Back with bags of candy and lots of smiles!

After trick-or-treating, these girls were ready to head downstairs and watch a scary movie! 

The Haunted Half Marathon on Halloween!

So this has to be the most fun run out there. Tons of people enjoying the festivities of Halloween dressed up and running all together just for the fun of it! It's like a giant adult/teenager/kid Halloween Parade.

 Derek and Alli running towards the finish line. And who might this ghost be right behind them?

 What a perfect Halloween morning. The weather was spectacular! 

 It's our favorite ghost-son proudly getting ready to cross the finishline. He's got his hands up and he's encouraging the crowd to cheer!

 Derek's on the far left, Alli with the cute blue tutu (that she picked up on the road), Jake with the ghost sheet that he purchased at the DI just the day before and one awesome blow up pumpkin finishline!

 Congratulations, you all did it! First timers for 13.1 miles - Jake and Alli!

 Yay Alli, your four week training course paid off today!

 He should get more than a medal for running in this costume. I would feel claustrophobic...

 Kayli and Chris just happened to be in Orem this morning working up the street and came over to see them finish.  Madi and I cheered extra loud for our favorite runners!

 I'm so proud of this cute girl and her determination to go for it. She has been training every other day in order to be able to make this run.

The Medal was really the coolest one ever!

 Happy Halloween from these Haunted Halfers - I am so happy to claim three of them!

A Dream Class Completed

Tonight, I finished my Stained Glass class that I have been taking every Wednesday for the past 5 weeks. Amazingly, all the pieces fit together in the end. Whew!!

 During week 1, we learned all about the different tools and practiced cutting the glass. Week 2  - We started cutting out our own pieces. My goal was to get all the tulip pieces done.

 For the next few weeks we cut the glass and used the grinder to shape and make them just the right size.

By the end of the fourth week, my project looked like this. At home I worked for the next week putting copper foil around each piece. 

Tonight, I brought in 40 pieces of copper wrapped glass crossing my fingers that everything would turn out. After spending 4 1/2 hours cleaning, soldering, more soldering and cleaning again...I was grateful to take this home all in one piece. I really can't believe I actually made it. Although, I worked on it for a total of 17 hours. Now, I understand why stained glass windows are so expensive. 

Happy Birthday to Jake!

It's this handsome guy's birthday today and he is the BIG 21!

Since we haven't been able to celebrate with Jake in person for the last three years, we were all extra excited! He is such an amazing son!

Jake picked The Old Spagetti Factory for his birthday dinner. We were so lucky to have both sets of grandparents join in the fun! Alli is up in Logan and we wished she could be with us too.

Birthday singing...Oh, what to wish for...

Happiness is all around whenever Jake is near. He has the best attitude and loves every moment he is living!

One of Jake's favorite things to do is to go hiking. He's probably been on five big hikes just since he's gotten home from his mission. This backpack will get lots of use over the next few years. 

Happy Birthday, Jake!!!

A Great Day for BYU Football!

Derek and I bought some last minute tickets to the game today. Our real seats were supposed to be a lot higher up, but our friends the Jensens said there were some extra box seats open by them so we came over and sat there. It was such a great spot and we had so much fun visiting with our friends while the cougars blew the other team away. Final score 70-6.

Our Madi was invited to sit in the Loge seats with her cute friend Kiersten. She was one of the lucky ones. Lots of food and fun all throughout the game. We had to sneak up and take a picture. Doesn't she look so happy?

Good times happening in all parts of this stadium. 

A Jazz Game Night

Kayli received six Jazz tickets from work this week and invited us all to join her and Chris! Not only were they great seats, but they came with a delicious buffet dinner before the game in the Champions Club. We had such an awesome time. Some of these working perks make her long days a little more worth it. And we are all so grateful that she is willing to share it with us! GO JAZZ!

The Makeover Salon

Sara always thinks of such great surprises for us. Tonight she came up with the makeover salon. My bathroom was transformed to a beautiful day spa (with hanging roses) and she was ready for her first customer. I was privileged to be invited. The makeup and hair styling tools were carefully displayed and Sara went right to work. My hair was curled perfectly and I've never had a more complete makeover before.  Since Derek was out of town, we had to send him some pictures of the finished look.

Oh, I forgot to mention how she had connected her ipod to the house speakers so she could have some lovely spa music playing in the background too. I felt pampered and beautified - Thanks, Sara!

Makell is headed to the Philippines!

We all said goodbye to this sweet niece/cousin of ours. Sunday was her farewell and she really did a fantastic job. She told about how she was never planning to go on a mission, but in the last few months she has really felt strongly that she needed to go.

 Luckily, I grabbed this picture as these three were heading out.

From one missionary to the next...Jensen came home just two months ago and Makell leaves tomorrow. She will make a great sister missionary! Her family will have to be brave to let her go...

Alli, Makell and Jess such great cousins and friends!

We love you, Makell - See you in 18 months...

D is Chosen to Ride Death Valley for Diabetes

Derek has been waiting several years to do this. Apparently, more people want to participate then there are spots for. This year he got his wish to ride. Here he is just a few hours after arriving in Death Valley. A little odd with the puddles in the background. Flash Floods have been happening this year and they are having to adjust the 103 mile course.

Meeting with other riders and trying out a few training rides. Just this event alone helps to raise over 1.4 million dollars for Diabetes research. Derek and Jonathan used to work together in Novo a few years ago.

SUCCESS - COMPLETION - DETERMINATION

Oh, how I wish I could have been there...

Congratulations Derek, you are incredible - bike over your head and all!

Fall Break Fun - Painting and Hiking

Nine girls plus three moms and one Grandma can have tons of fun together for Fall break. We met Friday afternoon for a girls activity day/night and sleepover.

Everyone picked out their favorite piece at Color Me Mine. Our group was so big that they let us have the "Party Room"!!! Good Times!

Paint away everyone...it will be fun to see how all of these creations turn out...

We all got in on the fun too painting all different kinds of bowls.

 The next day we hiked to the Bear Canyon Suspension bridge in Draper. Barely built in July 2015 to connect trails along the mountainside. It was pretty amazing to see and walk across.

 It's a long way down below...

However, the views from up here look amazing!

These happy girls had such a great time all together. 

We did too!

Haylee, Sara & Kelsey running down part of the trail...

My favorite picture on the way down - this one is just so sweet of the littlest cousins walking together.