Courtney's Last Soccer Game

After the Sprint Turkey Tri, Courtney had her last soccer game.  This was a make-up game from one that was rained out last month.  We weren't too thrilled having another game, especially on such a busy day (Courtney had just been to a birthday party after the tri but before her soccer game) but we did our best.

Bryan took her up to the game while I waited for a pie to come out of the oven.  When they were getting out of the car, Courtney's thumb was slammed in the door.  When Ethan and I got there, Bryan had her sitting on the grass holding her thumb.  I used the 1st aid kit in the van to patch her up.  It was pretty gross looking with the skin all munched up, but it didn't look broken and she was moving it okay.

She is such a tough girl because she got in the game and played until half-time when I had to take Courtney and Ethan to the SHAC to get ready for their triathlon.

The Sprint Turkey Triathlon

Last Saturday was the SHAC Turkey Triathlon.  Bryan signed up along with his dad and brother, Andrew.  The kids signed up for the Tuff Kids Beginner Triathlon, but the Sprint one was in the morning.

John and Shelley got to our house on Thursday evening, in time for dinner with the missionaries.  Friday morning, John rode the course on his bike and it was a good thing he did because he got a flat tire.  And Friday evening, on his way down from Provo, Andrew's car stopped working around Cove Fort.  Bryan and John went out as the "rescue party" and got him.  So it was quite an interesting time building up to Saturday.

Saturday morning was COLD and WINDY!  I was glad I wasn't doing the tri.  But they didn't seem bothered much by it.

Here they are before it began:

They all did a great job!!!

Here are some photos.  First up is Andrew:
T1:

 Biking:

 Run:

 Finish:

 Here are Bryan's pictures.
T1:

Bike:

 Run:

Finish:

 Here are the photos of John.
 T1

Biking:

 Running:

After finishing (he was too fast, I missed his finish):

John got 1st in his age group so he stayed after to get his award!

Great job guys!!!

Dixie State College Football

Last Saturday was the last home game for Dixie State College.  Ethan's flag football team has a tradition of going to a Dixie game at the end of the season.  One of the dads gets tickets from work and we all go.

This year the Alumni Association hosted tail gate parties before each home game...for FREE!  Yes, they had free food, all-you-could-eat ice cream and snow cones, games and tons of entertainment.  We decided to go and see what it was all about.

There were quite a few people there and the kids got to play around while I waited in line for the food.  Then we all got hotdogs/hamburgers, chips, left over Halloween candy and drinks.  When they had eaten their fill, they got in the ice cream line, which was self-serve, and got huge cups full of ice cream.  They played on bounce houses and the playground.  There was a climbing wall but it was crowded and the lines were long.

I couldn't believe it was all free.  I guess they are trying to get people to come to the games and this is the best way they have found to do it.  I signed up with the "D Team" which sponsors events like that and we got 2 t-shirts and will now get free food at any Dixie College sporting events this year.  Not bad for $10.

We all sat together at the game and...Dixie lost.  But the kids had fun making paper airplanes from the programs and flying them around the stadium.  They also each scored a Dixie State t-shirt from the cheerleaders. Courtney also snagged a little plastic football.  They were tired when the game ended but we had a lot of fun.

Halloween

I didn't take pictures on Halloween night because we had so many from the neighborhood party and from school.  The kids had been a bit nervous about how they were going to meet up with all their friends this year.  Our neighborhood Halloween party has always been on Halloween.  This has made it so easy because the kids can play and then all meet up to go trick-or-treating together.  We haven't had to worry about dinner that night or who they would go with, because everyone was together and we had a pot luck.  So this year I had to think of what to make and what to do.

We decided to invite all the friends and their families over for hot chocolate and donuts before going out to trick-or-treat.  That way all the friends would be together and they could just leave from our house to go collect candy.

So at 6:30 p.m. we had the water hot and everyone brought their favorite topping and we had a great time.  We had 7 kids here with some of their families and ate donuts and laughed.  It was a great time.

When they were finished and it was getting darker outside, Bryan took all 7 kids around trick-or-treating while I stayed and answered the door.  They had so much fun and got so much candy!!

By the time they got home, Ethan was sweaty from running and Courtney was exhausted.  But Bryan said they did a great job.  If there was a dog at the house, Ethan would collect a candy for Courtney (who was far from the house) and if one of the kids was too slow, they would collect his candy for him too.  And if Courtney was too slow, Ethan would remind them all to slow down.  Bryan was on his bike so he could keep up.

It was crazy busy with kids that night but I think they all had fun.

After they had chosen 10 pieces of candy and eaten their one piece for the night, they put the rest out for the Halloween Fairy to take and leave a toy.  And then they went to bed.

Thursday morning Ethan was thrilled to have a bag full of army guys and Courtney had a manicure set!  They decided to put the rest of their candy out Thursday night to see if the Halloween Fairy would come again but she didn't. 

Courtney's Halloween Party

I am the room mom for Courtney's class and so I got to plan her party.  We did it really simple, which is what I like, so it wasn't a huge stress.  In fact, I kept thinking that I had forgotten something because I wasn't stressed about it at all.

Anyway, I bought a craft from Oriental Trading that included everything in little packets.  So each student had a packet with stuff in it to make a spider web and 2 spiders.  We had moms there to help and the kids had a great time putting their spiders together.

We then read a book while the craft was drying.

After the book was finished, the kids decorated cookies and then ate them.  It took about 1 hour and was perfect because the kids had a great time and it wasn't a mess or hectic.  I had been busy all week making cookies for different classes (because I have a cake business I can take homemade things into the school) so I was happy to have a low key class party.

Here's Courtney's class making silly faces:

Here's her class with all their costumes.  They were pretty cute!

 Here is Courtney decorating her cookie:

 This is her "My mom is weird. Why does she keep taking pictures" face.

 After the party, I grabbed their costumes from them so they wouldn't have to worry about them after school.  The kids didn't mind because they weren't wearing them anyway.

Halloween Parade

This is Ethan's last year for the Halloween Parade.  I don't think he is going to miss it because it isn't his favorite thing but he does like showing off his costume.  The parade wasn't until the afternoon so they weren't allowed to wear their costumes to school.  I had to run the costumes up to them at lunch time when they were allowed to change.  Now, these aren't the most comfortable costumes.  The boxes are so large that they couldn't sit down in them and the heads were big and bulky.  But they had fun wearing them in the parade.  They had a lot of "that's cool" comments so they thought they were all that.

Here is Ethan:

 Here is Courtney:

 After the parade, they went outside and danced on the basketball court while the room moms got the parties ready.

Neighborhood Halloween Party

Our usual Halloween Party for the neighborhood was on Monday this year (I don't know why) and so I had to husstle to get their costumes finished.  But I finished spray painting and glueing that afternoon.  I think they turned out okay.  The kids were super excited about them.  I could have done better and will know for next time, but I think they were cute.

 Courtney loved hers because she was just like her big brother.

 I needed to get Ethan some new sweats because they were a bit short but his costume turned out cute too!

 They are making silly faces but you can't tell. ;)

We went down to the Halloween Party at about 5:30 p.m.  We were a bit late but we waited for Bryan and the kids didn't want to be there too early.  Ethan's best friend, Brennon, was sick so Ethan didn't have too much fun and didn't stay too long at the party.  But Courtney had some fun. 

Usually we just have a bounce house but this year they also had games for the kids to play.  Courtney played a few and won some candy.  Ethan had another friend from the neighborhood who won a gold fish but he didn't have a fish tank.  So he brought it over for Ethan to have since Ethan's fish died a few months ago.  It lasted 3 days before it died and now it's gone the way of all dead fishes...down the toilet.  Oh well.  It wasn't around long enough to get attached to.