Noah Baptism Preparation

Dad has been studying every night with Noah from the Book of Mormon leading up to his baptism. Noah has such a sweet tender spirit. His testimony is in the beginning stages, but is very sincere. He has prayed about the Book of Mormon and knows that it is true. He loves Jesus and trusts Him. Noah is always looking for opportunities to serve and help others and wants to do the right thing. We are very proud of his choices and that he has chosen to be baptized. We went to the temple to take some pictures at the temple to have for his baptism. He also wanted to make cookies to bring to Grandmama and Grandpa Long's house Sunday night to celebrate his birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa Rushton

Grandma and Grandpa Rushton got home from serving a six month mission in the Nauvoo Illinois temple. Shortly after they got back they came out to see us and the new house. They were only here for a few hours when my Dad noticed an empty space behind a wall in the closet and asked if we wanted him to take the wall down. We had so much fun taking the wall down, putting support beams up, and turning a dead space into a fun little storage area. The boys loved to help where they could. Owen and Emmett especially loved being helpers and handing Grandpa nails and sometimes even swinging the hammer when needed. Brett performed with the Cinamatic Pop while my parents were here so I took the boys one of the nights and Grandma and Grandpa got to go out on a date another night. The music was incredible and it was great to see Brett sing with such a big choir. Before they left we went to the Mesa temple lights as a family.

Thanksgiving 2016

One of our favorite family traditions in Utah was Thanksgiving with friends and neighbors. Every year since we've been married, excepting 2, we have opened our home up to people who had no one else to spend Thanksgiving with. I spend the days before baking pies, rolls,  and side dishes and Brett spends Thanksgiving cooking the bird, making mashed potatoes, and gravy. Thanksgiving is Brett's big cooking day of the year. With all that said, we knew we would need to make some changes in Arizona, and we loved being able to spend Thanksgiving with the Partridges. We've spent so long without all this family close to us, that we sometimes forget how wonderful it is to have people to spend holidays with. It was fun, relaxing, and the kids loved being able to spend the day with cousins. I still made a couple of pies and Brett got to make the turkey.

November 2016

We're still getting used to Arizona wheather, but so far November is my favorite. It's finally not hot anymore and we can enjoy playing outside for more then five minutes. Hyrum went on a field trip to a chocolate factory. I sent him with $5 to get a treat there and he came home with a giant bag of popcorn. . . that wasn't the treat I was hoping for, but we had fun making a LOT of carameled popcorn. Baby Brett has been climbing ontop of the table for a while now. It's like his second home. He's always up there, even when we're not sitting at the table. I wonder if he stays up there so that he can be at the same level as his brothers. He's still as sweet as ever though, so we are forgiving. Emmett is very rumbunctious and hard to keep track of most of the time. He can be challenging, but he is also the cutest, sweetest little toddler there is. Owen had a preschool singing presentation just before Thanksgiving. It was very cute and he was so excited to sing for us. One Saturday the boys were bored so we decided to let them earn money by removing rocks from the backyard. They spent hours out there filling bucket after bucket of rocks, so after a long day of shoveling we decided to finish it off with a play area for them. It was a lot of work, but well worth it. 

Halloween 2016

Halloween preparations began with with a variation of 'Halloween Wars' competition. The boys were given a challenge to create a scary scene using pumpkin, rice crispy treats, and their imaginations. It was a fun activity. A few days before Halloween we had a fun ward party. The boys won an award for their costumes as Ghost Busters. Hyrum really wanted to be something scary so he settled on a zombie mummy, which he pulled off really well. He scared me when we got his makeup on! Noah was a very convincing Harry Potter. I found someone that makes wands and he was able to choose from a few different wands to see which wand 'chose' him. The whole costume was magical. Halloween was busy with trick or treating and meeting up with the Partridges for a party. The women dressed up as characters from the movie Inside Out. I was Joy. Cassi was Anger. Kaley was Fear, Amy disgust, and Cheryl sadness.

Fall Break!

Fall break was so much fun with the boys. We found a new park that we LOVE and went to the Phoenix Zoo. The boys have had a lot of fun. At the zoo they loved seeing all the animals, but I think their favorite thing was the water park. The boys also went to a chess round robin tournament. They got some great practice with Dad before hand.