Busy time and Maddie's hair

This time of year really does sneak up on me. We have been all of the sudden so busy! It has been fun though. The kids are having parties all the time, we have soccer now and school seems to be busier for the kids. I am looking forward to a week off of school at Thanksgiving and I'm sure my kids are too. I have been neglecting the things that can wait, like blogging and keeping a clean house. But we keep going and doing all the important stuff. Most of the time.

Since I last posted about Nicole's cute hair as a little girl I thought I would contrast that with the hair Maddie has been blessed with. Her hair that grows out of her nevus is a little crazy. It grows so much faster than the rest of her hair. I feel that she is too little to have to fight tangeled hair.

This is what we wake up to every morning.

Flashback Friday: Nicole's curly hair

When Nicole was a little girl she had the most beautiful curls. Once we finally had to cut her hair it never grew in the same way. I still miss those cute hair days she had.

So Cute!

First Hunting Trip

Joey had his first real hunting trip last week. Geoff took him out to the desert to hunt some quail. He had fun even though the didn't get any quail. They did come home with one dove. He ate it for lunch the next day. Actually, Nicole ate most of it. It was just fun for him to be with Dad and ride the quad. Next time they will bring home more.

Playing with Cousins

My kids don't have very many cousins, and half of them live far away. Geoff's sister was here this week and my kids loved playing with Wil and Josie.

I know this isn't a very good picture and Katie's dress was up, but they were too busy playing to stop for pictures.

I kept trying to get Josie to smile for me. This was all I got.
She just wanted me to get pictures of her "flips".

I got this one of Nicole doing her back handsprings. I thought it was fun, even though it's all blurry. I haven't really figured out my new camera yet.

Katie and Wil having fun shooting with Wil's guns. This is something that Katie would never be interested in but with Wil around she would play anything.

Cute Maddie playing in the grass.

We wish our cousins were here to play more but we love having them come for a visit.

General Conference

I thought it was so nice to hear from our prophet and leaders at this time. Sometimes life just gets a little hard. I think I was getting caught up in the problems that are facing our country and I was worried and wondering where it would all lead. After listening to conference I feel so much better. In the first talk, President Monson reminded us that Heavenly Father is aware of us and our needs. Some of my other highlights were:

-L. Tom Perry- "The best is yet to come"

-Neil Anderson- "You don't know everything, but you know enough"

-I loved President Uchtdorf's talk on hope. "Faith is greater than fear, hope is greater than despair". We don't need to fear. Have Faith, Hope and Charity.

-Joseph B. Wirthlin-"Come what may and love it". During hard times we need to learn to laugh, seek for the eternal, and put our trust in Heavenly Father. His story about his daughter thinking her blind date was picking her up but really it was someone picking her sister up to babysit. So funny!

-President Eyring talk on unity. Be humble and don't judge other unnecessarily.

-Elder Hales talk on having Christian Courage. It made so much sense!

-I loved how Sister Dalton started her talk saying, "I can do hard things." That is one of my most favorite sayings. And then she said, "In the strength of the Lord, I can do all things."

-President Monson-"Find joy in the journey, Now!"

I love Conference weekend. I tried hard the week before to really prepare for it and I feel so grateful to have learned so much. I hope all of these great messages will stay with me and help me to become better. That is what we all want. Right?

My little artist

There are times when I just need to keep Madelyn busy so I can get things done. She has been so clingy lately, just wanting to be held. She discovered coloring. I got out a coloring book and crayons for her and she had so much fun. But the coloring has not stopped since. She saw where the markers and crayons were kept and that is her favorite place. She never bothers to get the paper out. There are so many more interesting places to color. I love washable markers, but I think this is getting out of hand.

Time to find a new place to keep the markers.