Halloween 2019

We had a good time celebrating Halloween this year.  Kayden knew what he wanted to be for Halloween more than a month early whereas Jaxon didn't think he was going to dress up until two days before.  It was a fun year though and our costumes brought lots of smiles.

Jeremy's office went all things Harry Potter this year.  They decked out the office and everyone dressed up as a character for two days.  Jeremy was Professor Snape.

 The office staff day one.

The office staff day two.
 

 Harry Potter and Snape dueling.
 

 Dr. Gardner and Dr. White
 

Bellatrix (Dania) looked all too real!

Jeremy attended a ward in our stake's Halloween party for his church calling.  Since he was already dressed up, I borrowed a costume and dressed as Professor McGonagle and went with him.  Needless to say that when we showed up to the party we were the only adults dressed up.  That may have been slightly embarrassing.  At least we looked good!

The boys costumes as they went off to school:

 Jaxon as fat Thor.

 Josh as Forrest Gump (I am run-ning!!)
 

 Kayden as Steve from Stranger Things.

Kayden at his school's costume parade.  It was his last Halloween at the elementary school.

 My exercise peeps.  Amber, our instructor and friend, has a class where we all dress up and exercise to Halloween themed songs. I went as Napoleon Dynamite.

Last but not least I have to include a picture of a veggie tray I made for Jaxon to take to a Halloween party:

I honestly didn't think any of the teens at the party would eat any of it so I decided to make it cute.  I was wrong though.  The teens ate every last vegetable on the tray!  I guess if you make it look good they will eat it!

Vantage Point Makeover

Our ward took on a large service project makeover of the facility Vantage Point that started over Fall Break and lasted through the next week.  We all participated in various ways by helping with demolition, sanding doors, roofing, painting, landscaping, tiling, putting together furniture, installations, baking cookies, and so on.

 Jaxon meeting us at Grandma and Grandpa Haacke's just after a full morning of demolition down at the facility.  We were helping Grandma and Grandpa with a yard project.

 Josh working on some landscaping.

When we were there on the last day, BYUTV showed up to do a news story on the makeover and they interviewed Josh.  Grandma and Grandpa Haacke happened to record the BYUTV news that day and caught the story along with Josh's interview.  Just keep in mind the story was done by a broadcasting student and I had to record the story off the TV with my phone.

The project was a lot of work but a a big success.  Hopefully many kids will be able to benefit from it in the future.

Fall Tennis Season

Josh and his buddies signed up for tennis this year to play with the high school instead of the Jr High.  It was a good experience for Josh to play against some tougher opponents.  His tennis skills improved a lot and he had a great season!

At the end of the season Josh ended up playing in two tournaments.  He played with the JV team where he lost his singles match and won his doubles match.  Then he also played in the exhibition doubles tournament.

He and his friend Matt won first place!

Photography Story of Pirate Pete

Kayden is determined to get his Eagle Scout award regardless that our church will no longer participating in the scouting program come January.  I have been pretty impressed by his efforts as he is well on his way and is on target to get his Eagle by the end of the year next year.  He went to the BYU merit badge pow wow and had to make a photo story using pictures for his photography merit badge.  He took some pictures of our Halloween Skeleton Pirate Pete and then made a slide show.  His photo story was the hit of his class!  His slide show was titled "A Day in the Life of Pirate Pete".  Here are his photos:

 

Flag Football

Kayden played flag football with some of his friends this year.  (Left to right: Josh, Bryton, Max, Coach Jeremy, Tyson, Tacen, Cole and Kayden)  It was a tough season but the kids had fun!

Sadies

Jaxon went to Sadies this year with a good friend from our neighborhood.  They had a good time together throwing axes, eating JCWs and dancing the night away.

 

When Maile came to pick Jaxon up for their date.

 They are pretty fine farmers...and tough too!

Their Sadies group.

Dental Dash

It has become tradition in our family that whoever is available goes and runs the Eric Vogel Memorial 5K Dental Dash.  This is our third year doing it.  Jaxon was still recovering from being sick and I don't love running, so we walked a mile in and a mile back.  We enjoyed chatting despite the frigid temperatures.  Jeremy and Josh, who enjoys running, ran the whole thing.  Either way, it was a good morning and we enjoy connecting with our dental peeps and celebrating all the good Dr Eric Vogel did.

 

Josh crossing the finish line with Jeremy (who is crossing for the second time).

Some of our dental peeps.  Some of the staff at Jeremy's office comes and participates in the race.  (Jaxon is a big tease.  He stood right in front of me trying to block me from the picture.  That kid makes me laugh.)

Get Away

It has been stressful around her the last few weeks.  So we decided that we needed to escape and just relax for a couple of days.  We loaded up the car and drove down to St. George for conference weekend.  We lounged, went swimming, ate good food, played games, watched movies, watched conference, went to a show at Tuacahn and just found our chi.  It was a great weekend!

Just as we will pulling up to Tuacahn to watch The Little Mermaid, all the boys let me know they didn't even know what the show was about.  Oops...I guess that's what happens when you grow up in a house full of boys!  Maybe next time we should see a less girly show.

Senior Jaxon

Jaxon has been doing great his senior year.  Sadly he came down with a nasty cold and has had to miss a couple of half days of school.

Being a (sick) senior must be hard work because he never sleeps during the day.