Baby Shower

So - Kristy-Annie, my sweet sis had baby number 4 sometime in October. M and I threw a baby shower for her, and we had a lot of fun! I took pictures of our awesome food and decorations ... and then I didn't get the camera out for the rest of the event. Oh well. It was a fun day to spend with the girls. Love my sisters so much! 

We are so happy to have little baby Ella in our arms now!  She is sure a cutie with a fluffy head of hair.  :)

Fish Tail: A Work in Progress

Krystal has amazed me with her hair styling abilities.  She has perfected a 3 strand braid as well as the fish tail braid.  She is beginning to learn how to french braid - and nearly has the flat iron mastered.  She wants a 3 barrel curling iron for Christmas.  She has told me that I may only fix her hair twice a week - so she can get her practice in.  :)  This girl knows hair.  

And part of the reason she's gotten so good at it is because she is always begging anyone to see if they will let her teach them how to do it.  Well - Tyler signed up.  And, you better believe that he is one TOUGH student!  Krystal has been very diligent making him practice on dolls so she can instruct along the way.  This particular night in October was an exciting moment when Tyler was able to fish tail Krystal's hair all.on.his.own!!  Krystal was so proud.

The end.

Pizza Party

Well, would ya look at this! I finally made it into October. :D! We started October off on a high with General Conference = absolutely. fabulous. 

 Mom, Dad, and M came over that weekend for a spontaneous homemade pizza party. They really made it a party, because they started flinging their pizza crusts around trying to be all professional. We had a few laughsohardyounearlypeeyourpants moments there. And the pizzas turned out deeeeeeeeeeelicious!

I REALLY wish the pictures I got of the old man would have turned out.  He was a crazy person flinging his pizza dough around - and every one of his "action" shots are too blurry to view without getting a headache.  His dough ended up with big holes in it -- several times -- crazy, I tell ya.  But, hilarious.  And actually - I think his pizza looked the very best in the end.   Hmmm.

Getting down to business ... we eventually got hungry enough.  ;)

 

After the dough cooked up a bit, we added our favorite toppings:

 

 

I do believe this one is the fathers.  Pretty scrumptious looking, huh?

They all tasted yummy!  Thanks for a fun last minute night, guys!  You always make it good memories.

Threats No More ...

Well - Marissa finally did it! She got her ears pierced. Saved up a lot of money - and just went for it! Long gone are the days that I can threaten her with - "Lookie here, girlie. If you don't start behaving - I'm gonna take you to get your ears pierced!" That seriously worked for a long time! Look how pretty my darlin' Missy Dee is!  She squeezing the teddy bear tight in anticipation  ;) -

Cute Cute!  She's counting down the days (months really -- lots of them!) until she can wear dangling earrings.

Youth Conference Overview

Mid-September we had a fall Youth Conference for the Young Men and Young Women in our ward. The 3 day event turned out to be really fun. Unfortunately - I only got pictures from one evening. The first night we had an "Amazing Race". We put together scripture clues for each team and sent them around town in search of each clue to get their final worksheet. At each stop around town - we had a service opportunity staged (no one in the race new about these opportunities ... not even the leader drivers!) So, it was really fun to talk about Service at the end of the activity - and see who went out of their way to serve ... and who didn't. It was a very effective night. And fun, too! 

The next evening - we had an awesome luau - complete with games, an authentic dinner, karaoke, and dessert.  :)  Here are a few of the pictures I got that night - just the ones with Marissa or me in them (sans words):

Oh - and this one of the pig we ate ... couldn't leave that out!

Ummmm - remember, I said SANS WORDS?!?!

:)

(playing the get to know you .... better .... game)

SO funny ... and weird.  Okay -- SO weird!  ;)

Tacky Tourist Relay:

I was in charge of Hawaiian Pictionary - so, I didn't get any pictures of that.  But, Emma and Marissa drew me some pictures to remember the awesome time we had:

Karaoke Dancing:

What a great night.  They all woke up bright and early the next morning to hike Bridal Veil Falls - and enjoyed a homemade J-Dawgs lunch.  (I missed the hike day, because I went to Aaron's final football game - his team made it to the end of the tournament and took 3rd place.)  But - Marissa said it rocked.  And - I believe her!  We have a great group of youth in our ward.

Cruising

After Marissa spent a torturous 2 and 1/2 weeks in high school - she left on a cruise for an entire week! (She was asked by some close friends to come along to help care for their 3 small children).  And pretty much had the time of her life!  Here they are just before boarding their boat:

They had a couple of stops on the cruise - and this was one of them.  They spent a day hanging out on the beach.  It was one of Marissa's favorites.

She also LOVED the food so much.  She talked about the food itself for weeks after she got home.  haha!  She tried escargot, crocodile, stuffed mushrooms, and several other strange foods.  She is very much so a huge fan of this lil' gal, ClaireBear.  AND - she loved how the whole boat had polka-dot-esque decor.

On another day excursion - they boarded a pirate ship and participated in a live pirate show where the pirates really walked the plank and ker-plopped right into the ocean!

Arghhhhh!

 

So grateful for the influence this beautiful lady has in Marissa's life.  She was a leader in Young Women's for Marissa's first four years as a young women - and many of those were as the president.  We all really like their family. :)

Swimming with the dolphins!  I love this picture - talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity.  But, hopefully - she'll get to go again ... with ME on board with her next time.  ;)

 

Marissa was a sweetie and brought us all home souvenirs.  She was so excited to give them to us!  :)  She's getting so grown up - it's really crazy.

I'm grateful for my family - and I'm grateful for friends that are like family.