November

 I have been trying to get Denali out of his comfort zone. He really is a home body. He helped out at a school Carnival. It was so cute, Colvin and Azalyn got tons of little prizes.

I was able to go to a Relief Society activity where they did apple nachos. It was apples with caramel and toppings; chocolate chips, marshmallow, nuts, coconut… I would love to do it with my family at some point. Then We painted Christmas mats. I have no painting skills, but it was still fun. Our ward does so much. They put on a Turkey Trot for the primary. Colvin was not 100% that day but everyone had a great time.  Colvin gave a talk in primary, then was asked to give the prayer in sacrament. I love that they are involving the primary more.

We all need to be good citizens. I went to vote and had to go twice. The first time I could not find my information. After coming home and doing some research I found that I could only vote for the national, Not state.  I love to read and will read just about anything (don’t like Horror) I love books on tape, but I am way pickier because I have to like the voice on audio.  One more hooray for me; I have been doing great on Keto. I feel good, and I am starting to see that it is working. Slow and steady.

We have to find the tender mercies in our life. I know that when I am feeling down and feeling the darkness creep up, I have to run and run hard. I also have to serve more and most of the time that is with my family. Greg has been getting home really late. I have been spending 10 min one on one with each kid. They all love it and look forward to it.

The kids I watch about once a month all have birthdays within 3 weeks, we were the only family that all got invited. YES, my boys were the oldest, but they do so good with little kids. They had a balloon guy come and everyone had a great time.  We also had a community BBQ; the kids loved the bounce houses. If there is a drawing and Greg puts his name in it, he will get picked. He got an Amazon gift card.

This is how your OX is in the mire. Saturday Greg fixed the outlets in our bathrooms. Sunday, I plugged in my straightener and nothing. We went to church and then had to come home and redo all the outlets. (we had one that was bad and blew them all)

I took the kids to a Veterans Day parade. Only in AZ are you in short and sweating during a veterans’ day parade.  Azalyn keeps saying veterinarian day.  I had to laugh because when I was 8, we went to TX and stayed in Condos, and I told everyone we were staying in Condoms.  Since my kids had the day off, the boys and I, (really Denali) put our tree up. It is nice having older kids, that can help.  Yes, my kids still jump/get pushed into the pool once a month to see if it is still cold, still freezing.

This is the best time of year for the drive-in. We watched Wild Robot; I don’t know if it was just the night or my mood, but I laughed till I was crying. It personified being a parent to a T. We had left in time to make the 6:30 show but getting food took WAY longer. We ended up getting ice cream and made the 8 shows.

Our city puts on some of the coolest things. They hosted a science fair; they had tons of different business and clubs came and showed off what they offer. There were tons of STEM programs. The kids loved all the freebies.

GREG: Greg had back surgery. I had to stay in the waiting room for 3 hrs. I could not leave they must have a lot of people “forget” patients. The kids were happy because they got to stay home from school. Then I had a friend bring pizza. Greg has done great. The pain meds help him sleep. He is slow and sore but having kids makes him get up and do things. Greg really helps me slow down when he is home. I realize I don’t get to snuggle him on the couch much, but I can do laundry and dishes any day.

Azalyn had a sad but good growing up experience. She had an old friend from Preschool invite her to a park. First, they were late, so she was sad about that. Then she realized she was bigger. They only wanted to play with the other preschool friends. It was sad to see but she said mom I am in big school now and my friends are in big school.

My kids’ favorite game is telestrations, they are begging for it for Christmas. Denali found an online version. It is kind of a pain for all of us to get on but then it is so fun.  Azalyn can even play most of the versions with us. I laugh so hard because none of us can draw.

Colvin knows how to use the secret. He asks for Olive Garden all the time. About once a month we go. Only on keto I eat less, and Olive Garden hurts my tummy.  We took the kids mini golfing just for something to get out. I kicked butt, we all had a good time.  Fast Azalyn story- she put $5 in the garbage because it was ripped. We had to have a talk about how things can be fixed. 

As we were going to Thanksgiving (see another blog) mom called and dad had a mini stroke. He will be fine but it rocked our world.