Trunk or Treat

Elijah used the red suit that I bought David last year. 

It covers the whole body (including the head). 

Sybil was terrified by it a year ago. 

Even the mention of it would make her squeal.

These 2 dudes went to a church dance later in the evening.

Elijah did a wardrobe change (see picture at the end) to stun the ladies.

Can you tell who did Elsa's lipstick?

Iris invited her besties to come.

She was fixated on the cupcake contest, contriving new ideas to win all week.

And they won!

 We told the kids that if they wanted new costumes this year, they would have to contribute at least 50% of the cost. Claire threw together what she had and was a:

Hawaiian hot dog hula dancer.

And she won the costume contest!

James Bond, on the way to the dance:

5 people = 5 schools

5 of the 6 of us are in school 

+ none of us go to the same school

= way too many emails

Elijah changed schools after Fall break and is enjoying it so far. 

I tried to take a picture of him on his first day, 

but he slapped the phone out of my hand

in a loving manner, of course.

In other news, Sybil has a new refrain these days:

"Iris loves blood and boogers,

But I only love boogers."

After one of the many times she told me this,

I asked her is she meant this on a gustatory level. 

She affirmed and then asked me if blood tastes like strawberries.

Catch Up: Fall Break

GG came to visit for Fall Break. 

We visited Pangea: Land of the dinosaurs

David took off work and they went to Tombstone

We went to a candy store

and KTR

And the State Fair

Sybil did not dig the scary ride

As I was taking this picture, Iris said to this llama, 

"Hi buddy, I love this just as much as you do."

Isn't this how every kid looks at a state fair: crying with an ice cream cone in her hand and on her face/body. Please notice what her shirt says because it's the reason she's smiling in the next picture:

the fake "Super, Fabulous Birthday Girl" got a free stuffed animal.

This April baby is a sneaky one.

A huge piece of news is that Sybil learned to ride a bike while GG was here. 

Davi bought her a ridiculously expensive bike while I was at clinical and she was up and riding solo within 5 minutes after getting on it. No training wheels necessary. At church the next day, she insisted on wearing a t-shirt and shorts underneath her dress so she could immediately strip and jump on her bike upon arriving at home. This was her show choice. She knew she had to change into tennis shoes to ride her bike, but could only find one sock.

And here is Claire at her drama performance. The class wrote their own play about the creation of the world and it was quite impressive.

Claire invited both her running coach and a running friend who came to see her perform.

Halloween season!

David had training in NYC.

On a whim, he decided to run the Brooklyn half marathon as a last hurrah before his ankle surgery.

He met up with his bestie who flew in from Michigan.

Reflections on Nursing and my Mediocrity

      I've been thinking about  my experience in nursing school. It has been hard. The hardest things is the blow to my ego; I'm not as awesome as I thought I was. I'm tempted to make a slew of excuses as to why I'm not doing well. But I'll resist.
      My first check-off was a disaster. I got the absolute lowest grade in a class of 90 people. I publicly bawled. I studied in a frenzy, lost weight and sleep, and bawled. I made an appointment to meet with the teacher. And I bawled. But as I was despairing in her office, an instrumental "Near My God to Thee" started playing on the playlist on her computer. And I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
      Yesterday at my first clinical, I felt like another piece of the puzzle was added. Clinical was fun! I shadowed a wound nurse. We put changed the dressings on several people, prepared several woulds (on one leg) for a wound vac, we packed a deep would, and met so many good people, including a 102 year old man.
      Today, Elder Uctdorf said that discipleship is not about being perfect, it is about putting forth effort. He spoke about Bilbo Baggins who learned that life isn't about eating six meals a day and playing musical instruments. So here I am, in my first semester of nursing school and if I don't make it past the first semester, I'll be back to six meals a day and might take up the harp.

 Sunday morning
trying to set up the tent before General Conference.
Two were set up by the second session.

In between the sessions we all biked to the park so I could take pictures.

Excited for the last session!

My Voice

I wasn't able to see most of General Conference yesterday because it was my first day of clinical (which I loved!). But last night I went to the General Women's session. 

Poki bowls beforehand:

President Nelson invited us to read D&C 25. I read it this morning. 

It was chaotic trying to read with 3 girls floating around me (Elijah is asleep). 

I plugged my ears and read the section aloud. 

Maybe this sounds kooky, but it sounded like God was in my head talking to me. 

It was the last verse that did it. After so many beautiful words, I got to the last verse and thought, 

"This is going to be the verse." 

And it was. 

Heavenly Father told me, "This is my voice."

And it was.

Weekend fun

I'll start with this pic. This is one thing Sybil has learned in Pre-K: 

how to use a swing without being pushed.

More progress: she's really catching on to reading and is

loving books now that I'm more consistent with teaching. 

Last Saturday, Claire did great at her cross country meet.

Then she was dropped off at her drama rehearsal.

David and I took a quick trip to Vegas for a formal gala. 

Afterwards, we went out to

Black Tap with our good friends from Michigan.

The next pics are from the night before.

On Friday we went to Miss Saigon.

It was way too risqué for our taste, especially when an LDS missionary was lured.

We are all laughing in these pictures because our seats were 

so high in the nosebleed section 

that my dad was having acrophobic fits.