Lou's Home Round 2!

We have had such a fun fun time with Lou home. We will be sad to see him leave tomorrow. Its weird thinking that I think its a privilege to have Lou home.  It should just be the norm, right?

Lou arrived on Sunday, Leann was kind enough to pick him up, we were at church.  It was such a nice feeling getting home and seeing him!  Josh's primary teacher said that Josh spent half the class talking about Lou coming home.  That boy sure does love his dad!

We had a relaxing Sunday honestly can't remember what we did, I think we had frozen pizza for dinner and watched kid Halloween shows from the DVR.  Kira got comfy right away

I don't really remember what we did this week but it was nice to be all together.

Halloween was yesterday.  The kids were super excited all. day. long.   Lou and I went over to the school for the Halloween parade. I love it every year and it was extra special this year to have Lou watching it with me.  Instead of going into the crowded gym we elected to watch the parade from the playground where the kids walked from the classrooms to go to the gym.  (awesome choice as in years past the gym is super crowed and stressful)  Kira made a cute little Hermoine Granger and Josh a handsome Obi-Wan Kenobi.  (Josh wasn't allowed to bring a light saber to school).  We missed the annual party (soup pot luck) at the now bishop's house which was disappointing.    But we of course didn't miss the most important part of Halloween the trick or treating!

So tomorrow we go back to the real world as lou returns to Boise. We are so spoiled with him home it will be hard to wait to see him again.  Ugh I really don't know how we will keep doing this until summer.  Thank goodness for good friends, support of family and modern technology!

Oh need to document this, a few days ago the school had a recognition assembly. Kira got this award from one of her teachers.  I loved it.  Kira does make everyone feel like a star. I love our girl so much.

October is a Great Month!

I feel like sometimes because of Facebook, Twitter, now Instagram and of course my personal journals, this blog gets neglected, which is sad. I love this blog, I love going back and reading old posts. I want to be able to come back and read about this time in our life in a few years.

Lou is on his second tour in Boise.  I am getting more used to him being gone. Lou did come home for a few days at the end of September. We celebrated our anniversary.

yes everyone has seen this photo by now but hey its my blog.  Lou and I  October 2, 2012

Lou and I walked around City Creek and ate at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Jeff and Leann watched Kira and Josh for us, they allowed them to spend the night.  It was great to have that one-on-one time with Lou since we *literally* did not get to see each other more than a few days out of the month.

Lately I have really felt so much better thyroid-wise.  I feel like I have more energy, I feel more fit, I feel more happy.  I hope I can always work with a doctor who listens to me and respects what I know about my body.

The kids had Fall Break the past few days.  It was a blast to have them home.  Lets be honest I was not looking forward to Fall break at all, not one bit.  I was worried that I'd feel that stress of when the kids used to be home all day and Lou was gone at work or school all day.  But nope we had a blast, the kids were great and I didn't tire or get frustrated with them home all day and Lou being gone.

It was not as cold as you would imagine with how Kira is dressed.  Nice Fall weather!

We did fun activities including : trips to Target, watching Halloween movies, reading Halloween books, playing with friends, Riverwoods, dinner with Nana and Gramps, dinner with the Jensens, friend's birthday party, and yummy treats.

Kira starts her musical practices tomorrow. I am helping out with the piano. Kira didn't get the lead of Virginia. Kira did get a solo and special dance numbers, we will find out more tomorrow. Kira was crushed but I think she will still have fun. (The musical is "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus" its by Macy's. )

Kira and Josh's school pictures this year.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) the kids return to school.  I get to go back to my daily routines.  And in a few weeks we'll get to see Louis.

lou is home

yes a pic from Halloween, I finally took them off our camera. Do you like me and Lou's couple costume? I am a witch and lou is a muggle from HP 1 when Seamus says "me dad's a muggle ; mam's a witch" 

• we picked up lou from the airport this morning, yay for lou being home.
• last night was the only night I had to work when lou was out of town but I got there and they said I didn't need to work because our section was super small for everything that was going on and they weren't going to have a Scoreboard page.  It was nice though I stayed for an hour and the kids were in bed when I got home. Our neighbor's the Grows watched the kids for me, they first went to the Grow's house and played Wii then Tabby their daughter brought them back to our house and put them to bed. Its so nice to have nice neighbors who are more than willing to help out!
• Friday night I hung out with Robin. We watched Downton Abbey and ate yummy lime flavored popcorn. Don't judge it was really really good, it was just a hint of lime. We also had mint m&m's and cadbury mini-eggs. I had totally forgotten that Cadbury puts out their mini-eggs at christmas time now, it was such a happy surprise when I saw  them at the store. 
• Today i have been super tired, no idea why I got over 8 hrs of sleep last night. I nearly fell over playing the piano for the Children's choir after church today I was so tired. 
• tonight we are having dinner at the Jensen's house. We went a few weeks ago. They have a big dinner every Sunday with lots of people over. I visit teach Kelly and Lou and Corey get a long really well.  There was a bunch of college-aged kids a few weeks ago at the dinner, our kids felt like they fit right in with them, happily sitting at the "kids table" with the college kids. 
• last Sunday I went with Alyssa and her friend Kate to the Messiah Sing-A-long at Abrevenal Hall. I meant to do an entire blog post about it but alas the week escaped me. We had such a good time. Alyssa's husband Jared, recently started working for the Church so we were able to park underneath the Conference Center, it was great to not have to worry about a parking spot. When we were walking there we saw Doug and Elizabeth Finlinson (Sharon's brother-in-law and his wife). The music was so beautiful. The soloists did a great job as did the choir. I love singing it even when I don't really know it all. Alyssa and I went a few years ago to the one in Provo so it was lots of fun to do it again but this time in Salt Lake. The spirit was very strong. It was a great introduction to the Christmas season.

Good

Life is good .  Sometimes I read others blogs and feel a ting of jealousy. I wonder how their lives are always so  busy and beautiful. I then think well my life is good too I just need to pick out the small things and actually blog about them, think about them be grateful for them.

 Halloween was a blast. I love our neighborhood, I love our ward.  We went to Lou's parents for a Halloween party.  The kids had fun doing a little bit of trick or treating up there (including Raja Bell's house) We returned home just in time to see a HUGE group of kids at our house.  It was nice to see kids actually trick or treating, houses having traditions, music in the air.  We didn't experience that at the condo. It honestly felt like my neighborhood when I was a child. I just love this neighborhood.

Tonight I had to play the piano at the young women's Young Women's in Excellence.  I went to one in our first ward when we were first married. It was different going now closer being the parents than the girls. Lou and I teach the 12-13 Sunday School class. It was nice to see our girls there. I enjoyed the talks about goals. It motivated me to set weekly goals.  Something I plan on following up on my blog when appropriate.  I would like to go back to being 17 or so knowing what I know now but at the same time I love where I am now.

My Uncle Bob is not doing well.  He can only be awake for mins at at time. Emails from my Aunt Claire allude to that his time is near. I feel bad that my Uncle has to go through this.  I am sad for our family.  I am grateful for the peace the Lord brings to me. I have studied recently a lot about Faith. I feel that Faith is a gift from God. I am glad to have it during this time.

Today Josh came in from playing. I was in a different room and said "who's home?" Josh said "hey its me Joshy ( ran to where I was with a huge grin) your best buddy!"  I sure love that boy.

Kira got into the Gifted and Talented program at school. I am pretty proud.  I loved being in GT in school.
Kira gets smarter every day.

Halloween Fun

All last week seemed like a celebration of Hallowen.  The library had a special Halloween story time, complete with a Halloween parade. Kira's preschoolhad Halloween party, Kira's dance studio had a Halloween party (this was all on Thursday) and finally the big day Halloween!

We went to the ward's trunk or treat (really no option here as in all our neighbors go to it so if we were to knock doors no one would be home)  Kira was Daisy Duck, Joshy was Pluto, Lou was a hillbilly adn I was a Halloween girl( pumpkin shirt and Halloween socks from Target with crazy hair and crazy (for me) makeup)

Finally pictures on my blog again.