A-Mazing October

I LOVE October!  It is my absolute favorite month of the entire year.  There are a lot of reasons for it...the awesome weather, the turning of the leaves (seriously...so beautiful here in Oregon), the harvest theme, General Conference and the celebration of the birth of two of my favorite people. 

So to start, let's talk Activity Days.  (For those that don't know, Activity days is a twice a month meeting for girls aged 8 to 11 designed to teach them life skills and about the Gospel.  I was asked by my church leaders to run this meeting.)  I am learning to love this calling more and more with each activity.  I love how excited Allison gets that her mom is planning her activities.  I love these girls and I love having them in my home every other Thursday.  Our second activity of the school year was a prep for General Conference.  We played a trivia game where we got to know the First Presidency members and the apostles and then we assembled these fun "Conference Kits" for use during General Conference.  They included crossword puzzles, Bingo, snacks, crayons and more.  Allison and Lydia loved using their kits during the Sunday session of Conference.

The second Activity Days of October was held right before Halloween so we decided to have a craft night. We made these bracelets and we decorated fun spooky cookies.  The girls had a great time!  (Thank  you Pinterest for the cookie ideas!) 

The Hay Maze has become an annual tradition for our family.  It is at Lone Pine Farms and we look forward to our annual Family Home Evening every year.

This year the teenagers decided they could do the maze on their own.  We stumbled across them a few times but they made it out of the maze way before we did.  Smart girls!

Casey and Lydia pose for a picture in an upright coffin that is hidden deep in the maze.

At night, the Lone Pine people transform it into a haunted maze.  We were glad that we didn't experience the maze of horror but we got a pretty good idea of what the haunted maze consists of as we passed the props along the way.

Our beautiful Lydia.

Maggie and Lydia stayed pretty close to us inside the maze.

Did I mention that we have two special birthdays in October?  Maggie turned 13 this year and Casey turned 41.  We had a joint party as we usually do.

I made them a double decker chocolate cake.  Casey's layer (the top) had peanut butter filling.

Their favorite gifts came not from me but from our incredible extended family!  The Boorens (specifically Jared) gave them each a "cutting" of their favorite things.  Maggie got a dragon and Casesy got Disney.  Uncle Jared spends hours and  hours cutting these designs out of a simple piece of paper.  He then mounts the paper in between two pieces of glass.  They are stunning.

Grandma Walburger made Maggie this dragon T-shirt which Maggie proudly wore to school the next day.  Maggie loves dragons if  you couldn't tell!

I did get her some cool stuff too.  She got a drawing book, some colored pencils and a Dragon encyclopedia.  Casey got a ton of 3d movies and a milk shake maker.  

I will update Halloween soon but until then, here are the last few weeks of our life as I have tried to catch up with our project 365.

Sweet, Sweeeet 16!

Our baby is 16!!!  Holy cow!   We can't believe it and we quite frankly are having a hard time accepting that she can now drive and date.  Ughh!  The good news is that she is a great kid and a pretty easy 16 year old.  

Charlotte has a not so subtle obsession with the movie Frozen.  (Yes, she's 16 but she still loves the music and the characters.)  Her buddy Jenna went to  Disneyland a week ago and surprised Charlotte with a card containing the signatures of both Anna and Elsa.  Charlotte spent an hour staring at that card she was so thrilled.  (Frozen is obviously not just an obsession for little girls)

For her birthday cake, she requested a Frozen themed cake...no characters, just ice.  So,  I came up with this one:

Charlotte loved it and it was very yummy!

Her party was a family one as for some reason she has no desire to have a friend Sweet 16 party.  She got some jewelry, a few t-shirts (she is wearing one in this picture), a blanket with Elsa on it, and some Disney trading pins featuring, you guessed it...Frozen.  (It was actually a pretty easy birthday to shop for...one stop shopping on Zulilly.com)

Aunt Charlotte made Charlotte this skirt (inspired by one of Anna's dresses in the film).  She even did all the embroidery on the hem of the skirt by hand.  Her husband told us that it took her hours and hours to finish and Charlotte looks amazing in it.  It's a perfect fit and she is excited to wear it on Sunday,

So, there you have it...one sweet 16 is in the books.  Charlotte really made it easy for us. So now we embark on a new journey that includes driver's tests and dates.  She did get asked to go to Homecoming next weekend with a guy from her school choir but the youth will be away at a Regional Youth Conference so she had to decline.  She was very flattered at the offer though.

I am so far behind but here is week 35...yeah, I'm still working on August.

First day of school

The first day of school has come and gone (a few weeks ago) and I have failed to post any pictures of this, one of my most favorite days of the year.  I LOVE my kids.  I LOVE  having them home for the entire summer but I also LOVE seeing them trot out the door, lunches and backpacks in hand, on their way to school.  By the end of August, they need that structure as much as I do!

We had some big changes this year.  First of all, Jillian is in high school!  I truly feel like time is whipping by faster and faster with each passing year and that my children are turning into young adults right before my eyes.  She was so nervous on her first day.  We could tell she was nervous because she spent the whole morning yelling at everyone as she struggled to get ready.  After about a week of school, she has settled in (though she says she hates it.)  At least she has big sister Charlotte there to lend a hand as a Sophomore.

Jillian and Charlotte on their first day of high school

Maggie is a seventh grader this year and the only child in middle school.  I think she misses having her older sister there.

Lydia and Allison are in second and fifth grade.  They are beyond thrilled to be back at school.  Allison is a captain on the school's safety patrol.  That means she runs the crosswalk and trains others to work there too.  She enjoys it but she doesn't love the early mornings.  Lydia's teacher is our next door neighbor so she is over the moon with joy!  

Lydia on the first day of school...wearing her new Anna and Elsa shirt.

Safety patrol.  I think that vest and sign are a little big for her.

My two elementary school girls on their first day of school

So, there you have it.  The first  few weeks of school are already finished and the weather is changing as fall pushes out the summer heat.  The kids left his morning wearing jackets to school.  I have spent my days working with Casey at the office and cleaning my house.  Life is good and it keeps marching on!

Here is a week from our summer.  I need to get caught up.

Summer Fun

Summer is about over!  I have to admit, I am really glad.  I love fall...the colors, the cool weather, the activities and mostly, the fact that kids are back in school!  My poor house suffers greatly during the summer months with five kids at home all day (three of which are messy teens) and I am anxious to do some deep cleaning and organizing.  Our little house seems even smaller in the summertime.

We have had some awesome experiences this summer.  Here they are, in no particular order:

After two days of cramming, Charlotte earned the Seminary Scholar award at seminary graduation.  She had to finish the whole book of mormon and the day before graduation, had two whole books to go.  So, she read non-stop and barely completed it before we left for the meeting.  She loved her first year of seminary.

Casey got this new grill for Father's day.  He picked it out himself and he loves it!  He can fit a ton of meat on the grill.  We have cooked on this grill so much this summer!

In an effort to expand our event rental business, we purchased two Segway Knock-offs to rent.  They are called Free-Gos and they are much cheaper than Segways but handle pretty much the same.  We hope to rent them out to Grad parties next year.  We have spent MANY a summer night running around the Thurston streets on these.  

Over the Fourth of July, I left Casey at home with the two youngest girls and left for his family reunion in Nauvoo, IL.  He just couldn't get away from work so, in an effort to make the trip more enjoyable for me, he allowed me to just take the teens.  It was really fun to just have them to worry about.  We flew into St. Louis and the next day, went to Six Flags amusement park.  We had so much fun there!

Next up was amazing Nauvoo!  We had to pinch ourselves as we drove into Nauvoo and saw the temple.  We couldn't believe we were actually there!  We stayed in the Nauvoo House which was just barely under construction when Joseph Smith died but was finished for Emma to live in years later.  The whole Westover clan stayed here..right on the banks of the Mississippi.  It was amazing to see everyone but we really missed Casey and the little girls.

We got a chance to go on a real handcart trek.  (it was only 3 miles but was very authentic).  The mud from the previous night's rainstorm was crazy thick and sticky.  None of us came away from that trek without being covered in mud.  The girls and I went straight to the laundromat and washed everything.  

The best part was watching the cousins spend time, laugh and sing together.  My girls LOVE their Westover cousins.  Other activities included the Nauvoo pageant, carriage rides, a visit to Carthage and of course, touring all the historic homes. Thanks Aunt Maria, for putting this reunion together.

Charlotte earned her Young Womanhood recognition award this summer.  She was determined to finish it before she turned 16.  She now wears her medallion everywhere she goes.

This is kind of out of order but Casey and I went on an official Segway tour of Corvallis for our 17th anniversary.  It was because of this tour that we decided to buy the Freegos that you saw above.  I sure love my sweetheart!

While I was in Nauvoo, Casey spent the fourth of July with the little girls by taking them on the neighborhood bike parade.  They decorated their bikes and rode in the parade while Casey and Scott rode the FreeGos.  I think they got a lot of curious looks.

In the evening, Casey took the girls to the Eugene Pro Rodeo.  It was really hot but they lasted for most of the rodeo...just not the fireworks at the end.  They came home and watched our neighborhood's show which always includes a ton of illegal stuff.

Later in the week, he took the girls (plus buddy Cassandra) to Enchanted Forest where they somehow were able to spend a full five hours.  (For any of you that have been to Enchanted forest, you know that is hard to do.)  He bought them the wristband that got them on everything so they went on the Frog Hopper at least 10 times.  For my little girls, that trip to Enchanted Forest was the highlight of their summer.

We took MANY trips to 7-11 for Slurpees!

Girl's camp with all three girls was awesome!  I was asked to be the photographer this year instead of a unit leader.  (I think they asked me for my camera, not my skills.)  The theme was "superheroes."  It was especially fun to watch Maggie experience her first year as camp.  Her unit was Captain America, Charlotte's unit was Superman and Jillian's unit was Thor.  Jillian's unit ended up wining the most coveted award at camp, Heritage Mountain.

Finally, the biggest event of the summer for me was a trip to Russia to surprise my parents.  (They are serving their mission there and only have a few months to go).  My brother Todd used all of his frequent flyer miles to get us all over there.  We had a nine hour layover in New York before boarding our flight to Moscow so we did a whirlwind tour of Manhatten.  We visited Times Square, the 9/11 Memorial, China Town and we had lunch at Lombardi's pizza.  We then grabbed a cab and headed back to the airport.  It was really fun because my brothers fly so much, they are members of the Delta Sky Club.  Instead of hanging out with the masses in the terminal, we got to lounge around in the sky club eating free food and drinking free drinks.  It was awesome!

We arrived in Moscow at 10 in the morning, exhausted and anxious to see my parents.  They were expecting my brother Todd, his wife and two friends.  Instead, they got all four of their children.  Mom cried a little. :)  Right after getting off the plane we braved the Moscow Metro (which terrified me), went back to their apartment, took showers and then took off for a river cruise.  I felt so bad because I kept falling asleep during the ride.  We were so jet lagged.

The next day we visited a World War 2 memorial museum and park.  It was so interesting.

I was amazed at how many statues there are in Moscow of soldiers and guns.

St. Basil's catheral

The Lock tree bridge.  Mom and dad "locked their love" on this tree and threw the key into the river.

We loved shopping for souvenirs at the outdoor market.  I wasn't very good at converting dollars to rubles though.  We found some great stuff to bring home to our families.

On Sunday, we got to go to church with Mom and Dad to see what they do each week as missionaries.  We definitely to the feeling that Elder and Sister Millar are VERY loved here at the Single's ward.

Visiting Moscow was an incredible experience!  I am so gad to have been able to do it with my three brothers and my parents.  

So, that was our summer.  If you are really interested in our comings and goings, I did a few weeks of project 365.