Young Women and Excellence

Rachel had Young Women and Excellence Tuesday October 25th. For the last while she has been working on cleaning and organizing her room. I have never seen a room so messy before. For over 2 months she never made her bed or even put her sheets on it. I even at one point saw her smell her clothes to see if they were clean. Eek. It was so bad. Well she spent a long time cleaning and after getting rid of 1 black garbage bag full of garbage and 3 laundry baskets full of clothes (she gave them to a friends who's Dad doesn't have a job), her room was almost clean. She then organized her room, reorganized her closet and hung her mirrors her room was clean. Rachel also spent hours recovering a chair for her room and making throw pillows for her bed. She made curtains as well but wants to do more to them. Her room looks fantastic now. She even went and retouched up the paint.

Rachel had never sewn before and so I taught her how to do it and she did all of her sewing projects herself. I showed her where to cut and pin and then sew and she did it herself. I was so impressed with how well she did sewing her first time.

We have an amazing ward who does so much to help the girls achieve their Young women recognition award. Every girl had a 10 hour project that they completed. They all presented them last night. The girls sang 2 songs and there was a beautiful program. It was so amazing. After we had cheese cake with the value colors on each piece. The cheesecakes were on the table in order of the values. So they had cheesecake each with a different topping representing a value. That was fantastic.

When Rachel presented her project she told about how messy it was and what she did to make her room beautiful. She then said that it made her feel closer to Heavenly Father because you can't be happy when it's messy. The way she said it was so cute and funny. Everybody laughed and smiled.

I was so proud of her. She is exited now to get other projects done. She has 4 projects in mind to start working on. I am so grateful for amazing young women leaders who encourage the girls but also for Rachel being willing and excited (most of the time) to work on her projects and value experiences.

Enoch's 28th Birthday.

Friday October 21st Enoch turned 28 years old. We planned a family party at our house. WE made Enoch's favorite honey mustard Chicken with Greek salad, broccoli salad and fruit salad for dinner. I made the most amazing gluten free chocolate cake ever. It had moose in the middle with heath pieces and then a ganache on top with more heath. It looked amazing and tasted amazing as well. Gregorie came at the beginning and had to leave. Grandpa and Grandma Heileson came over as well as Rachael and her boys, Carter and Collin.

A few days before Enoch's birthday I asked what he wanted to eat and do for his birthday party. He asked for a pinata. I thought that it was hilarious but he wanted to do something fun for the kids. We bought a birthday hat pinata and filled it with candy, Halloween pencils and Rachel put her birthday present to him in it. (A tie) Everybody hit the pinata. It was a lot of fun. I think that I might do that at everybody's birthday's, even if you don't have a big party. It was fun to watch everybody try and hit the pinata blind folded. Enoch hit the pinata last to open it up.

I also got pin the tail on the donkey and everybody tried that too. Jacob, Kaelen, Carter and Collin really loved doing that. They kept playing it over and over again. I think they enjoyed mostly just putting the tail on odd places on the donkey.

We opened presents after that. Enoch got a couple of ties, some new Boise State slippers, a thermos water bottle, some gluten free food, money, Ensign subscription and new shoes for church. It was simple with presents but stuff Enoch needed, wanted, or didn't know he needed or wanted. It was really nice.

We blew out candles and had cake after. I will say that I think that it was one of the best gluten free cakes I have ever had, except the gluten free carrot cake i get from a friend on my birthday. It was so sweet and moist and oh so good. Everybody loved it.

We had fireworks left over from the 4th of July so we blew all those off after. It was fun to watch the kids outside excited to see them all go off. It was also a good time to use all of our fireworks. I am not sure if the neighbors liked it but the kids sure did.

Enoch said he had a great birthday. He loved all the emails, phone calls and presents. You all really helped make his birthday so wonderful. Thank you.

On a side note: The hat is the newest thing everybody gets to wear on their birthdays. Enoch was a trooper and wore it all night. It's a cake with candles on it if you didn't notice.

Averien is climbing

Averien learned to crawl up the stairs this last week. On Wednesday morning while I was on the computer I heard her near the stairs and when I came around the corner she was 3 stairs up. I had no idea she knew what to do. She looked at me like she was so proud of herself but then cried like she wasn't sure what to do next. She tried to climb up again all day. Then a few days later she was on stairs again and when I saw her she was half way up. She scares the heck out of me because instead of turning her head to look at me she turns her whole body. When she finally made it all the way up Enoch was behind her the whole time or right next to her. When she would turn around to look at me I would jump a little because I was so worried she would fall down the stairs. When she finally got up the stairs she laid her head on the stairs like she was so tired. It was so cute.

Averien figured out how to climb through the kitchen chairs. It is so funny because she can't completely get over them so she gets stuck. She gets so sad and cries. Poor little girl. She is all over the house now. She isn't afraid to go anywhere. We all just love watching her crawl. She is crazy fast and will find something she wants and heads right for it. We have to vacuum all the time because if the vacuum doesn't eat it she will. She finds the smallest things to put into her mouth.

Averien loves the fridge and dishwasher. If she hears the fridge or dishwasher opening she quickly crawls to it. She loves to take out the silverware from the dishwasher and she also climbs on top of the door. It is so funny. We are always taking her off of it when we are trying to empty the dishwasher. When we load the dishwasher we have to move her completely away because she will grab out all the dirty silverware. When the fridge is open she will try to climb in it as well. I just loves these pictures of her standing in the fridge looking at all the food. It is as if she is looking at it all wondering what she'll eat.

Averien is extremely fun right now and so cute. She is still little and needs us but she is very good at playing on her own and getting things at her level that she wants. She is such a happy little girl.

Averien in the tub

Averien loves taking baths. She gets so excited when she hears the water running. She will crawl as fast as she can over to the tub and then stand up on the side of the tub. If Jacob or Kaelen are bathing she will stand on the outside of the tub watching. She will giggle and squeal. It is so cute. Once she is in the tub she is all over the place. You have to be right next to her the whole time she is in the tub because she moves everywhere splashing and grabbing toys. She loves the water and isn't afraid at all. She will get her whole face wet as well. I don't know if any of our other kids have loved being in the water this much. She may be our swimmer.

Jacob, his Dad and Grandpa's

Last Saturday while Grandpa Fisher was here, Grandpa Fisher, Jacob, Enoch and Grandpa Heileson went to Swan Valley (1 hour or more away) and cut logs for Grandpa Heileson's fireplace for the winter. They were gone most of the day. Jacob really loved it. There was a rope swing near where they were cutting and Jacob enjoyed playing with it. They all got a good workout cutting and carrying wood. They got enough wood to last Grandpa and Grandma Heileson all winter. They have a fireplace upstairs in their house that heats the whole main floor. They have to have wood to stay warm. Jacob seemed to have a good day. He came home happy to have spent the day with his Dad and both of his Grandpas.

Grandpa Fisher and Averien

This weekend we had Grandpa Fisher come from Orem to spend the weekend with us. We always love having him come stay with us. He hadn't been at our house since the end of August so it was really nice to see him. When he came on Thursday evening Averien cried when she saw him. She plays shy sometimes and she did it with Grandpa. It was so funny. She looked at him and then a minute later started sobbing. It didn't take long before she was crawling to him and climbing on him. She soon enjoyed being held by Grandpa as well. I took pictures of Grandpa and Averien together before he left. I love these pictures. She looks so happy looking at him.

Our First Snowfall October 6th, 2011

We had no school October 6th and 7th. It was a long weekend for our kids and we woke up to it pretty cold but then it started to snow. It snowed all day long and night. We got at least 4 inches of snow. It was so crazy. The snow was really wet and heavy. Our trees do not hang that low on the trampoline but because everything is still green and the snow was so heavy as the day progressed the trees hung lower and lower. Trees all over the city were falling down. We were happy that we didn't lose any trees. I hate these fluke snowstorms. It of course will warm up again before it gets cold for a while. Kaelen was so excited for the snow. He got his winter boots out and put on his rain coat and ran around outside forever. He loved jumping on the trampoline. The snow was so heavy that every couple of steps Kaelen would have to stomp his feet to get the snow off them because the snow was making it hard to walk. Kaelen also tried to go out in just a pajama shirt, winter hat and my rain boots but he lasted 30 seconds before he came in. Averien loved seeing the snow too. She crawled right over to the sliding glass door and forever watched it fall. It was fun to see her reaction like that.

Peek-a-boo

Averien loves peek-a-boo. She is so funny when you play with her. She will laugh and grunt and squeal. It is so cute. We all laugh when we play peek-a-boo with her because she is so funny.

(Averien is 8 months old in this video)