Van Natter - October 2014

Getting closer to being caught up!

General Conference is the perfect way to start the month. Addie's 1/2 birthday was on the Conference Saturday. During Priesthood, Heidi and I went over to Emily's and we had a celebration for Addie, with half a cake. She was thrilled to be able to say she was four and a HALF! Emily made ham and cheese sliders and we got Strawberry Frappes from Starbucks to really make it a celebration.

With the weather still good, and the colors finally showing up, John suggested we shoot the kids in the leaves. We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Both John and Emily got some good shots. Addie was busy gathering rocks for her collection!

I spent a few days painting 25 Days of Christ ornaments - a set for Emily and one for me. Most of my crafty stuff is still in boxes <sigh> so I had to make do with what I could find or make-shift.

I started a <free> class on Laura Ingalls Wilder: Her Writings and Her Life, through Missouri State. It's fun to be involved in a literary class, though fortunately there are no papers and the tests are optional! I read "Little House in the Big Woods" for the first time in probably 5 decades!

I also started a digital scrapping class, "Me: The Abridged Version." I gifted it to Linda for her birthday, so we could do it together, but she was gone too much! I decided to do my pages on the Project Life app on my phone, and it was so easy and slick!! Here's the first page:

Heidi had stayed with us for a few weeks on and off as the end of her house-build drew near. What a thrill to sign the papers and call it hers! It was the first time I'd been inside, and I was impressed. Here is Addie performing on the "stage":

Now I will document something really stupid. I know from past experience that even when I have a Christmas planner, I don't use it. For some reason, I can't make any of them work for the way I deal with the holidays. The best one for me is a gift app I use on my phone. BUT for some reason, I lost my mind and bought a class to make a Christmas planner. And once I paid the money, I had to make it!!

It was really cute, and I finished the dumb thing, and then I never. opened. it. again. Ridiculous! Hopefully by documenting that, I won't forget. Anyone want a Christmas planner? Never used!

What fun to get to help celebrate Avery's 4th birthday! (Just a little late!) Most of my pictures are terrible, but you can at least see the Birthday Girl (and Grandma!) here!

For October Rudolph Day I made Prayer Blocks to give to our Sunday School kids for Christmas. I've never done much with mod podge before, so I learned as I went! They turned out pretty fun!

Did a lot of work for the girls' Teacher Approved business. Emily eased me into it over several months until I was doing all the Facebook promoting/scheduling, all emails with contributors, blog posts spotlighting the teachers for the month, etc. It worked well to schedule two hours a day to spend on it so it didn't take over my life! I really enjoy being involved, and the fact that they pay me is pretty sweet! (Until the Tax Man Cometh...)

John was out of town again - this time to SoCal, at the same time that Emily and her family went to Disneyland. Missed everyone!

Made fun 'family portraits' for our VT sisters. And one for us, of course! Aren't we cute?

So much fun to see Anna and Olaf on Halloween! He's dirty from crawling around the front porch as we tried to snap photos!

John and I then went to the movies and saw "Meet the Mormons" which was so good!
And THAT is the end of October!