My Parents Visit!

My parents flew up to Alaska for Ella's baptism.  They got here bright and early Friday morning.  Like really early.  It was 12:50 a.m. I let the kids stay home from school on Friday.  We did some cleaning and some cooking and best of all we went to Moose's Tooth for lunch.  After we went to Moose's Tooth we ran some errands at Target. 

On Saturday we ran around the house trying to get it all ready for Ella's baptism afterwards we went to get Korean Food at Chopsticks and came home and just relaxed.

On Sunday Nichole, Natalie, my Mom, and Nate went to Stake Conference.  Elder Jeffery R. Holland came and spoke and Nichole was singing in the choir.  After that Nate, my mom, my dad, Ella and I went up to the Eagle River Nature Center and looked around up there.  Then we drove to Wasilla in hopes of seeing some wildlife.  Nate and I weren't hopeful of seeing any wildlife at all.  We learned that if you are looking for wildlife you are never going to see them. 

On Monday we spent the day in Anchorage.  I took my parents to Walmart so that they could pick up some souvenirs.  Then we went to Glacier Brewhouse to eat lunch, after lunch we went to 10th and M so that my parents could pick up some seafood.  We also drove down to the Ocean so that they could see it.  It was super windy and super cold.  We drove over the docks and went on to base so my parents could see what JBER looked like.  Then we went to  the house so that they could hang out with the kids before they left.  They left that night at 1:00 a.m. On the way home from the taking my parents to the airport Nate and I saw a moose.  See we weren't looking for one and we saw one.  In the time that my parents were here in snowed 12 inches and didn't get above 24 degrees.  BRRRRRR.

IT"S GREAT TO BE 8!!!!

This past weekend friends and family gathered together to celebrate with Ella and watch her get baptized and become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It was a beautiful ceremony.  The baptism was at 1:30 in the afternoon.  It was quite the family affair.  Tyler did the opening prayer.  Nichole led the music for us. And Natalie spoke on baptism.  She did a great job.  She told Ella that she was proud of her and she knew that Heavenly Father was proud of her too.  She told her that she was beautiful and that she was a good example to her and to her family.  She said that she wanted to be a good example for Ella to follow.  After Natalie spoke I took Ella to the Baptismal Font.  My Dad and David Murphy were witnesses to Ella's Baptism.  After the baptism I took her into the bathroom to help her change her clothes.  I asked her if she felt any different.  She said "No, But I did feel the Holy Ghost". 

I got Ella changed really fast.  We even bet Nate into the primary room.  Ella's old CTR 8 teacher spoke on The Gift of The Holy Ghost.  It was a really nice talk too.  She gave Ella a blanket and told her that The Holy Ghost is like the blanket and will bring you comfort.  She also gave her a mirror and told her how beautiful she was and that no matter what she sees in the mirror the prettiest she will ever be is when The Holy Ghost is with her.  After the Baptism was over Ella was confirmed a member of the church and given the gift of The Holy Ghost.  Nate performed that ordinance.  The other men that were helping with the ordinance were Brett Ard, Andy Lay, David, Murphy, and Matt Fisher.

I had everyone write Ella a special note and hang it from these branches so that she would have something special from everyone that came to the baptism.

After the baptism was over everyone was invited over to my house. I made a dessert bar for everyone to enjoy.   I made white chocolate chip cookies, milk chocolate chip cookies, cherry cookies, rolo pretzels, butterscotch dipped pretzels, pumpkin cheesecake bites, cake pops, coconut cupcakes, and rice crispy treats.

 Thirty seven people in all showed up at either the baptism or the party afterwards to support Ella.  She was so excited to see all people around here. 

Ella is such a wonderful example to everyone who comes in contact with her.  She is braver then most adults.  She gave her teacher a Book of Mormon because "she had never read it before".  She tells kids in her class about Jesus because "I want them to know who He is like I know who He is".  She can't see anyone sitting by themselves or playing by themselves without wanting to be right there with them.  She doesn't like to see anyone hurt or sad.  She has a warm heart for everyone.
Ella fell asleep on the couch after her party.  When she woke up she was convinced that it was Sunday night.  I felt bad because when we told her that it was really still Saturday she got mad at all of us and she thought that we were teasing her. 

Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night. ~Steve Almond

What a busy month October was for us.  The kids and I went to 2 different Halloween parties this year.  The first one was at the school.  Tyler decided that he didn't want to dress up.  We bought some tickets for the kids and let them go around and do anything that they wanted.  Nate took Tyler and I took Ella.  We decided that the divide and conquer route was the best route for us.

 Tyler did the cupcake walk and won a plate of brownies.  Then he did some bowling.

 He also went into the deconstruction room that had lots of things that you can take apart.

 He also played some hockey.  Each station that you went to you got to get candy at.

 Ella wanted to go inside jail.

 She thought it was fun to break out of jail too.

 She went to the fish pond.

 She also threw the bean bags into the holes.  She too went on the cupcake walk and won a bunch of cupcakes and she went down trick or treat alley.

 The next Halloween party that we went too was a combined ward activity.  She dressed up as a vampire this year but she really wanted to be a tiger.  I told her that I would make her a tiger costume but she wanted nothing to do with that and it was too late to order one from the Internet so she settled for vampire.  At the ward party she had her face painted as a tiger.  I think it made her feel better.

Tyler entered a pie eating contest and was one of the few boys that won!  Good job Boo!

 I just let the kids run around and do what ever they wanted to do.  I didn't think that they could get into too much trouble at the church building.

For Halloween Tyler decided that he wanted to be a Zombie.  He didn't want to wear the zombie mask so I painted his face.  The heart that he is holding in his hand flashes a light like a heart beat.

 Eww the Zombie's face is falling off.

 Ella was so cute scary as a vampire.  She wore black teeth but since she was missing her two front teeth they wouldn't stay in her mouth very well at all.

 The kids went Trunk or Treating outside the church before they went around the neighborhood.  They got quite the stash of treats just at trunk or treating.  It had snowed that day so it was very, very cold.  The kids were very upset with me when I made them wear their snow clothes.  They said that they would be fine without them.  My fingers froze off just handing out candy.

 After trunk or treating Nate and I  dropped off the kids at home for some trick or treating then went out on our own adventure trying to find pumpkins for the kids to carve.  After going to 3 different stores we had to settle on pie pumpkins for them to carve.  Let me tell you one of the joys of having teenagers is that they got to take Ty and Ella around trick or treating while Nate and I after finding pumpkins got to stay inside the warm house and drink some hot chocolate and get comfy.

 After Trick or Treating the kids carved pumpkins.  The pie pumpkins are a little trickier to carve then regular pumpkins but the seeds taste the same!

I did not take pictures of the little kids with their candy stash this year.  It just slipped my mind but got 2 huge bowls full of candy.  I combined all of the candy this year and I think I took some fun out of it for them (like trading candy).  I worked out perfect and I will be doing that from here on out.