School Sports

Amanda is currently on the Bowling Team with school. (The season goes from November to January every school year.) Every day after school they take a bus to the local bowling alley to practice, except for game days, when they either play at the same bowling alley or they travel to another alley in the area. I love watching her bowl - her facial expressions are great when she gets a strike or if the ball goes where she didn't intent for it to go. She loves being on the bowling team and is getting better and better all the time.

Samantha tried out for basketball and made the JV team at her school. It's fun to watch the difference between when she's sitting on the sideline and when she's on the court. She goes from being relaxed and chatting with her friends to an "up-in-your-face - I'm going to run you down" child on the court. She's having a great time playing basketball.

Did someone say "Paparazzi"????

For the past two years I've gone to Young Women's Camp (during the summer) as the Head Cook. Along with doing the cooking, I was also running around trying to take as many pictures as possible. Well, tonight I was asked to go to YW Camp next summer as the camp photographer!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!!! And to think....I have to wait until next August! That's just pure torture!

Way to go Amanda!!

This last week Amanda received her Young Women Medallion. This is something she has worked very hard for over the past few years. (For those that don't know what this is, it's comparable to an Eagle Scout Award.) Along with getting the necklace, the Stake Young Women Presidency gave her a porcelain temple on a wood base. We are really proud of her and for all the hard work she put into finishing her Personal Progress goals.

Picture time.....

I have needed to have the girls pictures taken for a long time to hang on the wall. (The last time I had their pictures taken professionally was when Amanda was in the 6th grade and Sam in the 3rd Grade!) Unfortunately, to have them taken at a place where they actually turn out good is usually fairly expensive - not to mention you have to make an appointment and actually get organized. Everyday, as I'm doing my usual bus route, I cross over these railroad tracks and look at the beautiful trees and leaves. Since I love taking pictures, I decided that I could take pictures of the girls just as good as someone else. SO - this last Saturday I had the girls get ready, we grabbed the stool and went to take the pictures. I had some 8 x 10's printed out today and hung them on the wall tonight. I LOVE how they turned out!

Hittin' the trails

Last Saturday, Andy, Sam and I went out in the jeep to go 4x4'ing. Amanda had 3 different babysitting jobs lined up for the day, so she stayed home. We met up with a couple other people and headed off. It was nice to get out of town for the day and see the beautiful scenery. I love the fall colors. For the most part, it's still green (and will be all winter), but once we got to the other side of the mountain there were more of the fall colors. The weather was sunny for awhile and then got really foggy. In fact, it was so foggy we could hardly see the jeeps in front of us. Then it eventually started to rain.....a typical day in Washington as far as the weather goes. :)

Halloween Night

We usually carve pumpkins a night or two before Halloween, but we had a really busy week, so we weren't able to carve our pumpkins until Friday night. We like to use patterns to carve all different things. This year Andy carved a witch, Amanda a skull and crossbones, Sam a spider and web and I carved a cat and moon. After our pumpkin carving, the girls and I went to the church for trunk or treating. (Andy had to stay home to get the jeep ready to go 4x4'ing the next day.) Amanda helped a single mother with 2 year old twin boys go around to the cars, while Sam and I handed out candy from the car. After that we dropped Sam off at her friends house for a party. It was a sleep over, but she couldn't stay overnight because we were leaving early Saturday morning. She was bummed to have to leave Friday night, but it was worth it to be able to go out in the jeep.