Just a SMALL celebration!

We finished ALMA.  Yes, a small miracle has occurred in the Gwilliam household,  and I had to share.  We started reading The Book of Mormon a long time ago.  Anyone remember when President Hinckley issued the challenge to read The Book of Mormon by the end of the year and study it as a family?   Yeah, I think that was back in August of 2005, but who is counting.  To my credit, I did finish it personally by December of that year and several times since.  However, we had a 5, 3 and 1 year old at the time and we have been plugging along ever since!  

Sometimes we have only read a few verses a night and other times we have switched to picture scriptures to engage the children more.  Now that our kiddos are 12, 10 (almost), 8 and 5, we almost always read out of the real thing....AND WE ARE FINALLY OUT OF ALMA!  One day in the near (or probably not so near) future, I will be able to post that we finished reading the entire Book of Mormon as a family. 

The kids thought I should immediately run to the store to buy cake and ice cream for a celebration party.  I told them they were out of luck but that might be an option when we finished the whole book.  To celebrate, with the exception of Aub-Daub who was in bed at 7:00 because that girl needs her beauty sleep, we read the last verse in unison.  Seriously, this is a day to remember! 



(Here is the link to President Hinckley's article  http://www.lds.org/ensign/2005/08/a-testimony-vibrant-and-true?lang=eng&query=vibrant+true)

Three-for-One Skate Party

     Brinley and Tanner's birthdays are at the end of September and Parker's is in November, so this year we had a three for one party at the Odessa Skate Center.  They handed out invitations to their school classes, church classes, a few other friends and Parker included the 4th grade football team.  I had also included "siblings welcome" at the bottom of the invites.  I knew the skating rink had plenty of room, but it was a little crazy trying to plan when I didn't know if we had 22, 72 or 102 coming!  Brian and I made and decorated 100 cupcakes. (Surely that would be enough?!?)  We had a cooler full of Caprisuns and water bottles that went too fast.  We bought a ton of glow sticks and I made 100 homemade suckers to give as favors.
      Even though I kept the party pretty simple, it still made for a long week of preparations.  Probably about 50 kids came and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.  My parents were in town for the weekend and they came for most of the party.  It was fun to have our Vore, Vore and King adults and cousins there as well.  We are so blessed to have a loving family right here in town!  Here are a few pictures from the big event.  (And PHEW birthday parties are over until Aubrey's in January!!)

Tanner about to blow out his candles.  Brian decorated
these cute cupcakes w/ green grass and homemade
football molds for the boys.  I made Bryn's cupcakes w/
Aunt Karol's delicious buttercream frosting and heart picks.
(Sorry, no handmade molds on my end of things, go Dad!)

Parker w/ some friends. (Riley, Ayden and Stevie)

Brinley is in the hot pink Peace, Love, Gymnastics
t-shirt w/ some of her friends.

I wish I took some better pictures of the 
lollipops I slaved over lovingly worked on
for 5 hours one morning.  Owell. They turned
out pretty cute and very yummy.  All the kids
seemed pretty  excited about them.  That made
me glad I had taken the time to make them.  
A friend helped me and we used lots of
cute molds (hearts, ghosts, lips, turtles etc...)
and fun flavors (root beer, cinnamon apple,
sour watermelon, banana cream
pie, and cinnamon.)  It was fun to do, but I think
I will just buy some party favors next time!

Gram Vore was a big help in serving the treats.
I didn't realize these little ice creams didn't come
with little spoons.  Oops.  We got creative and
used the lids to scoop up bites.  A big thanks
to my sister-in-law Angelique too.  She is always
willing to help, and I appreciate her. (no picture
of her b/c she was taking the pictures!)

King Cousins!  My cousin Laurel with her family.
Our kiddos always love hanging out w/ their
second cousins, and we were glad they weren't
out of town at a gymnastics meet so they could
make the party.


 

Uncle Kerry

 

Grandpa Vore and Uncle Chris

 



 

We opened presents when we got home.  A couple
of years ago, Bryn and Parker had a party together and
it was so hard to keep up with presents at the actual party.
At home, we were able to write down who gave which
kid what...and hopefully we will be able to send
some thank you notes out!  Overall, a wonderful
party.  Bryn, Park and Tanner had fun with
friends and gifts celebrating their birthday, and  
Aubrey was a great sport in supporting
her siblings and being happy for them.

On to the City Gymnastics Meet!

Brinley had a zone gymnastics meet and did very well. She placed in three of four events (2nd on floor and vault, 4th on beam) and won second in all around out of about a million girls. (Well, probably at least 40!) She will compete in the City wide meet this week. Good Luck Brinley Kate!!

*An added note,  Brinley went on to win 1st place in beam, floor and vault at the city meet!  She placed 2nd in the all around competition.  WOO-HOO! 






Coach Anderson did this cute hairstyle for all
the girls on the Reagan team before the meet.



Love Conference Time

I love General Conference.  Every six months, the world wide leaders from The Church of Jesus Christ of  Latter Day Saints gather in Salt Lake City, Utah and give inspired talks and direction to all those who listen.  We gather our kiddos in the family room and watch each session together.  I am amazed that our children want to be there.  We don't make them or even try to talk them into it.  It's just what we do.  They stay for almost the entire conference.  (Four hours on Saturday and four more on Sunday.)  I think they 1. enjoy being all together as a family and 2. feel the sweet spirit of the Lord as words of Christ are taught. 

Here is a link to the actual talks: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/october-2012-landing-page?lang=eng

 It was exciting to hear about the lowered age for missionaries who are going out to serve.  (18 for young men, 19 for young women.)  I served a full time mission for 18 months in the California Arcadia Mission when I was 21 years old.  It is crazy to think that Brinley will be able to go a few months after graduating.  I think this will allow many more sisters to serve missions before marriage (if they choose).

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the leaders and favorite pictures from our family.

We try to bring out a few things the kids haven't
seen in awhile to keep their attention so they can
listen and play quietly.  Brian got the Omagles out of
the basement,and Parker and Tanner built this little
table and chair combo.  Then, during one of the
Sunday sessions, they pulled out their
scrapbooks to look at during the talks.



We also put our "conference tents" up. 
Aubrey was quietly coloring. (Not the
entire conference...just this picture!)



She also made this sign "Girls Tent"
and then added "Dad" to it when
he wanted to be included.



This picture makes me happy.  Although our
 family room is always a disaster after two days of
General Conference,we were all together
listening to Apostles and Prophets of the Lord. 



Bryn's spot on the couch.