My girl voted!

October 24, 2018

Brinley voted for her first time today.  She is taking government and is probably much more up to date and informed on the issues than I am.  It was fun going together.  She gets extra credit for us taking pictures in front of where we voted...so I decided to include them here as well.

Wednesday Night Church

October 24, 2018

Wednesday nights are happening at our house.  This week Aubrey had activity days at 6:00.  They made yummy treats to share with others.  While she was there I went on a pumpkin hunt because the older kids were carving pumpkins at 7:00.  I was shocked that Walmart only had ONE pumpkin and Sams Club had zero.  I finally found some at Market Street.  My plans to relax and do my Book of Mormon reading in the van during Activity Days was derailed due to my pumpkin search.  Brinley decided to try institute tonight so she headed over to UTPB.  Bri and the boys joined in the combined activity.  I ended up staying quite awhile because Aubrey and Avery were having so much fun in the gym.  They eventually wiggled their way into the activity and carved a pumpkin as well.

Avery and Aubrey

Tanner carving his pumpkin.  (insert eyeroll)  He snuck into the
gym twice during the activity but ended up mostly tossing the
football outside with some of the guys.

Edmund (far left) and Parker on the right.

October 21, 2018 (Sunday Night Gathering)

October 21, 2018
We had a good Sunday.  Church was nice and we had tithing settlement afterwards.  I had mentioned looking at jobs in Utah and the kids were all in an uproar and sharing their grief with Bishop Ormsby.  Poor guy.  He didn't know what hit him but he took it like a champ.  Then Tanner started going off about not being allowed to do ANYTHING on Sundays...and Bishop just had this little grin.  (He has four children just a little bit younger than ours.)  He gave some good council and mentioned they would appreciate their "limited agency" one day and how it prepared and protected them for when they were on their own.

Brinley had lesson for FHE and she shared a video about God wanting to bless us.  (Pres. Uchtdorf's Blessings video)  He is not waiting until we jump through so many hoops.  He pours down his blessings and we can accept and appreciate them now.  We also had a really fun activity.  (For me, more than the actual activity, it was amazing because all four of the kids were happily participating.)  Bryn set up a game on the TV and we all linked our phones in and played.  One game was everyone submitted a few drawings and them submitted a few sayings. Then the game randomly sends three sayings and three drawings to each person and you combine one to make a t-shirt.  Then we all vote on our favorite t-shirt.  Ultimately this submission from Aubrey won the grand prize.

Park loves calling Grandpa Vore Pee Paw.  He says it in a whiny/sing-song
voice.  When this creation came up it just had us all cracking up.

Right before FHE sweet Morgan stopped by to visit Brinley and bring cookies.  She does this every couple of months.  I'm love that Bryn has such a good friend...cookies or not.

Our Sunday night gathering was at Kerry's.  We all hang out in his cool shop.  The football game is on and all my boys love that since we don't watch TV on Sunday.

To wrap the night up, these three sat on the couch cracking up about funny memes on the internet. Also, Tanner and I walked Buttercup for his after dinner chore and then Parker and I went on our usual Sunday evening walk.  I love going on walks with my kiddos.  It gives me some one on one time with them and it's a great time to chat about what it going on in their lives.

Red Ribbon Week

October 25, 2018

This week is Red Ribbon week at Nimitz and the students are allowed to dress up to fight against drugs.  I am pretty sure none of the kids have any idea why they get to dress up as a character one day (be a character, not an addict) and  as a twin the next (friends don't let friends do drugs), but Aub is all about dressing up.  I kind of love it because that was so me and our other kiddos have shown little interest over the years.  

On twin day she and her group all went as M&Ms, and it was great because she already had an M&M shirt.  I was really confused on character day though because she was insisting on going as Jesse from Toy Story.  I was like "what? why?"  It just seemed so complicated and random but she would not drop it.  She and Marissa were both going and Jesse.  Aubrey wanted to call around to friends and borrow cowboy boots and a hat.  We were on our way home from dance in Midland and I declined.  I explained that if this was her Halloween costume I would happily go out of my way to make it work but for a random dress up day at school....not happening.  I mentioned other character ideas we had on hand like Minnie Mouse complete with cute socks, ears and a t-shirt.  She would have none of it.  

Well, Tuesday night she took matters into her own hands and created a really cute Jesse outfit.  She watched a YouTube video and asked to borrow one of Tanner's Sunday shirts and to use fabric we had on hand.  I was impressed.  She looked adorable leaving for school on Wednesday.  When I picked her up from school her insistence that she had to be Jesse became even a little more clear.  She had this little grin on her face when she got in the car and she mentioned that she went as Jesse and Ashton (her "boyfriend") went as Woody.  There you have it.  Turkey girl.

Grandpa took her to lunch on Wednesday.  They had a great date.

Twin Day! (Lft-rt: Green-Aubrey and Marissa, Light green-Hannah and Brooke, Yellow-Landry and Sydney, Red-Olivia, Amary, and Avery, Blue-Keylee and Jencee)

Doesn't she look adorable?!

And I am not really sure what to even say about this....crazy girl.

A few random pictures...

October 21, 2018

This past week Aubrey and Tanner had their first choir concerts for the year.  Aubrey was excited about her songs and that was cute.  Gram Vore came to the concert to support the kiddos.  (Lauron was singing too.)  Tanner was mostly annoyed but glad he would be coming late from his game and he could wear his football uniform if needed.  They sounded great and I was glad I was able to attend.

Avery and Aubrey

Grandpa captured this fun picture from his outside cameras.
It has been an unusually rainy fall.  Brian has been
mowing a relative jungle in this desert because of the rain!

One of about 50 I could post from my phone....she's a beautiful/silly girl!

They reffed soccer from 8:30 to 5:30 and then came home and went straight to a
church dance (where they didn't dance one time--the turkeys.)

Aub is quite the baker and loves to try new recipes.  These are homemade chocolate cupcakes
with a peanut butter mousse and shaved chocolate bar for the icing.  Impressive!

Sunday Night

October 14, 2018

Our friends, the Strombergs, had their youngest daughter's baptism on Sunday.  Cara was adorable.  She had a huge smile (as always) and she was radiating joy on her special day.  

The gathering was so fun too because so many of our favorite friends (plus family members) were gathered in one place.  Because it was on Sunday night, we didn't have our usual family gathering but just visited with everyone afterwards.  I tried to get a picture of the boys together.  Holden and Gavin and Tanner are one big package of mischief, and I love to see them laughing and talking together.  Of course, they were not cooperative when I whipped out my phone to capture the moment...but I guess that is part of the moment as well.

This one cracks me up!  Park, Tan, Gavin and Holden

At least we had these beautiful girls who countered the boys photos!

Taryn, Bryn, & Edyn

New Living Room Decorations?!

October 15, 2018

Parker went on his first hunting trip last year with Austin.  Austin's dad was very kind to have Parker's animal mounted.  I have been worrying about were in the world we are going to put this said mount when it came in.  I was picturing a huge animal three feet long and two feet wide.  Something like this:

I was very pleased when it came in....much more doable.  It's been our lovely centerpiece in the family room for a week but hopefully will be finding a home in Parker's room very soooooon.

Park had a choir concert and then had a ton of homework to do.  He kept
stopping to look at the mount and feel the antlers and talk about it.  He
was very excited.

Here is Park with the black buck.

Nimitz Football

October 2018

Nimitz B team is doing great.  They are undefeated so far this season.   I have to admit that I was a little disappointed one kid on their team didn't fail the six weeks...I know that sounds awful.  Maybe they could just move him to A team?   He is really good and gets the ball almost every single play.  It's kind of like a one man show too much of the time.  Last year he only made the first few games and then wasn't eligible because of grades.  That really allowed more boys on our to have the opportunity to run the ball and make big plays.  Tanner is doing great though and it's a lot of fun to watch him play.

A big thanks to Grandpa Vore for photographing Tanner in action.

Coach Wright at halftime.

Cousins!  It was fun to have Lauron cheering at the game.
She did a great job.  I really liked their half time dance.

I like this one better but I have to admit the one above reminds
me more of the true Tanner at this stage in life.

Julian, Coby and Tate

Bryn and Friends

October 9, 2018

These three are hanging out more and it makes me so happy.  Brinley and Morgan have been best friends for a couple of years, and Charity's best friend moved this summer.  Anyway, I love to see the inclusion and also think it’s fun that Bryn is hanging out more this year with her cousin. 

Bryn, Morgan, & Charity

Brinley painted this cute Harry Potter pumpkin.

Tanner's Dallas Trip

October 9, 2018
Tanner was invited to Mason Simmon's birthday party at the State Fair...brave parents!  They took five 14 year old boys to Dallas for three days.  In addition to eating out and staying in a nice hotel, they went to the State Fair.  When I asked Tanner what his favorite part of the trip was he said, "one night in the hotel room we had this huge candy throwing fight--it was awesome."  Sorry Greg and Cami....you could have saved a ton of money by staying home, putting those teens boys in a room and supplying them  with lots of skittles.  Overall he had a great weekend with good friends.

Tanner, Tate Terry, Mason Simmons, Race Herr, and Coby Bederick

Maybe one day soon Tanner will smile in pictures again.

Parker's Weekend in Dallas

October 9, 2018

A couple of weekends ago Parker was invited to go to Dallas with Austin Jacobo and his family.  He went to an A&M game, the Texas State Fair, and a Dallas Cowboys game.  He had a great time, and I feel so happy for him that he has had some really cool opportunities.

Parker, Reese, and Austin

They even got to go on the field and throw the football around...so amazing.

Parker was very pleased with himself.  During an extra point he
lifted his shirt....he new he'd be on the camera!