Christmas Concert

This year Grant decided to take an orchestra class at school.  One of the ladies in our ward is the teacher and Grant was excited to be in her class.  There were four instruments Grant could choose from a viola, a violin, a cello, or a bass.  My little Grant chose to play the bass.  It is enormous and bigger than him.  It doesn't even fit in my car.  Luckily, his teacher lives across the street from us and drives a van.  She is very sweet to bring his bass home on Friday and back to school on Monday morning.  We are so appreciative of her and her sweet attitude toward doing it.  Grant loves his orchestra class and was happy to play in his concert.  He did great and looked so cute while he played.

Fall Festivities

We are alive and well.  I have been having some computer problems lately and have fell out of the blogging world.  Some day this will become easier for me.  Anyway, Russ worked on my computer tonight and fixed the biggest problem.  So, I thought I would hurry and post some pictures of a few activities that we have been involved in this fall.

First, was our annual ward activity: THE PUMPKIN DERBY and CHILI COOK-OFF.   This is such a fun activity that our neighbors look forward to every year.  Families build all kinds of contraptions to race pumpkins down a big hill.  This year, Garrett and two of his buddies took apart our old jogger stroller and built a platform and attached it to the big wheels of the stroller.  They worked on it everyday for a week.  It was fun to watch them use their wood shop skills and have so much fun together.  Here are some pictures from the start line.  You can see all of the different ideas.

Then, Gracie finished soccer season.  This year she loved it and is anxious to play again in the spring.  Here are a few funny photos from one of her last games.

Yeah, well we have until spring to work on her form and develop some skills.  She was sure cute though and was able to learn a little Spanish while playing.  Rapido Gracie.  No manos Gracie.    

Next, some friends and I ran the Color Me Rad race.  Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and I had NO white warm clothing.  I was unwilling to sacrifice my body warmth to get into the spirit of the race.  But, I had a great time hanging out with some of my running buddies and some new friends.

Next, we had some yard clean-up projects that turned into a little leaf jumping fun.

Finally, we had a court of honor and Grant received a handful of merit badges and a rank advancement.  He is a Star Scout and actually has been for about 5 months, but just recently received his award.  Along with Grant's progress, I am happy to report that Garrett has officially completed all of his Eagle Scout paper work and turned it in to the council.  He will have his Eagle board of review the 2nd Sunday in January.  We are one month away from that boy finally being done with this project.  Hallelujah!

And there you have it.  Short and sweet.