Part of my heart is headed to Houston, Texas

Well the day that we have been waiting for has finally come and gone.  Bethany flew out of Roanoke early Tuesday morning to go the MTC on Wednesday.  It wasn't easy to say goodbye to her for 18 months.  In fact it was very hard.  I don't know which was harder, saying goodbye myself or watching her dad and siblings say goodbye.  It was an emotional goodbye at the airport.  The pictures aren't that great, it is hard to take good pictures while crying at the airport.  She will be a great missionary and there is no where else I would rather have her be right now.  I just know I am going to miss her like crazy.  She will be blessed and helped as she serves the Lord.

A few weeks before she left we heard that Sam Houston was born right here near Lexington.  We took Bethany to go see the monument there and took a few pictures.

Part of my heart will be walking around Texas for the next 18 months and there is no where else I would rather have it be.

Just before she went through security to board the plane

Halloween 2015

Halloween was a different sort of experience this year.  In Wyoming the younger kids would spend months planning with the Andreasen kids what to be together.  They would have all the dress ups downstairs to use and make their costumes.  This got started with Emma and Emma wanting to dress up together and just carried on down through the kids.  This year I told them to look through the dress ups before we left and bring what they wanted to use.  David brought a costume, but ended up being at the Chesapeake Bay for a field trip over Halloween.  Joshua forgot to get his penguin costume packed so we had to figure something out. He wanted to be a ghost so we made him a cute white hat and a cloak to cover him.  He wore that for awhile, but wasn't thrilled with it.  He ended up being a fireman. MaryAnne brought a Hermoine costume.  Dallin decided to be a red lego and made his own costume the day before with help from Neil.  They used a box and two cool whip bowls spray painted red. Lydia wore a different costume to each activity we went to.  She was Belle for the school carnival and the downtown trick or treat, Elsa for the trunk or treat at the church, and Minnie Mouse for trick or treating.  She helped me make her Elsa dress and her Belle dress.  Emma was playing in the band at the football game.  Neil and I went to listen to her so Bethany and Julia took the kids to the ward party.  At the last minute Bethany decided she could come up with a penguin costume.  It was easy and turned out really cute.  We actually let the younger children go trick or treating with the neighbor kids this year.  They had a great time.  We also had some children come trick or treating to our house for the first time in years since we live in town here.  It was a fun Halloween with lots of activities.  I enjoyed the downtown trick or treating.

Joshua had a hard time deciding if he wanted to eat healthy or just enjoy the candy.

Another Cross Country Season is in the books

Well, another cross country season is in the books around here.  The season in Virginia started earlier and went longer than it ever did in Wyoming. Practice started on August 3 and the state meet was on November 14th.  They ran long and hard practices.  Matthew spent a lot of time trying to catch his breath. Matthew wasn't thrilled with how his season went.  He worked hard, but never saw his times drop down to where he wanted them to be.  He finished each race a little frustrated with how he had run. The courses here were a lot hillier than anything he had run before.  He said he didn't really know what it was to run a hill before coming here.  I am grateful he had the opportunity to make some friends on the team.  Matthew says there is never a dull moment while running with Will.  No matter how hard the run Will can keep talking.  Will would keep the conversation going all through practice.  I am glad there are people like Will who aren't afraid to talk and can even keep talking while others are just trying to breathe.

The meet at Wilson was interesting.  It was hosted by the Wilson High School and their mascot is the Hornets.  The street that lead to the course was even Hornet Road.  While our team was out jogging for warm ups they came across a stirred up hornets next.  The angry hornets chased the screaming boys for quite a way.  Matthew got stung five times.  He didn't run his best race, but I am sure it is hard to run well right after being stung by hornets.  Most of the boys on our team got a few stings.  One boy got stung eleven times.  It is a cross country race that Matthew will always remember.

We watched the race over in Lexington on a beautiful misty morning at the Lexington Horse Center.  Bethany and Julia decided that the mascot for the cross country team should be a gingerbread man.  They could print out shirts that said, "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me."  I thought it was a cute idea, but I don't think most high school boys would appreciate it.

The view waiting for the race to start

The fan club

The team

Warming up

The start

I went with Jenn Peterson to watch the boys run in Radford for district.  Our boys took third so they were able to go on to Conference.  It was  a tough course with a really big hill that you had to run twice.  I guess the only fair thing about a hill is that everyone has to run the same hill.  Conference was held in Bristol, Virginia.  It is right on the Virginia/Kentucky border.  I think they should have had the race cross the state line so the boys could say they ran in two states.  They took third in Conference so they also got to go to the state meet.  The state meet was held at The Plains, Virginia.  It is not too far from Washington D.C.  We went and watched the race.  I was disappointed with not being able to cheer the boys on.  You really couldn't get close enough to cheer for them.  You couldn't see very well.  I liked the other courses better.  Matthew wasn't happy with his time, but I was proud of him for running hard.

Coach Poluikis praying with the boys before the race.  I really appreciated that he did this before every race.

The four wheeler and skeleton that lead the race

Finishing the big hill

Well, another season is in the books.  Matthew is looking forward to running for Coach Boos and Hildy again next year.  I think he really missed them this year.  I know I did.

Visiting the Pumpkin Patch

I am way behind.  There are so many things I want to catch up on my blog.  Someday.  I'll start today by posting about the pumpkin patch field trip.   On Friday, October 23 I took Joshua, Lydia, Dallin and MaryAnne to a pumpkin farm for a field trip with K12 (Joshua's school).  Lydia was so excited to tell Matthew and David she knew all about farms because this was the third farm she had gone to.  The kids loved listening to the pumpkin farmer talk about growing pumpkins.  Dallin was very willing to ask and answer questions.  They loved riding on the trailer behind the tractor to the pumpkin field and choose their own pumpkins.  Joshua really wanted to find a pokemon gourd, but they had all been picked.  Each of us found a little pumpkin and a gourd.  We also went through the corn maze.  We actually didn't find all the clues in the corn maze, but it was time to quit and move on to something else. Lydia loved the corn box. It was like a sandbox, but filled with corn.  The kids also liked the duck race.  You pumped water down to move your rubber duckie to the finish.  Joshua also enjoyed the gourd bowling. The farm was about an hour and half away from us.  I took Julia along so I would have a second driver and someone to talk to if I got sleepy.   We went to Burger King for lunch after the farm.  It was a fun day at the farm.

Ready to go pick out pumpkins

A fun duck race using a pump to move your duck

Strike

The cornbox

Cute scarecrows