Here's Hyrum about to push the submit button for his mission papers!!
Bam! Submitted.
They didn't have exactly Hyrum's suit size at the mall, so Grandma ordered it there in the store to be shipped to our house. Here's that box! You'll see the suit a little further down on his ordination day. It's navy, and it's a 3-piece suit.
It started to get a little chilly in the morning, and Timmy didn't want to go to school because he didn't want to be cold. He'd outgrown his coat, so he was wearing just a jacket. I promised him one day that if he'd go to school I'd get him a coat. So right after I dropped him off I ran to Walmart. It was the tail end of the paycheck. Our checking account was pretty well drained, so there wasn't enough in there for the coat. I had a few dollars, and I'd also been saving change for a while in a little sock coin purse. It's great because it stretches as you add money, so it can hold a little or a lot! Anyway, I ended up paying mostly in coins, but I bought that coat and dropped it off at the school for Timmy. You can't tell here, but he was quite happy to have it. I had to get Jill a new coat this year too. Seems like every paycheck we're replacing pants or shoes or both for somebody! But I'm thankful that we can! :)
Remember we played World of Warcraft years and years ago? Now we play off and on these days. Hyrum has very little interest in playing, and same for Joshua. And it takes up a lot of time, so we'll commit to a month or two of game time, and then we'll just not play for a few months. I actually like it that way because there are so many other things I like to do. Anyway, in our guild, here are the regulars:
Lilly - guild boss, real name Stefanie Smith, likes to tank, lives near San Francisco
Os - her husband, real name Mark Smith, likes to play Alliance, but we still like him ;)
Val - you met him, he was playing as a healer when we met him
Verdes - she was playing a short green goblin hunter when we met her, real name Vinnita Babic, lives in Fayetteville, NC, through-and-through Christian and you'd better believe it!
Cernun - plays a druid and will drop everything to help a fellow guild member with anything. Lives in Seattle.
And then us
I don't know if we'll ever meet Cern in real life, but its' been fun to meet some of the others. Our guild is very laid back. When we're playing we will often schedule raids or dungeons to run together, and then the moment comes and we're all too busy, and its' not biggy. And not biggy if game time doesn't fit in so-and-so's budget this time or if we're too busy. Also, they make it a point that ours is a family guild with minors on, and all of the adults have been really good about helping our boys stay safe online as they play.
Anyway, Verdes really wanted to meet us. Her mom lives in Yuma, and for several months last year Verdes was living with her mom, who was dealing with cancer, helping her cope and making sure she was taken care of. She even shaved her head several times to match her mom. In October, though, she decided she was done dealing with her grouchy mom for a while (she was grouchy before cancer), but she wanted to come and see us before flying back to NC, so she did. She arrived on a Friday and stayed until Sunday. She stayed at a hotel with her mom and her step-dad at night but spent the days with us. It was nice to meet her. She's ex-military, and you can tell how that has affected her life. She also has MS. She gets around pretty good with just a cane but prefers a wheelchair when she can use one. She is a talented artist, and most of her art is Christian themed. And she LOVES kids. She feels her calling in life is to help kids come to God, especially through hard circumstances, because God is how she got through hers. Our kids were excited to have company, especially Bubby and Henry. They were her constant companions.
Verdes also wanted to go to church with us. She told us no way was she going to wear a dress, though, that she did that once, and that was enough. XD But she did dress nicely. She came not having any idea what to expect, but she told us later that she was actually a little afraid that she was going to be struck down the moment she walked in or something. And she told us a lot of things that people understand about "Mormons." She said she understood that when Joseph prayed in the Sacred Grove he was visited by a goat man, and that we worship goats in our meetings. She also asked lots of questions, but she didn't really want the answers. Mostly she just wanted to ask them. She wasn't interested in learning about our church. She said that prophets were in the old scriptures but now we're on our own and what do we need a prophet for? All sorts of things like that. Part of her point was to show Hyrum the kinds of things people he'd be teaching on his mission understood about the church. It was definitely and eye-opener. So she wasn't ready for the true church like I'd been hoping, but she's blessing people anyway in her little part of the globe, and that's good. If she ever wants to know she knows who to ask. ;)
Also, we discussed music. She's not the first bible-thumping Christian who's ever been surprised to find out that I don't really listen to Christian radio much. I tried to explain that our church members kind of have our own genre. That and I like listening to lots of kinds of music, while lots of Christians listen to only Christian music. There are certain of their songs that I LOVE, but that's not all I want to listen to. I wonder if that means I'm not churchy enough. ;) Just kidding. I didn't explain about how I like to listen to lots of kinds of music, but she wasn't ready to hear that either I think. She did turn on her favorite Christian station online while I made chili, and that was fun.
Meeting her was definitely different from meeting the others, but I'm glad we could. It gives me a better reference for where she's coming from, and I do feel like we can be her peoples. :)
The Saturday Verdes was there it was EAC Band Day, and Benji was performing, so we all went to watch.
Here the are marching in.
I took this picture between songs and then hurried and recorded some more. ;) They did some songs from Guardians of the Galaxy 2. It was fun to watch their show finally!
Marching off
Henry calls Benji "Biggy," and that has kind of stuck in my head. XD Here's Biggy with his cymbals. The drum line had berets. The rest of the band had something different. Fancy!
Bubby and Henry playing computer with Verdes. She was kind of guiding them along, telling them, "OK, now hit this one." "No, not that one. That doesn't give me money!" And then whenever they got her some coins she'd sing, "Money, money! Money, money!" Still makes me laugh. XD
Jill went to the stake Activity Day. She had a great time and made lots of treasures. ;)
Verdes and Bubby
Jill often sneaks into my room at night and sleeps on one of the chairs in there, usually mine. This time it was Papa's, though.
I was making Halloween costumes and had a strip of fabric that was just right to tie around Henry's head. :)
Jill made this for the Halloween party we put on for out Webelos. :) It says, "You are haunted once you go into this house."
We had our Webelos help us decorate too. We made bats and pumpkins and sucker/Kleenex ghosts, and we put mustaches on the pictures. Jeremy let them carve heads out of apples so they could shrink and be creepy shrunken heads. I wish I'd gotten pictures of our Webelos in their costumes. It was a fun little party.
This paper said Hyrum would be able to graduate after the fall semester!
Timmy went on a field trip to Apple Annie's and got to pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. He drew a face and called it Arnold. He wanted to cut it right then, but we convinced him to wait until it was closer to Halloween.
We got a new porch swing to replace the one the dogs ripped up. It's a huge disappointment. We didn't realize we were getting one that lays down. But that's the only comfy way to sit in it. If you sit it up it leans forward and you feel like you're being dumped out. The little guys like it, though.
We went to watch Benji perform in the Thatcher Homecoming Parade! We were disappointed because there wasn't much candy, but it was still fun to see Biggy march.
Here are a couple of pictures from the video I took of Benji playing his cymbals in that parade. They were playing the fight song at that moment. Interesting fact: The kids at Thatcher schools not only say the pledge every morning, but they say some sort of Eagle something or other (kind of like the Scout Oath) and sing the fight song.
Edit: It turns out that only the elementary school and above (not the primary school) sing the fight song. I can't remember what school they were at that had some sort of school pledge. Maybe in Cedar City. But here they say this part of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Here's that hole again.
Papa sharing his spaghetti
Hyrum dressed up for Fall Sing! Both sets of grandparents got to go this time! :)
Henry loves this dog. He has 2 dogs, a monkey, and a T-Rex that he carries around sometimes. He tells me about them sometimes, telling me what they want to do, i.e. "My boys want to weep." (sleep)
Going out to play with Scout
Jeremy ordained Hyrum an Elder on October 28, 2018.
Hyrum with Bishop Jeff Jorgensen
Here's Michael at our lunch after the ordination.
That guy was Rachel's boyfriend at the time. He's not anymore, but I understand that's for the best.
Jill taught herself a few songs out of the beginner book, the same one we all learned with as kids. Here she is with Jocee and Bubby, and what is that drink doing on the piano?! (Also why does it have Smarties in it, but mostly what is that drink doing on the piano?!)
Here's that Webelos party. I didn't get enough pictures. But Ashlynn came. ;)
There was only a bit of ice cream left, so I let these hooligans finish it off.
This Halloween costume was given to us brand new last year, but it was too big. It has a teeny tiny cape that I think doesn't even go down to his bum. Weird! Anyway, he didn't enjoy wearing it, so this was it. He wore it for a few minutes and wanted it off. He wore something else for Halloween.
Fun times with the costume box.
Here's everyone before our ward's Trunk or Treat! I made Hyrum that hat for Christmas 2017. And I made his cloak and 2 others in 2015 cuz I'm crazy! I made the shirt, sash, and tabard this year. That's what our World of Warcraft guild tabard. Our guild is Le CoirNoir (The Black heart in french, except that it's spelled wrong. Heart is really spelled Coeur. But we didn't have the "heart" - snicker, snicker - to bring up the fact that it's spelled poorly, and I suppose we still don't.) Anyway, fun. Hyrum and Michael both got tabards, and Papa helped Michael make that shield out of cardboard. It's supposedly a Burk family shield with the coat of arms I'm guessing? And Michael's wearing his trick-or-treat bucket on his head. He also has a sword, but I can't remember the specifics on it. Joshua never told me what he wanted to be, so in the end I just took him to Walmart and had him pick fast. He got this Creeper costume. It has a mask that he has in his hand. Papa is wearing the cloak I made him several years ago. And Henry wasn't dressed yet because he can't wear a costume with a puffy tail in his car seat. ;)
Now that I think about it, I think Michael used the sword Jeremy made him years ago for Christmas maybe (foam covered dowel), and then Michael made a scabbard for it to carry on his back.
There's the little dragon.
Benji wanted something fancy, but all I had time to make was this cloak. He helped me with it. I love this pattern because it is really wide! So when you spin it swishes out far. I wish I had one! He also made a spell book out of a box. When you open the book you find it's actually just a candy holder. He was quite pleased with himself.
It's a tradition to have hot dogs and root beer at our ward trunk-or-treat.
Benji eating a donut off a string
There are always lots of games.
Hyrum and Ashlynn handed out candy.
We got this witch costume from a clothing exchange. I bought a hat, and I already had those gloves from forever ago. Bam! Happy witch.
Timmy still thinks this banana costume is the funniest thing ever. And Bubby was a football player. I think he'd have rather been something else, but this is what we had that fit. He always wants to be the dragon, but it's getting to small for Henry now, so... uh... no. Thank you, Zona, for making that wonderful costume that my boys have loved so much!
