'Tis The Season To Be Busy

The fall seems to have brought a lot of busyness to our house. I finally completed my big project of the year for the GP Mom's Club, which was a bake sale through Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale program, to raise money to feed hungry kids in Detroit. After the inevitable drama that follows any large event run by women, it ended up coming together without a hitch. I think it was the Lord answering my many prayers, as I don't think it had anything to do with me. We raised just under $400, which greatly exceeded my expectations. I am so pleased with all the wonderful women in the club who helped make it happen, and for the leadership skills I'm slowly learning.

That is just the beginning of the events coming up, though, as there are more service projects for the club coming up, along with the Halloween party and Christmas party. I also have the Branch Halloween party and Christmas party, Luke's birthday party, and all my other "regular" tasks. May the crispness in the air bring me energy and vigor.

We've Got Joy!

It's amazing to me how much thought I've put into Luke's schooling the past couple of years. So many decisions! This year, though, I think we made the right one by putting Luke in Joy School. He loves it, I love it, and the group of moms and kids we are working with is amazing. Clayton and I were worried that our precious little guy just wouldn't be able to handle it (in a social way), but, as one mom told me this past week, "I can just see him blossoming." It's only been a couple of weeks, and he still sometimes panics when I drop him off, but he LOVES it. I love the things he's learning and doing, and I can't wait for my turn to teach. We have also already had some really great field trips. Our first one was to a pond at the University of Michigan (incidentally one of Henry Ford's wife's favorite spots) where the kids got to collect samples from the pond with nets and study the creatures. Today we went to a gymnastics center for an open gym where the kids had an absolute blast running, jumping, etc. and just seeing what their bodies can do. We have seriously got joy around here!

Can It Be?

I can hardly believe that the summer is at an end. My goal at the start was to under-schedule myself and take my kids to the pool and beach every weekday. I didn't quite accomplish it, but I sure tried. Here are a few last summer pics to remind us of fun, lazy days in the sun. Now that I think about it, we even played on days that weren't so sunny!

Racing to the Hill

Less than a block from our house is a ritzy little shopping area called The Hill in which we like to window shop, try out the trendy restaurants, and make late-night trips to Rite Aid (not so ritzy, I guess). Every year, they have a fundraising event for kids with cancer called Racing to the Hill. It is race car-themed, and tons of fun for a Cars-crazed 3-year-old boy. We saw lots of race cars, got free posters that are now blanketing Luke's bedroom walls, as well as a few other fun things.

Luke told me he really wanted to ride the ponies, and he went right over and did it. This is pretty impressive for such a shy little guy. It wasn't nearly as much fun as riding with Grandma Hall, but he thought he was pretty cool up there with his riding helmet on.

We did moonwalks, got balloon animals from a clown, and stood in line FOREVER for face-painting, only to abandon it at the last minute to chase down a lady giving out balloons. Oh, what I do for my kids. :) Audrey was there, too, although she preferred to sit in the stroller covering herself in sno-cones.

Residency Pals

Clayton is blessed to have two great LDS guys in his year and his Anesthesiology Program. They both live about 40 minutes from us on the other side of the city, but we try to visit with them as much as we can. I love hanging out with the wives and feeling the support and understanding that only someone going through the same thing as you can give. Carmen is one of the sweetest, kindest people I know, and Sharina is incredibly generous and very organized, getting more done in one hour than I probably do in a whole day. A few weekends ago, we went to the Beutler's ward for the blessing of their beautiful new baby, Ammon. Before heading back to our branch, we took a few minutes for a quick photo shoot, including a few pictures outside the Detroit Temple.

Here we all are! Alan and Carmen Hillstead with their two boys on the left, Barry and Sharina Beutler with their four kids in the middle, and us on the right.

This one cracked me up. I had no idea Luke was doing that at the time. Obviously, he wasn't too thrilled about taking pictures!