Nov- Weeks 3 and 4- Thanksgiving, Aquarium, Snow, Videos of Anna Summersault and Ben Reading, McKenna 8 Year Check up

Here's a cute baby who sometimes smiles for the camera on command. :) 

Thursday the 17th (my brother's BD!), the kids had Dad's a Donuts at school!

Anna did some Thanksgiving activities at preschool. 

My visiting teachers came.  That evening Dan helped serve at our ward's annual Special Needs Mutual dinner.  

Friday I went to ladies lunch.  In the evening Dan and I went on a date to see "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", then we went out to dinner with some of Dan's family to Tony Burger.  

Saturday morning the kids had Primary Program practice and Dan had a super Saturday (9am-5pm) to kick off Tithing Settlement, with appointments every 5 minutes!  He had a small break in the middle of the day to conduct a baptism for McKenna's friend, Maleah.  That evening we went grocery shopping.  

Sunday was our Primary Program!  The kids did really well with their parts and singing.  I wish I could remember what they said...

I also wanted to document Anna's new way to write H's and A's.  She either draws a bunch of vertical lines and crosses them, or a bunch of zigzag lines and crosses them.  Pretty smart!  

In the evening we also worked on a Lego set McKenna got while BD shopping with Grandma.  

Monday, our kids started their full week of Thanksgiving break.  McKenna still had dance, but in the evening we had a family home evening on gratitude. It's always so great to see what the kids say they are thankful for.  

Tuesday McKenna had her 8 year old well-check.  

McKenna's 8 Year Old Stats

Height: 49.2in (1.2in increase in 1 year) 30th percentile

Weight: 49lbs 8oz (2lbs 4oz increase in 1 year) 8th percentile (skinny little thing)

Wednesday I went with Ben to his music class for the last day of the semester then we had some friends over in the afternoon for play dates.  

Thursday was THANKSGIVING!  Bethany finally fit in this beautiful handmade sweater from our friend Amanda Koldewyn.  Also, Bethany's post-bath curls are so pretty.  

We watched the parade in the morning and worked on sorting through toys, then we headed up to Midway to be with the Nelson family!  It was a smaller turn out than past years, but still wonderful.  HUGE amounts of food!  Making sure no one went home hungry.  

We even heard some special remarks from Grandfather about gratitude.  

The kids did some crafting and we could write letters to the missionaries serving from the Nelson family.  

When we got home that night we had the Winegars over for popcorn and watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  

Friday we did yard work and decorated for Christmas.  In the evening we went to a new interactive aquarium in Layton called Sea Quest.  The owners are the Boyles who are Dave and Laurie's next door neighbors.  

Ben and Ollie flashing the U.  We even fed some sharks.  

Afterwards, we went to the Hilton Garden Restaurant with all who came to the aquarium.  

It's so wonderful to live close to so many Webster family members and to spend great quality time with them! 

Saturday was the extended Thompson Thanksgiving.  Also a small-ish crowd, but fabulous to see everyone who came! 

  

Dan teaching Ben the ways of the sweeping the church gym.  

Some cute baby girls at Webster Family dinner on Sunday.  Missing Kate, Hailey, and Amelia.  

Monday night, Dan and I went to the Utah vs. Butler basketball game.  

Tuesday we got quite a bit of snow and Ben and Anna went out to play in it before lunch.  They made that little Olaf 100% by themselves!  

Anna got a good little workout running in the snow.  

Tuesday afternoon McKenna also had a consultation for braces with Dan's cousin, Dr. Maxfield.

Tuesday and Thursday in preschool Anna learned about the letter Kk!  They kicked, did karate, and painted.  

And here's some fun pictures of Beffy!  She discovered the drawer under the stove which happens to be empty and fairly dusty.  ;)  She also started practicing feeding herself her yogurt in the morning.  It's so fun watch, but not so fun to clean up.  Bethany was also getting over a cold and had a slight fever which began a couple weeks of terrible sleeping for her!  I took a picture of the monitor to document how tired she was because an hour after I put her down, she was still in exactly the same position! 

 Anna taught her self to do a summersault!  Crazy hair is an added bonus! 

Ben is getting pretty good at reading!  This is from a Magic Treehouse book.  

Nov- Week 2- McKenna's Baptism, Dan Grizz Game, Cousin Baptism Pics

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016 was an amazing day! 

Our oldest daughter, McKenna Jean, chose to be baptized!  She woke up excited and nervous.  We got to the church around 10:20 and set up the room for the lunch.  Bro. Turley conducted the service. Aunt Sarah Jane led the music and cousin Emma played the piano.   The opening song was "Baptism"   and Grandma Kelly gave the opening prayer followed by Grandpa Mike giving a talk about baptism.  He spoke about our relationships in life and how we need to strengthen our relationship with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ.  We then had a special musical number sung by all of McKenna's available cousins, "I Love to See the Temple."  Next, Grandpa Webster gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  He spoke about our covenants with Heavenly Father.  

We went to the font in the Primary room where both grandpas were the witnesses.  I went with McKenna back to the font on the girls' side and had to practically hold her back from getting in the font so quickly (she was pretty excited).  I wanted her to wait for her dad to signal her and hold her hand while walking down the steps. Dan then baptized her.  When she came out of the water she mostly mentioned how cold she was and that the jumpsuit felt really heavy. :)  We blow dried her hair while everyone in the chapel waited for us and watched a few Mormon message videos.  Dan then confirmed McKenna a member of the church and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost.  The circle of priesthood holders consisted of Great Grandfather (Pres. Nelson), Great Grandpa Condie, Grandpa Webster and Grandpa Mike, Uncles David, Brian, Jake Winegar, Sam, Adam, and Jonathan.  McKenna hugged everyone in the circle then Grandfather took her up to the podium with him as he delivered the closing remarks.  He had her imagine with him that they were going on a picnic and walking down a road.  They come to a fork in the road and he asked her which way they should go.  She answered to choose the right.  He agreed and added to it by saying if we know where we want to end up (with Heavenly Father) then we will always know which way to go and what choices to make.  The closing song was "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" and Grandma Sylvia gave the closing prayer.  Everyone who attended was also invited to write little notes to McKenna.  We have them all saved in a special book.  :)

All the cousins singing "Temples."  Anna didn't want to cooperate.  

Some pictures from the luncheon and nice gifts McKenna received (flowers from her sweet primary teacher and a handmade doll from Grandma Kelly with a dress made from the same fabric our girls' blessing dress was made from).  

The menu: hot dogs, chips, pasta salad, fruit, sara salad, celery with PB and chocolate chips, rice krispie treats and grandma Sibber made cupcakes.  

We're so grateful for so many family and friends who came to support us and McKenna!  My heart was filled with so much JOY I thought it might burst!  

Monday night, the 14th, Dan attended the Foster Family night at the Utah Grizzly game and had to step in to do the ceremonial puck drop.  

I also took dinner that night to my friend Sarah Moulton who just had a baby.  

Tuesday I went visiting teaching.  Anna had preschool learning about the letter Jj.  They did experiments with jelly beans and lots of jumping.  

That afternoon we had a little photoshoot with cousins Katie and Whitney for a Christmas present for grandma and grandpa Webster.  We took pictures of all three of the girls in their baptism dresses.  

Here's the collage we gave them.