A Date with Donny, Basketball and Matt's new car

I got to take this handsome boy out for a joyride in Matt's new car tonight. We drove up to Boulder to watch the BYU basketball team play CU.

We met all these cool people there! And they brought their closest friends, aka all their kids. Although it would have been fun to have Matt and all our kids there with us, sometimes it's nice to get some alone time with each of our kids once in a while.  And of course, it would have been the best if mom and dad and Jen + family were there too!

BYU got off to a slow start and couldn't quite get back in the game. CU won 92-83. 

A Week of Crepes

This story started on Sunday. We have a long standing tradition around here on Fast Sunday that involves making giant pancakes for lunch. We are working our way up to longer fasts, but for now, the kids fast until after church. We broke tradition on Sunday by having waffles instead because we had just enjoyed pancakes the day before at the Ward Christmas Breakfast. Cameron does not like to break traditions. At all. He was so upset that I found myself offering all kinds of ways to make things up to him. I finally offered him his choice of breakfasts all week long.  And he chose crepes. For the 

 entire week.  Here is a happy Cameron on day 2. 

2015 Ward Christmas Breakfast

I don't have very many pictures from this morning, but here is what we captured from our annual Ward breakfast.

Matt had to work a few basketball games this morning so the kids and I partied for him. This year the children's nativity came at the beginning of the breakfast. Our family provided a beautiful angel and two perfect shepherds. This year all the primary children prepared the week before by writing down a service they would offer to Christ this Christmas season. Then at the breakfast they each walked to the manger and placed their paper in the manger. When all the kids finished setting their offering in the manger, they handed an ornament to each member of the ward.

Following large plates of pancakes (covered in strawberries, syrup and whipped cream) and large stacks of BACON, a couple of our kids found Santa and shared their wish list with him. It's a little bit sad that these kids are getting older. And Matt thought it was sad that he missed the one time that there was bacon. 

Donovan the Wrestler

Donovan has been working on his communication with us this year.  We have had several moments of frustration when we didn't know he needed to study for a test, or that he was supposed to be at a church activity at 6:00 instead of 7:00, or that he joined the wrestling team and needed to be picked up at a meet sometime between 4:00-6:00.  That last one didn't cause as much frustration though.  We were surprised and then more surprised.

He had a pretty successful season, if you can count 3 practices and 2 meets a season.  At his very first meet, Matt and I show up with absolutely no knowledge of the world of wrestling.  Watching the kids go before him made us pretty nervous for him.  And when we looked over at him, we could tell he was feeling nervous too.  But he took his 86 pound body and wrestled his way to an overtime victory!
The second meet was a district tournament where he had 2 matches.  He battled hard during his first match, but was eventually pinned in the 3rd round.  He looked a lot more confident and poised during his second match which he dominated.  He was ahead 12-1 before he finally pinned his opponent and secured his spot as the 3rd place winner in his weight class.  This was definitely a new experience for Donovan and I think he was glad he tried something new.

Dressed for Success

Can I start out by saying that I think Cameron is freaking adorable?

Yesterday he came downstairs for breakfast wearing a white Sunday shirt, a blue tie, jeans and his Sunday shoes. He even put on a belt. Cam told me he felt like dressing up a bit, so I squeezed his cute little cheeks and told him I thought it was a great idea. 

Today he came downstairs wearing this:

He said that he got so many compliments yesterday that he wanted to dress up again today. ❤️

Howie's First Band Concert

This year we have our very own trombone player in the family. Howie tooted his horn very well tonight in his first band concert. I was enjoying watching him so much that I forgot to take any pictures of him during the concert. But I caught him with a couple of his friends afterwards. I will be sure to do better next time!

1st Class for Howie

Tonight Howie advanced rank to 1st Class. This was pretty challenging for him because of the swimming requirement. Matt worked with him for several days to help him finish the swimming portion and he finished strong!  He was very relieved to have that part behind him. 

He did a great job leading the flag ceremony. This was a combined Boy Scout and Cub Scout Court of Honor/Pack meeting, so he got to lead in front of a pretty large group. And Howie did it all without looking at any notes. 

Then he got to do his favorite thing and pin his mom. 

Howie with his proud mom and hot, new Scout Master. 

Howie's 11-year old scout leader, Brother Reynolds, helped him quite a bit!

Although Donovan has gone as far as he can go until he finishes his Eagle Project, he earned the 14er Patch. Now if we can just get him to work on his project.....