What November Looked Like

 

Care Bear and I love it when we both get to be Imposters...

Especially if we both win!

With the holiday season right around the corner,

we've had to record a couple of videos for different performances.

Caroline had one for her middle school chorus.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

I've still been slowly working on weaving sleeping mats

to donate to a homeless shelter. I love the way this

striped one turned out!

We had a Thanksgiving zoom with Andrew's side of

the family. So fun to catch up with everyone!

COVID Thanksgiving, just the four of us.

It was so weird to have such a small celebration.

But there were nice things about it, too.

Like staying in my pajamas all day.

We decided we still needed a pie buffet:

three pies for the four of us. Ha!

Pumpkin, grasshopper, and apple.

Each of us girls made the one we're holding.

So good!

(And I love having girls that can help me cook!)

I've been back to volunteering at NAI once a week.

I love it so much. I find so much joy in learning with 

these refugee students. Learning a new language with

masks and social distancing is HARD. I admire

our students SO MUCH. When I started last year,

the school served both immigrants and refugees,

but with the new requirements for social distancing,

we now only serve refugees. In our class, they are almost 

all men. And most of them are from Africa, many from the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, others from Kenya and Sudan.

I look forward to my NAI morning every week.

Brandon has started dating a new girl, Sadie.

This is the closest I could get to a pic of her. Ha!

I've been joining in on Pha's missionary discussions.

He is awesome! He's dating Hyuan, one of my ministering sisters.

She invited him to church this summer and he has enjoyed it.

He has committed to be baptized next month.

So excited for him!

BYU football has been SO fun this year!

We are undefeated so far, 9-0. 

We've had to play some crappy teams because of COVID,

but we've played a couple good teams, too.

Zach Wilson is an amazing QB and will probably

leave to go to the NFL next year. It has been fun

to look forward to watching games most weekends.

Care Bear is still KILLING it on her unicycle.

We can now take a two-mile loop through the

neighborhood and she only falls a couple of times.

So good!

She recently learned how to mount without having

to hold on to anything. That's a big deal! 

Beautiful wispy clouds,

One of my friends said this looks like an ultrasound pic.

And after she said that, I could totally see that.

Like there's a baby head on the right side of the pic.

Andrew and I found this old radio while looking for some geocaches.

Beautiful fall day for a date!

We had a picnic lunch of Panda Express,

And went suit shopping!

It was time!

He needed a new suit and we were

so happy to find one that fit him!

And we discovered a store super close

to our house that has a tailor,

which he definitely needed. Yay!

Our downstairs thermostat died.

I had installed the previous one soon after we moved

into this house thirteen years ago.

I remembered it being easy...

But then I took off the old one and saw all these wires and

was a little intimidated...

Luckily, it was easier than it looked.

For our combined activity in Nov,

the YM planned a bonfire at Brandon E's house.

Their fire pit is ENORMOUS.

It made it tricky to roast marshmallows.

But it was so warm and cozy.

The youth had a great time.

I love working with the YW!

Another warm, sunny fall day, so we took C out to 

play tennis with us. She doesn't like to play for long,

but it's fun to see her progressing.

Andrew had a sleep apnea test done this month.

His was done at home. He had to sleep with

these contraptions on.

He has been diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea.

His doctor has ordered a CPAP machine for him,

but we don't have it yet. Hope this can help him feel

more rested when he gets up in the morning.

Our little backyard firepit seems so 

tiny compared to the one we had for the youth. Ha!

But still fun to hang out and visit and eat smores.

Happy Birthday to Drew this month!

I talked him into taking his birthday off.

We went to Dave and Buster's in Winston,

which was so fun.

Then we had dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

Our girls had never been there and we were so excited

for them to try it. They were not sufficiently impressed.

They didn't like the mood lighting and thought the food

was just ok. Hmph. We'll save that place for the occasional

date night, I guess.

I thought they looked cute in their overalls. :)

Birthday boy

Miss Whitney got a job!

She started working at Chick-fil-A this month!

She looks so cute in her uniform!

And, of course they have masks, too.

She works A LOT, usually 4-5 nights a week!

She comes home happy almost every night.

She likes the people that she works with.

And most of the customers are nice.

So happy for her!

Caroline taught herself how to make bread!

What the heck?

She has already surpassed me in her domestic skills.

And it's yummy, too.

Qwixx

Caroline wanted to try bleach tie-dying.

It turned out pretty well!

I LOVE when my Camellia blooms in the fall.

So pretty.

We have a sister from our ward, Katelyn, who is serving a

mission in Laie Hawaii. She serves at the temple visitors center,

but Hawaii has been very strict about tourists during COVID,

so they don't have a lot to do. They have started doing virtual

tours. One of our activities this month was to go on a virtual tour

with Katelyn and her companion. It was SO fantastic! I love

that the Spirit can travel through technology from thousands

of miles away. So cool.

The girls had a random Teacher Workday at the beginning of the month,

so C and I headed to the zoo.

I think they are growing marijuana there???

It was a great day.

I love going on adventures with my girls.

We've started watching Downton Abbey with Whit.

It is soooo good, even the second time through.

Whit downloaded the sheet music and is learning

to play the theme song. Love it.

I also bought a couple of old seasons of Survivor that we've been watching with Caroline. We've pretty much become couch potatoes at night. Ha!