October - December, 2008

Pen Pals

At Austin's school, they have this really awesome program called "Pen Pals" - it's similar to "Adopt a Grandparent". First, the kids are assigned a Pen Pal - Austin's Pen Pal is Dale. :) Throughout the month, Austin writes letters and makes crafts and pictures for Dale. Then comes the day when the kids get to go and visit their Pen Pals!

October - The first month! I volunteered to go and rode the bus with Austin to Valley 4000. I must say, I am very impressed with the whole facility! They have different sections - an independent living area, an assisted living area, and a nursing home area. Dale is in the nursing home area.

*NOTE* - I am blocking out Dale's face, due to rules and regulations and the rights of the residents. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to show them, so I thought I'd be safe and just black-out their eyes.

When we first arrived, we were given a grand tour. There is a beauty salon, a workout gym/PT area, a number of dining facilities and even some birds and a few dogs!

After the tour, Austin anxiously awaited the arrival of Dale - his first meeting! It was so cute! I'm glad I was there to help prompt some questions in the beginning, but after Austin and Dale got started, they had so much to talk about! Dale is a very soft spoken man, so Austin had to listen very carefully to what he was saying.

The 3rd graders sang songs to the residents and handed out the crafts they made. Dale liked Austin's pictures and gave him a big hug! Too soon it was time to go back on the bus ... ah, the bus! Austin sat with his good friend, Cody, and they listened to Austin's MP3 player and had a good time jammin' out!

November - Austin was unable to make it to the Pen Pal visit in November. He had a fever (it was that stinking fifth's disease) and I told him that he couldn't go to school much less go to visit Dale - Austin understood that Dale would get sick if he went and I told him that we would stop by Valley 4000 after church on Sunday to visit him (barring any fever or illness).

We did stop by after church; however, Dale was sleeping and he looked so peaceful that we didn't have the heart to wake him up. He was watching golf, so we knew he'd be out for the rest of the afternoon. (muah ha ha ha) We did leave him a note, though. :)

December - This month, the residents of Valley 4000 had a program for the children! They had a choir that sang songs for the kiddos and even had their pictures taken especially for them! Austin was so proud of his picture of Dale - he had to show everyone in his class how awesome it was!

Austin decided to give Dale a Christmas present ... he ended up giving him a very soft pillow (and when I say soft, I mean soft!) He thought that he could sit in his bed with the pillow behind his back, or maybe just take a nap on it. When Dale opened it up, he was surprised and happy to see it! He commented on how soft it was (nice choice, Austin!). The other gift Austin gave Dale was a picture of the two of them I took in October - their first meeting. Good ole Dale, he got really emotional when he unwrapped it. It was rather touching, watching him look at the picture of him and Austin! (sniff sniff)

A 5th grade class was there, too, and they (along with Austin's class) sang some Christmas songs for the residents. Austin kept watching to see if Dale was watching him and ... he sure was! He even sang along! :)

After a snack of some really yummy cookies and punch, we again gave big hugs to Dale with promises to visit this week - we will make sure we don't go around nap time! :)

I just want to conclude with my two cent opinion - I think it's great that Austin's class is so involved with our community and especially the elderly in the area. I know that some of those residents don't get visitors very often, and they really look forward to the kids every month. Austin wants to continue his relationship with Dale over the summer and into next year, and it makes me so proud (but not in a prideful way) that he is so committed to Dale and the visits to Valley 4000. :)

December 4, 2008

Fa-la-la-la Program

I am posting a little out of order ... so sorry! I am on a roll tonight! WOO HOO!

It's that time of year for the Christmas programs! Yeah!

The theme for Austin's big performance was "Holidays in America" and I must say that this was by far the best program either of our kids have ever been in. The children knew all of the songs really well and you can tell they were very excited to sing them.

Austin's favorite song was "The Ever-lasting Fruitcake" ... he had a speaking part and right before he was to say it, my batteries died :( and I didn't get a chance to record it. I know, bummer!

Austin is getting excited to sing his favorite song ...

















Here is Austin's big moment ... right before he says his part ... I take a pic and go to record and ... *bleep bleep bleep* my camera beeps at me and demands that I change it's battery. :( poor Austin ...

















This song (I forget the name) was sung to those parents who are deployed and other family members who are away from the children at Christmastime. A few parents were a little on the sniff sniff, boo hoo side - really touching stuff!

















After the program, we were fooling around and taking pics ... the famous 'bunny ears' never cease to make him laugh. I see we are so awesome that the man behind us is totally videoing us! Make sure you watch the new movies coming out because you never know who you'll see! :) muah ha ha ha

















Here is a snippet of the song, "The Ever-lasting Fruitcake" ... please enjoy more than you would a fruitcake, unless you like that sort of thing! :)

December 13, 2008

Sled-a-roni at the Turtle

On the day before the big blizzard, we took the kids to Turtle River State Park, which is only a few miles down the road. They have some nice hills there and even though the park ranger said there wasn't enough snow to sled on, we proved them wrong! :) We were the only ones on the hill - there's a warming cabin at the base of the hill, which was locked. It was a might nippy out there and the wind was a howlin'!

Here is a pic of the scenery - the park is not very big, but this section was a little picturesque ...

The troops, trudging up the hill ... you can still see the grass poking out :)
Melissa and Austin had a try at the new "snowboard" out - I use quotes because it's totally plastic. LOL Actually, both Melissa and Austin did well with the board ... I, on the other hand, preferred to travel down on my tush!

This is the only good shot I have of Austin - the plastic-y blue toboggan sled was totally useless, fyi. Melissa is ready to try out the board for the first time!

Melissa, looking like a pro ... maybe she should make it a new career move!

Here is a video of Austin, trying to enjoy sledding, and Melissa, using her new "skills"


Here is another video of Melissa, the Champion Snowboarder representing the US in the Winter Olympics ... ;)

December 7, 2008

The Night of the Nativity

This year, our family participated in 'The Night of Nativity', a live representation of the first Christmas. You may ask, "was it cold"? The answer would be a resounding "YES"! I believe my hands were frozy and my face froze, but it was worth it! :)

This is the 3rd annual one and I was a little enthusiastic about signing up for things ... not only was I in charge of getting groups of carolers together, I signed our family up to be in the live nativity. Austin was going to be a shepherd or wise man, but alas - he was too short to fit into the costumes. :( He was bummed, but what cheered him up was the animals! A petting zoo brought their livestock over - llamas, a donkey, sheep, a Shetland pony, a goat and some little 2 month old kid goats. They were so cute! They also entertained him all day. Speaking of all day, we were literally at the church all day - 10:00am church starts, 4:00pm nativity starts ... seeing as church is over at 1:00pm, no one wanted to drive the 1/2 hour home, stay at home for an hour and then drive the 1/2 hour back. We brought food and had a potluck with other families that travel a bit far to the chapel. The hot dogs I brought were a big hit, thank you very much! :)

One of the cooler things about the night was the press coverage. Our local television station came with a camera and even interviewed our Bishop! The local newspaper, the Grand Forks Herald, was there, too. I guess there was a nice representation on the tv that night, but we missed it. :( I wonder if I can go and look at the archives and view it ... hmmm ...

Austin and his llama and sheep friends ...

getting Melissa all ready for the choir ....

the choir ... at least one group of us! how do I look in a top hat?

another view of our little quartet ... my pink crocs look perfect, no?

a view of the live nativity and the carolers ...

a pic of the cameraman taking some video ...

Jacob, the wisest man of all ... :)

Ah, our little princess is wise, too ...

bearing gifts ...

ah, Elder Carpenter, me, Elder Dean and Elder Prisbrey, pretending to be singing ...

December 8, 2008

First Lesson ...

Today we had our first real snow fall. It was Austin's first time shoveling - boy howdy, was he thrilled! I had to go shovel the other day and he cried because he had homework and I went out without him. :) Let's see how long that lasts! Oh, we're supposed to have a blizzard this weekend. My son's first comment on that was "blizzards taste good!". Youth ...

Here it is ... the lesson!

Austin, going solo ...

the snow here is actually light, but he makes it look heavy ...

he's concentrating so hard, he's sticking his tongue out! :)

Melissa, coming home from school ... just in time!
note the shovel isn't for snow ... it's for cow poo-poos! :)

Melissa's solo act ... note: real young women don't wear gloves or mittens!

she is "done" ...

snow angels are the best!

bbrrr ... sticky snow ...

Jacob threw some snow on Austin ... bam!

it's not winter until you have snow down the neck!

November 27, 2008

A Thankful Day
... and a Thankful Black Friday

Thanksgiving is an awesome time of year! This year, we had a very relaxing day - just our family, seeing as we don't have too many friends here (yet?). :) Anyhoo, the day was spent lounging around ... Melissa took many naps and watched "One Tree Hill", Austin and Jacob played Guitar Hero - World Tour, and I watched Lost, season 2. Poor Jacob made all of the Turkey Day foodstuff, so I was in charge of Black Friday fare. :)

Here is a picture of "the men" playing Guitar Hero. Note that Jacob is giving Austin some tips ...

Here is a picture of Austin's 5th disease. Another breakout today ... when is this going to end!? It's been over 3 weeks ...

The dogs and Austin ... isn't it cute that Pirate is giving Gabby a kiss? Awww ...

Austin, trying to hug Gabby but getting mauled by Pirate ...

Moving to North Dakota has definitely made me appreciate my family and friends. I am also very thankful to be the seminary teacher - having Melissa in class is a riot! :) I can't imagine waking up any other way ...

So, Melissa and I went to beddie bye early because of "Black Friday" ... we picked up M's friend, Mackenzie, at around 2:40am (yes, that is early!). We started off the day at the BX here on base - heck, I wanted my free $20 gift card! lol

Then we picked up my OBFND (only best friend in North Dakota), Carolyn, and we headed out to Kohl's and WalMart. We were pretty much bushed after that. :) Got some good deals, but didn't really break the band, seeing as we're doing a "homemade Christmas" this year.

Once we arrived home, M and I went straight to bed to take a nap. ;) Seeing as Austin's birthday was just on Tuesday and Elder Carpenter's birthday was on Black Friday, we thought it would be fun to have a little birthday celebration. Fun, fun! ;) Actually, we had a "puking good time" ... more details to follow! muah ha ha ha!

Well, the night started out (after supper, of course) with the ceremonial 'opening of the presents'. Poor Elder Carpenter hasn't received anything from his 'friend that's a girl', so we got him a Barbie. He's naming her 'Jezebel'. (I wonder why? haha)
Well, the games then began! We played a game where you have to scoop cotton balls from one bowl to another with a wooden spoon, blindfolded. FUN! There were some sneaky pranks to be found, I tell you what!

What would a party be without musical chairs? We only played spiritual music, OF COURSE. (*cough cough*) I believe that Elder Prisbry won that one.

Now, I'm not willing to divulge the person who came up with this last game. Originally, it was supposed to be "hot potato", but then I suggested we use the Barbie and play "hot Barbie". Well, that just doesn't sound like a game you should play with four missonaries, so it ended up being "hot ______". The first round was "hot applesause". Austin was the 'winner' and had to chug a snack-sized portion of applesauce. Easy, right? He did very well.

Next, we played "hot jello". Melissa was the 'winner' and, as you can see, it was very hilarious to watch! She was laughing so hard that she spit it out, and then proceeded to slurp it up off the table. I love Elder Prisbry's face! It was that hilarious!

"Hot pudding" was for Elder Carpenter. I thought I'd go easy on him ... it was his birthday after all! :)


The next round was "hot peaches and cream". Poor Elder Christensen was the 'winner'. He had a real hard time choking down the chunks.* (*insert evil chuckle here) What we didn't know was that he has a really sensative gag reflex and that, coupled with the sounds of vomiting from his other "friends", it was only a matter of time before he started puking up the peaches and cream. muah ha ha ha! hee hee hee! I am evil, but thinking about his head in the garbage can just makes me laugh! :)
Okay, now the "hot yams" may not sound bad to you, but to Elder Dean, it was quite sickening! Please take special note of Elder Christensen, gagging and puking along with Elder Dean! :) muah ha ha ha!



The worst "hot _____" was the last one. Elder Prisbry got "hot jello with some yams and a couple of cheese curds". Yuck is all I can say on that one. Actually, he was a trooper and ate the whole thing - I believe the words of a bystander were "that's a delete-r", referring to the boringness of the video. ;)

Okay, to the grande finale of the evening. Melissa volunteered (may I say volunteered again?) to take a teaspoon full of cinnamon and eat it. Now, she had just seen the video of Elder Carpenter doing the same thing, and she knew what to expect. I guess she thought he was a pansy and decided to do it anyway. I just watched the video again and am wiping the tears away from my face at the same time. A total "must see" ...



After all of the fun and puking was over, it was time for cake. A few opted out because their tummies were a little upset over the clenching of the puking muscles, but it was all good! I thought the pink cake went well with Elder Carpenter's Barbie ... ha! All-in-all, it was a super fun, super hilarious day! A few days after the party, Austin told me that "it was a fun time - those missionaries are funny!".

The birthday boys and their cake ...

END NOTE: Who's up for some fun? When it's your birthday, we can play games! Oh, and I triple dog dare everyone to get someone to do the cinnamon test ... muah ha ha ha! :)