And they're off!

And Jocelyn's braces are off! After about a year her teeth were spread apart enough that hopefully she won't get any more abscesses or cavities. Her teeth are a lot straighter too. Now she has mouth freedom for a few more years until she needs her real braces when she's like 12....I love that smile! Her smile and her laugh always have been and always will be one of her most endearing qualities...

Time Out in a good way

The second weekend in November there was a super cool conference held in St George. It was the time out for women/time out for girls conference. There are interesting speakers, shopping, and grab bags...Basically its a good opportunity to go and get motivated to better yourself and chill at the same time. This year my friend Jana came and brought her daughter from Las Vegas. I took Cami and Taryn (you have to be 12). It was such a great weekend of music and friends and girl time. Thanks to Brent for hanging out with/giving Jocelyn and Creed an awesome weekend too. My only complaint was that it was too short.

Distric Reflections

Jocelyn won at the district reflections contest and it was pretty cool. She went to an awards open house thing and it was awesome to see such creative work from all the kids in our school district. She really does like to write stories and they are great for her being in 2nd grade. She ended up not winning at the state level but had a great experience so if I were a betting mom I would bet that she will be writing another story for reflections next year.

Baptism Day

Jocelyn was really excited for her baptism day (November 4th). She was excited about her fancy hair and fancy dress. She was excited to be able to plan the program (she was the only one in our ward getting baptized). She even colored the cover of the program. BUT she was most excited to see all the family that sacrificed to be here for her big day. She really loves her cousins and was so happy that they could come. She was also so happy that Papa Weight came since he doesn't love the drive down here much anymore. She was happy that Uncle John ran his half marathon really fast and made it to the church in time. She was happy that kids from her primary class came and her primary teacher made her laies to wear (she is Hawaiian). The baptism went really well....short and sweet....we then had the traditional (for our family) ice cream sundays and sandwiches at our house for everyone that was here. It was beautiful weather and the kids ran around and played outside all afternoon. It really was the perfect baptismal day for my beautiful girl.

Power of Peers

Just when I thought all hope for soccer kids in our home was lost...and in fact I had donated all cleats and shin guards to DI ...peer pressure came through with the win. Once Creed realized his buddies were playing and needed another player he didn't rest until I got him on the team...And it really was such a fun season. He got out there and ran like a champ and drank a lot of Gatorade. Good times for all...Peer pressure isn't always a bad thing....

Leaf Painting

My niece Madison started this weird but totally fun tradition years ago of painting the leaves on their tree. Fall time comes pretty late here so instead of waiting for the leaves to change Madison and company took matters into their own hands and painted the leaves into changing colors. With Madison away at  college we were afraid the tradition would die but thanks to Marceli the tradition lived on. The kids all had a good time. Creed scaled the latter and kept my adrenalin up really high and Jocelyn used a lot of very vivid pink colors.  Its so nice to live close to family.

Halloween

This Halloween was a little bit weird because I wasn't in charge of anyone's class party this year. I did get to help with Creed's but I didn't really have to plan anything. I did have fun watching the parade. Creed was excited to get to be in it this year for the first time. He wanted to be an army guy. He decided this back in August and I didn't buy the costume at Costco thinking he still had two months-what if he changes his mind. BUT then I went to Costco to buy it in October and it was sold out. That caused some serious drama until we got to Target and they came through with an army guy costume. Jocelyn was thinking hula girl for a few months. I was down with that since we all ready have all the costume stuff we'd need...but then as Creed and I were getting the army man costume she saw a belle costume and that was it game over. Belle was the only costume for her. She she made a very cute belle.  Taryn was a nerd with her cousin Lauren. We accidentally waited too long to order the periodic table shirt they wanted but I really think they turned out to be good nerds anyway. Cami wanted to be a unicorn...with purple hair. She spent the whole day doing a carnival at school and brought "jack a boy" home with her afterwards. Many an hour was spent hiding inside this on our porch scarring the crud out of anyone who had the misfortune of coming to our door. It was pretty great...especially a few days later when Taryn waited in there for 10 minutes and got Cami as she got home from school. Good times...We went to the annual neighborhood hotdog party then Brent took the kids out and I handed out Candy. Cami and Taryn stayed home and helped me now that they are too old to trick or treat...and they realized they joy of free access to the basket of candy without having to case out the neighborhood. 

Crazy Hair and Super Scholar all in one day

As Part of Red Ribbon week the kids had a crazy hair day. Jocelyn begged for unicorn hair and this was as close as I could get...a horn, a tail, and lots of glitters....And Creed was super excited about the half and half action...half pink and half blue...It was funny how into it they got...and how much hair color got on their clothes...Also Jocelyn won super scholar award in October for her writing skills. Her teacher showed us some of her writing and she uses a lot of adjectives and adverbs. Its awesome. She is a super scholar and hopefully a super kind kid as well.

This was as close as I got to a picture of her during the super scholar assembly...

8 is great ... the gift that keeps on giving

Jocelyn turned the big 8 at the end of October. She entered the world surprisingly fast and early and she has been keeping us on our toes ever since....and we have loved every second of it...

 This was the lucky year where her birthday was on a Saturday so she actually got to have her friend party on her big day. A few months ago the new ninja warrior gym opened here and she is the biggest ninja fan. When we watch American Ninja Warrior she is the kid scaling the walls and swinging over the furniture. So when we learned the gym did birthday parties we signed her up in a hurry. It was really fun and she has a great group of friends. 

After her party she wanted to go get her ears pierced...This turned into a three hour ordeal...She was scared but she wanted them pierced and finally she conquered her fears and got it done....

The next day we had family birthday cake and she was thoroughly celebrated. I am so thankful for Jocelyn. She is cuddly and mischievously. She is the perfect buddy to Creed. She is smart and works hard in school. She seems to be a good friend and begs for play dates all the time. The next minute she will contentedly be reading a book to herself. She has changed a lot in the last year...getting braces and glasses and getting braces off...and she found  a passion for swim team. She likes to craft and create inside but runs around like a banshee outside every chance she gets. She still gets sore joints but not as often as she once did and the medicine she has effectively takes the edge off but I am careful not to overload her with crazy physical activities. Overall she does really well though. And we are just really lucky to have her in our family.

I may have forgotten the candles but remembered the lighter...I am sure her wish still counted...

Jocelyn and a real life ninja...