Phantom of the Opera

About 1-2 years ago I started listening to Phantom of the Opera music frequently and Mason really took a liking to it. He asked his piano teacher for the sheet music and before long was pounding out Phantom music on our poor piano, haha. I love listening to him sing and play. So when Mason's birthday approached I searched and searched for theater tickets. We had to drive to Prescott, AZ but it was worth it and I could tell he really enjoyed the experience. We celebrated my mom's birthday and Mason's as we traveled a couple hours to Yavapai College Performance Center. Next on our wish list is to see WICKED!

Halloween 2019

Halloween this year was a little interesting. As usual Ron was hunting during a lot of the Halloween festivities but he actually scratched his cornea and came home early from the hunt. Poor guy I think it was really painful, Ron never complains and I could tell he was hurting. During the midst of the Halloween chaos I ended up killing a rat in our garage too! BLAH!!!! That was a horrific event and all I could think about as I slammed the shovel down on the poor nasty rodent was "How did Nephi do this?!?! How did Nephi do this!?!?!" haha oh well I lived and thankfully the rat did not, life goes on (no more rat sightings at our home thank goodness).
Halloween is one of my FAVORITE holidays. It's so much fun to be creative and see the kids excitement with picking their costumes. April couldn't decide between a princess and Super girl so of course I let her be both. Callie was Cat woman and Rapunzel, sweet Noah agreed to be Clark Kent to match April. He's a sweetie that way (plus I may or may not have bribed him with $5 haha.) 

Mason got to go hunting this year. Sadly because of Ron's eye injury he didn't get as much hunting time or a deer but he enjoyed his time outdoors.

Mason is a Teenager

I can't believe I have a teenager! Mason is really enjoying Franklin Jr. High. He is confident, easy going, and friendly. I'm so happy he goes to school with so many good kids and awesome friends. 

 On his birthday we took the family to ifly an indoor skydiving facility. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. We couldn't talk April into trying it. Mason, Noah and Callie loved it. Happy Birthday Mason!

Mason came home from school this week and announced he wanted to dress up as Gale from the Hunger Games novels for his School Halloween Party this Friday night. I looked up pictures online and told him we could totally make that happen. I asked him what made him pick that particular character. He explained some girls at school told him he totally looked like Gale and should dress up like that. Further into the conversation I discovered a particular girl was dressing up as Katniss. Mason has not been shy about his feelings for this specific girl at school and basically the whole school knows that he likes her. He has a couple classes with her and I've seen her myself at a couple school functions she seems to be a nice girl and kind to Mason. I chuckled to myself at the next part of our conversation. As I've worked on and talked about Mason's costume he mentioned to me that he could just be Pita (the other  main Male character in this book series) I disagreed and told Mason to be Gale, he (Mason) looks more like Gale and that made more sense than trying to die his hair blonde. After thinking about this for a couple minutes Mason asks "But doesn't Katniss end up with Pita?" This had me laughing out loud. I love this kid. he really does shoot for the moon sometimes.

In order left to right: Prim (Katniss's sister), Kelsey as Katniss, Quinn as Pita, Mason as Gale. They even won the prize for Best Duo/group at the party. 

Noah is 11

11 years old! I can't believe it. In just a couple months he will be ordained a Deacon and passing the sacrament in church. I just love this little analytical, math minded, obedient, kind, and a little crazy kiddo. Happy Birthday bud!

 At school he had a famous person report and he chose George Washington. I got to go to school and see him give the oral portion of his report. I was very impressed with his work and I loved helping him dress for the part.

October Break

Every Fall poor Ron is always so busy at work. I try to keep the kids busy during October Break but this year we thought it would be fun to brave a trip to Utah with out Ron. Leslie was gracious enough to take us in and my kids were in heaven at their home hanging with cousins and constantly playing. Leslie's kids were still in school so we kept busy during the day going to temple square with Uncle Allen, visiting and touring the Conference center, Joseph Smith Memorial, temple baptisms, a live session for me at the Salt Lake Temple and visiting some relatives.  Our original plan was to leave Wednesday and drive to North Salt Lake stay for a few days then head home. My friend Erin was planning on visiting her parents in Spring City the same week and offered for us to stop and hang with them for a day before finishing our drive to the Miller home. On the drive to Spring City we stopped in Richfield, UT for dinner at Arby's. We got out of the car stretched ate inside the small restaurant and got back in the car and headed for Springfield. We arrived at the Hawker home (in the middle of nowhere) after dark and headed inside to set up beds and rest. We had a lot of fun staying with "Uncle Bart" and "Aunt Debbie" as long time family friends I grew up thinking they were our real Aunt and Uncle. We went on a beautiful hike with them, hung out at a pond near their property and did some quad riding (Mason LOVED that).  As we packed up the next day after all the fun I started to look for my purse and wallet. I thought I had just left it in the car from the night before. As I realized I didn't have it I started to panic. I called the Arby's in Richfield and miraculously they still had it. We were a little disappointed to have to back track an hour to get my purse but so grateful that it had not been stolen or really lost. 

We lived the "Miller" life. Freezing cold football games, endless card games and snuggles on the couch.

Mason got to do baptisms in the Salt Lake temple and the Provo City Center. That building is amazing.