Room Switch!

Clark's senior photos for his yearbook came back!  One of them he looks a lot like my brother Sheldon.  This is one that I really like.  The pictures from the photo place were so expensive that I didn't order any.  But here's a picture of a picture.

Well, November brought some changes to the house again!  Since we aren't doing the addition because of inflated building supply prices, I was sad about Clark not being able to enjoy it.  As I was thinking about it I thought how he might like to have his own room his last few months at home. He's been sharing with Cal and Elden for a few years now.  Shanna had moved into the playroom, so thus began the task of making it not the play room, and having Haley moving up stairs.  Lee took this picture of the girls and sent it to some friends and myself and titled it "Parent Trap".  Haha.  

Shanna cut open her apple looking pumpkin to see what it looked like inside.  Well, here it is!

Shanna helped Lee put up the Christmas lights.

Maybe Elden got in on the action as well....or just had fun on the ladder. It was a nice day, so Lee took advantage of the weather to get outside and put up the lights. 

More random photos but the girls had a 150th celebration of Young Women.  There was a special broadcast and the young women leaders put together some goodies for the girls to have during the broadcast.  It was so sweet. 

Clark playing away!  And it's fun getting the fire going on the TV. 

Thanks to Deb and all her hard work I was able to make some sacrament plates with etchings of the Savior.  I thought I wouldn't need to use them since church was in session.  But when the Governor mandated that social gatherings be 25 or fewer people we were instructed to have church at home.  There was some confusion though because the 25 person limit didn't actually apply to church worship.  But anyway, with the confusion, we ended up having church at home that day and were able to use the plates!  We are actually now back at church which is great. 

Cal's new snack....a cheese stick boat with Texas Pete's hot sauce.  They call it E-teep-saxet. 

I decided to donate my childhood bear.  I have had it all these years but never used it and my kids didn't want it either.  But I'm glad to have a photo of it!

The middle-ish of November the kids started back to school two days a week!  Well, the middle schoolers.  High schoolers won't start till the beginning of February.  They were very excited to go back and had a fun first day back in person.  I just wish they could go to school in person everyday!  But the schools can only do 50% capacity so the kids have to split up to go. They go Tuesdays and Fridays. 

With them going back to school I went through the school supplies yet again and finally got rid of some stuff.  I found these broken and random pencils.  Elden and his friend Kaden would gather them up stray pencils at school and save them during their 5th grade year.  They ended up having a lot of pencils in their possession haha. 

Shanna's outfit the first day back to school.  I found these cute sweaters at Walmart!

And a recipe we found that maybe we'll try...

Okay, so yes a lot of random photos thus far.  Back to the room switch.  Once Haley moved upstairs and Clark moved into the girls' old room, I had Cal and Elden take everything out of their bedroom except their clothes.  They had a TON of random stuff in their room.  I got rid of a lot of it.  I am keepin a bag of stuff for a few months incase they ask for anything, But they haven't.  Eventually I'll get rid of it.  I am realizing that keeping the house paired down is an ongoing thing.  Not a once and done gig. 

And ahhhh.....such a peaceful place!  And it smells so much better in their room as well!  And they are doing great keeping it clean! One day the dresser fell over because Elden had too many drawers open. One of Elden's lego creations fell (as well as one of Cal's) but Elden didn't clean it up for a couple of days.  Cal was getting annoyed that Elden was leaving a mess on the ground.  I though it was cute that Cal liked the room so super clean.  It was quite a small pile of Legos and made me laugh.  But Cal is the one that still puts his clothes away the Marie Kondo style--and has been for a few years now!  He likes things organized! And it's also easier for the boys to keep clean as well. 

Clark is in the smaller of the two bedrooms.  He has a nice little set up with his desk and synthesizers, the keyboard and his dresser. He loves having his own space.  He bought a strip of LED lights and attached them to the underside of his bed frame.  We had this queen bedframe up in the attic and also the queen mattress was in the playroom leaning against the wall.  It worked out great getting a bed in his room. Lee moved the girls' bunk bed upstairs.  The bunk bed can work as two separate beds.  Haley has the full size and Shanna the twin size.  Clark loves having his own room and I'm really glad we made the switch. I keep forgetting how much work it is to switch rooms!

Shanna ripped some jeans all on her own.  They turned out pretty cute!

Here is the other Walmart sweater I bought for Haley. 

I ordered a new Christmas tree.  Once it came we set it up.  So it's been up for a little while.  But none of us are mad about that!

So one morning I was cleaning up and found one of the girl's headbands.  I just threw it on my hair, loosely, with the intent of putting it away.  When I put it on my head I thought, I'm going to forget this here.  But then thought, no, I'll put it away.  Of course I forgot it was on my head and had it on like this while I went to the store! UGH!  Hopefully someone got a good chuckle of my lack of style.  

A little house designing by Shanna! She loves to plan things, make lists and draw out design ideas. 

My friend Katherine had her birthday recently and a few days after we invited their family over to eat dinner with us and hangout.  I decided a double chocolate cheesecake was in order! Yum!  The room switch was finally completed as well.  I need to spruce up the paint and such in the girls' room and I would love to switch out the rug and even change out some furniture, but I'm not sure if I'll do that. 

That same week on Wednesday Lee and I had our temple recommend interviews.  I went first and our friend, Seth Stratford, was doing the interviews.  When we first started chatting he said, well let's do the interview first.  I thought, wait....aren't we just doing a temple recommend?  What else would I need to talk to him about?  After the interview I was asking him how to get our recommends signed and he said that I'd be seeing him soon and asked if I would speak at Stake Conference on how the temple can help us make the Savior a central part of our life. I wasn't expecting that! But I agreed.  Now to getting the talk prepared!