Halloween 2013

Emily made a cute little pumpkin.  What a a great  way to start off the Halloween season.  I love pumpkins, especially those that don't rot.

He headed to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkin.  Carving the pumpkin has been such a fun tradition and the girls love to help.  The seeds will be a perfect snack after the girls have gathered them.

Our Stake had a Halloween Dance this year.  Josh had a band concert and was unable to attend.  Danni and Angela went and had a great time.  Here is a picture the two girls.

The Ward Trunk or Treat is always so fun, especially for Angela and Emily.  Jim and I raced home from the ASU Band Day to attend this event with the kids.  We invited Joey and Kenzie to come with us.  KBP and SGP wards combined forces and had an amazing chili cook-off before the Trunk or Treat. We had a great time and left with lots and lots of candy.

Angela - Japanese Girl
Emily - Angel
Kenzie - Pirate
Joey - Doctor Who

The girls and I,  I dressed up as a marching band student.
 My older two were at a Marching Band Competition, so it seemed fitting at the time,

The girls found Livvy - she was dressed up as a nerd.

Throw Back ThursdayFavorite Halloween Costumes

Here are some of my favorite Halloween costumes:

Josh - Harry Potter

Danni - Cinderella

Angela - Princess

Emily - Witch

Memorable Monday3rd Halloween

My kiddos are sure cute.  Halloween is such a fun time to dress my kids up.   It's so  fun to see year to year what the kids will be.  Each year we decide a couple weeks before Halloween and it's fun to see the final product.  

Josh - Clown
Danni - Pochantos
Angela - Fairy
Emily - Witch

ASU Band Day

Jim and I went to the watch both Josh and Danni compete at ASU.  This is a big stadium and we could see them show from a higher angle.  They did such an amazing job and it's always fun to watch them compete.  They competed again 6 schools in their division and came in second place with a score of 78.5.  They won a caption in Visual Performance and Musical Performance.  Good job Mesa!!!

Mesa High Band

Danni performing

ASU plays their sousaphones really well - ASU fork

Throw Back ThursdayMeeting Emily

Emily's Birthday is in a week and I wanted to remembered when they held their younger sister on Nov. 2, 2004.  My older kids love Emily so much!!!!!  They  adore her and are so willing to help her.

MHS Band Concert

Mesa High Band had a fund raiser concert to help raise funds for the Holiday Bowl. This was Josh's first concert at Mesa High playing the bass clarinet with Jacob.  They had some new and familiar guests perform with them.  It was an amazing concert!!!!

Josh and Jacob have reunited
Bass clarinetists

Mesa Children's Choir

The Mesa Children's Choir went to the Citadel Retirement Center and sang for the residents there.  They did an amazing job and the residents were so grateful  for the music.  I'm grateful for a music program for my daughter to learn to sing and share her talents.

The Mesa Children's Choir singing

They sang for those resident who live in the rest home too. 

Emily and Kenzie

Olivia and Emily

Angela came to hear them sing - She belonged to this group 2 years ago

Memorable MondayLambda Delta Sigma

Lambda Delta Sigma Officers

I was called to serve as the Inter-Chapter Officer in Lambda Delta Sigma one year.  I wasn't really sure what the office entailed as first.  I soon realized that it was my job to be our chapter liaison for LDDSA and Alpha Zeta, the other sorority chapter that met at MCC.  I attended LDSSA meetings and learned so much about events going on at the institute level.  I really enjoyed this calling very much and it stretched me more than any other calling I have had at that point in my life.  

Prescott Competition

Mesa competed against 3 different schools in their division and took 2nd place with a score of 80.  They were .25 away from 1st place and the band took it very hard.  They earned the caption of Music.

Prescott was a beautiful location for competition.  One of the highlights on this trip for me, was sitting on the beautiful grounds having a picnic with Joella.  There was some hiccups before the competition that were hard for the color guard girls.  Their instructor was fired due to the fact he didn't show up for classes, practices, and wasn't there to teach the girls.  The girls really liked him and were sad to hear that he was fired.  It was a tough competition for the Mesa High Marching Band, but it was also a huge turning point for them. 

Homecoming

Homecoming started off with the parade and it was fun to see so many familiar faces.  I pulled Angela out of school early, so she could be apart of  the Homecoming festivities.  After the parade, we headed over to the carnival.  We've never been to the carnival before and it was fun for the younger girls.  These are some great fund raisers for the Mesa High clubs.  We played Mountain View for Homecoming this year, which added to the festivities.  The theme for this year's Homecoming was "Up, Up, and Away" and Mrs. Stones always goes out with her decor.  It was a great night and I loved having my kids involved in Homecoming Week.

parade

carnival

Up, Up, and Away

Throw Back Thursday Generation Lookalikes

Josh got his haircut and I was reminded how much he looks like my dad and my grandpa.  At least they have the same haircut.

Evening of Excellence

The theme for this year's Evening of Excellence is "Wanted:  Accused of Standing for Truth and Righteousness and as a Witness of God."  It was a Western theme and the YW leaders did an amazing job of decorating for the program.  The girls were asked to prepare how they stand for truth that corresponded to their project.  It was great to hear how each girl is using the Personal Progress program to help them in their life.  Mele Larson took some great pictures of the girls.

The girls displayed their projects for their parents and leaders to see.  My girls worked hard on their projects and I'm so proud of them.

Angela's project - Making Banana Bread 

Danni's project - Photography

The girls had a lot of fun today and really enjoyed the "Western" theme.  Danni and Jocelyn are so fun and really had a great time taking pictures with me.

Ward Family History Activity

Our ward a Family history Activity, which I attended with the younger two.  We had a quick bit to eat since we arrived late.  We attended a class where we listened to a Family History story by Alayne and sang a cowboy song.  The highlight of the event, was a photo shoot complete with pioneer costumes.  Don't we make great pioneers??

Memorable MondayRead Our Way to the BOB

We went to the library and signed up for a program to would give the kids free Diamondback tickets if they read a certain amount of books.  The kids completed the program and we picked a time to go to a game.  We took the kids to the BOB (Bank One Ballpark) to see a game.  We took Johnny and T-Bone with us.  It was a close game and it went into a couple of extra innings before we went home.  It was a fun game and a great award for reading all summer long.

Band Homecoming

Since the MHS Marching Band will be in Prescott the day of the Homecoming Dance, some kids arranged to have a Band Homecoming.  Josh was set up with a girl named Sara Jane.  She lived in San Tan Valley, which is 45 min. away.  Jim and I drove to pick Josh's date up and dropped them off at the dance.  I left Josh a camera and told him to take some pics.  While the dance was going on, Jim and I went on a date ourselves.  After the dance, we picked up Josh and Sara and took her home.  It was a long evening, but it was great to see and hear that Josh had a lot of fun.

Josh and his date - Sarah Jane Chapman

Josh with some friends

Hanging our by the fire

Hanging our with his friends

Throw Back ThursdayHiking in 2008

I snapped this photo of Angela and Emily on our family hike in 2008.  I loved that they were holding hands.  It was a super cute moment.  We went on this exact hike yesterday.

Family Hike

We went on a family hike today.  We went with Grandma and Grandpa Pace and some cousins.  We had a great time!!

Jim and I took Angela and Emily on hike

Cousin going on hike

Emmy's Photo Shoot

  Danni took some great pictures of Emily.  Danni takes really good pics and today Emily was her model.  Emily is such a sweet and beautiful girl.  Danni captured her very well.  Here are a few of my favorite pics!!!