Grandma's 80th

My Grandma Spendlove turned 80 this month, doesn't she look amazing! We all got together for a family birthday dinner. It was a lot of fun to catch up with family and to visit with my grandma. Happy Birthday Grandma-we love you!

Cute Cowboys

Ian and Grandpa with rocking horse.

At the first of the month Ben came over to play with Ian. Ian has a rocking horse that my Grandpa made for him and it is the neatest rocking horse I have ever seen. My Grandpa is incredibly talented when it comes to carpentry and my Grandma helps with the details (saddle, hair, blanket, etc.) Grandpa made this horse for Ian a couple of years ago-he made one for every great grandson who is the oldest in their family. Ian and Ben each donned a cowboy hat and took turns rocking all morning long. The best part about the horse is that as you rock it will slowly move across the room! I hope Ian and his kids treasure and enjoy this rocking horse for years to come.

One Month Later...

Well, if you are still checking this blog-I am sooo.. sorry I have not posted for so long. I was recently called as the Primary President and granted it might be one of the least time consuming branchs of the church to preside over but it seems to have encroached into every aspect of my life and thus the blog has suffered. Maybe we could discuss spotlight ideas for next year or who should be the new sunbeam teacher--any ideas? Anyway--here are a few posts to up-date you on what we have been up to.

So sick...

Okay, so maybe I over did it on the Halloween candy, maybe the popcorn I don't know, but the day after Halloween my stomach was protesting something. I called Dave at work and being the incredibly sympathetic and wonderful husband he is he came home to take care of the kids while I hunkered down. He was holding down the fort fantastically bringing me juice and medicine and telling me how I needed to stay hydrated when about dinner time he came in and said "I don't know how you do it, it's like herding cats." I laughed as hard as my sore stomach would allow-I had never thought of it that way. Now every time Miles cries or whines he sounds like a crying kitty!

Happy (turtle infested) Halloween

I think Halloween might be my favorite holiday, but with a last name like Noel I should probably keep that a secret. I just love the dressing up, the pumpkins, the scary movies, the fun music, ghost stories...My dad use to always joke that he wanted us to have Halloween weddings with orange and black decorations because he liked Halloween so much. This year we had 2 little turtles at our house; one that was effected by green ooze and the other not so much. Ian was so excited to be a Ninja Turtle-at the ward party he kept whipping out his sword to challenge any Spiderman, Batman, or other unsuspecting superhero to a duel. On Halloween night Dave took him trick-or-treating and then we went over to the Mair's for some chocolate milk and popcorn. (They were passing out beanie babies at their house!) Ian has had a great time dumping out the contents of his bucket after each meal to pick out a treat. He must be related to me because he goes right for the chocolate-no Laffy Taffy or Smarties for this boy-he even liked the Almond Joy! Hope you all had a fun and spooky Halloween.

Spooky Faces

Monday for family home evening we carved our Halloween pumpkins. We really need to start buying the styrofoam ones. The pumpkin guts gross out Dave and it took me forever to get all the innards out. Ian being 4 is unable to carve, but he did pick out his pumpkin at the store and he instructed me to make a silly face. I'd say they all look pretty spooky with their faces all lit up.

Blast to the Past

Last weekend we headed north for a Ricks College Symphony Orchestra Reunion. Reunions have such a stigma about them and I have never braved a high school one, but I loved being involved in the music program at Ricks and I thought it would be great to re-live my one claim to music stardom. We went on a campus tour (I don't remember Ricks being this small). It has grown, but I remember complaining about having to walk from Dorm 4 down to the Snow building! There are some beautiful new buildings the temple being the one that stands out the most. It is practically right on campus and just sits up on the hill all white and shiny with the bright blue Idaho sky as a backdrop. After the tour we went to a special performance of the Halloween Concert. The orchestra was amazing (was I really once up on that stage) and the whole show was so entertaining and fun--Dave even enjoyed it. After the concert they had a special dinner for Dr. Call and Bro. Neilson who are turning the orchestra over to someone else next year. It was a fun trip-although I wouldn't recommend the Rexburg Best Western.