October 2018

October can be summed up as follows: 1. General conference was a wonderful session we got to gather around and watch as a family. We were strengthened by watching and hearing the words of our prophet russell M. Nelson, the apostles, and other church leaders and members speak. There were messages given on Faith, Temple work, Missionary work, Families, The Atonement, and more. We are grateful as parents to be able to have this time twice a year to reflect as individuals and families on how we can change and be better followers of Christ. I personally have been slow to remember to do the simple things like prayer and scripture study. I am glad the prophet invited me to read the book of Mormon from start to finish by the end of the year. I know that I will be blessed in doing so. It will be a good thing to recommit and replace idol time with scripture study. 2. We celebrated Olivia's birthday by taking the kids out to Newport beach. The older kids had fall break and since our sweet baby girl was turing one we thought it would be fun to spend it in one of our favorite places. We had a fun week of beach time, visiting with friends, eating at delicious food places, riding bikes, and playing games. Olivia had a blast and really enjoyed exploring the sand and ocean. She was a good baby and didn't try eating it so that was nice. She did pretty well napping on the beach and staying up late partying with the rest of us. Being at the beach is magic for our family and I am grateful we are able to provide a fun trip like this for our family to make memories. 3. Halloween. I have a love hate with this holiday. I love the fall for the colors, smells, cooler weather, baking with pumpkin and different spices, and family time. However I don't love the enormous amounts of candy given to the kids, too many parties, the stress of new costumes with each party thrown, and the over tired, over stimulated kids. The kids did have a blast at their class parties, neighborhood parties, ward parties, and friends parties. It just seems like we do so much in one month and for me I would like to simplify next year. We will see how I do.