People we have a fence!

To Steven and my great excitement we have a fence! We will still have to secure the spaces between the back fence to keep Bailey in the yard, but we are one step closer to having the yard the way we want it, not to mention it feels much more secure to have a fence on that side of the house to keep curious bodies out of our yard. Our neighbors have been pretty friendly, and frequent snooping in each others' yards is very common. Steven and I find it quite funny, but are glad we won't be getting those drop ins any longer.

Diwali ~ Celebration of Light!

On Tuesday we celebrated Diwali at our Temple. You may be asking what is Diwali? Diwali is the celebration of light and the beginning of the Hindu New Year. What is the significance of lighting a lamp? There is a logical answer to this question. It is through the light that the beauty of this world is revealed or experienced. Most civilizations of the world recognize the importance of light as a gift of God. It has always been a symbol of whatever is positive in our world of experience.

To Vaishnavas, darkness represents ignorance, and light is a metaphor for knowledge. Therefore, lighting a lamp symbolizes the destruction, through knowledge, of all negative forces- wickedness, violence, lust, anger, envy, greed, bigotry, fear, injustice, oppression and suffering, etc.

Here are the highlights from our celebration in Boise...

We each got to light a candle and it was placed on the altar. As you can see all the candle light was beautiful!

Here is Ian playing the Mrdanga. I love his playing he does an amazing job of getting everyone excited to sing and dance!

Here is Emily before her dance with her sister and the play.

Here is Laura before the dance and the play. They both look so beautiful! Wait till you see their dance!
Steven clapping along to the music.

My sweet boys as we waited for the dance to begin.

Emily and Laura did their first performance together! It was so nice to see them work together and pull off such a nice dance. Emily taught Laura the entire dance her self.

My best friend Amrta had a large roll in the play and did an amazing job! The play was about staying devoted to your husband even in hard times or seperation. The entire cast did an amazing job! This was the first dramatic play our Temple has put on. Normally the plays are comedies. Here are some candid shots of my wonderful friend!

We had a really nice time at the celebration. The boys want to participate in the next play so we'll see if we can make that happen. Happy Diwali!

Final days of Soccer

So we wrapped up the soccer season this year with a full day of games and parties. The boys really enjoyed this activity and look forward to playing next Fall as well. Here are the highlights...

We started out with a 9:00 AM game at Simplot Field. I had some volunteer work that morning so Daddy got Ashton to the game and was our photographer. Thank you Daddy for all your hard work.

Ashton's Team, the Dragons, had their end of season soccer party at Idaho Pizza where Coach Chad handed out metals to each player with their names and team name engraved on the back. They were really nice. Ashton was so excited.


Next we drove to Eagle to make Thad's 1:00 PM game and end of season soccer party. Thad played defense most of the year. In this last game we have never seen Thad run so fast! We were beginning to think he had the slow runners gene. To our relief we saw him really run!


Thad was awarded Defender of the Year by Coach Wilson. Coach said he was pleased to see Thad take to his position so well and really do a good job defending that goal!

Great season Dragons & Raptors!

Bronco Birthday Wishes Grandma Shannie!

We want to wish a big happy birthday to Grandma Shannie! We all know she is a BIG Boncos fan, so the boys and I decided to give her a themed birthday surprise.

Thad created a card for her with Bronco's colors and a foot ball. Ashton helped create a nice birthday cake shaped like a foot ball. Steven and I got her some Broncos gear for those chilly games she and Papa Scott will be attending this season.

Next we had to arrange a time and place to deliver all these goodies! So since Grandma was going to be in the office we decided to surprise her there. Unfortunately due to some technical difficulties it didn't work out to everyone's disappointment.

We will have to reschedule our birthday party wishes for Saturday. Updates to come...

Love you Grandma Shannie and happy birthday!

UPDATE

Here is the pictures from our birthday wishes to Grandma Shannie. We combined the soccer party with her birthday surprise for one big party! We had such a nice time having her with us. She came to many of the boys' soccer games and cheered them on as only a Grandma could. We hope you enjoyed your surprises and we love you very much!

Pumpkin Hunting!

As we did last year we went out to Watson's Sunnyslope Farm in Marsing. It is always so much fun going there. They do a wonderful job sharing the farm experience with us city folks. They have hay rides, a straw bale maze, three corn mazes, petting zoo, helicopter rides, pumpkin picking, and local produce for sale. Needless to say it is easy to have a good time.

Here are the highlights...

After the corn maze, animal petting, and straw bale maze we get down to business finding that perfect carving pumpkin.

Thad on the hunt for his perfect pumpkin. After many inspections he finally finds it!

Ashton on the hunt for his. After helping Thad with various inspections.

Daddy finds a great one!

My sweet pumpkins with their pumpkins.

Which one will I choose? The biggest one of course!Daddy and the boys with their pumpkins.

The boys and I with our pumpkins.

The Carving Party

Thad did his own design again this year. It is nice seeing him use his artistic ability. He is so creative. You can see his design was bolder this year with the mouth of his pumpkin having many turns. He did a great job and didn't ask either of us to help him at all. From start to finish it was all Thad's hard work.

Ashton gets started on his pumpkin. This is the first year he would even touch the pumpkin insides. As you can see from his face he was pretty grossed out. I was laughing so hard. Ashton also used the carving tools by him self this year for the first time. It was exciting to see him want to work on the project and see his fine motor skills in action.

Here is the video Daddy took of the pumpkin carving. Thank you Daddy for capturing the moment!

Here are the finished pumpkins. I think they both did a nice job. Mommy and Daddy still need to carve ours. We'll add pictures of our creations later.

Hope everyone has as much fun as we did carving this year!