Lots of Excitement Upon Our Return!

Bryan officially arrived home from his Mission
to Hungary Budapest on October 29th!
The kids got the banner up and yellow ribbons up and down the street!
Our plane got in about 10:35 p.m. and
Gwen & Grandma Brockbank were there to welcome us.

Getting the luggage and starting some laundry meant
we didn't get to bed until the wee hours.

Good job Blake!

Our excitement started at an early morning breakfast at the
Junior High where where Blake was honored as a "Hillcrest Hero."
This honor was given to six students from each grade from 7 - 9th.
Blake was nominated by one of his teachers
and received a Medal, pin, certificate,
a fast pass for lunch for the rest of the year and $20!

Happy Halloween!

The schools in Murray were closed on Halloween.
That meant we went to Gwen's Halloween Parade
after Blake's breakfast.
Gwen was a Blonde Homecoming Queen!

Bryan is Returning with Honor!

As you can see by my countdown ~
it is this week that Bryan will be completing his Mission to Hungary.

And this is where Harold and I are going this week!
We will be traveling from one end of Hungary to the other.
I am not sure if I will get to blog for a little while,
but look forward to lots and lots of pictures in the future.

Here is a sample of what we will see!

Learning to Sew

When I was about Gwen's age my mom started teaching me how to sew. My first project was a jump suit (shorts) with a huge blue pull zipper in the front. I thought I had done such a great job on this outfit. I wore it to school on Fridays (because we had to wear dresses on all the other days of the week) and loved them because I could spin around the bars without my skirt flying up! It was years later that I found out that my mom would unpick everything I had sewn that day at night while I was asleep and resew it correctly. She wanted my first project to look nice and here I thought I had done all the work.

Our ward is doing a service project of sewing wall hangings and blankets for orphanages. Gwen sewed the blue one and did a heart design in the middle with stripes. I think she did an amazing job. We are going to have to do a few more projects so she gets even better.

Gwen is Ten!

Gwen is now officially in double digits!

Because of having her Birthday Party early,
It seems like this birthday has gone on FOREVER!
The boys complained that Gwen had way too many birthday cakes,
but that didn't stop them from eating them!
Happy 10th Birthday Gwen!

Program Time!

It was time for the first 4th Grade Program of the year.
It was all about being Honest.
Gwen was very excited to sing with her Grade.

Of course she was wearing her BYU shirt!

Homecoming Royalty

Brandon got nominated for Homecoming King.
The winner was announced at the Homecoming Dance last week,
but those nominated got to ride around
at half-time at the football game this week.
Here is Brandon doing his parade wave!

Homecoming Dance

Tonight was Murray's Homecoming Dance.
So while I am staying up late, waiting for Brandon to get home
I thought I would post these pictures of him and his date.
My boys are very patient with me because they know
I want to document their entire life with pictures.
Whenever a dance comes along, they either
bring their dates to our house for pictures
OR let me tag along when they pick their dates up.
Tonight Brandon let me follow him to his date's home
and take some pictures before they went to dinner and the dance.

So here is Brandon and his Homecoming Date, Lindsay