Tiff's birthday

 Tiff had a birthday in September so unbeknownst to her, her loving husband orchestrated the greatest get together of the Carter sisters of all time.  He got us all buddy passes to LA and we all met her there and surprised her.  She didn't know where she was going or who she would be traveling with until she got to the airport.  Then she rode on the plane not knowing who would be there to meet her, then she was super surprised to see all of her sisters and mom. 
We had such a great time with out kids, eating, shopping talking and just being together.  I love my sisters and look up to them so much.  I am who I am because of their example and strength. 
  Tiff got to show us around LA where she served her mission.  It was so fun to see her in her element and show us all of the cool things in LA. 
We went to the observatories overlooking the city, Hollywood Blvd, long beach, santa montica beach.  What a great weekend and it needs to happen more often!

Grandma and Grandpa Hirschi

Grandma and Grandpa Hirschi came and visited us for Halloween.  It was their 40th anniversary so they took a church history tour and then drove up and spent 6 days with us.  We had so much fun with them showing them Detroit, going to the Henry Ford museum, and going to Frankenmuth, Bronners Christmas store and to the awesome water park hotel.
The Henry Ford had some pretty cool stuff including Kennedy's limo, the bus that Rosa Parks stayed seated in, and the chair that Lincoln was assassinated in.  It had some great historical things, definitely worth a good 3-4 hour day.
We then went to up to Bronners which is the largest Christmas store in the world.  It was fun to walk around with Laura and see her eyes light up at all of the variety of celebrating and decorating for Christmas.
We stayed a water park hotel that was right next to Bronners and it was awesome.  The kids had so much fun.  David and I had so much fun.  It was very family friendly, kid friendly and allowed the kids to have independence in the water park that they LOVED it. 
Such a fun week with Grandma and Grandpa.  Thanks for visiting!

Fall 2013

 The leaves have turned some beautiful colors and in one day all of the leaves have fallen off so we have had some great fun in the leaves. 

Halloween 2013

 Halloween this year was great.  Eliza was a BYU cheerleader, then we have Luigi and Mario. 

 PIcs with their friends

1. This was such a cool costume at our branch activity.  The mom made it all by herself.  So stinking cool 

Our pumpkins this year.  Eliza did the witch, fenton did Frankenstein, then I did the spider web.  Carter just went to town with the paint bush but I thought he did a cool job!

my next project

 I got this old dresser from a member of our branch that has passed away.  That whole story is super interesting.  He had a HUGE warehouse and lived in an apartment above the warehouse.  He was a hoarder and he had SO much stuff.  I would get lost there just looking at all of the things he had.  So I took this dresser and made a project of it.  This is before....

and after.....I like it. it was pretty simple and fun.

Yates Apple cider mill

For fall we visited the Yates apple cider mill.  It was right next to a lovely river and a path.  We went on a nice walk for about 1 1/2 hours and the kids loved exploring and jumping in the water with their shoes.  It was  such a relaxing Saturday afternoon.  We then bought some super yummy donuts and fresh apples and apple cider. It was such a lovely warm fall day.

General Conference October

This year for General Conference we put up a tent in the living room and watched conference on TV hooked up to the computer.  We were following the example of the people of King Benjamin who pitched their tents towards the temple.  The kids love conference because we play a treat game with them if they hear a word they get a treat, so they are listening.  We told the kids that if the speakers say the word tent we would go get ice cream and the first talk was exactly about the people of King Benjamin and how they pitched their "houses" toward the temple.  We were so excited that they were using the exact example that we were trying to follow but bummed that he didn't say "tent".

Conference was awesome.  I love to hear the words of the apostles of the Lord.  It makes me want to be better and gives me the strength to try to be better.

Other things that are going on in my life, I am seminary teacher.  I have one student and we have seminary at my house at 6 AM.  I was really nervous to have to wake up early everyday and to have to have a lesson ready everyday, but it has been such a blessing in my life.  I love reading and studying the Book of Mormon, but I have noticed a calm and peace that I have had toward the kids.  I can tell a difference when I don't study and prepare.  I have learned to love this calling even if it makes me wake up at 5:45, that is right I get ready in about 9 minutes, and I am wearing a skirt.

Also there has been a albanian that has been taking the discussions and I have been able to help translate for her and I love it.  I realized that I spoke pretty well on my mission, I have always been very hesitant with my language skills, but my skills now are ok, so I know they were much better when I was on my mission so that gives me confidence. 
I have also learned that truly the missionaries have the mantel to teach, even if I want to take over the discussion because I am excited to speak Albanian, the missionaries testimony has greater power than any words that I can say or translate.