November

We had a great November. Here are some of the fun things Eve got to do in school:

We had fun doing some of our Thankful jar activities, too:

She was my little buddy on voting day and came along. She loves the nice people volunteering there who love to see her:

I signed up for a program called Self-Assured Motherhood with Rachel Nielson that had monthly meetings with other moms. I loved all the content and especially enjoyed having to articulate my values one month. This is what I came up with:

Now I need to work on living those out better.

One day at story time at the library, the firefighters came to let the kids explore their truck:

Eve got invited to her friend Abigail's birthday party at Gemstone:

She was doing great climbing up following Abigail until she looked down and got scared. She absolutely refused to move after that and I ended up having to climb up and pry her hands off so she could auto-belay down. She was done climbing at that point :).

Loved this picture:

Eli got new glasses:

I really like them.

Natalie was in "Little Women", a repertory show. It was the musical. She was older Amy. We went to go see her and she did an awesome job. Her friend Preston was Laurie and they had fun acting together:

Her in her beautiful wedding dress after the show:

It was a really well done show. We all loved it.

Another cute selfie:

Eli had his orchestra concert. They did some fun Disney and Harry Potter songs so we all loved it:

Over Thanksgiving week, we turned in his 3/4 size cello and got him a full-size. I loved hearing him play it.

Beautiful sunrise:

Eve's picture of her with Joe and I:

Being silly one night:

We had a great Thanksgiving. We hosted the dinner here. It didn't feel like too much since we just made turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, rolls, and pies. Natalie also made mac 'n cheese for the first time. We had tons of leftover food. I was really proud of my pies this year and the turkey turned out well too. We mostly just ate and then played some games.

Lots of leftovers:

Eli made this chocolate pudding pie all by himself:

My berry pie actually set up this year:

We hosted another get-together for the Atkin extended family that weekend too. We had a soup potluck and got a great turnout. It was a good thing we put gravel in our side yard because we had tons of cars parked here!

Playing games that night:

October

 Eve had more fun at school. I love seeing the pictures they post:

We were on a walk one day and Eve wanted her picture taken next to this American flag:

I saw a coyote while hiking in the canyon:

Some early morning Eve selfies:

Joe and I got to go see Natalie's first CSI play "American Letter" which was written by a professor there from Turkey. We both really liked and Natalie had a main part. I also loved the set:

We love seeing updates from Lizzie in Portugal:

More filter fun during our Sunday chats:

Eve's school had an event that Joe took her to with a dress-up photo area:

We drove down to Utah to attend the Desert Peak temple open house in Tooele:

Then we took Todd with us and went to the BYU/Arizona game along with Tom and Lorna. It was Eve's first game so of course she needed a cougar tail:

It was super hot so Eve and I spent some time in the concourse out of the sun but it was an awesome game:

Eli taking care of Eve:

A beautiful sunrise:

I loved this cute pic of Eve in her golf shirt:

I took Eve to the small pumpkin patch one day:

I love the pumpkin patch.

Joe and Nate got asked if they wanted to go to another game by Bro. Hansen in our ward who had extra tickets. It ended up being amazing! It was a crazy come from behind win and they had amazing seats. They even got to meet some players too:

It was such a fun season with so many great games/

More school fun:

Eve made all these words:

Eve decided to draw a picture for James for his birthday and I loved it:

Especially the little nametag. 

I'm in the Relief Society presidency and we have meetings at our president's house. She raises Jack Russell puppies and they are so adorable. Eve was in heaven:

It was time for the Primary program. It was Eve's first! She did so well. After refusing to go up there and do anything, she did it! She said her part and sang well:

More seflies:

She also took this picture of George:

The middle school band and a little introductory band concert for the new band students and Eli was chosen to play a bit of the clarinet:

He's doing great on it already.

We carved pumpkins. It was just Eve, Eli and I this year:

On Halloween, they had a fun party at Eve's school:

They also did a costume parade and had a little dance party. I love seeing these cute girls having fun together.

(Kaia, Mea, Abigail, Eve and Ella)

Sometimes I steal screenshots of Natalie's Instagram posts because I like the pictures :). I loved that she dressed up as Neil from Dead Poets Society:

We had fun doing Regina's ward trunk or treat again and then trick or treating around Stauffer estates again. 

Grindelwald and Bingo: