2015 :: week 45

November 1

This was a big day for our family. One we will probably never forget. We blessed Elliott in church, Anthony was made bishop of our ward, and the Royals won the World Series for the first time in 30 years. It was great having both sets of parents with us on this emotionally exhausting day. They have done and continue to do so much to support us.

November 2

Nana and Papa had to leave Monday afternoon so we kept the kids home from school and went to the zoo. The weather was gorgeous! We caught the end of the sea lion show, which Will had wanted to see back when we first went with Nana to the zoo in August. Anthony drove his parents to the airport because he also had a plane to catch. The rest of us were pretty tired from the events of the previous day, and all the walking at the zoo. We fell asleep pretty quickly that night.

November 3

I really wanted to go to the Royals World Series Parade and Rally. But with Anthony out of town and unavailable to assist and the ages/stages of my kids it was not going to be easy. Thankfully my mom agreed to help and with her assistance were able to catch most of the parade. I am pretty disappointed in the pictures I took. This was the only one I got of all of us and you can't really tell where we are. It was so crowded. As soon as I heard that most of the local school were cancelling and the weather was again going to be nice, I decided there was no way we would try the rally. Instead I opted to watch the parade on the north corner of the route, near the government district (where TJ works) because I am most familiar with that area and it was as far as we could get from the most crowded area (Union Station). The crowds were still 20+ people deep. People were climbing on anything they could to get a good view--window sills 10 feet off the ground, on top of port-a-potties and cars, other people's shoulders. The parking was insane. People were making up parking spots parking in medians, abandoning their cars on the side of the road. I'm glad we went, but it was stressful enough I'm glad it will be at least a year before we get to go to another one.

November 4

Wednesday was the first normal day of the week. We ran some errands, including a trip to Costco. The kids fell in love with these enormous bears.

November 5

Thursday was a "friends" day for me. I met my friend Holly for breakfast at Panera in the morning. Her husband was called to be bishop when he was in his 20s and she was pregnant with her third child. I enjoyed visiting with her and being reassured that even though having your husband be a bishop while you still have very young kids can be challenging, there are sweet blessings to enjoy too. It was my good friend Stephanie's birthday and that afternoon I had a fun conversation with her. That night I went to book club at Elena's and Elliott and I carpooled with Bethany and her baby Adalie (born 10 days before Elliott). I had a lot of fun hanging out with even more friends and came home feeling very content. We knew that Anthony was going to be made bishop for awhile before it actually happened and I struggled feeling authentic when I talked to people during that time.

November 6

Will earned a trip to the aquarium and chose Anthony to take him. Friday after school and work the boys headed to Crown Center. They had a great time! I was told they went through twice and spent over half and hour at the tide pool where you can touch various sea creatures. Will has come a long way since we first went to the aquarium 2.5 years ago and he refused to touch anything. Anthony has a busy month ahead of him and I'm glad that Will got to spend some quality one on one time with him.

November 7

Saturday morning the kids practiced for the Primary Program. In the afternoon they went to a football game to watch our neighbor and church friend Tiave play football. It was a cool game--the team arranged beforehand to let a wheelchair bound friend score a touchdown during half time.