Xander's Ordination

The reason family was all here - Xander's ordination to the office of a teacher. Time for pictures! Matt Brown, David, Xander, Dad, Dave, and Mike Archbold, his YM president.

So proud of my Xanderman!

Trunk Or Treat 2018

2018's Trunk or Treat was my favorite of all time! The year before, as I sat and chatted with Melissa at the Trunk or Treat, I told her,"We should have dressed up as something. We should have dressed up as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus!" And that's how the grand idea was born! Two months later Sommer was called to be the second counselor and it made even more sense - we had our blonde! For a year we planned on it, even ordering our costumes in the summer so we wouldn't face sold outs on anything. Finally, the day arrived. We had a former young woman help us with our makeup and voila! we were ready to put a spell on our ward!
Our selfie in the church bathroom before we made our grand entrance. This was the one and only time I did the authentic Mary Sanderson face...I just could not nail that thing no matter how hard I tried.

Ready to cast some spells!

Aren't we bewitching?!?! I absolutely LOVED our costumes!

Nothing better than hangin' with a hot dog, especially when it's one of my favorite young women!

Standing in line for soup, I noticed there were all kinds of bugs and critters scattered on the table. I told Sommer to put one in her mouth and she did! She's beyond awesome!

My cute kids and their friends. Xander opted to stay home this year.

Savannah nailed Mama Coco!

We took our kids outside to take pictures of them trunk or treating...

and then decided to hide in the bushes and scare kids!

Honestly, our time outside scaring little kids was so much fun! Some were so nervous and others just wanted to take pictures with us.

We found some other "sisters"!

And then there was the angel that wanted to bless us! OH NOOOOO!!!!!!

Once all the candy was collected it was back inside for awards. I love our ward - so many people always dress up and they have the best costumes! The sushi family...

Alice in Wonderland...

of course those amazing Sanderson sisters earned a prize...

a little Indiana Jones...

Gru and one of his minions...

the Incredibles family...

Sheldon...

Moana, Mama Coco, and Wednesday Addams.

Posing with some little cuties.

And some final pictures from our fun night! We also did a few boomerangs that I will treasure forever. This evening with my "sisters" was the best!

Playoffs Begin!

The Pierces arrived back from Virginia and Mom and Dad came back for their second visit just in time to watch our first playoff game of the weekend - Savannah and the Lady Rams take on C. Milton Wright. The Pierces were late which made us a bit late so we walked into the stadium and were grabbing our seats while the announcer was announcing the starting lineup for Edgewood. All of a sudden we heard Savannah's name and there she was, running up to Coach Rankin and getting the high five and then out onto the field! I was so amazed, I had had no idea that she would be starting! Her Celtic coach, Angie, and I both looked at each other in surprise and with huge grins on our faces. Seriously, I started to tear up, I was so proud of my girl. And thank goodness for the mom photographer out on the field because I was nowhere near ready with my own camera.

High fives for her teammates.

The anthem...

and a little teammate love before we get started.

This made me chuckle. The girls all ran out on the field and came together for a pre-game huddle. Everyone except Savannah...

she didn't quite have the starter routine down just yet. It brought on a few smiles to her teammates' faces.

We were optimistic because when we played C. Milton in the regular season the game had ended in a 0-0 tie, even after overtime.

Our girls fought hard and Savannah had a great game...

but unfortunately we fell, 2-0. And just like that, Savannah's junior year of soccer was finished.
The next morning was wet and cold as we headed out early for Xander's first playoff game. Unfortunately Dad had developed a cough and had to stay home because of the crappy weather but the rest of us were there with our heavy jackets, gloves, and umbrellas, ready to cheer on our X-man. We were playing against the team that we had beat in the regular season with the spectacular back pass from Savion to Nate for the winning touchdown in overtime. This team was big and good so I was nervous about how it would go, especially since we were playing on their home field.

Getting pumped before the start of the game!

We received the kick off and our player dropped the ball and had to quickly fall on it before getting tackled. Definitely NOT the way we wanted to start the game. And I'm pretty sure that this block in the back wasn't called.

But after a shaky start, our guys got into sync and played one of the best games we've ever seen them play!

Hangin' with Kim on the sidelines is always entertaining!

My guy helping to create a hole.

My Xander worked so hard throughout the game...

and then this happened! He fell right on his tailbone which was especially painful considering he still hadn't quite recovered from when his teammate hurt him. From this point on he was out of the game more than in. But it was okay...we were kicking their butts!

Our guys played a spectacular game and ended up winning 26-0! Yep, the other team did not score at all!

                                      

These two are a tough pair on the line!

We can't wait for playoff game #2!