* Fed the Missionaries Dinner
* Ben attended a Bi-Stake church dance
* Dad went to Gillette
* Ben's been working 2 days a week at McDonalds
* Aubrie lost a tooth
* More hunting excursions for dad and Lexi - still haven't gotten anything, but they are really enjoying going out together!
* We had our first "real" snow of the season! As I write this, the ground is covered with a white blanket and large icicles are hanging off of the house! The kids (moreso the girls) have had fun building snow sculptures and shoveling off the driveway and then warming up with hot cocoa and warm showers!
* Dad was able to go (courtesy of Rain For Rent) to New York City for the weekend!! He flew out on Friday and got back home Sunday. He and one of his salesmen (Dino - from the Gillette branch) took some important clients to the UFC 217 Fight in Madison Square Garden! He also met up with his cousin (Mike Vogt, who lives there) and had lunch with him. He was also able to go the Empire State Building, a 9-11 Memorial (from the NJ side) and the Statue of Liberty! Talk about squeezing in a whole lot of sightseeing into one day!
* Halloween!! After getting all dressed up, we went to the church for Trunk or Treat and then we took the kids trick-or-treating around the neighborhood close by the church. They had a blast (it was a bit cold and started raining on us towards the end) but the kids were super thrilled with their haul!
In Our Homeschool...
* Enrichments of singing, scriptures, Listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, Temple Work, Pioneers, Joseph Smith, Miracles of Christ (Lazarus, Calming the Sea and healing of the Roman's servant) and early morning Seminary
* Math: more fractions - multiplying and dividing fraction, Improper fractions and Mixed Numbers, Logic games, story problems and math apps
* Reading: Daily Read Alouds along with independent reading, All About Reading lessons for Nathan and using the "Sight Words you can See" for more sight words, Novel Editing for Ben
* Language Arts: Poetry - Grandma Carlson sent each of the kids a Halloween Poem (from a book that she used to read me each Halloween!) and we ended up memorizing them! Then, we were inspired to write our own Halloween Poems and then shared what we wrote with each other
* Aubrie and Lexi both listened to the entire book of 2nd Nephi in the scriptures
* People/Things we Studied:
- Albert Einstein
- St. Francis of Assisi
- Franz Josef Haydn (the Composer) and listened to several of his works
- Halloween Traditions (ours and also where traditional ones originated from)
- Constellations
- The Universe and Galaxy
- All about sunburns and also why our skin darkens (to a tan) when exposed to the sun
- Why the Ocean is Salty
- The countries of Israel and Lebanon - we learned about their geography, climate, people, food, their Flags, their capital city, population, famous landmarks, watched YouTube Videos to see actual footage of each country and then also listened to their National Anthems. We also learned a few words in Hebrew and Aarabic
* Girls went to Art class at the Middle School
* Scouts for Nathan, Activity Days and Dance for the girls
* Library trip
* Daily arts and crafts (moreso for the girls)
- They made Halloween Costumes for their little Elves
- Did some 3D art (crafted a mini sleigh)
- Lots of drawing
- Color by Number activity
- Intricate Pumpkin Design coloring
- Lexi taught herself to make homemade applesauce and then used that applesauce to make a mini gingerbread house for the Elves
* The girls made 6 videos for their YouTube channel (they did a daily one each day until Halloween acting out a "scary story" that they wrote - but it was more funny and cute than scary!)
August in Nebraska...
* Went to a Gun Show with Grandpa out in Grand Island
* Helped Grandma and Grandpa with the Fall Clean up of their yard
* Has really been blessed to be set up with some great doctors that are helping immensely in getting him feeling better (mentally)
* Attended the Ward Halloween Party/Chili cook off (he even made a bowl of HOT chili to be entered into the contest)
* Went to the Pumpkin Patch with JR, Lor and family (and grandma and grandpa)
* Carved a sweet pumpkin
* Stayed with Grandpa on Halloween while he passed out candy
* Still on the search for a job - hopefully this week!
Seth Spotlight...
* Trinida got baptized
* Had a multi zone conference in Matagalpa. Valeri Cordon (from the Quorum of the Seventy) came and spoke to them. He was able to see old friends and companions
* The package arrived that we sent 7 weeks ago (that had new sandals and a BSU hat that he had requested)
* Just working hard each day to preach the gospel
Spiritually Speaking...
(Written by Dad)
While Ben was in Nebraska this summer, I started taking Nathan with me as my Home Teaching Companion. Nathan ended up loving it and always wants to join us now that Ben is back. Last week, Ben, Nathan and I went Home Teaching. We finished up with three appointments and got 100% for our four families for the month!
Nay had some profound thoughts when we were teaching Brother Mark Kessler and I thought it was really sweet and touching. Ben had given the lesson and it was from President Eyring. The lesson discussed renewing our Baptismal covenants through taking the Sacrament, reading scriptures, praying, forgiving others, etc. We were on the topic of forgiving others and trying to be like Christ. Brother Kessler talked about getting along with co workers that you don't like and that you have conflict with. Little Nay looked at him and said, "love your enemies". It was so sweet and so nice to see him offering up gospel wisdom. It does my heart well that he has gospel knowledge and is able to apply it to everyday situations. I'm shedding a little tear now as I write this. He's such a special little guy.
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(Written by Ben)
So there's been this girl at church who's in my Sunday School class and Seminary class. To say that we haven't gotten along would be an understatement. I have had lots of ill feelings towards her and maybe not been the nicest to her at times (in my defense, she has been 10x's worse to me! but there's no excuse for being mean to someone). Anyway, my family has been urging me to pray for her - kind of like the home teaching lesson I gave about loving our enemies - but I didn't want to. They even tried praying for her in our family prayers, but I didn't like that either. Then on Thursday in Seminary I received a very powerful and strong witness from the Spirit that I was to make peace with her. I was really scared because I thought she wouldn't accept my apology and act all snotty. But after class I asked if I could talk to her and she said "sure" and so we went out into the hall. I told her that I was sorry how I'd been acting lately and I didn't want to be like that anymore. She thanked me for my apology and then went back into the class. My Seminary teacher said that when she came back in, she was smiling from ear to ear! My Seminary teacher was also so very happy and proud of me and it brought tears to her eyes. I also know that my parents are really happy and proud of me, and most of all, I know that Heavenly Father is proud of me. I'm grateful for the Holy Ghost and the guidance he gives me in my life. I always want to live worthy of his companionship!
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