Mike's Team BBQ

The are so many reasons why I was thankful for this BBQ.
 Mike's workers were able to meet his family and WE got to meet the team he talks so much about.

So for the entire week we cleaned and prepared our yard. I'll post what we did later since we really transformed our yard.

Anyways the day of our BBQ I was so excited I hardly slept.
Guest arrived at varied times. So while everyone was getting here Mike and Connor (one of this team mates) played on the trampoline.

Civilize jumping turned into a trick show off. This was entertaining to watch. 

Now Mike's turn. Haha! This guy has so many tramp tricks that Connor stood and watched for a few minutes.

Mike made his Salmon Ladder. So everyone gave it a try. For being their first try everyone did great but no one made it to the top.

Once everyone got here we said the meal prayer and feasted on burgers, hot dogs, and potluck sides.

 Mike and Amber.

 Jasen and Danielle sitting on my brand new painted bench.

Somehow arm wrestling was instigated. Mike (red) won Mike (white) 

 So Mike (red) played Mike (yellow) which only added another victory for him.
Yes my Mike works with several other Mike's so he just calls each one by their last name so this is what I did too. But I don't want to write down their last names on here so everyone is going to be called Mike instead.


During the BBQ we played a couple of "Get-To-Know-You" games. This helped me get to know everyone better and helped those who were not on Mike's team also learn about the work crew. It was just fun! Everyone had to write down something no one knows about them and we had to guess who that belonged too.
Then we played a game where everyone had to switch sides of our clothesline if the statement applied to them like..... they play an instrument or went on a mission. I had a list of like 25 questions ; all those questions I would ask Mike but he had no idea- I finally put them all down and asked everyone.

But toward the end of the BBQ Mike presented everyone with awards. Working for the church there is something called The Leadership Pattern.

Every worker, manager, employee, or supervisor tries to work with these patterns in mind. So Mike and I thought it would be great to acknowledge each person for their hard work and contribution to their team. Mike really wanted this to be special so we ordered some plastic trophies from Amazon and labeled each one with a quality from the leadership pattern. Sure this might have been betrayed as funny but once Mike started his speech everyone got quiet and were happy to be recognized in front of their family and friends for their hard work. 

Jasen was awarded "The Spirit Award" - Following the direction of The Spirit. 

Connor was awarded "Direction" Award- Define Direction.

Mike L. was awarded "Organize" Award- Organizing the work. 

Each worker came up with such pride that finally someone is noticing their hard work.

Mike was awarded "Render" Award- Render An Account

Matt was awarded "Counsel" Award- Counsel Together

Mike T was awarded "Build" Award- Building Capability. 

After speaking a few words about each person and giving them their ward my Mike thought his presentation was over BUT it wasn't.

I sneaked another trophy inside his bag the night before with his notes that was labeled "Example" so he can put it on the table as a decoration. But actually it was for him. I stood up and talked to everyone how much Mike really cares for each person. I talked about how Mike wanted to be different than other leads so he made that change. He understands that he's not just given stewardship over his team for their work goals but also their spiritual, temporal, emotional, and live goals. I teared up thinking all those phone calls in the middle of the night. The temple dates with everyone. The long talks after their shifts are over. The weekend car repairs he does. I explained that even though he clocks out Mike doesn't stop thinking about everyone. He wants each person to become a lead themselves and that I hoped they would follow Mike's example of showing love to each one of their future teammates.
I really don't remember what I said. I was in the moment and guided by the spirit on what to say. But I gave Mike the "EXAMPLE" Award and everyone clapped for him.

(Sure some of his team were not able to make it he gave out those award at work on Monday. And those people felt so happy to be given an award and cheered for. The photo above is with those workers who did attend. One day I will get an entire team photo.)

Miss Lily wanted an award too for being awesome. Connor let her play with his but then it was time to give it back. Small and simple things can make a big deal to someone. 

While the adults did their thing and watched a movie since it started to rain the kids played some more.

It was such an amazing experience that we are planning another one for the summer months. Perhaps with Mike's entire group instead of just his team. 

I'm thankful for this opportunity to make new friends, to see my husband open up to his team and allow them to see him in a more personal setting. I'm thankful for everyone coming even though we live in the middle of nowhere. I'm thankful for the amazing leader my husband is. I'm thankful that he works on such a wonderful team where each person takes care of one another. I'm thankful for this amazing day. 

Halloween

Halloween is a tricky holiday for us.

We don't really get into this holiday. We don't decorate. We don't do crafts. We're not fans of being scared. So Halloween sort of gets skipped by us. However this year we had a fun holiday. 

Our family enjoys dressing up. But since we still are saving for our trip in December this year's costumes were easy/cheap/homemade/ or reused. 

Hailey was a pirate one day and Red Riding Hood another. I guess it depends on her mood. (We had everything already but the cape. It cost around $11 from eBay.)

Cati was a fairy princess. (Kid to kid $2 costume)

Lily was a butterfly. (I made the wings for $4)

Mason was a ninja. (He borrowed mikes karate uniform) 

Mike and I were Dr.Who and the Tardis.

We had all of his costumes already and I ordered my dress from ebay. Since it cost me $18 I plan to wear this tunic dress all year round so it's a win/win for me. 

Anyways our ward throws an annual Halloween party so Lily and her BFF wanted to match. So I made her friend a matching costume with the leftover material. They loved being twin butterflies.

Photobomber Cati

The ward party had a potluck, face painting, games, a haunted house, and trunk or treating.

Then their school held a Halloween party as well the next day. So everyone went to school dressed up ready to party.

They loved it! When they got home they talked with their friends and enjoyed the fact they got to wear costumes to school since most public schools didn't allow costumes.

Then the night before halloween our neighbor held a Fall Festival party. They don't celebrate halloween so this is a nice substitute. When I first heard that I thought was a little odd but whatever. We're all different and that's what makes life interesting. 

At her party we roasted hot dogs/ sausages, made s'mores, played games, chatted about Star Wars, enjoyed the toasty fire, and just spending time with friends.

One fun memory was a jump rope contest. Mike and another adult held the rope and counted while kids took turns seeing who could get the most jumps. One teen got 41 and held the record for a while. Mike took a turn so this teen held the rope for him. Once mike was reaching the 30's this teen turned the rope so fast that it was breaking the sound barrier. Even though the jump rope was going so fast that we couldn't even see it flying through the air Mike still held his game. 

He kept up with the speed that the teen gave up and felt defeated by Mike. He challenged Mike again to a dual but Mike declined and walked off the jump rope champ. Haha! Mike can beat any teenager!

Then halloween came along. During the day we cleaned our house. Which the kids thought was lame. Oh well! 

Later that evening we went trick or treating. Our girls got themselves tons of candy. Mason stood home and passed out candy. 

As we walked around the neighborhood Mike and I chatted with other parents while our kids ran to doors. It was a fun night. 

So this years halloween was really fun. It goes to show that we don't need scary, spooky, decorations, or crafts to make this holiday fun. 

Brazil

One of any perks of homeschooling is being able to teach my kids MORE than just the regular standardized stuff. Each month we learn about a different country thanks to Little Passports. This month we learned about Brazil.

Little Passports is a geography program that each month a kit comes in the mail with tons of facts about a specific country. And once we get this kit I add on extra educational experiences to enhance the global experience. 

For this month we.... 

Learned about the Brazilian flag an what each part of it means.

Listened to primary songs in porteges. 

Made Carnival mask and learned about the biggest global party of the year

Learned Capoeira 

 Played a kids game called Rooster 

I made a traditional Brazilian dinner which everyone really enjoyed 

Except for the limeade. This was a new flavor we've never had so it took some time getting use to it. ( it's blended lines with sugar water mixed with milk) 

And we went on a field trip to a chocolate factory where we learned all about the cacao tree that makes cocoa beans. 

But you can't visit a chocolate factory and not enjoy some yummy after tour treats 

Besides all this we read a few books about Brazil, played the Little Passports online game, watched a couple documentaries on Netflix, watched Rio, learned about the Christus statue, and danced to some brazilian music 

My kids ( and the neighbor kids) are excited to see what country we learn about next month. Blessing we homeschool. 

Black Island Farms

I love this new school the kids are signed up with. The teachers set up a field trip to Black Island Farms, which is one of our favorite pumpkin farms since it's right up the street from us.

Besides my kids playing with friends I got a chance to meet all my kids BFFs and crushes which I promised to keep secret. 

On our field trip we learned about crops, planting, seasons, seeds, and how to recycle farm stuff into fun playground equipment. 

Our kids had so much fun. 

Even when we got lost in the corn maze. Those maps are handy but we wanted to give it a go without any help. Mistake! 

So we made our own path and walked straight through the corn since we were getting frustrated. 

It was nice to get out and enjoy this autumn weather. 

Talent/ No Talent show

I admit if I didn't sign up to bring something to tonight's show we might of skipped it. Thankfully I did because it was so fun. 

Our ward/neighborhood held a Talent/ No Talent Show. (No Talent for those you like to perform but might be off key alittle :).....)

A Cafe Rio style dinner was provided along with a table devoted to all sorts of cookies. 

The group that put this together really planned for everything. We played a few games while people sat and ate. Like name that nursery rhythm.  Which I thought I know them all but some how I got Little Boy Blue and Little Miss Muffin all mixed up. So she was napping and he was sitting somewhere. hahaha....

There was guess how many candies in the jar. 

A text battle between 2 teens and 2 adults. I think this was my favorite game to watch. They each had to text a sentence with their name attached to the message to a mystery phone number.

Guess who won that round? The  teen. This 16 year old young man had enough time to put his phone back in his pocket,cross his arm, and enjoy his glory. But during round 2 mad gab and round 3 a trivia question the adults took it back. To end of battle Teens 1, Adults 2. Yeah for adults!!!

There were some contest games like throwing marshmallows into your partners face....I mean into their mouth, balancing pennies on a popsicle stick in your mouth, and some more I think I'm forgetting. I love these types of Minute to Win it games. 

The talent show had so many great acts. A skit from Napoleon Dynamite, tons of girls showing off their tumbling skills, rockets set to classical musical, a couple of musical numbers, a few stories told, a slide show of photos, a couple of silly skits, and a couple of display tables that people showed off their talents. Like photos, painting, quilts, etc. 

It was a really nice evening. Lily wanted some silly pictures with Mike.

 

 The last act of the show was from the Bishopric and other Elders. They asked all the kids to come sit on the floor in front of their table. So I went with Lily and Cati and we all sat on the floor.  Their table was set up with plates, cups of water, napkins, and boxes of pies. So the classic making of a pie eating contest. The men were giving each other some good but clean teasing to one another. The Bishop was encouraging everyone to cheer for him.Then, they each took a slice of their pies on put them on their plates and that's when things got interesting. As soon as everyone thought that the Bishopric was about to dive into their pies they grabbed their cans of silly string (that were hiding) and sprayed all the kids.

 There was silly string everywhere! Some kids laughed. Some were in shock. Some kids cried. And some were mad (which is what my girls were). Lily told a member of the bishopric, "That was not a nice trick!" He apologized but she just walked away. Later when I was talking to his wife (who I visit teach) Lily told her that she didn't like his trick so she gave Lily his pie. :-) Now that's funny! It was such a great evening. I do hope they do this next year. And if not it was still a very awesome night :-)