NOVEMBER 2015

November was a fun and busy month for us.  Braden and I made a trip up to Breanna's class in school to help out one afternoon...sorry, no photo taken then.  But we stopped at her place afterwards so Braden could meet STELLA the little calico.

 Our Branch at the Missionary Training Center is usually just one group each 6 weeks...but due to holiday timing, we had an overlap of two groups for a couple weeks.

Scott and I had the chance to go to BYU President's Box for the football game vs Fresno State.
See the cool ice sculpture on the table. They fed us Mexican style lunch, really nice.

 And this was the view from out our window, really a beautiful day!  The people outside were freezing, but it was nice inside!

I think that we got up on the roof maybe the Saturday before that, it was not that cold.  We have been so lucky to have nice days in November to put up lights!

Now we just hope for a nice one in January to take them down!!

We brought out our "Thankful Tree" from before the mission and it was fun to see some of the leaves from past years.  We have some from missionaries too.










We each added a new leaf this year with something/s we are thankful for.

It was a very nice Thanksgiving day with food and family and games.  We did go out on a "hike" that morning in fine family tradition.  We enjoy being close to family this time of year!






We started what may have to become a new tradition this year, making Secret Santa Stockings for Breanna's 5th Grade Class.  Her school is very inner city and these kids will benefit from the basics and fun things that are in each stocking.

We all enjoyed filling them with our things.

Nathan snuggled a bit with Breanna during this.

They were very interested in making sure that each stocking got each item.










We finished the project the Sunday after Thanksgiving up at Lori's house so the Taylor side of the family could put in their parts of the gifts.










Here again, the family were all so happy to help and the kids were loving getting to be a part of this special project!

It means a lot to Breanna that we are doing something for her kids!  We cannot imagine what some of their home situations are like.

We will see what next year looks like and if we want to do this same thing again.

We were offered a free trip through the light display at Thanksgiving Point this year so we went on the first Tuesday of December.

It was really spectacular.













We do admit, it made us wish our grandkids lived nearby so we could take them.

We knew Bennett and Carter would love the dinosaur lights.

We got hot cocoa afterwards and enjoyed seeing some reindeer up close.

 This is a photo of another day this month that Braden went up to help in Breanna's class.

He then posted it in a contest with Jazz player Derrick Favors who encourages service.

Derrick liked Braden's post and all the "likes" it got and eventually, Braden won tickets to a Jazz Game and even got to meet Derrick after the game and get a jersey signed by him.

Nice Job Braden!!

He and Scott enjoyed the game a lot and the chance for Braden to meet Derrick.

The rest of our month was filled with serving in the Church and with family and friends, having RM dinners and sealings or receptions and lots of work work work.

Plans for December include a trip for the boys to Las Vegas, meeting Austin there, for the BYU vs Utah Bowl game on Dec. 18.