Life has been super busy lately and believe it or not, not everything we do centers around autism, though some days it sure seems that way. We've actually been having lots of fun!! A few weeks ago there was a hot air balloon festival in town. It was so fun. In the first race, the balloons were supposed to land at a school just a block from our house so Gary, Brynn, and I walked down and saw all the balloons land. One of the balloons had to land in the street because he missed the school. He let Brynn go right up to the balloon and look inside. They were so nice.

The next day we went to the festival and got to see balloons inflate and take off, the kids got to go on a bunch of jump houses, and we saw some synchronized kites. That night all the balloons were in a circle and did a light display with their torches. It was really beautiful.

We got up early the next morning and raced back over to the festival to see the balloons take off. The sky was filled with them.
We've also gotten into geocaching. It is basically a game played all over the world. Using coordinates and a handheld GPS you look for hidden "treasure". You go online and there are lists of coordinates all over the world. Some times the cache is so small all there is in it is a tiny piece of paper to sign your name. When there is treasure it usually consists of little tiny random trinkets and for every one you take you need to put one in. We found things like, an army man, travel dental floss, a domino, etc. It is so much fun and it's free. My sister Shelly and her family have been doing it for years. It is so fun.

This one was found in the hollow of a random tree in the back corner of an industrial/business part of town. It was in a tiny container glued to a large piece of bark and tucked into the tree hollow. Lorin found it. She has such sharp eyes!!

Also the last few weeks the sister missionaries have been coming over to my house every Monday so I could help them sew skirts. We have a large Swahili population and the sisters have a lot of investigators among them. They bought some fabric from some investigators and we made skirts out of it. They did a great job, especially since neither of them had much experience sewing. I was totally impressed.

Also, I saw the pattern for these and I had to make them. I think they are hilarious!!! I really need to clean out that drawer!!

She's my favorite decoration. She is a most unfortunate witch!!
Also, on Saturday, as a way to avoid chores I helped the kids make these awesome shirts. They are tie-dyed and then drawn on with fabric markers. I got the idea out of Family Fun magazine. Also the skeleton in the background we made last year out of a bunch of milk jugs. He is super cute. We had a blast.

In other news, Ethan started at his new school. He's been doing a great job. He seems really happy there. I see great things in his future. He has to leave at 6:50 however, but I would wake up at anytime if it meant getting him help.

Also, Gary's parents Gerald and Charlene have been called on a mission to Brussels Belgium. They are leaving in January so we decided to spend this Christmas in California so we can see them one last time before they go. We have never traveled for Christmas before. We always have a light Christmas as far as presents go, that's just the way we roll, but this year since we will be traveling we are going to be extra light which I think is fantastic. We told the kids they could choose between a normal amount of Christmas presents or one toy and Disneyland. They all chose one toy and Disneyland, which frankly sounds way better to me too.

Also, I am happy to announce that I was awarded the Nobel prize in Physics!!! I didn't even do anything!!! I've never even taken a physics class before. Apparently the Nobel prize committee has changed the rules so you don't have to really do anything in order to be rewarded.