Last Friday was an exciting day for Holden and Kenzie. They had their belt graduation in karate and recieved their yellow belts. Yay!

Norm has still been working on the tree house a little when its not too cold outside. This is a custom built wooden door and shutters that are functional. Even when it is very cold outside as soon as you crawl into the trunk and start to climb up you notice that it is really pretty warm inside the house. The kids and cousins have even stayed out there watching movies comfortably while the grown ups watched a game inside peacefully. Everyone was happy.

Last night at our ward trunk or treat Norm wore his Captain Jack hat and Kenzie and Holden actually won a prize for their costumes.
Shannon dressed in her harajuku stuff (google it).

So the ogres were getting alot of attention. We even had a few strangers stor them and ask if they could take a picture of them. It was pretty fun.

They won a certificate and a $15 Wendys gift card. Yay!

Yesterday was buddy day at the kids' karate class. They were to dress in their Halloween costumes and bring their buddy. They went as Shrek and Fiona
Holdens buddy was Kiley, of course.

Kenzies buddy was uncle Greg. Kenzie has lots of friends but she chose Greg to be her buddy. Greg was such a good sport about it. He even won a ribbon for his costume. It was lots of fun.

Thanks to our buddies for coming with us. Especially Uncle Oscar Meyer. You were an awesome giant karate kickin' wiener. Everyone would be in love with you

Sunday night we decided to carve our pumpkins.
Everyone designed their own.

A few of the finished masterpieces.
Holdens

Gregs

and Jordans

A fun tradition.

For any of you who have been following the progress on the tree house, sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. As you can see Norm has finished the roof with these rustic shake shingles which I thought added alot of character to it.

By the end of the day today we had the outside completely painted with "Mickeys' Pants red" and I loved the way that turned out. Im greatful for all of Norms hard work on it. He told me today that it is quite possibly the coolest thing he has ever built. I'm thankful that Pops did a great job on the upstairs. (Kiersten that was for you)

Kenzie and Holden just started karate. They had their second class tonight. At the end of the class they had a white belt test. Part of this test was to break a board. The board represents challenges in your life. When you break the board it is explained to you that when you persevere you can break through the challenges that come to you in life.

Kenzie was first. She showed Holdie the way. (as she has done with so many things in his life so far) Shes a great sis.

This is what Norm has done since our last post.

Also most of you know that we have lived here for almost 3 years, and for almost 3 years we have had an empty front room. Well we finally were able to furnish this room. here are a coule of pictures of it.

Needless to say I was elated! I now have a nice visiting room so maybe you should all come and visit.

Last week there wasnt as much visible progress on the tree house. Norm was wiring for the lights and electrical outlet inside. By saturday he was ready to start the sheating on the roof and also did one of the inside walls.
When I got home from work today I could see that he had been busy.

By quitting time tonight he had finished getting the roof ready for the next step. This is shaping up to be quite the tree house. The kids are very excited to camp out in it when it is finished. Great work Norm! I'm not sure if its good or bad but our back yard is becoming a more popular place already. One little girl was watching Norm work when suddenly she said "I love you" Surprised by this sudden expression of affection, he stopped working and said "What?" The little girl (who is about 5) smiled and said "I'm glad you're my neighbor." Norm just smiled back and then continued working.

Other news: Jordan has finally aquired his beloved VW bus that he has had his heart set on for quite a while now. It needs some work but I'm sure it wont be long until he has it on the road. I dont think I have ever seen a smile on his face quite as big as the one I saw that day.

Shannon ran in her first cross country invitational. She is the only girl on her team. Although she is only a freshman her coach had her run with the junior varsity girls. She did great. I am so proud of her. She was so nervous.
After the race my awesome husband surprised her with a dozen beautiful yellow roses and a hug,and told her he was proud of her. Of course this made ME cry. It was so sweet of him.

She did so good. This trail was pretty tough. Steep hills and dirt roads and through grass. There were so many highschools there with pretty big teams. They came from Payson to as north as Weber High. Hundreds of runners. It was fun to watch her run her little heart out.

I wonder if he knows how much his sisters love him.

Shannon had her 14th birthday Aug. 26 while mom and dad were here.
She requested David Archuletas face on her cake......This was the best I could do my little ziploc bag with the corner snipped off.

Just a couple of days after mom and dad left, Norms parents arrived. Holden challenged Bennie to a duel.

I'm not sure who won. But Holdie loved it.

They were only able to stay for about 4 days. We enjoyed having them come to visit us.

Norm was hard at work again today. Here are some pictures, as promised.
Two walls were put on.

We also added a cute little welcome sign with a light, by the front doorway.

Today's progress.

As you can see Norm has been working hard on the tree house. He has framed all 4 walls.
This is looking down through the floor to the entrance in the tree.

The rope bridge turned out really nice and is already a favorite attraction of all the kids in the neighborhood.

Places for the windows and doors were also framed in.

Norm, hard at work.