Sunday Night

Hello family -
Another beautiful day in Lakewood - All is well here but the Tribe was pretty disappointing this weekend. They had their chance, just didn't happen. Bummer.

We do have the most AWESOME-ly decorated house for Halloween. My friends, Debbie and Gail came over with all kinds of their stuff and willing hands to decorate. Luke and Sophie had a party last night. 10 boys and 4 girls. The boys were a little nutsy but fortunately it was warm outside and they went out to play capture the flag. One of Luke's friends came dressed as Luke DeBaltzo. He had sprayed his hair red and wore a BYU cap (which Luke always has on). It was great. We made caramel apples, monster cupcakes, ate lots of pizza. All around good time.

Next weekend we are having an adult costume dinner party and then Sam is going to have friends over after the Stake fall festival on Saturday - so we should get some good use out of all the decorations.

Sorry we couldn't be at parents' weekend at the Y this year - we certainly thought about you, Max. Thanksgiving is getting closer and we are so glad that we don't have to wait until Christmas to see you.

Really proud of Sam who got invited into NHS this week - he finished his Cross Country season on Saturday - He says he is going to miss it. I think he will benefit from a little more down time! Hopefully he will get his license this week as well which would be exciting.

Today Jack shared the following story with me - I especially loved that it came from Jack who had kind of a rough school week - Please know how much I identify with the story - as does your Heavenly Father - you are priceless spirits. I love you. Mom

"A well-known speaker started off his seminar by: holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE. You are special - Don't EVER forget it."