The Jason and Shelly Turpin Family: Our Week

Stake Conference – always nice to have another set of hands!!

Skyping with Becca Playing “May I?”

Jason and his Dad hanging out The girls and I getting a little sorting in before church

Some more of the Houston Fall Foliage – so beautiful this year!

Sammi’s 15th Birthday

Opening presents

Breakfast pastry and OJ

Sammi’s birthday lunch of sushi with Grandpa and Daddy

Have to make a trip to the library!

Dinner – Steak and potatoes followed by cake!

We love you Sammi! Happy 15th Birthday!!

For FHE we talked about what we are grateful for (for 35 minutes) and then played a fun game of telephone.

Jason took his two day motorcycle course. He scored a 100 on the written test and only had one point deducted on the practical. Now on to DPS!!

Brother’s 2nd Birthday – amazing! I can’t believe he is that old!

My Mom sewed all of the squares together for Alex’s 100 wishes quilt (remember this picture from July?) Sandi got it all ready to be tied. Mama brought her quilting frame down and for Brother’s birthday we tied it! Kathie brought her family over and we tied. Then Sandi and Marissa came over and we finished it! Amazing! Now all I have to do is bind it. It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but it is an awesome sensory experience. So many different textures!

Listening to Grandma’s card on the computer. Listening to Becca on the phone

Chinese food for dinner! He loved it! Followed by cake made by his big sister Sammi

We got him a water table and an indoor swing.

We love you Alex! Happy 2nd Birthday!

Thanksgiving with the Balls – hosted at Kathie’s

Sammi and Miss Chloe Liz, Bethany, and Sammi

One of the kid tables. My Dad explaining Monster, a game we played as children. Everyone was so excited to play!!

Daddy and Bob as the monster. I wish I had videoed it – the kids LOVED it!

What happens to all monsters in the end? They are wiped out!

Thanksgiving with the Turpins – hosted at Marissa’s

We had to divide and conquer this year. Bella was sick. I hear they had a great time and played three rounds of “May I?”

We broke with tradition this year and went for a live tree. They rode on a hay ride, then picked the perfect tree and Jason sawed it down. They said it felt like they were out in the middle of nowhere just surrounded by the trees even though they were two miles from home. We didn’t all get to go because Bella was still sick.

Frozen with the Balls and Grandma and Grandpa Turpin

Sammi was invited to her friend’s family’s formal party. Sammi looked so pretty!

more normal things that happened this week (Two birthdays and two Thanksgivings – kinda a big week!):

Lizzy’s post op – her cyst was what we thought, just a foreign body (probably a thorn or something from playing) that her body had perceived as dangerous. It is healing beautifully!

Jessi and Lizzy going on a walk with Alex and Husky

Some of Joy’s Dress-up – isn’t she adorable??

I ordered the Book of Mormon in Braille for Alex. It was $3 and it came this week – all six volumes of it! For comparison that is a Book of Mormon in regular old English sitting on top. I didn’t buy the Bible at the same time because they were currently back ordered – can you imagine how many volumes it is? I don’t think Brother will be bringing his scriptures to church every Sunday!! “Don’t mind me, I’ve got my wheelbarrow here.”

So the learning of Braille needs to happen. Laura Keeler, one of my Young Women a long time ago, once told us in Young Women that her Grandfather said that if a person would read the Book of Mormon in another language, they would be fluent at the end. So I have begun. Wow – this is hard! All I have is my little chart. It took me one day to do two pages! But I will get this! How can I not? I have to be able to help Brother learn to read Braille. The National Federation of the Blind talks about the high rate of unemployment among the Blind. Of those employed, 90% are fluent in Braille. So guess what Brother will be fluent in? But how can I help him if I don’t know it? So I must learn.

After my two pages, I figured I needed a Braille – English dictionary. The chart I have is an English – Braille chart. It’s great when I am brailling Brother’s books, but going the other way, from Braille to English takes forever. So Jessi and I made one. It helps so much! We translated three lines in significantly less time with it! Thanks for your help Jes! It took us forever, but is so helpful!