2 teens and an adult

 ayden's turn!  wow, i can't believe it but Ayden is 13!!!!  a teenager!  let the zits and mood swings begin!  here is ayden opening his teenage survival bag- consisting of face cleanser, listerine, body spray...etc.

 and voila!  new indoor cleats.  ayden is wanting to start playing Futsal a lot- so these are what he wanted.  since this photo was taken however, they were returned for a different size- and will have to be returned a third time.  sigh.

 here is his brownie cake.  we had a small party for him that night...with the 4 of us.  and here he is singing to himself.  such a great singer.

 and now it's playtime/photo shoot time.

 dont' ask.  weird kids.

anyone else vote for Ayden to have a haircut?  trying to get him to have one is not easy.
anyhow- Ayden is a great kid/teen.  he is smart and knows what's right.  it's so fun having him in our home!

in other news:
-today we have a wind warning.  of course.  the fall.  i LOVE fall.  usually!  but the constant wind just about kills me.  all of us.
-it is hard to believe but Ben will be leaving the MTC on wednesday.  i HOPE HOPE HOPE we get to hear from him that day.  there are so many things i still don't know!!!!  i hate being in the dark.  i am crossing my fingers and praying that he goes somewhere awesome at first and has a great companion!  but i suppose he will go where he is supposed to go.  i think we are all still missing him.  will that change?  tomorrow i'm sending him his first package.  it is a GREENIE package with green stuff!  nothing too fancy, just a small one. 
-Ayden had a bit of a bday party friday night.  he and his pals messed around, ate pizza, and watched world war z.  tessa and i watched later, and i have to say i enjoyed it!  it was better than i thought it would be.
-pete has been busy with election stuff at work.  the fall is a busy time for him anyways- but add this and it's extra busy.
-the library has been shifting.  we have had to take all books off all shelving units as we shuffle around.  i am lucky and only had to do it for one day.  it is hard work!!!  blah.
-we are having salmon today.  funny part was, we had to buy a MUCH smaller salmon since Ben is gone.  the milk expired the other day which never happens- and i dont' think anyone is drinking ANY of the new milk.  yup!  we may be paying a lot FOR the mission- but our milk costs have just gone down.  sad...yet kinda funny.
-i have been sore lately.  i say this not to grab sympathy...since i am always sore.  i think Ben leaving was shocking to my system and everything just clenched up worse than ever.  i am trying to ease things off- we will see what happens.  actually looking forward to shots in a week!!!
-my goal is to get to the temple early this week.  having gone with Ben the last two times, i think it will be a nice quiet place to pray for him.
- if anyone reading this blog has NOT seen ben's mission blog, let me know and i will invite you!  that's it for now.
-one more thing...Lynnae and Dan had their baby this morning.  a healthy girl weighing in at 8 pounds and 12 oz.  Madisyn.  congrats to them!!!

Tessa's big BIRTHDAY!

 wow, number 16!  so exciting!  now she can drive and date!  if she chooses of course.  which hopefully not much on the latter.  but who knows!  it was a fairly low-key weekend, we mostly just hung around.  but we had some good cheesecake, and she had a fun photo- shoot.

 new dress

 so cute.