THE BASTINGS BUZZ: 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I have so many things to be thankful for and have truly been blessed in so many ways.

But in the hustle and bustle of life I sometimes forget that and need a reminder.

Happy Turkey Day!!

Leaves Are Falling

The trees around town turned beautiful colors this Fall.....one day Austin made the comment "this fall isn't going to be very fun because we won't have any leaves at our house."

Luckily, their grandma has plenty of them at her house for the kids to enjoy.

We enjoyed going to the duck pond and collecting leaves.

This year, we decided to do one large picture tree with our collected leaves.

Some Fall Pictures I took of the kids:

Happy Fall!!!

Both Austin and Kayla did soccer this Fall. Austin practiced on Tuesday and Friday, Kayla practiced on Thursday, and both had games on Saturday. So for about 10 weeks our schedules were pretty soccer crazy.

This was Kayla's first time playing soccer and I'm still not sure what she thought about it.

Now and then she would get a kick on the ball when it came to her direction.

But most of the time she ran following the pack of kids...usually at the back like she is in this picture.

And sometimes I don't think her head was in the game at all....she was just out on the field doing her own thing.

Craig and I joked that she was only there for the snacks.

But she did have a fun time and learned a few skills.

Plus it was good exercise and a great energy burner.

I was proud of her for sticking through the entire season and she only cried once....the first time she got knocked down.

Red Bull Team with Coach Trevor

Austin graduated up to the bigger fields and bigger goals this year.

And was still coached by his dad. They make a good pair.

Austin in action

This year they learned some new skills like throw-ins.

Notice those Bastings boys know where to put their hands on a free kick.

We missed not having Austin's good friend Braxton on our team. But they still had fun playing against each other. You can tell they are smiling at each other in this picture.

Half-time break and snack

More soccer playing

Great game!

Team Warriors with Coach Craig

It was a great season!!

The kids always get excited about the trophies!!

Scripture Power #175

For our scripture challenge reward we went bowling which was fun because it has been a while since we have done that. Kayla was using the ramp and bumper pads and was getting pretty lucky knocking down most or all of her bowling pins.

Austin was using bumper pads but wasn't having as much luck and was getting pretty frustrated that he was only getting a couple pins knocked down.

But thankfully his luck changed and the last couple times he bowled he was able to get all the pins down so his frown quickly changed and we ended up with two happy kids!

I am a Child of God

This year in Primary the theme was "I am a Child of God." I have loved teaching the music to the 50+ primary children in our ward. The songs we have learned this year are some of my favorites:

My Heavenly Father Loves Me: I love that this song reminds us that this beautiful world was created for us because of Heavenly Father's love us and that we are his most beautiful creation.
If The Savior Stood Beside Me: I love that this song challenges us to think about the things that we do and say knowing that the Savior is watching us. And I love the 3rd verse that reminds us that he is always near us and even though we do not see him we are in his watchful care.
Families Can Be Together Forever: This song came so naturally to the children probably because family is one of the most important things we have and how wonderful it is to know that families can be together forever through Heavenly Father's plan.
A Child's Prayer: How wonderful it is to know that we can pray to our Heavenly Father and that he hears and answers our prayers. And how much I want my own children to be able to grow up knowing that themselves.
I am a Child of God: One of the most important things I want my children to know is that they are a child of God and that he loves them. That they are here on earth for a purpose and that Heavenly Father wants them to return to live with Him again. I love that this song teaches all of these beautiful truths of the gospel.

Austin and Mikayla did great in the Primary Program. They spoke their parts so well and sang their little hearts out. I was proud of them.

Mikayla's phrase in the program: Jesus Christ is our Savior. "Hearken ye to these words. Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world" D&C 43:34

Austin's phrase in the program: The priesthood is the authority to act in the name of God. It was restored to Joseph Smith at the hands of John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John, who received that same power and authority from Jesus Christ Himself.

Overall the whole program went perfectly. Those there watching smiled, and beamed, and cried, and maybe even giggled a time or two. The sprit was strong especially as the children sang the words of those beautiful songs. It really is the best Sunday of the year!!

On Your Mark 5K

On November 2nd, I ran in my first 5K since Brooklyn was born. Although I will admit that being pregnant is a nice excuse to put away the running shoes for a while, I really do start to miss it. So it has been nice to get out running again. I was glad that my long time running partner, Amy, ran with me. We have a similar pace and even though I try to keep up with her when we run on race day, she consistently pulls ahead. But she challenges me to push myself and maybe one of these days I will pull ahead of her :)

I finished with a time of 29 min 55 seconds. Definitely not my fastest 5K time but my goal was to finish under 30 minutes. And since it has only been 3 months since Brooklyn was born, I was pretty happy that I was able to meet my goal.

More Halloween Fun

We went to the Kiddie Park Spookarama again this year.

(along with the whole town---or so it seemed)

Kayla with her friend/neighbor Jackson.

Austin with his cousins

Austin is all smiles in this picture but during the ride I am not sure if he was enjoying it or a little nervous of getting sick.

A cute little dinosaur

Decorating pumpkin sugar cookies

Halloween parade and dance at school. The kids were taught a choreographed version of "What Does The Fox Say?"........loved it!! Can you find Austin in this picture?