Tori Speaks at Stake Conference

Tori was asked by our Stake President if she would be willing to speak at Stake Conference this past month. Her topic was, "Why do I believe in Christ". President Rasband {President of the Seventy) was visiting, along with Elder G. Neilson. No pressure, just some GA visitors.} She had two weeks to prepare for her talk and I reminded her daily not to procrastinate writing her talk. Of course, being a typical and busy teenager, she waited until the night before to write it. Lucky for her, it all turned out really well. Lots of people commented to her about how much they liked her talk. People sent emails and notes in the mail, telling her what a great job she did. Way to go Tori, you made us so proud!

Tori get her Driver's License...Get off the Sidewalks America!

Well, it took a lot of work and two trips to Angelton, Texas! But we finally succeeded in reserving a drivers test, taking the test and passing! Way to go Tori! We are so excited for you as you embark in this new phase of life! CONGRATULATIONS!

Waiting for the official to come out to the car to take her on the driving test... (gasp!)


Parallel parking test.


Success! She passed with flying colors! Look how happy she is!

The next morning on her first solo drive....headed off to seminary and school. I thought I was going to puke. I was nervous yet so excited for her to have this new freedom.

Brianne Turns 11 years old on 11/11/11

This year Brianne's 11th birthday fell on 11/11/11. To add to the quirkiness (is that even a word? Well, it is now!) of this special date, she was also born in the 11 o'clock hour...11:18pm. I seriously tried for 11:11pm, but did not succeed. Her Grandparents and great Aunt's have been talking about this day for years. When we told people that her birthday was on this date, they told Brianne this would be her lucky year and they also said it was her "Golden Year". Some people even told her to go buy a lottery ticket!

Brianne is someone who has a smiley, bubbly personality. She has lots of friends. We have a running joke about Brianne quite frequently being gone on the weekends. It seems she is at one birthday party after another. It is quite comical how many parties she attends. I am glad she has good friends, who she enjoys being around. We too enjoy having her as a part of our family. She seems to always have a funny "one liner" to share. She is also right there to give someone a hug and help them feel happy if they are having a bad day.

For Brianne's 11th birthday we heated the pool all day to get it nice a toasty warm! She wanted to have a "dive in movie". So, that is what we did. The spa was 102* and the kids ate pizza, candy, and cake it the spa and watched a movie. I do believe they all had a great time! It certainly looked like it after they all went home...the back yard was totally trashed. (literally). There were candy wrappers, cups, plates, bowls, napkins, food, candy all over the yard and in the pool. After I saw the disaster zone back there, I told Tori, Caitlin and Courtney that they could have parties anytime, because their teenage friends are so much cleaner than a bunch of 10 and 11 year olds! A great big thanks to the older girls for helping me clean up after the party.

This year Brianne received a special gift from Grandma Turner! The coveted Monster's Inc. Boo Doll. Brianne has loved this little doll each summer we visit Grandma. This year Grandma felt Brianne would be able to give it the care it needed and felt she was responsible enough. Brianne was so excited to see the doll when she unwrapped the package!

I made Brianne's birthday cake this year. I had been thinking about the design for about a month. When I think of Brianne I think...smiles, bright colors, sweetness, candy, fun, bright, and bold....just to name a few. This cake design just popped into my head and I knew it is what I wanted to do for her!

Here are a few pics of her BIG birthday!

The pool & spa heated, with LED lights, tiki torches and rainbow party lights! (If you are wondering what is in the pool, we threw in LED plastic ice cubes. They are for drinks, but they look pretty cool in the pool floating and changing colors along with the pool lights. Thanks Aunt Jan for the LED ice cubes! They are so much fun!)

The cake! The top tier is 4 layers of butter cake with butter cream frosting, the bottom tier is 4 layers of red velvet with buttercream frosting. White and hot pink marshmellow fondant on top.
Candy: gum balls are the main feature. Mike and Ikes, Sprees, old fashioned candy drops, and suckers to decorate the top. All of the candy was either purchased at the dollar store or the local old fashioned candy store here in my area.

Looking exhausted. It had been a very long day!

Thank you to Courtney our family photographer for takng Bri's 11 year old photos!

We captured, this time stamp on the computer.

Brianne and the Boo Doll! Thanks Grandma Turner!

TMHS ROTC Military Ball

Victoria was asked to the TMHS ROTC Military ball by Landry. We searched high and low for a formal dress, seeing that it is not prom season, this was not an easy feat. We asked a friend if her daughter's (who are now off to college) had any formals hanging in their closets. Luck for us they did and they graciously let us borrow one from them. It was so kind and we appreciated it so much.

Tori said the evening was very interesting. The military has so many rituals at these balls. She said the first 40 minutes was a cake ceremony, then a fancy dinner, then cutting the cake ceremony, then the ball.


Here are a few pics of the event...

TMHS Varsity Volleyball Make it to the Playoffs!

We were so excited for Tori's Varsity Volleyball team at her new high school, they made it to the playoffs. Seeing that her team is made up of Sophomores and two Freshman, and they played Seniors and Juniors all season, it was amazing they did so well and made it to the playoffs. Unfortunately, they lost in the first round of the playoffs. We look forward to watching this team and seeing how far they can make it in the future! We have high hopes for more Playoffs!


Tori #16

Tori plays Middle Blocker and Right Side outside hitter.

Too bad this pic is so blurry....only in Texas would a line judge be wearing cowboy boots.

Halloween 2011

The girls went to many different Halloween parties this year, each time sporting a different costume. Trick-or-Treating at Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter's home this year. The kids hauled in 39.4 lbs of candy. Here's a look...

Carving of the pumpkin! Tiffany drew the face. :)

Brianne as Barbie.

Tiffany as Grandma Avery. (Just kidding Carol.)-- Tiffany as an 80's workout lady.

Tori as her favorite TV character, I LOVE LUCY!

Courtney ---"Houston we have a problem."

Brianne got dressed in the dark.

Tori and Landry on Super Hero day!

Nick, Evan and gals.

Tori's Sweet 16 Party

We had such a fun time planning this birthday party! Tori invited quite a few friends from school and the Tomball ward. We decked out the back yard in "c" bulb colored Christmas lights, lit up the pool with our LED lights and threw into the pool a bunch of LED plastic ice cube lights as floaters. It looked so great! We fed the guests Brother's Pizza, chocolate fountain with all the dippings, nachos, candy, and of course something a little healthy, a veggie platter. We heated the pool and had the spa going all evening. The youth ate, sat in the spa, ate, sat in the spa, ate, sat in the spa. It was the most laid back party ever, and yet they all LOVED just hanging out together and laughing!

I wanted to buy Tori an outstanding Sweet 16 cake. But, after pricing cakes at local bakeries, I decided it would cost less for me to purchase everything I needed and make the cake myself! So, I DID! After research on the Internet and emailing a very talented woman (THANKS Valerie!) I had a pretty good idea of how the cake assembly should work. Now, was the cake perfect? Nope. Being it was the first time I had ever made fondant, I wasn't sure exactly how to make it smooth and flat. I finally figured out how to smooth the top, and it looked good, but the sides were bumpy. But, after I decorated the sides, it did cover up the bumps.

Tori loved the cake and that is all the mattered to me! She was glowing and so excited when she saw the cake in its final stages. Caitlin and Courtney were my apprentices, Caitlin made all of the flowers and Courtney coached me and told me what she has seen on Cake Boss. All of their tips and pointers really helped!

Tori we hope you had a very happy Sweet 16!

Brianne The Cook!

Some Saturday mornings Brianne enjoys cooking breakfast for the family. Not every Saturday morning, but when she is in the mood. (Don't we all feel like that sometimes?) A few weeks ago, Brianne whipped up some delicious ham and cheese rolls...from scratch. Yes, she made the croissants! They were so good that we had to photograph the food, I guess so we can look back and remember just how great they were. Thanks Bri for keeping us fed on Saturdays!

TMHS Homecoming...Well, "New"coming!

Victoria will be in the first graduating class of TMHS. This beautiful school just opened this fall, with only Sophomores and Freshman.


Her volleyball team won the school's first trophy last weekend at a Tournament! All of the parents were pretty excited for the team!

This past weekend was Homecoming at her new high school. They didn't call it Homecoming, some called it the Inaugural Ball, some called in Newcoming. The week before Newcoming, Tori was asked by a young man named Landry to Newcoming. She was so excited! However, I wasn't thrilled...it only gave is 1 week to find a cocktail dress and accessories! Seeing that Tori has a very busy volleyball schedule, we had one afternoon to find a dress. AND, we did it! We actually found a dress in about 45 minutes! We were both pretty excited!

All week long the high school had dress up days. One of the days Tori dressed up like a nerd.

Tori's birthday was on Friday, the day before Newcoming. She was fortunate enough to be turning 16, so she could go on her first date! (Our girls don't date until they are 16 years old.)

Landry, his Mom and sister picked up Tori at 3:00pm and they met up with a group of 20 youth about an hour later for pictures and dinner, then off to the dance. After the dance the "after party" was at our home, and the youth didn't leave until about 1:45am. We had decorated the back yard with colored Christmas lights, tiki torches and had the disco LED colored lights on in the pool. It looked pretty neat and the teenagers said,"This is so cool!" They were such a great group of youth! They swam, sat in the hot tub and ate and ate and ate! Wow, those football players can eat! Fortunately, we had enough pizza and food to keep all satisfied!




What a great week for Tori! Her Sweet 16 birthday, her Newcoming and her first date!




A picture taken in our backyard....the calm before the storm....(ACK! Tori's going on her first date!)


Tori celebrates her birthday in the locker room with her friends before their volleyball game last Friday.

Nerd Day for Newcoming week. Tori and friends at Seminary before school.

The Homecoming Mum! Texas tradition! I made this Mum Garter for Landry, Tori's date. The guys wear their mum on their bicep.

Landry's mom made Tori's mum. The girl wears it around her neck. The longer the mum with tons of trinkets, the better!

The next few photos were taken, right before her date arrived...
Of course she had to stand by her new car!

I loved this dress! All of you LDS mom's know how hard it is to find a modest dress! We got so lucky! The material is shimmery, it is so pretty!

Sisters waiting patiently for Tori's first date to arrive!

Landry and Tori

Tori trying to pin on the boutonniere! Then Landry's mom tried, then I tried and was finally successful. I made his boutonniere and I think it turned out pretty good!

Group shot outside the restaurant. As a mother of a YW, I am so proud of Tori for selecting such a modest dress. I think she looks beautiful!