Give Thanks

I LOVE Thanksgiving. The food, fun, family, the beginning of the holidays. Bryson came home from school the other day dressed like a pilgrim, and carrying a feathered headband. It totally reminded me of elementary school. I LOVED dressing up like a pilgrim... we'd push all our desks together to make one really long table, and then we'd get to eat our special Thanksgiving lunch in our classroom all dressed up. I always thought it was so fun. We would have Thanksgiving dinner with the Grace family at my Grandpa's church building. I remember sitting around the table, smelling the yummy turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy... and my Grandpa would have us one by one say something we were thankful for. It's a great excuse to really think about the things we are thankful for... and I am really thankful for a LOT! Here are just a few of the blessings I feel grateful for:

Jared - I'm so thankful to have him as my hubby. He is truly my best friend. He works so hard and takes such good care of us. He can always make me laugh, even on my WORST day. He is the BEST.

Eryn - I'm thankful to have such a great daughter. She is getting so grown up... which should make me sad... but she is also becoming a great friend. It's fun to talk to her and hang out with her.

Kaitlyn - I'm thankful to have such a helpful kid! She is so thoughtful and always does things without being asked... oh and she's hilarious!

Bryson - I love 5-yr-olds. They are so funny. He asked me last night "Mom... can we hang out together tomorrow?" I love that he likes to play games with me and read to me. He is such a sweetie!

Hayden - I'm so thankful for this little buddy who keeps me company when everyone else is gone to school. I'm glad he wants me to play trains and cars with him. He is a total boy, and I LOVE it!

I'm so thankful to live in this great country, in our nice little town, in our house, in our ward... we are so blessed in so many ways. Great friends... family nearby... the list could just go on and on. I hope everyone takes the time to think about what they are truly grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving.

And for your viewing pleasure... our little pilgrim/indian.

Oh, and don't mind the Harry Potter-style scar on his forehead. This is totally normal for this extremely active kid. He is a tree and fence climbing, wrestling, frequently injured kid for sure!

Childrens Museum

Anyone who now has or has had a three year old knows first hand that the "terrible twos" are a picnic compared to three! It's the best and the worst. Suddenly their ears no longer function, yet they say and do the cutest things... they love to make messes - huge, demolition-style messes... they don't like to clean up their own messes, but give them a vacuum and they'll clean, or give them a wooden spoon and they'll help you cook. They are exasperating, exhausting, and yet so much fun. I love my 3-yr-old so much. Sometimes it just takes a bit of make-believe to realize how much they just want to be like us. We headed up to the Children's Museum in Salt Lake with my friend and her 3-yr-old, who happens to be Hayden's FAVORITE girl. Hayden had the best time working construction, cooking in a little kitchen, driving and filling a jeep with gas, delivering mail, shopping, and of course... flying a helicopter. It was so fun to watch them play and realize that they are just trying to learn... even the mess-making is learning to them. So even though 3-yr-olds are kinda hard... it's worth it to hear them laugh, watch them play, and see them learn. The hugs and kisses they give are pretty nice too.

Happy Birthday Jared!

We just celebrated Jared's birthday. I won't tell you how old he turned this year... let's just say he aint 21 anymore. Hey, you are only as old as you act, right? And if that's the case, he's about 17. He even gets mistaken for a student when he subs at the High School on Fridays. He is such a great dad to our kids. They are so lucky to have a dad who loves to be at all their events (he's even the coach most of the time) and who just loves to spend every minute he can with them. I just have to honor him a little bit. You are only the star of the day once a year. He is definitely a star in our family. It's so amazing being married to my BEST FRIEND! He is truly the best. We love him so much. Happy Birthday to the best lookin', best cookin', hardest workin', most hilarious, crazy and fun to be around guy that I know! We love you Jared!

Click on these little pictures... they look much better a bit bigger

A little funny story about this picture. Right before we lit the candles, Jared and Brad decided to change the filter in the fridge. Well, they thought it would only take a second, so I went ahead and lit the candles. Well, it ended up causing a small flood - water everywhere. It was actually pretty funny... after mopping up a little water, we re-lit the candles and sang "Happy Birthday" but you can still see Brad in the background putting the filter in. HEHE! Also, if you look closely, you will still see the tag attached to the cool new BYU sweatshirt from Jo and Corey. It was fun to have everybody (well, almost everybody) there. We missed everyone that wasn't. Jared appreciated all the phone calls from everyone who lives too far away to come for dessert, and for the thoughtfulness of those who did come. We love you guys!

Birthday Adventures

Well, everyone likes to start their birthday off with a "bang" right? Actually, let me back up a little bit. Here's how I woke up on my birthday.



My awesome hubby did this the night before, while I was snoozing away in bed! This was a great way to wake up...




However, this is what happened a little bit later that morning:



Uh... yeah. I got in a bit of a fender bender on the way home from dropping the girls off at school. I wish I could say that it wasn't my fault, but that wouldn't be true! I slammed into the back of a nice, newish Camaro. When I pulled over and got out of our minivan, I looked at that nice Camaro's bumper and noticed that it really didn't look bad - a little scratched, maybe. Mine couldn't look bad, right? Then I turned around to see ours. Ouch! Trust me - I'll never take my eyes off the road for even a second ever ever again! The bad: My boys were in the back seat, and I was still in my pajamas - not ready for the day, my purse was at home with my driver's license... The good: Atleast I had on a hat, nobody got hurt, and we have insurance. It's not fun to start your birthday with a wreck and a ticket. Nope - not fun at all. The rest of my day was devoted to calling the insurance, getting an estimate, and passing on the bad news of our adventure to everyone who called to wish me a happy birthday! Atleast it could only get better, right? It did!



Jared made dinner (pork roast, potatoes and gravy, and Birthday Brownies!) And we just hung out together as a family. My mom and dad and two of my sisters and their families dropped in,
too!

Spooky Kids

Okay... get ready for a LOT of pictures. We had a GREAT Halloween this year. Our kids had fun trying to come up with what they'd be this year. We had a few ideas that we ended up having to scrap, because we decided that they may be just a little uncomfortable! E, K and B all came up with things that ended up being really easy! Eryn as a zombie cheerleader was a piece of cake! (Other than having to dig through a few boxes to find one of my old cheer skirts!) Kaitlyn as a mime was easy - just had to find a beret and paint her face. Bryson's was easy - we found a GREAT jacket at Walmart, and then just cut out some bones from stick-on felt for the black sweats. Hayden's was the hard one. Where do you find a Percy the train costume? No where! So a box, two cans of green spray paint, covering back over Hayden's black paint job from when I wasn't looking, lots of gluing and a couple of re-arranged straps later and there ya go! And when he said he didn't want to wear it, Mommy wasn't too happy. He was told that he would wear it or he would not trick-or-treat. He wore it... and loved it (all except when he was falling down - yeah... not so easy to wear apparently). Everyone ended up with more candy than any kid should be allowed to consume, and we had FUN! Plus we went to Grandma Cheryl and PapaBob's house for Mummy Dogs, pulled pork sandwiches and Frankenstein pudding (thanks to Aunt Jo) AND we watched "Thriller" - yep, that good ol' Michael Jackson song that I've loved since third grade! My kids LOVED it, but they thought it was kinda funny. (which was probably just a cover-up for being scared HEHE).Actually, Bryson woke up the next morning wanting to watch it again! Here are a few pics (A few? Yeah right!) Enjoy!


Eryn - Zombie Cheerleader!

Kaitlyn - Mime


Bryson - Skeleton


Hayden - Percy the Train


And here are a bunch more pictures of the kids in their costumes, and a little bit about our day!

Carving Pumpkins

Well, the kids got some cute little pumpkins this year to carve. Hayden picked out his and the girls' pumpkins at Pumpkinland when he was on his fieldtrip, and Bryson picked out his own at Hee Haws Farm while he was on HIS fieldtrip! The girls designed and carved their own pumpkins this year. They are just so grown up! Bryson drew a picture of what he wanted for me to carve. Hayden just wanted a face - he didn't care what it looked like, so his was easy! They all had the most fun carving pumpkins. The boys even named theirs... Bryson's was named Jack (with a last name of A-Lantern - that's a direct quote!) And Hayden's was named Mr. Punkin! Watch in the next couple of days for the "costume pictures."