Making Christmas Fun and Special

Decorating The Tree
The friday after Thanksgiving, Little Miss was ready to bring in Christmas. So we put up the tree and got the lights on. Dustin was not home to decorate with us, so we held off until Sunday after church. The kids were so eager, they got the ornaments out themselves and started going!

Strong Man took the decorating very seriously. He was policing everything everyone else did.
Little Man assumed all the glass balls were there for his sporting pleasure. They were for kicking across the room and hitting with your fist. That drove Strong Man CRAZY!


Little Miss had the smiles, Strong Man had the camera. Need I say more?
Don't pay any attention to the guy who is sleeping in the background. He does like Christmas.

And of course all the little ones fought over who would put the star on the tree for the big finalle, Strong Man was happy to take the picture, Little Miss had the honor!
This is just a small preview of the upcoming Christmas devotional on Dec.9th at the Salem Stake Center. Our family will be starring as a Shepherds family who saw the Baby Jesus. Strong Man is not even dissappointed that he has to wear a DRESS! (should we worry?)

Spreading the Joy of Our Children

Guess who got the Principal's Award. Our Little Miss! She is doing great in school. Her reading is amazing, she is also a great writer and illustrator. Yesterday she went to "Seussical," a childrens play at a local theater. She loved it!
Life if full of surprises with Strong Man around! This is what he put on when he was supposed to be getting ready for bed. I had to take a picture!
Little Man has the cutest physique! I had to capture it on camera before it goes away! I love those toddler bellies!

Happy Halloween

The little ones all dressed up and ready to go Trick or Treating!
Padme, from Star Wars, Episode one. (Shame on all of you haven't seen it.)
Rafael, the much feared ninja turtle!
And the fireman, who fights with steel rather than water!
And this is me, I didn't dress up for Halloween because I have three little ones to get ready, but I did dress up for the primary Monster Mash with the other members of the presidency!

Party Time!

Here is the big seven year old with her pyramid cake! Isn't it amazing and doesn't she look older? I cannot believe I have a seven year old!
The friends decorating their pyramids!
More pyramid fun!!!
GROUP HUG!!!
These are the party girls!

Our trip to the PUNKIN' PATCH!

This Pumpkin Patch had a petting zoo, and Massive pumpkins!
Now my children want a goat. Hey... maybe I could quit mowing the lawn.





Here we are in the NUT HOUSE!















How did we get in this NUT HOUSE??
This was our trip to the Pumpkin Patch last Friday when there was no school. We went to a new one and had a blast!















Here we are on the SPOOKY hay ride! It was pretty scarry, but my kids are tough!

Guess Who's Two!

Well.... our little guy is two now! We had a quiet little party for him at our house. He got his favorite thing in the world.... balls for his gift.

Babysitting Sunshine

This is Sunshine.... our neighbors bird, who we took care of while they were on vacation. We loved it!

First Day of School!

Doesn't she have style? She woke up, made her bed, got dressed and poured herself a bowl of cereal all before 7:10 am this morning. Then she sat around the house in her back-pac until it was time to go. She rode her scooter to school, and forgot her big old bear she was supposed to bring. I ran home to get it, and when we brought it back, she was sitting at her little desk looking at the teacher. During her recess, I was at the park spying on her. She was running all over with her "friends that are boys," Tanner and Brenden.

The Triathlon

We are "Fabulous FAAD"! We did our first Triathlon Relay last Saturday! It was the ultimate in fun! We can't wait to do it again next year!!! From left to right: Janalynn, Me, Lisa, and Jenny who did it all by herself, but we cheered for her anyway because she is our friend!!!
Me and Janalynn waiting for Lisa to finish the swim. She swam 1/2 mile in 17 minutes!
That's my team saying, "where is she........ I thought she said she was fast!"
"....... OH there she is, Gotta run!" says Janalyn. I biked 12.5 miles in 47.32 minutes.
This is us celebrating our victory. We got first place for the all women's relay team. Don't tell anyone we were the only all woman relay team..... Okay, tell them! Don't we look so full of life?

more triathlon..........

From left to right: Janalyn, Me, Lisa, Jenny, and Mariah. Aren't We AMAZING?
Mariah in her adorable swimming suit with her biggest supporter and husband, Collin.
Lisa and Jenny givin' up some GIRL POWER for the camera....5....4...3....2......BANG!
Mariah on the move after doing her 1/2 mile swim........ Go, Go, Go!