Busy weekend

Last weekend was a fun filled but kinda hectic weekend. My mom and two of my nieces drove all night to be here for all of the fun. Trevor and family got here on Thursday. Saturday the 19th we tried to do family pictures. That was a major undertaking. A few turned out but most of them had someone with eyes closed, or looking at someone else.
As soon as that was done we headed to the temple for Colten. That was really special to have family and friends with us there. Everyone was pictured out so we only got the three of us afterward's.
Then it was time to pick up a few things at the store. While I was gone my sweet sister surprised me and flew in for the rest of the fun. That evening Caleb had his Eagle Court of Honor along with two other boys in our ward, Jaron Ellingson and Reuben Marriott. This is the 4th and last for us. We are so proud of all of our boys and this great accomplishment.

Late Saturday evening our sweet Sugar dog took a bad turn for the worst and we had to put her down. She was 15 1/2 years old and was a very good dog. She will be missed.
Sunday Colten gave his mission farewell talk in church. It was so exciting to have all of my children and grandchildren together their with us. Many extended family and friends were also their to support Colten. We are so richly blessed. We had an open house here after church and many came by. It was a wonderful weekend. As I was trying to find a picture of the open house I realized that I spaced it and didn't take one. Oh well it was really nice.

Colten's farewell talk

This is to invite any of you who would like to come to hear Colten give his missionary talk he will be speaking this Sunday the 20th at 9:00 am. We are having a open house following our meetings from noon and well into the evening this Sunday. We will have plenty of food and refreshments so come on by and stay awhile or just a short visit. We would love to see and visit with everyone.

Nixon trying to get the Christmas tree

I had so much fun watching Nixon as he stretched, twisted and turned while trying to get to the Christmas tree.

Mission accomplished

Gingerbread houses

We sure had a lot of fun making our gingerbread houses. I think Keegan and Kierra get the prize of most candy used.

Colten and Caleb did a real nice job on their house also as did Doug and Shandraya. It was a fun filled evening

Thanksgiving

Doug, Colten, Caleb, Shandraya and I had a fun time in Texas at Trevor and Brandi's for Thanksgiving this past weekend. The weather was great until on our way home. It took us a full 12 hours to drive home through snow and rain. Long drive home. The company was great and we had a lot of fun. Bentley loves his swing that his daddy built for him. He's always saying in his cute little way "push me higher,push me higher please". We had a fun Nerf gun war



and played games, watched football, did a little shopping. Bentley and Grandpa just chillin. It was a real relaxing vacation. Didn't have any real pressure. It was a great time away from home.

A couple of weeks ago Colten thought he had a buyer for his big male tortoise but didn't sell it because the back yard for the tortoise wasn't very good, but we sure got some cute pictures of Nixon in the process. Look at that big boy sitting up all by himself at almost 5 months old.

Family Home Evening was fun for the little ones last week. Doug's brother Maury came down from Wyoming with his horses. He had one at Bekki and Adam's home for the kids to ride on.
Kierra's first horseback ride. She even went by herself the second time around and kept saying "again, again" Nixon and Shandraya for Nixon's first horse back ride.
Good food, good fun and enjoyable company = a fun evening.

Halloween

Halloween day was a lot of fun. We are starting (I hope) a new tradition. All of the kids and grandkids that live close came over and had donuts, pumpkin muffins, etc. on Saturday morning and carved pumpkins. Not quite sure how it will work when Halloween falls on a Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. They might be all moldy and yucky by then. We'll see. It took a few of them a few hours to finish there's. And some only took a little while. All turned out really cute.
Kierra wasn't thrilled to touch the guts at all. Nixon just sat their smiling his happy smile

and Keegan got into it. Jeremy,
Colten,
and Caleb

really spent the time and it shows with their carvings. It was a lot of fun.

Mission Call

Yesterday was an exciting day. Colten got his mission call in the mail. I sent out an email to a few people and got the video camera link with Trevor, Brandi and Bentley up and running so that they could be with us also when he opened it. Jeremy, Joanna, Keegan and Kierra were just arriving in San Diego at that time so we had them on speaker phone. All of his brothers and sisters were here one way or another. It was great.
Drum roll please.......He reports to the Provo MTC on January 6, 2010. He is going to the Houston, Texas south mission. English speaking. We are sooooooo excited.

Fall Break

Well this past week has been nothing but fun, relaxation, and more fun. Colten, Caleb, Shandraya and I took off Saturday afternoon and went to Pinetop, AZ to a Worldmark resort for the week of Fall break (Doug needed to stay home and work). The weather was perfect. Up to the low 70's in the day and in the low 40's at night. While there we played cards, watched movies, played horseshoes,
fed some squirrels,

went on walks, goofed off in a nice pool,
relaxed in the hot tub pools, and went and saw some huge bull elk in the evenings. I also enjoyed sewing a couple of quilts and read a few books. Their are go, go, go vacations and then there are relaxing vacations. I like to do both but this one was definitely one of the most relaxing ones that I have ever had. The kids were great! They got along and we just had a lot of fun together. They are all old enough to be independent and help out too. They helped cook the meals and clean up. They were awesome! I am so blessed to be a wife and mother and appreciate the wonderful children that have been sent to us.

Braces

Shandraya has been wanting to get her braces for awhile now. Well we finally did it. Here is the before and after.
They were really hurting her the first day but she didn't complain. She even went to piano lessons and dance practice that afternoon. She is doing great on following the rules of food that she can't have.

Back to School

I can't believe that school has been going for almost 1 month already. I also have a hard time believing that I only have two children at home going to school. Our family is growing up and moving out fast. I don't know where all the time goes. Caleb on his first day of 11th grade and Shandraya on her first day of Jr. High at Taylor.