Merry Christmas

I'm doing things a little differently this year. I figure with Facebook and all of those who are part of the Blogging World, you've pretty much kept up on all that our family has been involved in this year. So instead of sending out my letter, I'm just going to post our Christmas card on our blog. (I thought about posting a letter as well, but since we're not "private" and you never know who's checking out your blog, I'll just leave the picture solo!) We hope that everyone is enjoying this wonderful holiday season. I love this time of year - even though life seems very crazy right now, I love the opportunity we have to reflect upon everything we are grateful for and all that we have learned throughout the year. The trials that we have had to overcome have strengthened us as a family and have helped us learn and grow. We love our extended families and we're very grateful for all of their love and support. We are very blessed to have our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, as the center of our lives; and we know how blessed we are to have three beautiful, healthy, active, loving children that bless us with their sweet spirits every day!

We hope that you all have a very MeRrY ChRisTmAs and a HaPpY NeW yEaR!

P.S. I need to thank my cousin Margaret for taking our family's pictures and putting this Christmas card together for me. So thank you, thank you, Margaret! Her blog address is on my "Friends and Family" list under Margaret and Derek.

Halloween

The night before Halloween we had fun mixing up the dough and rolling it out to make our favorite Halloween cookies. The kids are at a fun age where we can do some fun things like that - without making too big of a mess! I think their favorite part about the whole thing was frosting and eating the cookies afterward, which is, of course, my favorite as well. Our Halloween dinner consisted of Freaky Fingers dipped in blood!
After trick-or-treating the neighborhood, we stopped by G.Paula's and G. Al's for a little visit. Here are the kids with their cousins Trey and Brennan and Aunt Maddy......
.........G. Al and G. Paula
The "13 Days of Halloween" had so many fun activities for us to do. We searched for pumpkins, carved pumpkins, made cookies, read Halloween stories and did so many other fun things. Besides the obvious one on day 13: "Go Trick-or-Treating", we also incorporated #12 as well and had hot chocolate (instead of hot apple cider) and donuts after our evening was over! I know, I should've just injected the kids with sugar, but it was for one night only and for me, this was such a fun ending to such a fun day/night!

Halloween Day - Lunch at Grandma G and Grandpa B.'s

Every Halloween we get together with my parents and brother's family to have a little party before the kids head out trick-or-treating. My parents always come up with "festive foods"to help get us into the spirit of Halloween. This year they made "Mummy Dogs", witches fingers, and eyeballs. The kids, and even the adults, loved it all. Grandma Grace and the kids. (where's KY???)
I guess Sky wasn't feeling too festive yet! :)

The Thirteen Days of Halloween

A few months ago, I went to "Good Things Utah" with my mom, Aunt Kay, mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. We were able to do the featured craft that day with Robert's Craft after the taping of the show and below is the finished project! We had so much fun that day and the kids loved picking a "secret" note each day that revealed something fun we would do together as a family to get us ready for Halloween.

Raquel, Aunt Kay, Mom, Me, Michelle, Nicole, Mindy Jody, Peggy (Paula - Photographer) Below: Marty, Richard Hatch (Battlestar Galactica - 80's show) and Reagan

Halloween Parade

Here's Austin showing off his Ninja Costume; Grandma Paula, Trey (they both turned right as I took the picture! :) ) and Grandpa Al came to watch the parade. Pres was being shy, as always, so I could only get Sky in the picture.

Austin's school held their annual Halloween Parade a few days before Halloween. And every morning, we have the same discussion: I have to tell Austin, "Yes, you ARE going to school today!" Austin didn't want to go and didn't want to go to his party afterwards either. I'm a little concerned this year with a few things that are going on in his classroom (namely, the teacher, which I've told myself many, many times to never blame the teacher.....but here I am doing just that!) But luckily, I grew up in a household where you didn't stay home from school "just because". I could never use the excuse that I didn't feel well or that I had a bad headache - I had to be throwing up in order to get the "stay-home-from-school-pass" for the day! And since I never really threw up until I had these three beautiful babes of mine, I never missed school! Anyways, long story short, I made Austin go, and luckily he had a big grin on his face during the parade and when he came home from school he talked about how much fun he had during the classroom party. Whew, another day done, CHECK! Only seven more months of this to go!

Preschool Fun at Hee Haw's

For the past four years now, we've had the opportunity to go out to Hee Haw's w/the kids' preschool and they absolutely love it! We were able to fulfill some of our "13 days of Halloween" that day as we took a hay ride, searched for the perfect pumpkins, and went through a corn maze. We didn't have Austin with us since he was in school, so he's informed us that it doesn't count if he's not with us! We'll have to bring him along next year!Sky standing next to LeRoy the pig! This animal is HUGE!!!
Presley wanted to see how big she was!
Sky and her good friend Millie having a snack.

Fresno

I surprised the kids this past month by taking them to Fresno for a week during the Fall Break from school. I had the car all packed and after many, many weeks of Austin begging me to check him out of school early (just for the fun of it) his wish came true! I picked him up early and "checked him out" and then we picked up Sky. I told them to look in the back seat.... It took a few minutes to register, but finally Austin asked, "Are we going to California to see Brandon and Courtney? WHOOHOO!" They were so excited. It took a few days to get there, but once we were there the kids had the time of their lives! My parents had planned the trip a while ago, so we decided to tag-a-long. My younger brother Dave and his family decided to come as well, so this was the first time in six years we were all together in Fresno. It was so fun and very chaotic at the same time! The kids love hanging out and trying to keep up with their cousins. Rob and Tonya have quite the busy schedules with their kids, so there's never a dull moment, which is exactly what Austin and Sky love. I love going back to Fresno each year, just to have a sense of familiarity, if that makes sense. :) Although Fresno has changed so much since we lived there, maybe that's not the case anymore; however, it's fun to be able to go back and show my kids my old schools, the house my parents lived in for 20 years, the old McDonald's on Herndon we use to beg my mom and dad to take us to on Fridays.......etc! Everywhere we go around here, Brooks gets to point out homes, baseball fields, 7 Eleven's, etc. that use to be a part of his childhood; so once a year, I get to have my week of overloading the kids with everything and everywhere I use to go as a kid. Hopefully someday they'll understand! All in all, we had a great time and loved visiting with Rob and Tonya's family and we even met up with Brooks' sister Peggy and her boys at one of the McDonald's in Fresno while we were there. BTW, it was VERY foggy while we were there, so you'll notice the kids' hair (especially Sky's) is a little crazy - still, it was nothing compared to what my hair looked like during those Foggy Fresno years - YIKES!

Our last night (it always comes so fast).......the kids wanted me to take some silly pictures! We laughed at this one (sorry, Brandon, but it was our favorite!) :)

Outside the mall I use to shop - it's so different now......a lot of trendy stores and restaurants!A nice shot of all the cousins......
The kids were excited to see their other cousins Hunter, Jackson and Brayden at McDonald's on our last night in Fresno. Thanks for coming up Aunt Peggy!