And now for a little song...

Haul out the Holly!

Put up a tree before...

My spirit falls again.

Fill up the stockings.

We may be rushing things, but Deck the Halls again NOW!

For we need a little Christmas,
Right this very minute.

Candles in the windows

Carols at the spinet.
Oh Yes, we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute.

We need a little Christmas NOW!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a few of the things that I am grateful for everyday.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving Day!

One Man Stands Alone

This week Gavin attended a Princess Party... that's right... His friend Marlie was having a birthday and decided that she wanted to have Gavin attend. The only problem- everyone was asked to dress as their favorite princess. Luckily, Halloween got him on board with the whole dress up thing and he was more than excited to accept his slightly modified invitation and dress as a Prince Knight. He had a great time, though he did come home and tell me that did not want them to put anything in his hair or any make-up on his face... That's my boy. :-) Someday he will be grateful for the odds, and for being the only boy his age in this crowd.

"Look Mom, It's Fall!"

That is what Gavin says to me every time we go outside and walk through leaves or see them falling on the ground. While he likes jumping in leaves, he really just likes the fact that winter comes after fall and snow seems to be his favorite thing ever.

At the last outside playgroup for the year, I took the camera to try and take some fun pictures of the boys in the leaves. It worked out ok...

Gavin, of course, thought this was super fun and loved the chance to be the center of all attention and get to be messy at the same time.

Henry could tell that there was something that I wanted him to do, and therefore, refused to look at me. Most of the shots with him and Gavin are only the top of Henry's head... not matter how hard I tried. Oh well... He was at least happy when he got to get his photo taken on the playground.

I sure love these cuties.

Ready to Ride

Gavin recently inherited a bike from his cousin Joshua while we were in Arizona. Luckily, we didn't have too much luggage and were able to fit it in the trunk. Friday, I finally got around to putting the training wheels on and getting him out on a ride. I had hoped to find him a new helmet before he went riding (since it is obvious that his old one no longer fits), but when we got to the store we ended up having a huge argument, that ended with me not buying a helmet. And also ended with me promising to check other stores and the computer for a spider man helmet in Gavin's size. It is not a small known fact that Gavin's head size matches his tall and brawny physique, none of which corresponds to his age. So I can't really blame him for not grasping the concept that they don't made the 8 year old size helmet with the 3 year old's favorite characters.

Anyway, despite being slightly reckless, he figured out how to peddle and steer his bike at the same time, within about 2 blocks of riding. What you don't see in this picture is the fact that I was pulling Henry in the wagon while pushing Gavin by the bike seat to keep him from hit his brakes every 10 feet as he tried to figure out the right way to keep the peddles moving forward. It was really fun to see him so excited, and kind of sad to see him looking so old.

More Arizona Sun and Fun

As you can probably tell, the kids had a great time in Arizona with their cousins. They were rowdy and crazy and slept very well when they finally crashed at the end of each day. Gavin would wake up in the morning, and say, "Mom, I need to go and see if my cousins are awake." He even cried to stay at Heidi's house. :-( We had so much fun.

Part of the trip was that Caleb helped Mark and the other men of the family, tear off their garage to get ready for their new renovations and adding on. He pretty much just rolled out of bed everyday and went to work outside, as you can tell from his sweet hair.

Dad was a force to be reckoned with walking around with a crowbar in each in hand.

Gavin and Rachel had a great time running around together, nonstop, especially when the older kids had to go to school. They happened to see that the mailman had delivered the Wal-mart toy ad, and stole in from the mailbox and went running to the backyard to check it out.

Nana kept everyone entertained and laughing by holding as many kids as would fit on her lap and then pretending to sleep, until one of them would snore very loudly and wake her up. This went on about as long as it possibly could.

Josh, Hannah, Rachel, Henry, Cheyenne, Gavin and Morgan (just a few of the 11)

We also went to a pizza place with a huge pipe organ that comes up out of the floor and plays all kinds of music. Gavin spent most of his meal with at least one hand over his ear.

The last day we went to a great train park, with 3 playgrounds and a train and merry-go-round that you could ride on for a small fee. The kids were pretty much in heaven.

Hannah and Gavin

There was a play area that looked like a old jail, so we had to spend plenty of time climbing on top and pretending to be in jail.

Our group took up an entire train car.

A trip to Mesa, AZ

Time Out for Women and Girls!

This weekend we made an 11 hour road trip to Mesa, Arizona to see my family. The occasion was to get all of the girls together to attend a religious event, called Time Out for Women and girls. My mom and sisters had all gone to a similar event before, but this was the first time I made the trip. And it was the first time that the older nieces, Alaina and Cheyenne, also got to attend, so I was really glad to go with all of them. There were some great speakers and musical performances for the entire day. Here are all of us sisters and our amazing mother who brought us to this great event.

Here are Cheyenne and I waiting for things to get going.

A bad self portrait of me and a good pic of Heidi. All weekend we are being told that we look so much alike. I don't see it in this picture though.

Schatzy and her 2 older girls, Cheyenne and Lanie. They were really fun to have along. They always make us feel young and more fun than we usually are.

Heidi and Schatzy with their party faces on! I really love these girls, and that even when we go a long time without seeing each other, you never feel the absence when we get together again. It's like we don't live hundreds or thousands of miles apart.

I'm so grateful that we got to spend this girl time all together. I really needed it, and it was so uplifting to hear the inspirational talks and messages through music that were shared with us. It was just what I needed to remind me of how happy I am in my faith and in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful every day that I have the chance to be with my family forever.

Oh SNO!

This is what we woke up to this morning. Gavin was of course overjoyed, and asking to go outside from 7:15am on. Finally at 10, I took them out. I know they aren't as bundled as they should be in 30 degree weather, but since they have coughs and it was such wet snow, I didn't let them stay out long. We had a fun time and a snowball fight.