Thanksgiving

We haven't posted in a while. Since the last post Jessica decided to get a little "haircut." She didn't tell any of us at home where she was going but came home with about 8 inches less of hair. We think she looks great!

We went up to Utah for Thanksgiving with the whole gang. It was great to see everyone and we even got to see our new niece Kenley get blessed. Congrats Jill and Chase.

While in Utah we got pretty much all of our Christmas shopping done and we got to go out 4 wheelin' with the guys. We went to a place just outside of Lehi.

We also did the annual nightime Christmas parade the day after Thanksgiving. Skiba Auto always has a "float" that the kids have a great time riding on.

Hot Dogs and Halloween

I need to catch up on a couple of events. Halloween happened already and I haven't put up that post yet, so I am doing two posts in one day!! I was just talking to my friends while we were at the park and I was telling them how inconsistent I am. I really did want to do this blog as a little journal for our family and cute sayings, but I just can't make it up those 14 stairs in our house to the computer often enough. I keep forgetting to record days like I had a little while ago where everytime I turned around, some crazy random mess was there. I was out detailing the car and was in the back picking up old chicken nuggets, socks, barbie dolls, tools, etc... and was just about done when I saw Sammy run by with red markings all over her. I recognized those markings immediatley as Sharpie markings which are strictly forbidden in our house (but of course I have them because I need to write the kids' names on their water bottles). I guess I am not good at hiding them. Sammy had taken that marker and had written all over the driver's seat along with the console and steering wheel. After cleaning up that mess as best as I could, I walked inside and the house was turned upside down. The freezer door was wide open, Ollie was running around the house with mud up to his ankles and a box of cereal was tipped upside down from the top shelf with a pile of crunched up Cheerios underneath it and, of course, our girls were all half naked running around in their underwear. Later on that day I found a box of popsicles under the computer desk that had obviously been there for a while because the carpet was juicy and red. That is why it takes me about 8 hours to clean the car. My intentions to not waste money on something I can do myself usually go by the wayside because the consequence of not having my undivided attention on the kids requires too much energy, clean up and time. I'd rather pay the $16 dollars... until I forget and do the whole thing over again.

Halloween was great! Our Bishop asked each family to make a "Family Mission Plan". Our ward missionary was telling me that she may not be a good proselyter, but that she throws a Halloween party for her street to help strengthen relationships. I decided that was a great idea. Powell and I handed out 110 fliers to the houses in our neighborhood the Saturday before Halloween and bought 700 hot dogs, 700 buns, 10 giant cans of chili, 15 lbs of cheese and 10 lbs of onions. I must have an intense fear of running out of food, because we now have a year supply of hot dogs. We used almost 300, but will now have chili dogs for every other party we throw. John is the same way because we have about 10 bags of candy left over as well. (He bought all the candy). Thank goodness for John becasue he is always the one who buys the pumpkins, carves them and helps the family do fun holiday stuff. Sometimes I get too bogged down with the big stuff that I forget about the smaller, family stuff.

Jeff, Heidi and Wrigley came over and looked sooo cute. I wish I would have planned better so that I could have dressed up and gotten John to as well. Powell was a ninja, Hannah was a princess ninja, the twins ("Hammy" and "Hopi" - that is what they call each other, it is hilarious) were BYU cheerleaders and Gracie was a witch (Grandma Karen bought that for Savannah and Haeley, but it was a little small so she gave it to us).

California Cousins!

Recently, Robynne's (my sister) kids came to stay with their Grandma Karen from California for a little visit. She was nice enough to share them with us for a night. Powell idolizes Jackson. They had so much fun together. I even let them walk across the street to the park where our ward was having a little festival all by themselves because Jack is such a "big kid" now. I told them to be back by 5:30 pm and they were right on time, a little wet from the sprinklers, but right on time. What great parenting by R & R! So responsible!

The twins were also loving Haeley and Savannah and especially Jackson. They would attack him and tackle him (that is the way they show their love), yell and scream with huge smiles on their faces. He even sat in the squishy back seat of the Suburban by them.

All the girls had fun dressing up and playing princesses. Haeley and Savannah were so inclusive! Sometimes Hannah needs some space from the twins, but their cousins just let them pretend and be part of the make believe adventure they were having. We sure do love our cousins!!

Utah/Paxton's Blessing

We went up to Utah about a week ago for Paxton's blessing. It was great to get up to Utah and see the family as well as the fall colors. We took a drive up Hobble Creek Canyon and that is where these pictures were taken.
On Saturday we went over to the Fall Festival in the park in downtown Spanish Fork. That was fun and the kids got to ride a horse!

On Sunday we went up to Summer and Steve's ward for the blessing of Paxton. After we went back to their house for a brunch and to pick some of the apples off of there tree. It all went well and it was good to get back up to Utah.

Fall is Here!

This past weekend we all went up to Flagstaff to see the fall colors. We were a little early, but it was still nice to get up into the mountains. We stopped by and saw Max & Demeree and then drove up to Snobowl and took the Skyride up to the top of the mountain (11,500 feet elv.) It seemed like a good idea at the time, but taking 5 little kids on a ski lift is a little scarier than we thought. Gracie did her best to try and throw herself off of the ride and the twins did the same. It was pretty cold up on top-- about 28 degrees! We then drove down through Oak Creek Canyon and then Sedona on our way home. These rides through the forest and trees make John feel normal (i.e., like he is back in Utah).

BYU Days

I was just talking with my friend, Ashley, last night as we were working out. (I love going to the gym - it is 1 1/2 hours of working your guts out and releasing the days stresses and then coming home ready for anything. Too bad it is at night though, because I just go to bed and a lot of times, that energy does not last until morning.) She started asking me about my college days. I loved college and all the fun times with John came flooding back. I loved riding in John's yellow 75 Ford pickup right next to him, listening to George Strait or Dave Matthews, going for rides up the beautiful canyons or sitting on the back of his banshee tearing up Sand Mountain. We had so much fun, but one of my most cherished memories are those of him playing football and me watching, cheering and anxiously fretting that he would do a great job. He started every single game at BYU. He was a great player. He was always level headed and so humble. I loved him for that. As he got closer to graduating he started to receive some letters from different professional teams. I don't know what was in those letters because he chose never to open them. My friend could not believe that we did not open them and asked if I wanted to open them now. I told her that time in our life happened for a purpose and out of respect for our direction in life, we will not ever open them. John now has old teammates that make millions of dollars playing for various NFL teams and she asked me if we ever regret not trying. My answer is: There is no other place I want to be then right here in Queen Creek, Arizona with him and my five kids. This is what I have dreamed of when I was young and now I am truly living my dream. I love my husband dearly. He keeps getting better and better. It was fun to remember those times at the beginning and the reasons why I fell in love with him. Every year we are together, there becomes more and more reasons why I love him. His patience keeps becoming longer and longer and his drive to be successful and good at what he does constantly is moving him forward. He loves his children dearly and always wants them to be with him. AND he loves me. He loves taking me to concerts where I sing and dance while he listens and occasionally taps his leg with the rhythm. We have had a lot of fun this year. As we strive to follow the Lord's commandments, life seems to be more satisfying and fulfilling. This year we are trying to be more consistent with scripture study and may possibly finish the Book of Mormon as a family for the first time. Our oldest child is seven, so obviously it has taken a little while. I am so glad for all those cherished memories and am excited for the new ones to be made. Which I have realized, happen everyday.

Karate Kids!

Powell and Hannah have been involved in karate for a couple of months now and Saturday they had their first belt exam. This is where all the students who are ready to advance in a belt meet and have to perform in front of their instructor to determine if they have met the requirements to advance.

Powell advanced to a Yellow Belt while Hannah advanced to a White/Yellow Belt. They both did great!

Student of the Month!

Hannah was selected as Student of the Month for her kindergarten class for the month of September! Her teacher said she always tries to do her best and is a good example in class. We are very proud of her! The pictures are from the ceremony the school has each month for the students of the month.