Bleak Family Thanksgiving

This year WE hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Our last fast Sunday dinner was a little crazy and Grandma wasn't able to quite enjoy it AND Boose had to work Thanksgiving day at 2:00 pm so we offered to host. Cade's parents and grandpa came as well. We had 30 people but 15 of them were under 10 years old! So to take care of some of the chaos and allow the adults to actually hear each other and talk--Cade cleaned out the entire garage, made it kid friendly and put awesome heaters in there. The kids ate their dinner in the garage, had a movie playing, and had lots of coloring and crafts to do. It made the holiday VERY enjoyable for all! A lot of work for Cade but I am grateful he did it so we could all enjoy the time together. 

Some things I am especially thankful for this season. My wonderful family and that I am able to bear and deliver children. It is such a blessing to have healthy pregnancies and deliveries. SUCH a blessing. I am grateful for a husband who is SUCH a huge help at home and is always an amazing example of selfless service. He always serves his family and shows me and the girls how important putting the Lord first is. I am so grateful for this Gospel and that we have scriptures and modern prophets to lead and guide us. Living today is a wonderful thing!

Emma’s 9th Birthday!!

Emma and I had SOOOOOO much fun for her birthday this year!!! I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of our Mommy-Daughter Birthday Date Extravaganza! I told her for her 9th that she and I got to have a super date and stay at a hotel together. It was great fun. We first went to Pizza Pie Cafe and had dinner, then we went and checked into the hotel. We had the entire pool and hot tub area to ourselves and that was a delight. Emma had tons of fun. Then we went back to our room and showered and got ready for bed. Then bought some treats down in the lobby and watched a new musical on TV called "An American in Paris". It was so fun. We slept at the hotel and did breakfast in the morning. Later on Saturday, we all went out for ice cream to Emma's favorite place "Fro Yo" and then I took Emma to get her ears pierced! First we walked into the tattoo parlor and Emma was scared...I mean we had never been in a tattoo parlor before :). But I had heard that that was the way to go. NOT going to the mall like we used to. They still have the mall option here in Utah but I heard many horror stories that kept us away. 

Emma had a wonderful birthday and so did I! Emma is such a beautiful girl inside and out! Some things I love about Emma lately:

- She is an incredible helper around the house. Doing "chores" is not her favorite but whenever I ask her to help with a favor she jumps right on that!

- Emma is doing amazing at school and never has a hard time learning or listening to her teacher. At parent teacher's conference her teacher had nothing but amazing things to say. She has been very impressed with Emma's ability to make everyone in class feel included and happy about their work. Emma never makes anyone feel like their work isnt' good enough. All feel loved by her. 

- She is a reading machine now! She has read lots of Magic Treehouse books but recently has gotten into Harry Potter. She just "couldn't put it down!" In her own words. She loves to read in her bed before going to sleep and is on the 2nd book now. 

Halloween 2018- Way too much :)

Well, I learned this year that holidays CAN be overdone. Too much Halloween!!! I think there were two things that contributed to my being COMPLETELY done with Halloween before Halloween was even here. First, during fall break we did lots of things- the Pumpkin train (where we dressed up), a trick or treating event, and making candy haunted houses. THEN we had lots of events that the girls love going to and I felt we coulnd't miss, but in the end IT WAS JUST TOO MUCH. We had Trunk or Treat as a ward and then Fishbowl Trick or Treating. Then there was dressing up for dance classes, music class, school parades and finally...Halloween night. I told the girls since we had already done TONS of trick or treating that we were going to walk around our cul-de-sac and that was all! 

Overall, I think the girls had a wonderful Halloween season. However, it should not be a season :). Back in my day, Halloween was just Halloween and not weeks before. I think we will go back to that as much as possible and skip out on all trick or treating until Halloween day. This WAS the first year we let Emma go out with her friends for a long time and she loved it. Can't believe my baby is growing up so fast. 

Fall Break in Park City

When I told the girls we were going to Park City for fall break, the name was a little deceptive :). They were thinking it was a city that was a giant park! Despite them being led astray we still had a great time. We went to the Olympic park and went through the museum and played at the park. We walked around down town and enjoyed shops and good food, we made candy haunted houses, went trick or treating at the Olympic Oval (BIG mistake), and rode the Pumpkin train in Heber Valley. It was super fun and the girls don't care where we go....just going somewhere is fun for them! 

Fall Fun!

Just some random fall activities. Fall is my favorite! Espeically going up the canyon when the colors are changing. God's creations are incredible!

LuLu and Nora have become good friends and act crazy together. All the time "Mom, take our picture!" Sometimes I just have to say no :).

Reese and her good friend Kenzie from school at their field trip to the Hogle Zoo. She and Kenzie LOVE playing with each other.

The girls still LOVE their bunnies. They have been a wonderful investment for our girls and family. Daddy isn't fond of them running around our house (ever since he found lots of pee stains that were hiding). But the girls usually bring them onto the back porch and play with them out there. 

This is Lucy Swan with Nora at the park. The Swan's moved in across the street from us and each one of my four girls have a girl their age to play with! It's been such a blessing! But since we have a Lucy the one across the street is ALWAYS known as "Lucy Swan".

Emma and Reese had such a good time at a free karate class. They want to start taking classes but we are kind of full for now ;).

Aunt Stephanie had surgery AGAIN so we had the kiddos over for a Saturday to play and have fun. We love having cousins close by to play with. 

Close Family Scripture Party!

We finally finished the Book of Mormon as an entire family! So of course the girls said, "Let's have a scripture party!" So scripture party we had! We had a scripture cake, made little chocolate scriptures, played charades with stories, made boats like Nephi and saw who's could float with the most pennies. I am proud of our little families accomplishment.