Christmas Crafting!

On the first week of Dec. I took part in our first Holiday Gift Fair.  Here's a link to how it went....

http://www.occationallycrafty.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving this year was filled with activity, fun and kids. :)  Ben, Connie and their 6 kids came down for the whole week prior to Thanksgiving and we filled the week up with as much as we possibly could with excitement.  The cousins are all very close and they spent every minute together if they could.  Everynight there were sleep overs and laughter heard in the wee late hours of the night.  Along playing with all of neat toys at Grandma's house, we set out to the town's new public indoor swimming pool and had a good time there.  One night we sat by the fire outside and roasted marshmellows, another day some of the kids (that wanted to participate) had a Tea Party at Grandmothers house.  At first Claire didn't want to go, but once we started getting all the other kids dressed up she started to get excited. 

Once she saw the pretty table all set up at Grandmothers house she was totally into character and never broke out of Character until she left.  So cute. 

We ate oatmeal cookies, cranberries and apple juice.

 

I love this picture of Cindy.  Cameron didn't stay long so I made Cindy wear "The Hat."  She's such a character. :)

                                                                                  Bella's first time down the slide.  She loved it...kind of.

 

We adults stayed up late every night playing games. It's hard to end the fun when all the kids are asleep. Of course, waking up in the morning with the kids was a killer.

After all the big boys played in the Turkey Bowl football game that game, we ladies slaved away in making the meal.  Karen, Ben & Connie were in charge of the turkeys this year and they were both delicious.  They brined both of the turkeys over night and cooked one in the rotiserie and the other in the oven. We had a full house.  There's something that a full house of kids and family bring during the Holidays that makes it really special. 

 

It's always hard to say goodbye.  Here are a few pictures capturing the kids and their cute personalities.

You probably can't see it, but Cameron and Anna had tears in their eyes.  They're so close.

 

 

 

 





Bella and Kate are getting old enough
to where they play with each other. 
At least... they appreciate lip stick. :)


Bryce and Sarah are two peas in a pod.  It's fun watching these too smartie pants hang out.  They're the ones among others who are giggling late at night telling stories.  

Thanks to everyone for a lovely Thanksgiving!

A style of her own.

 

 

Claire has always had a strong opinion on what she wants to wear everyday.  Oh, how I miss the baby days when she didn't. :)  It used to be a struggle to try to get her to wear normal clothes, but I've decided to let her wear what she wants.  She always comes to me and says, "Look mom, I'm dressed!  Don't I look cute?" As you can tell she's into boots and skirts. If she feels confident in it then sure!  This will be the only time in life when she'll be able to pull off these outfits.  I love her whimsical and sweet personality.  Lately when she says her prayers, her voice (which is already high and soft) gets a few pitches higher and softer and I just love it.  So sweet.  Anyhow, I just thought I'd break away from the Doom and Gloom and post something a bit light.....although I do think we're headed into tough times. :) 

Video from the NIA

I thought this was interesting.  People always get in gear when it's too late!  It's not that hard to plan ahead.  We do it everyday in the simplest ways.  We wash clothes so that we have clean underwear, we buy gas so we can get to work, we buy groceries so that we have food for breakfast/lunch/dinner, etc.  We need to plan also for whatever disasters or crisis that could happen.  If not, then you could find yourself in this situation.  Just trying to educate people to get in gear.  We have nothing to fear if we're prepared.

Hyperinflation! AHHH!

In watching the Glenn Beck show which aired last night on the 4th of Nov., my jaw just dropped when he talked about the Hyperinflation which is coming our way. I DVR his shows and so this morning I watched it again and took notes. Something that I had missed was when he mentioned the announcement from the NIA (National Inflation Association) and they projected food prices to rise drastically in 2011. Read this report, order your food storage yesterday!!!!


I'm a consultant with Shelf Reliance and if you can't get a year supply of food and water for your family, you should get at least 6 months plus seeds to plant a garden. (Seeds are 12% off now at http://www.shelfreliance.com/) I can help people get their food storage and other emergency supplies at a HUGE discount if not for free!  Please share this information with your family and friends.

Read the report:

National Inflation Association

Bryson's Blogging now

Bryce has been wanting a blog for a loonnngg time now so I finally broke down and we set one up the other day.  Here's the link.  We'll see how it pans out. :)
http://www.sk8nthroughlife.blogspot.com/

All in Character!

 

Look at that sunset!  It was a GORGEOUS night for trick or treating!

Oh, am I glad Halloween is over!  I get so excited thinking about the kids costumes (once they decide what they're going to be finally) and work my tail off trying to make them. 

This year Cameron's costume was probably the most time consumming, yet the most rewarding.  The kids got to dress up twice this year.  He was the Mad Hatter off of the new Alice in Wonderland movie with Johnny Depp.  I must say that the pictures don't capture the true coolness of his costume.  We had neon green contacts to put in, but Cameron chickened out and didn't want to wear them.  I don't blame him.  Anyhow, we had a good time with him. 

Bryce was Rocky Balboa. "YO ADREAN!" We borrowed Grandpa Greg's boxing gloves from the Title Days to complete the costume. I made his shorts and stuff, but the shorts only lasted while at the Trunk or Treat. Bryce's thunder thighs ripped them down the side on the way home. :) o-well.

Bryce just couldn't take the press anymore! :)

 

 

The second night Bryce dressed up in what he really wanted to be...Tony Hawk! Not much to do for that costume. :)

 Claire was a black cat.  She had a really good time with her costume.  She's such a cutie.  Bella was sick for most of Halloween week with an upset stomach and a fever.  She mostly just sat in our laps at the Trunk or Treat and she started feeling back to normal while trick or treating.  She was Alice.  I could not figure out the pattern for the life of me on her dress so I just repurposed her Cinderella dress.  It worked good enough. 

We always have a good time trick or treating with Cody, Abe and their little boys. Their street is sooo wild with treaters. The neighbors really get into it too. One guy was walking around the middle of the street in front of his house with a chain saw (the chain was off thankfully) trying to scare everyone. Cameron mentioned to me how he doesn't really like Halloween because it scares him too much. I think taking the kids with us to buy make up at the Halloween store was a mistake.

Jesse and I went to a friends house for a Halloween Party and dressed up.

BUT WAIT!  IF YOU CALL NOW....

 Jesse was Billy Mays!  He always does such a good job on his costume with the least amount of work.  Doesn't he just look exactly like him?  I was a girl from the 1940s.  I love that era of style and think of my Grandma Hewett and her classy ways.  It was a good time, but glad it's over.  Now, where to hide the candy???



Road Warriors

 Since my boys are in year round school this year and they had 3 weeks off in Sept/Oct I decided that it would be a perfect time to hit the road and visit family for 2 weeks.  I've never driven farther than 7 hours by the myself with all four kids so I have to admit that I was a little anxious and maybe a bit over my head, but I have to say that the kids surprised me.  They were actually really good travelers except for a few restless moments where both the kids and I are thinking to ourselves, "what were we thinking?!"  This was going to be a trip where we could take our time and see some country that we've never seen before.  All very exciting to me.

MESA VERDE, CO

Ok, so our first stop was Farmington, NM.  I know, not all that exciting, just a place to crash.  Jesse got us a place with an indoor pool so that the kids could get their energy out.  So, we swam and the next morning took off for the Pueblo's in Mesa Grande, CO.  I had seen pics as a kid of this place and thought how awesome it would be to visit it.  Well, I'm sad to say that once we got there I made the call that it was going to be too dangerous and stressful to handle all the kids while taking the 1 hour tour.  In order to go down you have to take the tour, but the tour guide said that you have to climb a 15 ft wooden ladder and then at the end there's about a 70 stair (the stairs he said are about 18 inches steep) "hike" to get out.  So considering that Bella isn't always wanting to be held and I didn't have a toddler pack to hike with I had to say no.  Maybe when she's Claire's age we'll come back.  The kids were disappointed that we couldn't go down and I felt bad considering that we just wasted 2 1/2 hours with that detour.  But, it was sure a sight to see.

MOAB, UT

Next...Moab, UT.  I LOVE Moab!  I want to stay there a few days and just take it all in.  We stopped at one of my favorite places to stop and that's the Hole in the Rock place.  We all just marveled at the scrap metal sculptures and the jeep made out of recycled license plates.  We wanted to take the tour of the house built under the Rock, but Bella was asleep and so I didn't want to waste that precious naptime so we hit the road until we got to Arches National Park.  I always forget how deep that park is and by this time it's about to get dark and I know I have a good 3 hour drive before I get to Beth's house in Provo.  So, we hurry and try to see as much as we can of that place since the kids have never been there.  We got out and took a quick hike so the kids could see some of the amazing rocks up close. 

We got to Beth's house around 10 that night.  I slept sooo good that night.  We hung out with Beth the next morning a bit while she nannied a little girl and then took off to Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  This whole trip I've just been constantly surprised at the different kinds of beauty that the Earth possesses.  It was just a perfect time of the year to enjoy it all.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT

Temple Square is always a treat to visit because of the History hear of the Mormon Pioneers and the meaning the Temple has for me.  We met two sister missionaries who took us to the visitor center and one was from Czechoslovakia and the other from Mongolia.  They were so sweet and we all just adored them after only knowing them for 15 or so min.  We ate at the ever so yummy Lion House Cafe which used to be Brigham Young's Home and then we set off on the road again with our destination headed for my sister Janet's house in Shelley, ID. 

SHELLEY, IDAHO

I was sooo happy to finally make it to my sisters house!  This was my "we made it" message to Jesse to let him know we made it ok.  I just love my big sister!

After making it to Janet's house we took a day to just relax and enjoy each others company.  They have such a fun place for kids to explore.  Claire was in heaven playing with the cats.  All the kids played so well together and it was a great bonding time for them. They also had 20 or so chickens and a pig named pepper.  The kids spent most of their time outside.  Janet took us to Idaho Falls (seven min from her house).  Bryce was dying to go to a skate park so we found one.  It was probably his favorite ever.  It's the place that he finally learned how to skate and land a "dip."  Here's the video of him doing it.  He's so proud. :) 

WYOMING!

The next day drove to Wyoming.  We visited a plave called Granite Creek I think and it had a pretty water fall with a few natural hot springs.  I've never swam in a hot spring before so I was so surprised at how really "hot" it actually was.  In order to get to the hot spring we had to cross a FREEZING river.  Jordan carried all 7 kids across.  I know how painful that must have been. 

 Bryce ended up loosing a sandle and cut his heal on a rock.  Again, I'm just amazed at the beauty everywhere!  I was ready to just pack up and move (but, the below zero weather in the winter thought keeps me from doing that).  We had a great time with Janet, Jordan and the kids and it was very hard leaving my sister knowing that it would be a long time before I would get to see her again.  We cried when it was time to go.                                   

BOISE, ID!

We took a 4 hour detour to Boise becuase I have friends there that I haven't seen in YEARS and so I thought it would be silly not to be so close and not make the effort to visit.  First, I visited one of my roommates from College Sara (one of the best people I know).  I'm so bummed that I forgot to take her picture.  She hasn't changed a bit and judgeing from her adorable kids she's an awesome mom and wife.  We drove down the street and met up with one of our best friends from Optometry school, the Crawfords.  I know it killed Jesse not being able to be there, but we'll definately be back.  Jenalee is pregnant with Twins and looks wonderful!  Our oldest Bryce used to play with Savanah  (their oldest) when they were little and so to see her all grown and the other two getting so big it was just sooo shocking.  But, we just picked right up where we left off and had a great visit. 

PROVO & CEDAR CITY, UT

Back to Utah!  We hung out with Beth again and enjoyed watching Whitney and Brooke play around with their cousins on the trampoline.  We took off the next day towards Cedar City, out last stop before we would meet Jesse in Pheonix. Connie was just a few days shy of her due date.  I was hoping she would go into labor while I was there, but we all know how that panned out.  :)  

One day we hung out at the Skate Park and all the kids had a great time.  All their rear ends and hands were just black because they kept sliding down the ramps. 

 We watched Ben's flag football game and saw him in action.  Things looked pretty rough out there, but they won of course. One night Connie took us to a place called Fun Time Inflatables.  Need I say more?

 The kids thought they had just died and gone to heaven. What a great time they had..  I think the highlight for me was going to a Shakespear Festival Play, The Diary of Ann Frank with Cindy and Connie.  The actors were right on in their acting and there were a few times where I got emotional thinking of how it must have been for the Jewish people losing family.

The little ones would crash hard at night but the big kids we could hear laughing til the late hours of the night.  :) 

PHEONIX, AZ

We left at the crack of dawn to pick up Jesse at the Airport in Pheonix for some R&R. 

It was soooo nice to finally meet up with Jesse!   You never realize how much you rely on your spouse until you don't have them there with you.  We spent the weekend at a Resort called Cibola Verde and spent our time by the pool as much as possible.  One night though we went to an amusement park called Castles and Coasters.  It was the perfect place for our age of children.  They had a nice array of rides for all ages and we pretty much had the park to ourselves since it was a school night.  Bryce and Claire were the dare devils that night, although I was proud of Cameron for facing a few of his fears.  Bryce rode the Sky Diver 9 times that night.  He would've rode more, but I was thinking it probably wasn't that great for his health doing it all back to back. :)  Jesse and I rode it once and that was all I needed.  So scary.  Bryce rode his first upside down rollar coaster with me.  Cameron had his first experience on a coaster also.  Claire rode with Jesse for the first time on a coaster and she LOVED it!  I rode the Carosel with Bella numerous time.  Here she is having a good time.

Jesse and I rode the sky diver with Bryce, but once was good enough for me!  Pretty scary. 

  The whole trip was just WONDERFUL and I felt so good making the effort to go.  I've been realizing that making the sacrifice really benefits a family relationship and it builds memories that you'll have for a lifetime.  All in all the kids and I visited 5 STATES!  We were so close to going on detours towards Oregon, Calfornia and Nevada to say that we conquered the west, but we just ran out of time.  I'm looking forward to going back someday.