The Most Wonderful Day of the Year!

I love Black Friday. It means crowds, sales, getting up early, shopping straight for 9 hours without kids, being with friends, spending money, and filling the van. We did have a little extra room in the van this year, but we did take more than one also.

We started bright and early at 3:15 am at Target and didn't get home until 12:30 in the afternoon. I love going even if people think I'm crazy. I think I love the company that I am with and the fact that most of the Christmas shopping can be done in 1 day! I look forward to Black Friday as much as kids look forward to Christmas morning.

Black Friday also means getting out the Christmas stuff. Boxes of red and green can only mean decorations.

Megan did a great job with the tree while Emily watched mostly and Tyler helped Wendell with the lights outside. I just love the Thanksgiving weekend. We saw Santa come into town in a parade, played laser tag, saw Tangled, shopped some more, and ate out. It really is the best time of year. Now we are ready for the busyness of December.

Thanksgiving Day

I just love Thanksgiving. I love that it is a relaxing day with food, games, and family. I also like the anticipation of the shopping weekend. This year we went to a church to eat and celebrate.

Grandma Grace has a lot of posterity when we sit down to eat. There were a lot of people and a lot of food.

Emily's favorite part was the pumpkin pie with squirt cream.

While the adults played games, the kids entertained themselves in the gym with tables, the stage, and planning plays. It was a fun day.

Later that night, we went to Wendell's parent's house to do gingerbread houses. I think the kids ate more of the candy than actually got on the house. What a great day to be reminded of everything we have to be thankful for and celebrate with those that mean the most.

Thanksgiving Break

The last day of school before Thanksgiving a huge "blizzard" was supposed to blow in. Everyone rushed home to wait out the terrible storm. Well, we didn't get our blizzard, but snow did fall. Enough to make the perfect playground for a day without school.

The kids spent hours digging and building forts.

Sadly, it hasn't snowed since, and their forts have all melted.

The night before Thanksgiving, we went to a festival of trees. Emily was so sad that we wouldn't fork over the $700 for a new tree complete with decorations. I finally told her it was either the tree or presents on Christmas. She relented and was happy with reindeer food for $1.00.

The trees were beautiful.

It was fun to look at everything. Tyler informed us after looking at all the trees, that we needed to do a little better with our own when we put it up. I can always count on Tyler to be honest. Now bring on the turkey.

You Just Got Burned!

I have finally finished my final for the semester and can update the blog again. Before I do, though, I have to quote Megan. She had a lesson a couple of weeks ago in Young Women's on tithing. Apparently the only thing she heard was the scripture about being burned at the last days if you don't pay. We had tithing settlement this week and she took almost all of her cash out to pay as tithing---which we didn't know. Well, today we were in the car talking about buying things and Megan said, "I can't buy that. I don't have any money. I paid it all to tithing so that I won't get burned." I think we need to have a lesson on the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. At least she is covered if the second coming happens in the next couple of months. I guess I should be more willing to pay all I have so I won't get burned.

Hello Winter!

We have really had a nice Fall. So nice in fact that most of the leaves are still on our trees and the kids haven't even been able to play in them. Well, we woke up this morning to snow on the ground. So much for raking. Hopefully what few were on the ground blew away with the wind over the last 2 days. I do love sitting in a nice warm house looking out at the snow. It also means that the holidays are one step closer and with a few more flakes there may even be a snowman in a yard soon. Now we have to find the boots, gloves, and coats---that may take a while.

Tyler has Advanced!

Tyler and his friend have been working hard to earn their Webelos badge in 2010 so they could get the special commemorative patch. Well with a lot of work at den meetings, Tyler finally received his badge last week. He's thrilled he now has all 4 badges on his shirt and now wants to earn all the pins.
You gotta love the pinning of the moms. Games after the pack meeting to keep busy scouts occupied. Next on track is the arrow of light.

Happy Birthday Emily--Again!

Emily has been planning her friend party since Megan's birthday in July. She wanted to surprise her friends also with something fun. We weren't up to a camping trip, but settled for a sleepover. They started by making pizzas.

Then decorating cupcakes Disneyland-style---Mickey shaped bowls and lots of frosting and sprinkles.

Emily's favorite part of the party was opening presents.

The girls love to pose.

And then for the big surprise. Emily wanted to see Disney on Ice and take her friends. On the way to Salt Lake we kept telling the girls we were going to a basketball game. They just couldn't figure out how that could be the best party ever as Emily had told them. When we got to the doors finally, the ticket taker asked if the girls were ready for the monster truck show. They all groaned, but of course then saw all the Disney goods.

The party waiting for the show to begin.

The girls loved the show, but from the look on Tyler's face, I don't think he was as excited to be there. I don't know if it was the 5 girls or the show itself.

All smiles.

After getting back home, the girls spent the rest of the night playing Just Dance and watching movies. Emily thought she had the best party ever and from a Mom's point of view it was one of the easier ones.

Breakfast the next morning and the end of the partying. Happy Birthday Emily!

Whew!

Just so you know I am officially caught up with the blog. I do not have any pictures that need to be downloaded. The impossible actually is possible with a few cold days and forgetting about the house and laundry. Who needs clean clothes and dinner made anyway?

Happy Birthday Emily!

Emily has been counting down the days until her Birthday for about 2 weeks now. She couldn't wait for a puppy party. The big day finally came and Emily and Grandma helped make puppy paw cupcakes.

Then we ate her favorite dinner of pioneer pot pie.

She wanted a yorkie cake and this was the best we could come up with. I tried to make it look like a girl yorkie.

She then had cousins and aunts and uncles over for cake and ice cream and presents, the most important part for Emily.

Megan made her a puppy paw blanket.

The only thing lacking at the puppy party was a real puppy. Emily has said that as soon as she gets her own house she is buying a dog no matter what. We just love Emily and her enthusiasm for everything. She is a cute girl who is a good example to us all. We're glad we have Emily in our family.

And this is her loot. Not bad for a 7-year-old. Bring on the friend party.

Happy Halloween 2010!

We started the day with a costumes on to show Grandmas and to pick up Chenelle.

We then went to Scary Hill to golf and do the other activities.

Tyler and Megan are pretty good golfers. Emily even improved over the course.

Tyler made me keep score so we could see who won. Of course, Wendell won us all.

After golfing the kids ran through a haymaze. They could see over the top so I'm not sure it was really that challenging.

They then tried their hands at batting.

Maybe with enough practice Megan will try for the school team again.

Tyler was actually pretty good batting right-handed considering he is a lefty. The kids finished their activities just in time for a rain storm.

The rain stopped at our house long enough to prepare for the big parade in our neighborhood.

Even with the heavy clouds many came to march in the parade.

After the parade there were doughnuts and juice for all at the park. By the way, Emily was supposed to be a witch and changed her mind the morning of Halloween. Luckily, we have a bin of costumes waiting for the chance to be used again.

The kids then ran home to eat before getting their haul. Nothing says Halloween more than a pumpkin shaped pizza.

It rained a little and was quite cold, but that didn't deter these kids from getting all the candy they could.

Megan with her first haul.

Emily with her goods. I prefer my tradition of passing out candy and watching a movie with Grandma and Mammy. I think I get the best deal. Wendell had to trudge through the rain and cold.

Emily was exhausted after collecting for almost 2 hours. That is a record for her. I severely underestimated her love of candy. I thought she would be back in 30 minutes.

Megan ended up with 7 pounds of candy. Way too much for Wendell's liking. After they made their haul they all came home and watched a movie on the projector and fell asleep. You have to love a holiday that celebrates chocolate.