Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for. We are so blessed to have some family around to gather with on this fun holiday! Tony and Natalie, Alex and Ava came. Joy, Jay and Jay's brother came (his name escapes me?). Liz, Charlie, Drex, Quin and Liberty came. And boy did we eat and play! Especially the kids...check out the jumpy set up in our living room! Sweet!

Quin and Ellie shoot some hoops! It was getting dark, but they don't care.
Ava, MJ and Drex in the jumpy! It was so fun for them, and fun for the adults too, cause the kids stayed in the living room most of the day...bouncy bouncy!
Here's our little indian princess...MaryJane.

Liz, Natalie and I did a project that day too! We made crayon rolls. It has been on my 'project list' for some time now, I am so happy to actually cross something off! Yeah! Didn't these turn out so cute! I am really proud! Here is a sample, altogether we made 8, I think.




May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

Talented Chloe.

Coco and two of her friends.

Chloe performed in her school's talent show on Friday. She and her friend sang the song "Our Song" by Taylor Swift. They were adorable and even had it set up so each of them had a little solo section. I was impressed at how well they did, so confident and in tune too! Nice job girls.

Sweet, sweet baby!

I know, he isn't such a baby anymore! I bought him some new shoes and he was so excited to try them...he loves shoes! And I love him!

Chloe's quilt

Color Palette for Chloe's quilt. She found a really fun quilt and accessories from PBTeen, but the price was steep. So, I thought I'd try my hand a making one!


I got the top put together today. The squares are 12x12 so didn't take too long to sew. Mom has helped me in the past with a few quilts, and this is my first attempt all by my lonesome. (I did have some input from Liz over the weekend, thanks Liz!) I've watched all sorts of tutorials on the internet to prepare myself for the next steps so wish me luck! Don't laugh, but I am so proud!!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is always a fun event that is sure to make me laugh! Kids are so funny about candy. This year they raked it in, way too much loot! On Halloween Eve, we went to Liz and Charlie's (my sis). We spent the day decorating cupcakes, visiting, learning Liz's secret to pot pie (very easy and my kids all ate with no complaints...Hallelujah!), and assigning Charlie projects. (Photo of his project to come.) Later that night we went to their ward Halloween party. It was fun, I'm sure Liz will post photos of her boys dressed as their Grandpa Dean...too funny! So, there was a spook house and carnival games and yummy food. For one game, the prize was a goldfish. MJ spent most of the night in line for the game, she just couldn't seem to win! Ellie won 2 fish, Chloe won 1, and by the end of the night they still had so many fish that MJ got to 'cheat' and win a fish. By this time, they couldn't get rid of them fast enough. Well, we came home with 8, yes 8, goldfish! The girls named them all. The big night finally came and Porter was a 'burgler' all dressed in black with beanie on his head. Chloe was a pirate. Ellie was Pocahontas, MJ was a very cute witch, and Ren was cookie monster. We could hardly get him in his costume...he didn't like it. But we were able to bribe him with candy! :) Works every time. Joy and Jay came over for the evening. Ellie and MaryJane's favorite treat that they got all night were the gummy eyeballs that Joy brought them! Porter met up with some friends to trick-or-treat (too cool for us I guess). And I took the girls and Ren in our neighborhood while Rusty, Joy and Jay gave away candy. As you can see even Rusty and I got in the spirit this year. Rus and I were burglers at a party we went to. One of my best friends (Elizabeth) didn't even recognize me with my painted mask. What up? And for work, Rus dressed in 70s garb. Too funny!

Joy and Jay

Ren is cookie monster!

The girls.

Porter protects his loot from Ren.

R & R, burglers...MJ asked us why we'd would want to be burglers. We said that we really weren't, we were just dressing as them. She was worried that the police would see us as we drove to our party. We told her not to worry, that we would explain everything to the police, you know, that we were just in costume!