Merry Christmas

The time has come to write to all our dear loved ones and share good tidings. This generally comes in the form of a Christmas letter. This letter should include information about all the members of the family and what they have been doing during the year. I particularly enjoy this part because I love to share what my family has done. (I will say however, you will probably should know all this if you follow my blog at all) This particular letter I would like to be different. I would like to first and foremost share with our family and friends a testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This time of year is supposed to be about Him, and His birth. We celebrate the fact that He lives! In a world full of doubt, confusion and frustration it is a comfort to me, and to my family to know that He lives! Just knowing the Christ lives, gives great strength to us- We know that He cares for us, and that He knows and loves each one of us. We are blessed beyond comprehension to have Jesus Christ as the center of our lives. Each day as we read of his life in the holy scriptures, and pray to Him, we are comforted, strengthened, and at peace. Our lives are not perfect. We suffer through trials, temptations, and just plain crappy times- but through it all, we have our faith in our Savior. He has been there with us through all the tears, the heartache and frustrations. We are grateful for our many, many, many blessings. Some of these include our dear family and friends. We hope that this Christmas season, we might be able to spread Christmas cheer and the true meaning of Christmas to those we love and hope that it might touch your lives too!

Merry Christmas, and may next year be filled with love, happiness and joy!!

From: Josh, Heidi, Tomas, Savana, Siera and Timothy

The lights at Temple Square

We love to go see the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake. Since it was Thanksgiving weekend, we planned to take a trek to Utah to see my grandma, and take pictures for my cousin. While we were down there we HAD to go to Cabela's, which we love, then we went to see my grandma, then we took pictures. By then we were starving so we wanted to go get good food. Where did we end up? Rodizio's! It's Josh's FAVORITE restaurant because it's all you can eat meat, and of course it's Brazillian. Our waiter was from Brazil and so Josh was in heaven, eating meat and speaking portuguese. Don't get me wrong, we were all enjoying the food. I tried some sort of Japanese wild hog, and the girls tried Quail eggs! Timothy loved the bacon wrapped turkey and Tommy went wild for the pineapple! It was great, we got stuffed then we went to see the lights. They are always beautiful. (Savana took the picture of the Christus) There are so many things to see, but they closed on us so we headed home. It was a good thing we left that night because we hit a MAJOR storm and it was really scary driving home, especially with us all being so tired. We made it home safely about 1am, and the blizzard continued the whole day- enough to cancel church! So we stayed in our safe, warm house and waited out the blizzard. All in all it was definitely an eventful weekend! But I am thankful to be home.

Josh let me paint

So- for my birthday, my dear friends gave me gift cards to Home Depot, knowing that I wanted to redecorate something in my house. I got other money from a few photo shoots, and more birthday money and finally had enough to redo my living room and kitchen. It was a long couple of days and I don't think my back has recovered just yet, but it was worth it. I know these pictures don't do the room justice, but at least it's something!! ENJOY!



I had my Thanksgiving decorations up, and now it looks completely different with the Christmas tree up. Oh, well!

Savana's program

The second grade was in charge of the Thanksgiving program this year. They sang lots of songs about pilgrims, mashed potatoes, and sharing. It was really cute, and Savana even had a speaking part. I am so proud.

Idaho Weather

I just LOVE Idaho weather. It has been just crazy these last couple of days. We have had non stop snow. School was even cancelled on Tuesday due to a blizzard warning. We had mounds and mounds of snow in our yard and the boys couldn't be happier. Tommy has been outside every possible minute, with Timothy right by his side. Yesterday the kids and I went sledding and had so much fun- we even took the dogs with us, and they had fun too. Even though its a lot of snow trapsing through the house daily, its still fun to be able to play in the fun white stuff.

This is Brooke's FIRST time in the snow- she lasted about 3 minutes! It was all fun until Timothy threw some snow in her face, then it was all over. Oh well, we'll keep trying!

Election Day

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TODAY!
It is our duty as Americans to take part in these elections. It is our responsibility to search out and vote for the best candidates that will lead our country in the right direction. If you don't care about your freedoms then by all means stay at home- but if you care at all- VOTE!
I did- and I am proud to say that I have!

Birthday Party

I know there have been a lot of post of Tommy and his birthday, but this is the last one I promise! Today was his birthday dinner and present opening ceremony. He waited so patiently ALL day long to open his presents. It was really hard for him to wait! He got lots of really cool things, and he is happy! That's all that matters right- to see your child happy? Happy Birthday Tommy- WE LOVE YOU!

Halloween Parade

Every year the Elementary school does a Halloween Parade. The kids get to dress up and parade around the school where parents are invited to watch. They had some CRAZY costumes, and cute costumes! It was a lot of fun! Mrs. Page (Nanny's teacher) dressed as Dennis Rodman- interesting to say the least. Thankfully Nanny was dressed as cheerleader right behind her- it turned out pretty cute.

One of our favorite teachers- Mrs. Vaughan!

And finally, the principal and her two office ladies as Dr. Suess and Things 1 and 2!!

It was a great year, and such a fun parade!

From Wolf to Bear

Tommy has been in scouts now for a year and he has been working really, really hard to get all of his stuff done to advance from Wolf to Bear! This last Wednesday he got to advance. He completed all of his requirements PLUS 40 electives! He really did work hard. It's tradition to let one of the parents paint the scout's face with symbolic things, then since turn about is fair play, they let the scout paint the parents face. There is one rule- ONE LINE ONLY! Once the marker lifts off that is it. I told Tommy to be nice, and he listened (thanks to using an ungrounding as leverage!!) I am so proud of all that he has accomplished and look forward to earning the BEAR!!

Trick or Treat

Its Halloween-our FAVORITE time of year!!! We absolutely LOVE to decorate and dress up. Each year gets better and better. The kids get more and more into each year, and by default so do Josh and I. We love to dress up with the kids and take them out trick-or-treating. We usually walk around the neighborhood after we've hit the mall! We end up with TONS of candy, which I generally eat. NOT this year!! Anyways, the kids all chose their costumes without any hesitation- it was just a matter of finding them for a good deal. The girls of course wanted to be cheerleaders, Timothy wanted to be a tackle football player, and Tommy wanted to be a MAD Scientist! I think all their costumes turned out great. They all had so much fun. Siera and Timothy were running from house to house- a BIG change over last year when Siera wouldn't walk to a door alone or Timothy who wouldn't even wear his costume! I am looking forward to the coming years and watching their excitement grow! We just love Halloween.

I officially feel old because hardly anyone knew what TOOL TIME even was! Josh and I decided to dress up as Al and Heidi from Home Improvement! We thought it was very clever, but we might be the only ones!

We love to take family pictures- especially when we can dress up! Zoey even got to dress up!

Mike and Emily came with us to the mall and around the neighborhood. This was my nieces' first trick or treating experience and she was a pro! She toddled up to each door and took the candy. She only got scared once or twice, but she never cried. What a trooper! We ended up taking 4 dogs (all dressed up, 2 ballerinas and 2 devils) with us through the neighborhood. By the end of the night we had 6 adults (Sa and Randy came too), 5 kids, and 4 dogs that were very, very worn out! But it was so much fun, I think we'll do it again next year!

Little ones so dear...

While the big kids are away the little ones like to play.

Timothy and Siera have an unusual relationship. Some days they get along great and are the best of friends. They do everything together, they laugh, they play and its a good day. Then comes the days when they can't stand each other and all they do is fight, scream, yell and hit. Luckily those days are getting few and far between. Today is a good day- and one of their favorite things to do is cuddle up and read. They may not know what the words say, but there is always a story in it, and the cute thing is, it's different every time!! I sure love my little ones!

Red Ribbon Week

Every year at the Elementary School they host Red Ribbon Week. This is a week dedicated to teaching kids about how to "say NO to drugs". Every day during the week they get to dress up as something different- kind of like school spirit week.

Monday was Panthers are too hot for drugs (wear red)

Tuesday was Take pride in yourself! Don't do drugs (wear school colors)

Wednesday is Its ok to be one of a kind. Stay away from drugs! (silly hat or hair)

Thursday is Don't lounge your life away by doing drugs ( wear sweats)

It's been really fun for the kids to dress up. They were super excited about today and getting their hair to go crazy- excited enough to actually get up early to do their hair. Savana was so funny, she is really wanting to win a prize for her crazy hair- I hope she does. She looked pretty crazy going out the door.

I'm glad that the school does this every year. We as parents try to teach our children, but things like this really make it sink in!

Tommy had spikes and a bright green checkerboard sprayed onto his head. And Nanny has pony tails, bun, braids, crimps and rats in her hair. It's gonna be killer to get that out, but fun to do!!

Another year older

It's official, I'm another year older. Am I wiser? Probably not- but that's ok! I am so blessed with such good friends and family. This year, my dear sweet girlfriends and I went out to celebrate. We had dinner, chatted about anything and everything, went to see some new decor at Katie's, then headed to Mohna's for the big event- tying quilts! Yep- i'm THAT old that I wanted to tie quilts for my birthday. We had so much fun though, and it was a HUGE help to get those quilts done. I truly wouldn't have been able to get it done without them.

I am so blessed in my life to such good friends. I have to admit I have friends scattered throughout the U.S that couldn't be with me to celebrate, but they were in my heart! I love you guys too!

Happy Birthday Tommy!

What a handsome son I have!

A tribute to my son who is turning 9 years old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Tommy is such a blessing in our home. He is an amazing brother, friend and son. He is funny and smart, he is willing to share and to help out whenever anyone needs help. I am proud to be his mother. How lucky am I?

Happy Haunting

We love Halloween at our house. It's one of our favorite holidays to decorate for. This year Josh decided to make a coffin- it turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I hope you like it too!

Duck Hunting

Every year Josh and I love to go Duck hunting on opening day. This year we had to wait a few days, but the kids had a couple of days off school so we decided to take them all. We set up a blind that they all kinda hid in while Josh and I sat out in the willows. It was a lot warmer than normal so we didn't see many ducks, but we had so much fun. Josh loves taking Rocky hunting- he has turned out to be a great dog! It was so beautiful where we were set up that its hard to not enjoy yourself when you are out there. Thanks for taking us babe!