A NEW SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS.......

We have made some BIG changes at our house this past year with the change in the economy. At first it was hard, not being able to go out when we wanted, only buying what we needed. It took a lot of discipline, but we are making it. With Christmas coming, Bryan and I spent a lot of time deciding what we were going to do for the kids. Again, at first, it was hard not being able to go get everything they were wanting. But with the events of the past few weeks, I have had a BIG change of heart. We started some new things with the kids.

We got together with some GREAT friends and made gingerbread houses. The kids LOVED it.
Oakleigh LOVED the sprinkles. They were all over my floor!!

Infact, she used them as shakers when we were singing Jingle Bells. Very Cute!!!

The kids did their own ginger bread houses. Messy but fun!!

This year, we had Bryan's family Christmas party at our house. Now that we have the room!!! I decided to do something a little different this year. Instead of the adults exchanging names, I talked to my Bishop and he gave me the names of a couple of families in our ward who are struggling. One of the families was an older couple, the other a young couple in the process of adopting a 3 year old little boy. I decided to put together a box of food, everything you would need for a Christmas dinner!! Each family brought something for the box. Then, we each got something small for the little boy. The night of the party, we put everything in the boxes, loaded up in the cars, and delivered the gifts and some music!!! (We sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas") The kids LOVED it, and I......CRIED like a baby!! :) The kids talked about it all night. They said how much they enjoyed it and hope we can do it again next year.
We then went back to our house, had dinner, and a fun visit from Santa!!

The kids sat on his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas. Oakleigh........well.......she didn't want to sit on his lap. She would talk to him as long as I was holding her, and not standing close to him!!

We finished the night with singing some Christmas songs,

and some Christmas music from a few of our newest piano players.

I have decided that there is nothing wrong with a small Christmas. And next year, hoping that the economy is looking better, we will still do a small Christmas. This will definitely be a Christmas to remember. I have LOVED the spirit that has been in my home this Holiday Season.

From Our Home to Yours:

We Wish You A VERY Merry Christmas And The Best New Year!!

OUCH :(

Oakleigh had a little accident which required 7 stitches in her forehead, 2 on the inside, and 5 on the out. She was playing upstairs at my moms and tripped and fell and hit the bottom of the tread mill. It makes me so sad for her.

PLAYING CATCH UP...........

First, Halloween.....we had a lot of fun. It was a week full of lot's of part's and dressing up. As my kids get older, I get less and less excited about spending money on costumes and more excited about seeing what we can come up with on our own. This year, Madi decided to be a baby. Not too hard to come up with things for that, since MY baby is not that old. Well........she is almost 2, but still.

And Wyatt......well, no surprise here. He wanted to be a hunter. Camo, guns and all!!!

And my little bumble bee!! She was so cute and fun this year. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the back, but she has little wings and a little stinger. Super Cute!! She started out a little shy, but after a few minutes, she was walking on her own and trying to say "Trick or Treat!!"

And the canning is FINALLY done!!! This was all a first for me, but I really enjoyed it and we are so excited to have our cupboards and freezers full for the winter!!

We did pickled and frozen beets,

bottled and frozen beans, and frozen peas (minus the picture)

Thanks to a GREAT friend I have bottled peaches that my family LOVES! :0

(My frozen beans)

Frozen corn, and corn on the cob.

And a TON of apple sauce!! My kids LOVE this. This one was a HUGE mess. But we had lot's of help and lot's of fun!!! :)

I also did apple pie filling and stewed tomatos. Those I did not get pictures of because they all got put away before I could snap the shots!!!

I am so greatful for my mom who taught me how to do the beans and beets, and how to use a pressure cooker! Those things are scary!! I am greatful for good friends, Heidi for teaching me how to do peaches. For Kasha for all of the help with the corn. We did a TON of corn and made a HUGE mess, but we had A LOT of FUN and LAUGHS!!! :) For Brandon and J'Lene for helping with the apple sauce and apple pie filling, and also for there HUGE help in picking the apples. We did use a few of them!!!! :) For my mother in law, for helping me with the last of my beans. And especially for my husband for planting the garden and taking such good care of it so that I had a reason to be able to learn all of these things! Next year..........he wants a bigger garden. UM......I don't know if I have enough room in my storage room!! :0

OUR MUCH NEEDED VACATION..........

The 9th through the the 14th of October Bryan and I and the kids enjoyed a MUCH NEEDED vacation to Park City with my parents. They have a time share there and we go and enjoy a couple of days with them every year. This year, it worked out that we got to spend 6 days!!! And we LOVED every minute of it!!

This is Oakleigh with my new nephew Creed. She is such a baby lover and is always wanting to hold them and give them kisses and loves.

The condo has 8 hot tubs and 1 big swimming pool. My kis LOVE the water. They would have been in heaven spending every second in the pools. We took them down every night for a while, and when we weren't out shopping, they were down at the pools. I wonder sometimes if they are really fish?!!!! :)

Every year we spend atlest 1 day at Cabella's for the guys!!! We get up and get ready and drive to Cabella's. We spend a couple of hours looking around and then go up stairs and have lunch in their little caffateria area. The food is really pretty good!! They have lots to choose from.

My kids love to look at the animals that they have displayed and to feed the fish. We always have to go to the big fish aquarium and watch them feed the fish. Wyatt loves the guns. Him and my dad and Bryan could spend forever in there. Infact, this year, they spent two days there. On tuesday while us girls went to the outlets, they went back to Cabella's.

Ya, she is a little young!! But why not start them early right?!!!! This is a little target shooting area that they have and the kids spend a lot of time, and money, here too!!!!

Isn't she the cutest?!! :) She is so much fun, always making us laugh!!!

Wyatt catching a fish!!

I don't know if you can see it very well, but this was when they were feeding these fish. They drop a bunch of little fish in from the top and all of these fish go CRAZY!!! Some of them will even attack other fish that have the food in their mouth.

The girls spent a lot of time at the outlets. We pick the perfect time to go every year. And every year I get quite a bit of my Christmas shopping done while we are there. I wish they had those kinds of sales around here!! But if they did, I guess I wouldn't enjoy going to Park City!!

CARVING PUMPKINS.....

We had a fun family home evening with some good friends of ours last week. My kids pumpkins came out of our garden this year. They were still a little green, but they were fun to carve anyway.

Even my little Oakleigh got her hands in there cleaning out the pumpkin.
Sorry about some of my pictures, they turned out blurry. Not sure why. :(

Ya, my kids are weird!! But what do you expect when their buddy isn't a very good example?!! Nice Brandon.....look what you are teaching my kids!!!!!! :)

Oakleigh had a little help from her daddy with her pumpkin. But it sure turnded out cute!!

Oh, and we had dinner before we carved pumpkins. I didn't take any pictures, but it was the funnest thing. J'lene did dinner in a pumpkin. She just took the pumpkin and cut the top off and cleaned the inside as if you were going to carve it. Then they put it in the oven and cooked it for a while, then they made a soup and put it in the pumpkin and cooked for another hour. When you can poke a fork through the pumpkin it is done. Pull it out and serve the soup out of the pumpkin. And you can eat the inside of the pumpkin too, tastes just like squash. It was SOOOOOO YUMMY!!! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY G-MA!! :)

YES, it is time for an update!! We have been SUPER busy the last couple of months. I am not going to blog about everything, but there are a few things that we have done are ARE blog worthy. First, my G-MA turned 90, yes 90, on the 11th of September!! My mom and I and my sisters put together a Surprise Party for her. And she was SURPRISED!!!!

I have so many fun memories with my grandma from when I was little till now. It is so fun to sit and talk about all of the fun things that we did with her. She will sit and laugh with us forever!! One of my favorite memories with grandma was one year we got together for Thanksgiving at my Aunts house. After dinner a bunch of us sat down to play Chicken Foot. For those of you who don't know, Chicken Foot is with dominos. You add on your dominos by the number and it starts looking like chicken feet. When you are down to one domino, you are supposed to yell chicken foot. Well.......G-Ma, she had one domino left and she got so excited that instead of yelling Chicken Foot, she yelled "Chicken Sh$*!!" Yes, she had us rolling and laughing!!!!

When Madi was born, I decided instead of calling her "Great Grandma", I wanted Madi to call her "Grandma the Great"!! And it stuck. That is what we call her. Well, that is what my kids and call her. I have given her the nick name "G-MA"!!

I am SOOOOO greatful for my grandma and the wonderful example she has been to me and my family. I do not know what I would do with out her. She is so happy and so healthy. I hope that we get to celebrate many more birthday's with her!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY G-MA!! WE LOVE YOU!! :)