3 Day's 'Till Granny's House

This past Sunday our ward finally had the Primary Program and the boys both did a wonderful job. We are now very busy getting ready to leave this Sunday to fly to Rexburg,Idaho for Christmas with my family. I will be flying with all 3 kids and Mike has to stay behind and work on Christmas Day but he will be able to join us the day after Christmas and he has some skiing planned so that makes things all better!

This was our families first attempt at a Gingerbread house and while we had a lot of fun, I'm sure our technique could use improving! Today is the last day of school for Ethan and Hyrum and we are looking forward to all the fun times that await us in Idaho with Grandparents,Aunts,Uncles, Cousins and the snow!!!!!

Mike's New Station

Starting in January Mike and his Captain will be working at this station in Victorville, only a 5 min drive from home. We are soooooo excited because he has never worked this close to home and it will be nice for me to be able to take the kids to visit when he is on duty. It is a really nice station but a very busy one. He worked an over time shift there this week and they had a fire at In 'n' Out. What a tragedy! Don't worry, the whole thing didn't burn down, just some roof damage. It should be open again soon!

Skatin' Time!

So, our kids are totally into roller skating! They love to go anytime we get the chance. It really is a fun way to spend family time together. The last time we were there Julia wanted her own skates too. She walked around in them and had a great time until she fell and then the waterworks came and she was done skating! She was still fascinated by the lights and music and all the other kids there though. It really is a fun family activity. If you haven't been skating with your kids I would encourage you to give it a try.

Togetherness and Thankfulness

We enjoyed a nice day at the Taylor's and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins on Thanksgiving. It was really nice to have Mike home with us this year. The boys spent part of the day playing frisbee in the backyard with the Uncles.

At the boys school they had an Egg Drop the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. You had to package an egg so that it wouldn't break when they dropped it off the school. Here is Hyrum's.... it survived the drop only to be broken a few moments later on the classroom floor!

This is a shot of Ethan's falling... the parachute must have done its job because his survive the fall!

The Joys of Life

So I am going with some friends to see New Moon this Saturday night and I have been looking forward to it all week! But, I can't help but wonder , is it kind of pathetic that a 30 year old mom gets so excited about seeing a teenage vampire movie? Oh well, I guess no matter what age you are forbidden love is still alluring and taking a little time to do something fun for yourself is a good thing!

Jeff & Kaley Browning

Mike's sister was married yesterday and it was such a beautiful, fun, busy day for us! The kids are such show-offs and were always posing for the photographer. They had a blast dancing at the reception. Ethan did the worm and Hyrum was break dancing. Julia danced with everyone and mimicked their moves! It was a beautiful reception and we are so happy for Kaley and Jeff.

Piano Recital

Ethan had his first piano recital on Sunday afternoon. He played a duet and 2 songs with a quartet. He did such a good job! We are so proud of what he has accomplished in only 6 months of lessons. Grandma,Grandpa,GGMa and GGPa all made it to the recital to hear him play. We had a nice dinner at our home afterwards. It was a really good day!

Trick or Treat

Julia is absolutely in love with Tinkerbell right now and so naturally she dressed up as her for Halloween. She won the award for Prettiest Costume at our church carnival. She was such a little trooper going around our neighborhood trick or treating. She ran the whole time trying to keep up with the boys.

Ethan was a Star wars clone trooper. He went to a friends Halloween party on Friday night. They did karaoke and played games. He felt very grown up to stay out until 9:30.

This is Hyrum the Vampire at his school party. I went in to help and had a lot of fun helping with the crafts and games.

I love these Mr. Potato head pieces for the pumpkins. It is such an easy way to decorate without a mess.

My 3 little pumpkins all ready for church. I realized that I had dressed them all in the same color and thought it would make a cute picture!

Fall Break

Trying to keep the kids busy and happy during the 2 week fall break is always a challenge! We had Daddy home for 2 days in a row this week and we went to Oak Glen to see apples, pumpkins and animals. We bought cider and apple doughnuts, it was a fun day. Yesterday we took the boys roller skating for the first time and they loved it. They were so sad when it was time to leave and even with all the falling down they were good sports and couldn't get enough. I have to say that it was scary for me to be on skates again after who knows how many years! But we really had a fun time together and will be back there soon. Here are some pictures from last weeks trip to Lake Havasu. It was 110 degrees the first day we were there! I love having that last taste of summer and by the time we came home it was 60 degrees and windy at home. I guess fall is finally coming.

Ethan had a Rain gutter Regatta for scouts a few weeks ago. It is the first one they have done and he had so much fun getting the boat ready. His boat and his blowing skills did great and he won second place! It was fun to see all the kids compete and have a fun time racing.

Trying to Cope

We went to church yesterday and the stake presidency was sitting on the stand. Everyone was asking each other, Do you know what's going on? What are they doing here today? So when it is the stake Presidents turn he says that they are making boundary changes to the ward , he then puts a map up on the projector for us to see the changes and our neighborhood has been taken out of the ward and put in with another, smaller ward. Mike has been predicting this for years because we live pretty far away from the rest of the members in the ward , I guess I never believed it would really happen. So, we are supposed to attend the new ward right away, This was our last Sunday with our friends. It was a shock . I sat and cried during sacrament meeting. Mostly because the ward we are moving to has a primary of only about 8 kids! It is going to be hard to be happy about this.

Grandparent's Day,Ice cream & Golfing

Hyrum was able to invite Grandma & Grandpa to come to his class on Friday for Grandparent's day. They did some activities together and and he had made some special things for them to take home. This is a pictue of the kids eating Grandmas homemade ice cream on Labor day. They were so cute all lined up together!

A cute picture of Julia. A few days later she colored this wall and the whole hallway with red crayon! What a doll!!!!

This is Ethan at his golf lesson. He is really loving it. I think it makes him feel so grown up.

Ethan Turned 9!

This past Thursday we celebrated Ethan's 9th Birthday. He was thrilled to get golf lessons! What a grown up boy he has become. He was invited to have lunch with the school principal on his Birthday and had a great time. Thanks everyone for all the calls and gifts.

I had to add a picture of my sleeping beauty. She gets bigger everyday!

I wish I was sound asleep like her! This has been a longgggg week. Trips to the vet, Ethan's big day, back to school night, cub scouts, piano lessons, and a Primary activity! Whew, all that on my own while Mike is in Nashville to visit friends. Now I am ready for a break!

When should you say Goodbye?

Here is our sweet dog Buddy! Yesterday I took him to the vet because he was in so much pain he could barely move. I thought he had re injured his hip(it was broken as a puppy). The vet did x-rays and found that Buddy has some pretty bad back problems. Something that can't be fixed with surgery, but can be helped with steroids and pain meds but it will be a problem for the rest of his life. They also found that he needs a left knee replacement. Since his right hip was broken as a puppy he has been using the left leg to protect the right hip and now his knee is in terrible shape. So, the big question we now face is how much work do we put into this dog to patch him together and what quality of life will he have from here on out. It was a hard day yesterday. Dogs like Buddy are rare, patient with the kids,calm and loving. I would hate to say goodbye.

1st Day of School

Once again, I've sent my boys off to begin another school year. They wanted to wear matching clothes on the first day of school! Ethan looked so good in his new red and black glasses. He started 4th grade this year and is really liking it so far. Hyrum is in 1st grade and his teacher is gone on maternity leave. He is supposed to have a long term sub for the first 6 weeks and we are only in the 2nd week of school and his sub was given a permanent teaching position in Kindergarden and now he was a new sub! I am worried about how many teachers his class will go through this year.

Julia has her backpack and was ready to go to school along with the boys. She cried when we took her out of the classroom!

Mike was able to arrange his schedule so that he could help me take the boys to school that morning. He likes to be there to meet their teachers too.

Princess Julia is all about dressing up lately. She tells me she is a princess and is special. She likes to wear princess shoes and dress' all day(and night) and I love it!

Back to Shaver Lake

Ethan loved using Uncle Mark's kayak

Julia helping Grandpa drive the boat

Julia and Isabelle

The kids went on a treasure hunt. Here they are about to set out to find the next clue!

Ethan, Hyrum and Julia out for a family boat ride to find some ducks to feed.

What would a family picture be without at least 1 unhappy kid!? Hyrum didn't want to ride on the boat but we are mean parents and made him go anyway.

The Rich Taylor Family. Everyone was there this year and it was a lot of fun.

Gavin, Roxy and Hyrum on Uncle Sam's boat.