My crazy family get together!

Thanksgiving happened at my house this year. We had a lot of fun cooking/eating/sleeping/and playing games-as my family does whenever we get together. Here is my sisters April and Arica and I taking a few pictures.
But that's not all-We went Iceblocking. Yep-it was 50 degrees at the warmest and we bought 5 blocks of ice and headed up to Simplot Hill. For those of you who have never heard of ice blocking-it's fairly simple to explain. You sit on an iceblock and slide down a hill-alot like sledding-its' alot of fun in the summer when it's warmer and the ice melts-getting the grass wet and making it more slick-but it works in any weather-as proven below. It was a lot of fun-Joe and I were the only ones who had done it before-so the rest came with feelings of apprehension and not exactly knowing what to expect or what kind of skill it required. They soon found out and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Aldo-can you tell he's having fun??Arica-waving to the crowd below

Whitney

You are never to young to learn how to ride a block of ice

Michael Joe and I chillin'Jerry demostrating perfect form

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving Holiday and next time try something new!!

Simplify More??

Does anyone else get a little depressed when Holiday shopping. Just thinking about Christmas shopping for my kids has got me anxious. My kids have so many toys that it's so hard to think about adding to the load. Everyyear we have them go through and tell us what they want to get rid of and some things we have to secretly do away with on our own. Even with this, it seems we still have more than enough. I think about people who have both sons and daughters-they must have quite alot of toys; some for each gender. My girls share most of their toys and even during christmas they get joint gifts. I am very close to buying each one toy and the rest clothing or things that can't get stranded around a room very easily-like a picture to hang on their wall. Yeah what a pooh of a mom i am. In the olden days children were happy with just a rag doll-why can't our lives be as simplistic as it was back then? Why can't it be? I am always trying to simplify and when I hear that word I imagine a one room cabin-with only furniture in it, three sets of clothing per person, and the Good Book. What would it be like to have to just clean that everyday?? Am I alone in wishing this?

Twilight Movie Night!!

A few ladies in my ward got together and went to watch the movie Twilight early this morning at 12 a.m. Earlier we went to Wingers and had a bite to eat-and just talked silly and had a blast. Then on to the movie theatre to sit in our seats a good hour before it started. I was kind of expecting to be dissapointed-but left feeling that the movie did the book justice in all ways that it could. I mean you really can't fit everything into a movie-some details are bound to be missing. And it really did follow the books storyline better than most book-to movie creations do. I know some parents were worried about the violence factor-which i must say was downplayed in my opinion-it wasn't gruesome or anything-so i was happy with that. The actors really grew on me and became the characters I expected them to-which i am sure will be disputed by others. The movie was fabulous and a lot of fun-especially if you have read the book already. There are a few things that might not connect in the viewer's mind, who hasn't read the book already. But I loved it. And yes, when it comes out I will be buying it. And it seems that another movie will be made as the ending scene leaves it wide open for a sequel.

pony tails and where the table really belongs!

Here is Brookie with her new do..I have waited a while to put a ponytail in her hair because she still had some soft spots on her head. But today I was determined to put one in to see how she would look-I wasn't dissapointed..she is just as cute as can be. Well at least I think so.

And Finally-our table is back in the dining room-woohoo!!! All we need is to put the basebaords down (which won't happen until the kitchen and entryway are completed as well) Here is a before and after picture:

Getting closer..

So here is our dining room right now-we are almost done-just need to place two-three more tiles that need to be cut yet-and then grout, which will probably get done Monday. Yippee-one room down, almost!!

Next I went to check on the girls and found Amber slumbering away like this..with a book under her arm-she looked so sweet, I had to take a picture and share.

Job Searching

Joe came home early from work on Wednesday with not too unexpected news..he was laid off. Luckily we hadn't put in new carpet in the house so we have a reserve-our biggest worry is Joe's health insurance-he has to have it. If you will please pray for us that we might find a job soon and that it will have benefits-at least for Joe. In the meantime we will finish tiling in our front rooms. We have already bought the materials-and ripped up the floor-so if we have to sell the house, it will help that the tile will be completed. It is a dissapointment I know for my parents-as we probably won't be coming home for Thanksgiving due to wanting to keep our expenses to a minimum. We do have a lot to be thankful for. I am most thankful for Faith. It has sustained our family through it's ups and downs. And I can't help but feel that as it says in the scriptures-all things will work towards our good, talking about or afflictions. It is a comfort and I feel that this was a necessary occurance for us-not something to feel upset and mad about. Just another stepping stone to make us stronger and test us. And maybe there will be a company out there that needs Joe more right now-or a better job for us possibly. One way or the other-we have traveled down this road before and know that it will all work out in the end.

Fun Giveaways!!

Better Home Interiors, an online store with alot of fun decorating items is having a few giveaways. Here is the first one up for grabs: Metal Family blocks!!!

To enter this giveaway visit http://betterhomeinteriors.blogspot.com/

I VOTED!!!

They must be discussing voting at school because Whitney has been asking me on a regular basis when i was going to vote and who I would be voting for. So this morning after dropping the girls off to school I took Brooke with me to Whitney's school and voted-I had put Brooke in the stroller but she just screamed. So here I am with a ten month old in my left arm-pushing the empty stroller with my right and trying to juggle my ballot inbetween. I was thinking "great this is going to work-just punch in the holes and be done," then I find out that my ballot was one that you had to fill in the circles manually with a black markerpen-and that the booth was one of those light cardboard booths that can easily be knocked over. Lets just say that the process took forever and that my left arm was close to falling off by the time we reached the car. I now have on my "I voted" sticker to show for my troubles and to show Whitney when I pick her up. By voting I feel it demonstrates my appreciation for those that made my right to vote happen. I was telling Whitney this morning that Women haven't always been able to vote and neither have African Americans. It is a great thing to be able to help choose our leaders and the way our country is run. Every vote makes a difference. It was neat to share that with her this morning and see her excitement about what an important thing it is. She can't wait until she can vote now!

Chick Flicks..

I will be going to watch "Twilight" in theaters this month with a bunch of my friends and was thinking about other movies that are strictly "see it with your girlfriend" movies or what guys like to label "chick flicks." We all love a great movie-one that makes us laugh and cry and sigh a little-here are a few of my favorites:
Lake House, The Notebook, Pride and Prejudice-95' version, Persuasion(the newer one) Never Been Kissed, Return to Me, The importance of being Ernest, While you were sleeping, Sound of Music, P.S. I love you, Somewhere in Time, Anne of Green Gables series. Plus just about any movie with dancing in it: Girls just want to have fun, Moulin Rouge, etc.
Which ones are yours???

Halloween Night!!

Me and my witchlings!!Trick or Treating

Seriously, Who comes up with this for costumes??? My friend Mistie-that's who-Can we say Creative?? Every year she comes up with costumes Outrageously Fun and different.