Thanksgiving Time

 This year we made the trek to Idaho.  My family has had some pretty major stuff going on and we thought it would be best if we all came together to show our love and support of each other.  So glad we did because it was fun!

 My little Tatum is so precious.  He is such fun to have around.  I want him to grow slowly.....very slowly.

 I loved this picture of mom.  She made a fabulous feast and it was a beautiful layout.

Why is he so happy doing the dishes?   

I thought Mike and I were going to get a great shot but we got photo bombed by the turd in the background!  We laughed and laughed at this ....so I guess it was a good shot despite the crazed person in the back!

We are short on pictures of this trip because the next day sickness hit!  It started with Tatum and went through all of us, but Mike, in a 24 hour period.  Horrible...yes!  We took off the next day after Tatum had been throwing up and Morgan.  So glad we did.

Shana was kind enough to take us all in and I felt terrible we all got sick at her house!  Love you Shana Jean...thank you again.

Despite this sounding like a bad ending there is a silver lining to this.  In the midst of all of us getting sick Michael stepped up big time!  He cleaned up throw up, got up with kids during the night, made us food, cleaned up around the house.  He was super dad.  I am glad it happened because I really fell more in love with this man!

With adversity there is opportunity for great things!!

Halloween Catch Up!

 We found the prettiest park!  It had the most beautiful colors, and all the leaves were amazing.  Getting down in the leaves and smelling them took me right back to my childhood.  I have such fun memories of racking up leaves and making a huge pile and then jumping out of a tree into it.

 Jake and I went to the park together this day and he helped me bury the kids.  All of them were into it exept Tater.  He was not having it.  Look at his cute little pouty lips!

 I want to learn to take better pictures..but I really love how the leaves are falling in this one.  I LOVE the fall.  It is just the best!

 Here is my little Fiona..she wasn't this for Halloween but I thought it was cute.

 So Carson was a scary skeleton...(I hate that I can't talk them into what I want them to be anymore!) Cole was Psy, the guy that sings Gang um Style...don't ask because I don't know why, and Morgan was of course Princess Bell.

 Here is my little beauty.  Love that little thing.

 Cole here is performing the Gangum style dance thing.....He is such a character!

 Here is my little shy Carson...

 It was so fun to go to Carson's class and watch him interact with all the kids.  He is such a good kid.  He is quite and kids just naturally gravitate towards him.  He makes me happy.

 And Cole is not quite, he is very busy...is that the right adjective?  Here he's in heaven because the teacher put up the song gangum style and so he was able to let loose and just dance with the rest of his class.

 On Halloween we did our ward Trunk or Treat.  Morgan is with her best bud Brinley and Abby.  Abby has babysat our kids since we came..she is such a great girl!

 This is Jake's favorite holiday.  This little pirate had the best Halloween decorations and his lights were by far the best I had seen.

After our Trunk or Treat we came do their house and let them hand out candy. I keep saying this but it is really nice to be close to family again!

 I feel terrible this is the only picture we got of our little monster!  He looked so cute.  The jacket had lots of padding and made him look like a chunky, little, monster.

 I am so up tight about messes and so carving pumpkins is hard for me to do because of the mess...but it was good to see the kids enjoy this.

 Michael hard at work!

 See...messy, messy, messy!

We had a great fall...wish it could last just a little longer!

A Friendly Christmas Party

 This being our 4th year of living here we thought it would be fun to do a little Christmas party.  We used to do this back in Fernley and thought we should start it up here.  (We still miss our Fernley friends VERY MUCH!)  And I am glad we did because we had lots of fun.  Mike and I thought it would be fun to have a little photo shoot of everyone.

 Tracey is so fun to play around with.  Just love her and her family!

 Audra, is the one to thank for this little beauty.  She has been my closest friend since we have moved here.  We have car pooled together, done our little Circle's group for over 3 years, had play dates and countless other things....she will be missed very much!  She is a keeper even if she is moving far away.

 We had such a great group of people. It was fun to hang out and be goofy.  We were able to talk everyone into playing the game mafia with us.  Two couples left early but the rest stayed and played till midnight! I was impressed with our group....they were party animals.

 The idea for the picture taking came from this night.  Mike and I went to the Children's Justice Center fundraiser dinner a few weeks back.  It was a western theme night and we had a good time. Mike especially liked it because he was able to bring his guns.

 I am not sure why Mike is pointing the gun at me like that!  I don't think I like it.

And I'm not quit sure why I think its so funny either.