Thanksgiving

One pretty horse.  Jessie is loving this huge sketch pad Rachel found at DI.

Still working on that science experiment…This is where we discovered that hot glue would in fact not melt the plastic but would hold it onto the syringe…..maybe he should have done his experiment on different kinds of glue. :-)

Spencer got first place for the fastest typer in his class and second place in his grade.  Way to go!

Mowing buddies!

My parents were coming out for Thanksgiving and we so we decided to move all the buckets of old clothes out of the guest room and into the family room.  Plus there were so many bags on clothes just on the floor that half the tubs were empty.  So here’s the half organized mess.  Girls on the left, boys on the right from smallest to biggest.  What a project.

Rachel went though the Provo Temple to receive her endowment.  What a special night to be together.   If I remember correctly we had sick kids so we had to rush home after the session, but it was a great way to kick off my parents stay.

For FHE each month we try to memorize a scripture.  Neil is helping us this week.

A  night of gymnastics with my dad.  This is one of the kids favorites.

Pie night at Brent and Jill’s.  Mark took a horse he had cut out to give to Grandma.  He was happy.  Unfortunately we passed the sickness to Grandpa and he had to stay home at our house and sleep instead of come up for pie.

The kids had fun playing chef with Rachel in the basement and before we left we all got to sign Jill’s tablecloth.

Pie for breakfast is the BEST!

David and Lisa joined us on Thanksgiving too and we played a fair number of games together.

Emma and Ella both took their nap in Emma’s bed.  They were both asleep when we laid them down, but Emma was very surprised to find someone in her bed when she woke up.

Rachel wanted to start a new Thanksgiving tradition.  Silly socks.  It was a bit last minute but it all worked out and I’m  all ready for next year…only we will have to send Rachel’s to her on her mission.  Rachel also brought down these fun sunflowers for the table.

More pie.  Raspberry lime was a fun new flavor we tried – courtesy of Rachel….if you haven’t noticed Rachel loves holidays!

A little swing dancing….Mark is really getting into this!

It’s way past bedtime on Thanksgiving night and what greets Ken at the top of the stairs….Jessie got up way too early with Rachel and Becca to go hit the day-after-Thanksgiving sales.  Rachel ended up with two new geckos…..Sherlock and Watson. (hard to see in the picture but Jessie’s holding one)

More experimenting on hydraulic power.

Jessie got our first “gift of Christmas.”  Her own Christmas tree for her room.  She was VERY excited!

Neil all cozy with his favorite stuffed animals.

Cutting out some snowflakes for the ceiling in the dining room.

A first of December sing-a-long with Ken’s mom and Randy.  The little boys and Randy reverently played with a ball rolling it over each other while we sang.

School Starts

Happy smiling kids on the first day of school.  Jessie and Mark left early with Ken and he forgot to get a picture.  Jessie’s first year at the high school!  Man life flies by.  Neil, Isaac, Emma and I sit on the porch every morning to wave to Abbie and Spencer until they get on the bus.

I got a picture of Jessie after her first day of 10th grade.  She signed up for Honors Math, English and Chemistry along with AP World History….and she was a very determined worker -  reading pages and pages and pages of history, but after the first week we decided that maybe that load was a bit much and we went to talk to the principal about dropping History.  He was very understanding and she’s taking Spanish instead.

After Abbie and Spencer were safely on the bus Neil rushed upstairs and talked Isaac into playing Stratego….well when I walked in he said he was teaching Isaac how to play because now he had NO ONE to play with him. As you can see his pieces are all neatly lined up and Isaac well….he’s just learning. :-)

Wanting to be a good mommy the little boys helped me make cookies for the kids when they came home from their first day.

This is David’s first year of teaching and he asked us for some of our favorite book titles.  Instead of writing them down I just sent him a picture.  See any of your favorites in there?

Sweet little Emma is finally learning to roll over…just a couple months late, but she got it.

A few taste testers.

It’s peach season!!! My favorite time….peach cobbler for breakfast every morning for a week or two!  YUMMY!

Love this selfie I found on my phone.

Emma found her toes late one night after everyone else was in bed.  So cute.

Isaac all ready to play…just not sure what sport.

Emma learning to clap.

Jessie’s friend called her to do the ice bucket challenge.  It was cold, but the pourer missed her head and so it wasn’t unbelievably cold.

Working on memorizing all the elements for chemistry.

Our friends got to spend the week with us while their new house was being finished.  We didn’t really get to do most of the fun things we had planned because they still had quite a bit of moving projects they were still working on and coordinating, but it was still SO FUN to have them here!  Us at Mark’s soccer game.  Some of us were watching the game more than others….Jessie working on logos for Graphic Design….playing sleeping queens.

I reheated Neil a twice baked potato for lunch and he was not appreciative which is beyond me – they are my favorite and I was thinking how generous I had been to share the leftovers with him. The instagram caption read, “Tell us how you really feel about twice baked potatoes Neil.”

Afternoon at the park with house guests.

Picnic on the porch together.

Some zinnias and snapdragons from our garden.

Jessie made a double decker grilled cheese…although she said it wasn’t as impressive as it sounds.

And this isn’t the greatest picture in quality….but I LOVE it!

Sweet sleeping baby.  I love rocking her to sleep.  It helps me slow down and enjoy the moment.

Us waiting in the CRAZY long line for the Ogden Temple open house.  It was fun to be together and it was a beautiful temple!

Labor Day BBQ after the temple open house.  We were in charge of dessert for FHE and had the stuff so you could make your own fruit pizza.  I made oatmeal cookies….and the first cookie scoop I used made the cookies so big they were equal to about 4 or 6 regular cookies.  After one pan of those we moved to  a heaping medium scoop and that was big, but not huge, just right for a semi-healthy treat.  I think this cookie was Spencer’s.  Mine wasn’t as cute, but it was loaded with fruit and I wondered why we didn’t make these once a week!

The boys and Emma and I went shopping with Rachel for something at the mall and Isaac got a shoulder ride.

I get all sorts of surprises when I open the camera app on my phone.