Okay--a real post this time. But my fingers are freezing, so if I forget to use spellcheck, that is why there will be many misspelled words! This post will be dedicated to my Thanksgiving weekend--obviously I have much to catch up on. I will let the pictures do most of the talking....

My sister Valerie and I were the first ones to make it home. That meant our boys got a little extra one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma made them some special hats....



It has become a tradition of sorts that the night before Thanksgiving, we do a pig dinner. We all have troughs and eat spaghetti without any utensils. Yep--we dig right in with our faces. Even Seth and Sam got into it this year.








This year, because there were so many of us coming home we knew that we wouldn't be able to fit in the house. So my parents and Chalise worked really hard to get the garage cleaned out. We hung a bunch of quilts up, laid some carpet down, got some space heaters (which I could use in my basement right now) and spent most of the weekend out in the garage. It worked quite well! Of course Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without the Turkey bowl.







Another one of our favorite traditions is the tree hunt the day after Thanksgiving. We head up the canyon and try and find the perfect tree. Luckily, it is much easier on Nick and I now that we have a fake tree and we don't have to entertain the troops with our fighting over a tree each year. This year Nick stayed home with Sam and I took Seth up to go searching. I have so much more respect for our parents now for taking 7 kids up. I just had one and I was about to go crazy. We didn't stay out in the snow very long. Thank heavens for warm cars.




Valerie modeling the latest fashion....Furry boots! (Not quite sure why this won't quit underlining.)



Before we wimped out from the cold.




We ended our weekend together by all going to see Twilight. I don't think all of us have been in the theater together since we went and saw Superman in the 80's. And who knows if Val and Chalise were even with us then. I sure love my family!!




Paige and Jason



Val and Matthew




Kyle and Lena




Chalise and Ammon (sorry Lou- I couldn't resist--even when you are making a face you are beautiful)



The best parents in the world!








Of course, my time in Parowan wouldn't be perfect if I couldn't spend some time with my wonderful friends. It is so good to have some girl time!!!



Just a random shot of Sam but for the longest time, this was literally his favorite way to drink. He did it all the time at our house and didn't change his habits while we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house.



Just a video to show you how Sam was quite entertained by the pig dinner.




Well, I best go get the boys bathed for church. I will try and do another update soon. At least you get one so far....

Don't get too excited...

This is not going to be a real post. I'm just letting you know that I'm still alive and kicking and I have a goal to do a real update this week. Don't give up on me (whoever is still left). Pictures and stories will soon follow.

Huh?

Seth cracks me up. I have been asking him lately what he wants for Christmas (or his birthday) and he usually always answers with the same request "a train with no hookers". That is great by itself, but when I just asked him, he informed me all he wants is "some toilet paper and little bit of toys". Easy kid to please--I would like to have some toilet paper as well and it is kind of an unspoken rule in our house to keep the hookers out. Don't you just love kids?

My little boy is growing up!

I only have 4 minutes to get this done, but today is Seth's 4th b-day and as it seems to be the thing to do in the blogging world, here are the top 4 reasons I love Seth.

1. His infectious giggle. It is the cutest thing to hear him start laughing when he is really having a great time. I love it.
2. That he does not know the meaning of the word stranger. Okay, I guess that could be a bad thing, but in his mind, they are just friends he hasn't met yet.
3. His "whistle". He thinks he is whistling and it sure sounds like it, but he just has the highest pitch squeal you have ever heard. (dang, it is 12:01 now)
4. All the funny things he says. He comes up with his own words and he listens and copies a lot of things that I wished he wouldn't. I love it when he tells me that he can't do something because it is very "distresseding" uh, okay. There are many more things that he says that I can't come up with right now.
5. Okay, he is only 4 but there are so many things to love about him. He has an amazing exuberance for life. He is very (or can be) polite. He can have great conversations on the phone. He loves his primary teachers. He loves to say prayers and wants to say the prayer for every meal and every family prayer as well. He loves the story of Samuel the Lamanite. He is a sweet boy and contrary to what he tells me when he is angry with me, he will always be my favorite firstborn!


An example of his whistle!

This poor cat

I promise I am not going to devote this blog to videos of my pets, but I just thought I would show you how patient my cat is. He sure has to put up with a lot from these beasts in my house.

Attempt at family pictures...

Tonight was a little frustrating. We tried to take family pictures since we haven't done one since Seth was turning one (he's 4 in a few weeks) and the one my parents have on their wall was when Seth was like 6 months. Needless to say, we are way overdue. We tried a week or so ago, and it just did not go well. We thought we would torture ourselves and try once more. Again, it was insane. Hopefully with a little photo shop, we can do enough head swapping to get one picture where everyone is looking at the camera with at least a pleasant look on their face. THOSE DARN BOYS!!!

I loved this one--it seemed like things were going pretty well until we noticed that Sam is LICKING the fence. Yummy!


I actually love this one of Seth. I sure have a cute little guy!



Most of the time Sam would only smile at the camera when one of us would hold him close. If all 4 of us were in the picture, he would either be looking to the side or look just plain dopey.



If we can get something that actually works of all of us, I will have to post it. However, I'm not holding my breath....

Fall Fun!

I seem to be having some troubles with moving my photos around, so I guess it will just be a big jumbled mess. Here are some of the things we have been up to lately.



We had our ward Halloween party on Saturday night. It is hard to tell because the picture is dark, but we went as Little Red Riding Hood, the big bad wolf, the woodsman and to round out the family...Thomas the Train (I guess we could have ridden on him out of the forest).


The woodsman and little Red



Our city does a main street trick or treat thing every year. Most business on Main give out little treats for a couple of hours. It was our first time doing it and the boys had a great time. The above picture is of Seth doing his "kick or treat" at the local Karate shop. I guess I missed the kick (actually I think it was a punch).



Last week we took the boys to let them pick out a pumpkin. We keep saying that we are going to carve them, but we are days away from Halloween and they still sit untouched on our front porch. Oh well, they add to the decor!







We went to our neighborhood Halloween party last weekend had a great time. There were some great costumes. Here are a few of my favorites!









(this one is for you Val --or I guess I should say Matthew)






The scariest part of this costume was how well he walked in those heels. I'm thinking he must have some experience with that....