Thanksgiving Week

It was a short week.  The kids and KC only went to school/work for two days.  I did my internship for two days but did have to work my 3 hours on Wednesday morning.  Kailee also came home on Tuesday night.  Wednesday we tried to clean our house up a little bit and then in the afternoon we went and saw the movie Breaking Dawn.  

On Thursday, we got together with my parents, the M's family and Leonora and Eric.  There were 16 of us there.  We had a wonderful time together eating and having fun.

This is the girl's table:

 

 This is the boy's table:

 Part of the adult's table:

C made a Thanksgiving video for us and it was hilarious (as usual).  It's fun to have these videos that remind us of happy times.  This is the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC69SQ



We played a game that I made up called "A Gratitude Game to Z" and the basic rules were that everyone had to write down something they were grateful for for each letter of the alphabet.  After-wards we all got together and read what we had on our lists.  If no one else wrote down what you had on your own paper then you got a point.  The person with the most points wins.  Everyone got prizes (silly prizes, cause it was a last minute thing but it was fun!)  It was just a small way for us to remember how many things we have to be grateful for that we usually don't think about.  I like this quote "What if you woke up today with only what you thanked God for yesterday????"  It makes  me wonder?

After eating and cleaning up, it was time to look through the ads for black Friday...  We were a little upset that they were starting at 9:00, 10:00, and 12:00.  We thought about going then but that thought left us quickly cause we were already tired.  So we made our lists and decided to go out at 5:00am (usual time). We only went to three stores but got some awesome deals!  And we found everything we were looking for.  The stores were relatively quiet for black Friday at that time and we didn't have to wait in long lines to pay.

The kids just hung out at home in their PJ's pretty much all day.  We took a short nap and just enjoyed the time with the M Family.

I don't think I ever mentioned that our Stake got split and with that split our ward was also.  Our two cul-de-sacs were put in a different ward.  So we are in the same stake but in a different ward.  We got separated from so many of our good friends.  It was sad.  It's getting better but it was still hard.

Sunday KC and I had to speak in sacrament since we are new to the ward.  We got asked to speak on Monday night and with Thanksgiving and black Friday in between we didn't have much time to prepare.  Our topic was the Book of Mormon.  I spoke mainly on the title page and what we can learn from that to guide us through our reading.  KC spoke on why we need the Book of Mormon in the latter days.

One idea that I want to record here is that Satan doesn't want us to read the Book of Mormon because if we do we will remember the blessings he has given us and past generations, we will be reminded of the covenants we have made, and we will know that Jesus is our Savior and that because of Him we can repent and be forgiven.  I know the Book of Mormon is true and that if we read it we will stay on the right path and be guided on what we should do, if we ever have questions.

Nutcracker Week

It was a great but busy week.  We only got the basics and Nutcracker done.  But I'm glad to say that we survived another Nutcracker.  This completes our 12th Nutcracker!  I guess we are kind of NUTS!  We have been doing the Props committee for 10 years.  I co-chair the committee so we are backstage every night.  And we get the props put back after the show.

Here are a few pictures of the girls.  They were both Snow this year and can I just say that they are both beautiful inside and out!  But they are also beautiful and amazing dancers.  My dream of having beautiful ballerinas has come true!

 While waiting for the show to start on the night that we watched.  CR and KC could not help but take this picture.

 C and Jeaniece.  They have been friends since Kindergarten and they have danced in the Nutcracker together since they were 8 years old!  Now they are seniors!

The entire Snow Corps.

On Saturday we had two performances.  A matinee and the night performance.  The girls had to be at their warm up class at 9:30, the show started at 11:00, it ended at 1:00, we left and CR had a gymnastics inter-squad meet at 1:30 so we went to watch him.  We did not think it would take as long as it did.  I left early cause I had to be back with the girls at WSU.  KC waited for CR and G.  So here are a couple of pictures of the meet.

On a final note... We love our kids!

Halloween

10-31-2011

It's kind of sad that the kids are getting older and they go off with their friends on Halloween instead of coming with us.  But I still managed to get pictures of them...

We went Trick or Treating with CR and G.  G was so excited and wanted to keep going and going!

 G as The Little Mermaid (Ariel)

 CR as Harry Potter.  He now has the long messy hair for the costume.

 S as a nerd.  Last minute hurry and find something.

 C as Captain America (the costumes were lame so she just bough a t-shirt).

 K as Wonder Woman.  I didn't even get to see K in person but thanks to her blog I have this picture.

Me as a pirate.  (Really just the hat. I get a hat or a wig every year and I call it my costume)

The pumpkin carving activity that almost didn't happen.  It was so hard to find a time to carve pumpkins and we finally found a day to do it and then C was so sick that she couldn't do it.  Then we forgot to take pictures so after a few days we decided to just take pictures with those that were available before the pumpkins died.  So G's is Ariel.  KC's is some scary face.  CR's is the Harry Potter sign.  S's (not in the picture) is Teanna from Princess and the Frog.  I don't do pumpkin carving it's too messy.  I do get a pumpkin but just decorate the outside of it.  Fast, clean, and easy!