Happy Thanksgiving!

This year for thanksgiving we made a gratitude box for family home evening and wrote down things that we are grateful for and put them inside. Some of the things the kids wrote were so cute, I just had to share them:

I am thankful for Jesus.
I am thankful for my friends.
I am thankful for Peter (our rabbit).
I am thankful for my family.
I am thankful for my mother, teachers, friends, brothers, Peter, water, toys and school.
I am thankful for my wallet and backpack.
I am thankful I am alive.
I am thankful for my shoes.
I am thankful for my house to live in.
I am thankful for thanksgiving.
I am thankful for my books.
I am thankful for Christmas.

Those are just some of the things the kids wrote. I was sick this week and on Thanksgiving. I am starting to feel better now. We had a nice dinner for just our family and lots of leftovers. I didn't take too many pictures because I wasn't feeling good. It was a nice thanksgiving.

Twilight

So we went last night and watched Twilight the Movie. Did I like it? It was okay. I knew it wouldn't be the same as the books. The movie is never as good as the book. The first book wasn't my favorite anyway. Kyle and I sat in the theater with another couple and about 100 teenage girls. Some of the effects were good, but some of them could have been better. I don't want to blow it for those who haven't seen it yet. It does follow the book pretty well, but because of that I thought it was kinda choppy. It seemed to skip from one scene to another instead of flowing. There isn't enough time to give all the background you get in the book, so it seemed like if you hadn't read the book you might not get all that was going on. So basically, it was a good movie that could have been much better. I guess I was thinking it was going to be like Harry Potter or something, and it wasn't. Luckily though, Edward didn't look the same to me as Cedric Diggory. I guess he has grown up alittle since then.

Jammin' on an IPod

The kids found my IPod this weekend and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I usually just listen to it when I am working out, so they don't see me with it much. Ha, Ha!

When Kaleb found out what it was and what songs were on it, I couldn't get it away from him.

Of course, Cole had to listen to what all the fuss was about.

Landon loves it because it has "Life Is A Highway" from the movie Cars on it. He listens to that same song over and over again.

I remember when I was Kaleb's age sitting in my room with my older sister Christi trying to record off of the radio onto a big tape recorder. Wow how technology has changed!

Late Night Reading

Kyle and Kaleb have begun reading Harry Potter 1 at night after his brothers go to bed. This was Kyle's idea because Kaleb is so excited about reading these days and he wanted to nourish that by reading together.



This is just one of the wonderful things I love about my husband. He is working so much right now so that we can get out of debt, but he still takes the time to do things like this with the kids.


I know Kaleb really enjoys this time with dad and feels special that he gets to stay up after his brothers go to bed.

I hope this reading time will help foster a love of reading, especially of fun books like Harry Potter.

Suprise Find!

When I got my camera out to take pictures, look what I found. The kids had gotten to my camera and took pictures around the house. I couldn't help posting some of them because they are kinda funny.

Some of them aren't half bad, but most were fuzzy.

Cute boys on the bench and you can see Kaleb's reflection in the window.

This is the day after halloween because they have their halloween treats and tattoos on their bodies.

Watchout spiderman!

Cole's pumpkin he got at school. It is kinda funny the stuff they pick out to take pictures of. Maybe if santa brings me a new camera I can let them use this one for their pictures.

Second Snow

Okay, I know I just posted snow pictures the other day, but since I had camera problems last time I thought I would try it again. We got alittle snow again this morning, although it still isn't cold enough to freeze the streets yet.

Front yard.

Across the street.

Landon's favorite car.

It's coming down.

Toys get all wet.

Cole loves the snow. He is usually the first one out in it.

Landon decided he wanted to go on the trampoline.

Nothin like jumpin in the snow.

There's snow under my feet!

Yummy snow.

Cole shows Landon how to make a snow ball.

What a snow ball!

Snowball making 101.

So much for the garden.

Too cold to swing.

Did you notice that Kaleb isn't in any of the pictures? That because he doesn't really like snow that much and was ready to go to school. But the other two boys do and they are so cute exploring it. Welcome Winter!

Bed Swap

This weekend we switched all the boys around into different beds. Before this, Landon had his own room with a queen size bed. Kaleb and Cole shared a room with Kaleb on the top bunk and Cole on the bottom.

Here is Landon in his old bed. The reason for the switch was because we are trying to potty train Landon at night so we can totally get rid of the pull ups. But because Landon sleeps on a pretty nice bed that we sometimes use for guests, we didn't want him peeing in it. We have a cover for waterproofing the mattress, but you never know.

So now Kaleb has his own room, which he is very excited about.

Here is the old arrangement. Kaleb and Cole sharing a room.
Here is how it is now. Cole gets to sleep on the top bunk, which he loves. Landon is on the bottom bunk which he loves too. This mattress isn't so great, so if he destroys it we won't be so sad. Hopefully he won't.

It isn't often that parents make a decision that makes all the kids happy, but in this case we did. Kaleb is happy because he gets his own room that he can keep clean and keep his brothers out. Cole is happy because he gets the top bunk and is the big brother of the room now. Landon is happy because he gets to sleep in underwear like his brothers and be a big boy. We are going to try this arrangement out until the first of the year and then we will probably switch again. We'll see how it goes.

First Snow 08

We got our first snow of the season yesterday. Of course the kids were all excited and went out to play in it before school. Great photo op, right? Wrong. My camera battery was dead and wouldn't work. My camera is having real problems and the battery dies the day after being fully charged. Anyway, the only camera I had left was the one on my phone. So I took some pictures and then spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to get them off of my phone and on to my computer. I took some pictures of the kids, but the picture quality was so bad they look more like faceless blobs. So here are some outside shots.


Snow piled up on the railing.

Some on the bench on the back porch.

The backyard.

The neighbor across the street and the suburban covered in snow.

The front yard and tree.

So next time they say it is going to snow, I will make sure my camera is ready. Hopefully Santa will bring a new camera this year!

The Election Is Over!

Well, the election is over and I am glad. I am not so excited about the outcome, although I do understand the historical significance of this election. I was not really a Obama or McCain supporter, although I was closer to red than blue. When I watched the speechs last night and the reaction by the public, I don't mind telling you I was touched. But now the rhetoric is over and the job of fixing the nation needs to start. I am worried about some of Obama's ideas, especially about his economic plan. I hope he can make things better, not worse. I guess we'll see. I am trying to look on the bright side, reserved though it may be. I guess if he doesn't do a good job we'll just find someone else in 4 years. I'm glad I don't have to see anymore election ads on tv or hear them on the radio. It is kinda fun to witness historical events.

Trick-or-Treating

Finally, Halloween is here and it is time to go "trick-or-treating". Of course we have been getting candy and dressing up for a week now, but oh well.

Here are the kids practicing their door manners at our door before we go out.

Here are our pumpkins by the front porch. They had already started getting soft so they will be thrown away in the morning.

These are the next door neighbors pumpkins. I thought that was such a cute idea and not nearly as messy as carving them.

We went out early while it was still light. First, it is easier to keep track of the kids that way. Second, our neighborhood is one of the busiest in town, so we needed to get back to our house before dark to start passing out candy.

This lady lives about 3 doors down, and she had made special bags for the boys. That was very sweet. The big spiders were climbing up her house.

The boys probably got candy from about 50 houses before we headed home. By then the policemen were out in the neighborhood passing out glow sticks for safety and watching over the festivities. We have people drive in from everywhere (the country, the reservation) to our neighborhood, so the streets are lined with cars and kids are everywhere.

Here are our friends the VanTyles who came by the see us after we got back to the house. We ran out of candy about 7:30. By then it was dark and most of the little kids had already come by, so that was okay. We don't mind if we don't have candy for the teenagers. We still had people knocking on our door at 9 pm (even though we had all the lights off).

All in all we had a great and plentiful Halloween and the kids loved their costumes. They will probably wear them all year long.

Our Ward Halloween Party!

Our Ward Halloween Party was Thursday night. We had a trunk-or-treat outside and then went in the Church for chilli and cinnamon rolls and the kids had a cupcake walk.

Of course, after the trunk-or-treat all the kids wanted to do was eat their candy.

Adults and kids alike dressed up and we all had a good time.

Here is momma witch and baby lion.

Cheerleader.

Dead bride.

Zorro and Superman.

A clown and two friends.

A fisherman and lobster (his wife is a mermaid).

GI Joe, A nascar racer and his gas can.

Twin witches.


A great time was had by all and the kids really loaded up on candy (like they needed it).