Major updating

Man oh man has the time gone by so fast!!! I finally have time to sit and BLOG...... no I have not vanished. I feel like I have been drowning the last month and now have come up for air. Now that Christmas is almost here and we have slowed down a bit I feel like I can start enjoying the holidays. So here goes sorry this is a long post and it could be a lot longer but my eyes and fingers are tired so here are some highlights of our life in the past month or so.

In november Brian's brother Tyler his wife Sunee, Braxton and Brollin were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. What a great thing to have shared with them we are all so excited about this great step they have taken together. I love that Families can be together forever.

Grandma Jo came out to visit for thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun!! We went shopping put up the Christmas tree and she had 3 little monkeys hanging on her the whole time. Every year she gives the kids a new ornament to put on the tree and a Christmas book. They look forward to it every year. It is fun to see them get so excited about looking at each ornament and placing it on the tree. I am so grateful to my mom, she is such a fun Grandma and she loves my kids sooo much and makes sure that they know that!!

Thanksgiving was at our house this year and we had lots of yummy food and fun. We had to break out the guitar hero and have a little competition. We have so much to be grateful for this year- wonderful families our health and the gospel just to name a few. Thanks so much for Jeff bringing in the turkey, stuffing and yams to put in my oven to make my house smell soooo good that is the way I like to cook (someone else doing it for me)!

My Aunt Barbara went through the Bountiful temple while my mom was here I am so grateful that I was able to be there with her and her family!

We also went to Layton Park to see the lights with cousins and friends. Little Hudson is soooo cute!!

Ice Skating

Every year we go to the Pitcher's ward party at the Gallivan Center to ice skate. So much fun. It was so cute to see the littlest kids out there skating all by themselves!! Preslie 3yrs Harlee, Landen and Wyatt 4yrs could skate with the best of them boy did they have a great time!! Thanks for always letting us tag along.

We made gingerbread houses for the first time this year. The kids really like doing it. The frosting it came with was horrible!! Do not eat it, it tasted more like wall paper glue than frosting!
We made our annual Christmas COOKIES which is always fun. I have been doing this with my mom and grandma for as long as I can remember and grateful I can do it with my kids too.


Papa Jeff and Grandma Eileen took the kids to a movie (Madagascar 2) and out to eat as part of their Christmas present! They love to go to the movies!! We went for dinner at El Burrito Santa and Frosty came to visit them and gave them a toy. I didn't have my camera with me, was disappointing because it was so cute! Thanks so much to Grandma and Grandpa for the memories!!

We had our Ward Party ISLAND CHRISTMAS! Wheewww it is finally over. I was on the committee and boy what a weight lifted off of my shoulders to not have to think or have nightmares about it. It was great we had a lot of snow that day and it looked really cool with the palm trees and tiki torches lit up outside. We had a Polynesian dance group come and we ate Hawaiian Haystacks I hope everyone had a good time, it was a lot of work trying to feed and clean up from 300+ people. Brian helped me so much I forgot I had volunteered for Porter's class party so he gladly filled in much to Porter's delight!

I am ashamed to say we have never taken our kids sledding. I know we are horrible parents!! We finally bought sleds and went to a park close to our house. The kids had a blast! We even played on the play ground and went down the slides! Much to our surprise the frozen snow made them really really slippery they came shooting out the bottom, Brian and I had just as much fun watching and laughing!! By the way you have to love Brian hat!! His brother Tyler made it for him. I tell him he looks like a girl with pig tails!!

Brian's parents took all the adult kids to dinner at Rodizio's we had lots of fun and were waaaay full!! Thanks Jeff & Eileen

Sunday before Christmas

So Sad

My grandpa had this sled in his shed, he collected many things for many years and after he passed away I got to keep it.  I just loved it.  I had used it for a friends pictures and put it in my garage after using it.  It is now missing and have come to the assumption that it has been stolen I have looked for it everywhere. If any one has seen it I would love to have it back.  I am so sad that it is gone it is one of the only things I got when he passed away.

This is an excerpt from a talk by Neal A. Maxwell from 1978. I stole it from my friend Emily's blog.  I have just been thinking about this a lot lately and I love this excerpt.

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt between two opinions. This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.
Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened....Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was,till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.'Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

Trick or Treat Smell my Feet

The Gruesome Threesome

We could not have asked for better weather this year!! Not a single coat was needed!! They had a lot of fun dressing up and having Dad paint their faces. Our friends the Mcmillans invited us over for dinner and then they were on their way. Brian got another injection in his back today so he had to miss out on all the fun. We have waaayyyy too much candy. Brynleigh wants to sell all the candy she doesnt like back to the dentist, but the boys are keeping theirs. What a great Halloween!

4th Pic on the 4th file

    I saw this on a friends blog, I don't know if it meant computer file but that is how I did it.  I thought it was a cute idea.  This is the picture that was there!!  I love this Picture.  Brynleigh was 3 and Porter was about 7 months old.   Oh how I miss them being that little.  We lived in Colorado at the time and this was Christmas Eve at my parents house.  I loved Porter in those  pj's he looked like a little elf.  Brynleigh was a ham at a very early age and loved getting her picture taken ( and still does) such a smart girl and so funny.  Porter was such a sweet little guy, he was a great baby!!

Let's Wrestle!!

Porter and Wyatt started wrestling yesterday at Syracuse High School. They absolutely loved it!! I am so glad that Porter has found something to be really excited about!! He loves that his dad wrestled in High School. It was so funny to watch but they all did so great and had so much fun. They will be doing little tournaments so there will be lots more pictures to come.

Here is Porter and his friend Jaron so cute!!

Grandma Great

four generations

Today we went out to visit my Grandma (Grandma Great) I have been so blessed to have such a wonderful grandma. I have so many memories of her and so many of our families traditions have come from her. She has always been such a hard worker, fantastic seamstress and has such a great love for her family. She always made all of the grandkids matching outfits for every holiday and so many dolls and blessing blankets for all of her grandkids and great grandkids. She makes the best gingersnaps and sandwiches all wrapped up in wax paper. I loved going camping or sleeping over at her house because she would always have clean ironed sheets on her bed. They felt so nice to get into. I am so grateful that my kids get to see her and feel of her love.My Grandma has a apple tree in her yard that we used to play on when we were kids. Each time we go there my kids want to play in it or swing from it. They usually want me to take their picture in it too so of course I did. One of my kids told my Aunt that she should get in the tree and have her picture taken so..... she did too! What a fun Aunt.



I cant mention my Grandma without talking about my Grandpa! I wish my kids could remember him. He was the best story teller (most of them not true but hysterical) whistler, crazy dancer, guitar player and loved to get a rise out of my grandma whenever we were around. I miss him very much and know that he is watching over us.

Our Sweet Brynleigh

Our beautiful girl Brynleigh sang in the Primary Program today. She sang the last verse of "If the Savior Stood Beside me" all by herself. I recorded the audio and have been trying all day to get it on here with no luck. She did such a great job and we are so proud of her. She was not even nervous one bit (I felt like I was going to throw up!) Poor Daddy was still in Ca for training and he felt so bad that he could not be there. I don't know if it was very reverent of me but I called his cell phone when she was singing so he could hear her. She has such a beautiful voice that is a God given talent (one of her many) Brian and I laugh at each other because neither one of us can sing AT ALL!! She is such a special spirit and we are so blessed to have her in our family, and I can't wait to see all the great things that are in store for her.

Just a special side note that I do not want to forget... After church I was telling Bryn what a good job she did and Porter said "Thats because she had a bright light shining on her" Brynleigh told him "no Porter I did not" kind of bugged by comment why I dont know. I asked him what he meant and he said, "I saw her and she had a bright light shining on her" I know that the spirit was strong today in sacrament meeting. I love that little kids are so intune with those things. I am so greatful for all my children and the wonderful job they did today.

I will keep trying to get the audio on so Grandma Jo can hear it.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins and more Pumpkins

We finally got our pumpkins this year... a little late. Aunt Kristi had everyone over to paint and put vinyl faces on they turned out really cute. I am not a big fan of carving too messy. Papa Jeff was so nice to help the older kids paint their faces on they did such a great job!!>

All the pumpkins you could possibly choose from and Wyatt wanted the littlest one.. so cute and a bonus I only had to pay $.75 for it!! Poor kid his bday is 3 days before Halloween and he hates any thing scary!!

The next night we went to the Pumpkin walk. It was fun but cold and long, we had too many kids to keep happy!!!

Who are you voting for??

  Porter is a very observant kid.  He is always listening to our conversations, even when you think he is not!  This morning he asked me  "Mom who are you voting for that thing again?  Bama Obama or The Cain?"  So funny he is such a cute and funny boy!  Sounds more like the WWF than the Presidential Campaign.

Where a kid can be a kid!

We went to the much anticipated Chuck E cheese last week for Wyatt's 4th bday! Brian will be out of town on his actual birthday. I thought that by going on a Wednesday we would be safe from the crowds and we were for about 2 hours. Then there was way too many people in there. The kids had a great time and it is nice because it is new and clean and they don't let your kids out without you. Thanks to all the family that came I hope you had fun! Maybe my kids will stop singing the song on the commercial now. Happy Birthday Mister!

Wyatt and his cute little cousin Drake

Singing Happy Birthday

Cousins!!! We were missing a few in this pic!

Wyatt's cake he wanted it to be gross!!

Fun times with good friends

I met up with some great friends last week for brunch. I have known them since high school, Jen lives in Az and Sarah lives in Alpine. We have been lucky to get together at least once a year. It so great to have such good friends and feel like you hang out everyday even though we don't see each other often! Thanks girls.