T-Givin' and the Turkey Trott!

Thanksgiving (or t-givin as we liked to call it) was great we had Crama (grandma) Bonnie, Aunt Rissie, the Matt and Michele Brinkerhoff's, the Saari family, the Floyd's, and of course my mom and dad. Lots of yummy food, and great company! Kelly makes an AMAZING brown bag turkey!! Here he is getting it out and ready! I don't have a lot of great pic from thanksgiving this year but heres what I got!
Ladies hards at work!
The kids played in the yard across the street for a while!
At one point Aunt Rissie took Kaylee to get all the kids slurpees! Haha AND my friend Cami's little girl hung out in her swim suit for most of the day! Nice weather huh?
Jenna's 3rd annual Turkey Trott was a success! We had about 30 people run the half which was doubled from last year. It was so much fun! I love my sissys so much, and I so enjoy our time running in the mornings. Even if it is at 5!
Here is our red short group! I LOVE all these girls we run with. Cami (on the left) is one of my best friends from Utah who came down for thanksgiving. I got her red shorts to fit in but she decided she would never wear them again so we'll take them back. Oh well we still love you Cami!

Kelly's 34th birthday!

Kelly turned 34 on November 16th! I have to say I did not plan well and I feel so sorry about it. We did however have a little breakfast date that morning while all the kids were in school. As the day went on Karsyn got sick, kids had homework to be done, and it just didn't work out to do more. I do want to say that I love this man more than anything!! He could not be a better husband. He is so loving, thoughtful, hardworking, funny, HOT, a wonderful father, and so much more. I'm so grateful he is MINE! FOREVER!!!

Karsyn Turned 3!!!

I can't believe my sweet little baby girl turned 3. That's right! 11-11-11 was her birthday! I just think she is so darling! She is a fun little sassy girl who definitely keeps up with her older siblings. Her and Ky are best little buds, and I am loving having those two home together. We love our little Karsy so much. Happy Birthday Karsyn!!!
I love this sweet little picture of her!

Halloween 2011

 This Halloween was fun! We started it off a few days early with class parties. Here is Kenzie as a cheerless cheerleader. It was fun to help in their classrooms.

 Kaylee was an 80's girl. This costume turned out to be way cuter than the cheapy one we could buy.

 We went to a ward trunk or treat where I was too busy with my kids that I didn't take any pictures. Then on Halloween I was coming down with the flu and I wasn't the best with taking pics. This was the only one I got, and it's missing Kenzie:( Karsyn was a bumble bee, and Ky was a ninja, a star wars guy, and quite frankly would have rather just worn his own clothes. With sickness going around our house we wern't so into it all this year.

 The Thursday before halloween we had halloween zumba. Thanks to Jenna's creativeness me, Jenna, and Kimmy wore matching pirate outfits. We even danced to thriller!!!

 This was only half of the people there. Lot's of people dressed up, but some didn't. The best part was that there were a few people that dressed up as me or as me, Jenna, and Kim. It was pretty hillarious!

Nothing was as hillarious as Hans dressing up as me with Kim's zumba clothes, and blond wig with a pomp on top. In all my life I have never had someone dress up as me for halloween!

Philmont

 Back in July we went to a place called Philmont. Our stake presidency and our stake young mens presicency got invited to go. Philmont is a scout camp, and they have new groups of people coming in every week. We were so lucky we got to go during LDS week. There were lots of general people from the church there ready to teach us. The spirit was so strong , and it was an amazing experience for our family.

 These are our tents. Oh yea! We stayed in tents for a week, and we loved it! We had the three older kids in the one on the right and Karsyn slept with us in the other one. Life was so simple there. We focused on our family, and we were spiritually fed. Each day the me had classes of scout training, while the kids had their own fun little classes. They did horse back riding, crafts, hikes, games, and more. The women pretty much got to relax, go to really neat classes, and have a wonderful time.

 This is one of the days we had free time. A cute little old couple let us fish with them for a while, and each kid got to catch a fish. Loved it!!!

 It was so amazing to be in the presence of general leaders at Philmont. This is the general primary pres and her husband, and we also had the general young mens pres there too. They had such great things to share with us, and they opened their arms and welcomed us there. I really didn't want to go, but when we got there, and felt how strong the spirit was, and how much love was there I couldn't help but have this huge lump in my throat trying to hold back tears of grattitude.

 These three are awesome dudes! Stake Young mens president Greg Olsen, and his counselors, Brandon McCoy on the left and Kelly Brinkerhoff on the right.

 It was so neat to go with all of these families from our stake. We made some great friendships, and learned so much together.

Each family had to make a family flag to bring to Philmont. We hung them up at our tents, and we also used them to introduce our families in a special program. Our family was forever changed by our experience in Philmont. I am so grateful for the gospel, and the opportunities I have to learn and grow. This trip reminded me that Heavenly Father knows us, and he knows what we need in our lives to strengthen us.

Dance Recital

 These pretty little ladies had their dance recital back in May. Kaylee and her cute friend Brooklyn took tap and jazz together, and Kenzie and Brooklyns little sis Alivia also took tap and jazz together. They were so cute! All year we struggled with taking them to dance every wednesday because it was about a 45 min drive there and back. Besides being out there for 2 hours to wait. The Danze Zone was really a great place to have them take dance, but so not convient for our busy life. We loved watching them in their recital, but we decided this year not to put them back in. They had fun, but they are really glad to not be making that track every week!

 This was from last time our family went to disneyland, and I thought I'd do a little post about these great ladies in my life! This picture is so us. Always laughing, and being silly together!!!

I want to say how grateful I am for my mom who somehow raised us to love each other. I don't remember fighting much, but when we did our mom would make us read Mosiah 4:14. It basically talks about how you shouldn't let your children go hungry or naked, and you shouldn't let them serve the devil by fighting. I remember reading this and realizing how important it is not to fight with my siblings. Now as a mother I try my hardest not to let my kids fight. I know it is a normal thing for them to want to fight, but I also know it is important to teach them not to and the reasons why. I love these three women so much, and I am so grateful for the examples they are to me. Just wanted to share .