Thanksgiving Break

Caitlyn got the whole week of Thanksgiving off so her and Amarie drove up the Friday before.  Hallee was so happy to have Caitlyn home. They had fun making bracelets together.

We watched the first and second Shrek movies that night. 

On Saturday, Hallee spent the whole day with Tessa for her birthday. She was excited to give her a clay bead jewelry set.

Tiff took the girls to Lowes and they jumped for 4 hours! Hallee had so much fun.

She was so proud of herself for finally doing the trapeze.  

Rockwell came over to our house that day and the boys had a great time!

We all loved having Caitlyn home!

Matt and Lori came into town for Thanksgiving. On Wednesday they came over and Lori made brownies for Cody and got his packages ready to drop off.  She always does such cute, fun packages. Tiff and the kids came over too. 

After we dropped off the packages and grabbed some lunch we went up to Mel's house to see the babies. They are both just so cute!

Caitlyn and Elena went to Mel's before us and then went to grandma's to help her get ready for Thanksgiving. 

I thought I told Keith that we were going to Mel's, but he thought we were just going to mail the packages.  We left all the kids with him and after a few hours he was wondering where we were. He took the kids to dinner at McDonalds and then to the mall.  They were all excited about that.

After that he took them for ice cream.  Keith had to be available to work that day so he couldn't come with us.  We sure appreciate him taking care of the kids and making sure they had a fun day!

We stopped by mom and dad's and checked in with the girls.  After that we all went back to Provo. We decided to go to Leatehrby's for dinner.  Paul met us there and Caitlyn and Elena met us there after they went shopping. 

When we got back to our house we could hear the kids laughing in Hallee's room.  We went in there to find Sawyer, Hallee and Tessa giving Jonah a makeover.

The girls thought that was so fun and Damon thought it was hilarious.

Jonah and Sawyer had fun playing with the kids that night and the kids loved it!

On Thanksgiving we went to my parents early to help get Thanksgiving dinner ready.  It made me so happy that all of my kids were in a good mood and jumped right in and helped.  

We got things ready and then had fun visiting for a while.

It was fun to have Alexys there.  We haven't seen her for a while.

Tessa and Hallee thought it was fun to have their own table in the dining room this year.

We don't have much of a kids table anymore, they are all grown up.

We were all so hungry by dinner time and everything was so good!

After dinner we visited and Mel and her family came over for pie. After that most of the group watched a Christmas movie.  I enjoyed visiting with Lori and Alexys and Jonah joined us too.  It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I'm so grateful I got to spend it with the people I love.

On Friday Matt and Lori joined us for the Orem Temple open house.  It snowed the night before and it was freezing. We had to wait for the shuttle for about 20 minutes, it was so cold!

The temple was beautiful and I loved being there with all the kids. 

When we came out of the temple the shuttle was there.  We couldn't all get on, so me, Caitlyn, Wyatt and Hallee walked up the road so Keith could pick us up when they got back to the car.  We had fun playing concentration while we were waiting.

Everyone hung out at my house the rest of the day. The kids had fun playing while we visited.  

Jonah and Sawyer came over again that night. Damon loved playing with them.

Caitlyn and Elena went shopping a lot and had a great time together.  We said goodbye to them on Friday night because they left Saturday.  It was so fun to have them here.  We had so much fun and so much good quality time.

On Saturday I was exhausted, it had been a busy few days.  Caitlyn and Amarie went back to Cedar City that afternoon.  I cleaned the house and Hallee and Keith set up the Christmas decorations. 

Yesterday we had a nice relaxing day after church.  Hallee painted my toenails so I would be ready for our trip to Hawaii today.  Keith and I are headed to Maui in a couple of hours.  Daniel is taking all the executives and their spouses for the week.  We are so excited!   

Family Pictures

 

We decided while Caitlyn was home to take some family pictures.  We haven't done them for two years and I wanted to do a Christmas card this year.

It was last minute so no one had very much time to complain. Actually, they were all really good sports about it. 

The hardest part was finding good lighting. We had to do it in the afternoon sun which isn't ideal.

I promised the kids if they cooperated that we would make it really quick.

This is one of my favorites.

We tried a few spots, I like this one, but the lighting is terrible.

We were able to use my tripod and remote and that worked out really well.

The kids told me I was pushing it when I told them I wanted a few of them.

I have proof that they did laugh and enjoy themselves. 

They turned out great! I'm so happy we took them.

Life Lately

Hallee celebrated national sloth day with all of her sloths.

Wyatt passed off his top rock and earned his shirt.

Hallee helped Keith make rice crispy treats.

Hallee looked so cute in her new boots and sweatshirt. We had parent-teacher conference with her teacher and she had wonderful things to say about Hallee.  She also showed me an essay that Hallee wrote about the day we dropped Caitlyn off at college.  It was so sweet and heart breaking at the same time.  That was a very hard day for Hallee and she sure misses her sister. We are so proud of Hallee and all of the hard work she puts in at school and for the kind person that she is.

Wyatt went to his first after school dance. I got this picture off the school's Instagram page. You can see Wyatt on the right side.  He said he had fun and the kids all loved when he got in the circle and break danced. 

Hallee's class went on a field trip to the planetarium. Nicole sent me these pictures of the girls.

Keith took the kids to Nickel City while I was out of town with Mel. They all had a blast.

Last week I saw Cody when I went to the temple!   I had an appointment Monday and Tuesday to go and things came up and I had to cancel them.  Wednesday morning I woke up and there was one appointment that had opened up so I grabbed it and rushed up there. I knew Cody went to the temple on Wednesdays so I was looking at the missionaries that were walking up when I was, but I didn't see him. When we got close to the door I saw him walking over to me.  It was so great to see him and give him a hug and talk to him for a quick minute while we both walked into the temple. We didn't get to talk much, but he seemed so happy.  I'm so grateful I got to see him.

Hallee had fun playing with play dough while I watched football on Saturday. 

Jonah wants to play Lacrosse this year, so he has been practicing.  Wyatt loves to play with him. They try to play inside, but we make them go outside.

Caitlyn and I were texting on Saturday and Caitlyn said she really wanted to come home.  She decided last minute to drive up. She told me to keep it a surprise so I didn't tell anyone. Keith was very surprised when he opened the door and found Caitlyn there.

Hallee was so excited when she heard Caitlyn's voice.

We got pizza for dinner and we were all home for a bit on Saturday evening, it was so nice. 

It was so fun to have all of my kids with me at church.  We ate an early dinner on Sunday so Caitlyn could drive back home before dark. It was a very short visit, but we all loved it!