The Wrong Kind of Christmas "Wrap"

To anyone who happened to open my blog in the last couple of days and out blarred some rap music....my apologies. Somehow some ghetto rap song ended up in my Christmas song playlist?! As I was reading someone else's blog today, this song came through my speakers and I was thinking how I couldn't believe this person would actually put this song on their blog!! Then when I closed out of it, I realized it was coming from mine!! No idea, how it got there, but my sincere apologies.

Thanksgiving 2009

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house. I had all of my family here. My parents and brother and sister came up from California and they picked up my grandparents from St. George on the way. And my sister and her family came from Utah, and I have another sister that lives here in town. So it was a full house! But we managed to pull it all together, with a little help from neighbors ovens, without a hitch.












After our most excellent meal, came one of the highlights of the day. Dessert! My 4 sisters and my mom and I decided to mix things up a bit with some friendly competition and have a pie contest. So fun! My grandparents were originally suppose to judge, but then last second were afraid of hurting anyone's feelings. They're so cute.

So we opted to have to have a secret ballot. My mom and I tied for first. Here's a picture of my award winning coconut cream pie. ALL of the pies were soooo yummy!


The next day we celebrated my grandparent's birthdays. My grandpa turned 85 and my grandma turned 79. It was so great to be able to share a special day with them. And another excuse to share some yummy treats!


It was a busy and fun weekend. I don't think I've had Thanksgiving with my entire family since I was in high school. So it was so nice for all of us to be together.
But as our family is only getting bigger, room gets tighter. It happens. But it was a fantastic few days and was so happy to have all of my family here. I have much to be thankful for.

Way to Go Emma!

My little Emma came home with her first report card from 2nd grade...straight A's! I had to commemorate the moment. I'm so proud of her. Hopefully it's the first of many. How did I get such smart kids? They definitely didn't get it from me. I love this girl.

Halloween 2009

I love this time of year! I love the Fall and all that it brings. This Halloween season we did something a little different. Instead of me buying a bunch of pumpkins from the store, we visited a local pumpkin patch. I know, I know, a bunch of you are saying HELLO, that is the only way to go. Well, now I know. It was so fun! We went on a perfect day. The weather was warm and the whole environment was so Hallmark Channel. They had hayrides for the family, train rides and mazes for the kids, donuts for sale and not to mention the whole thing was at this huge red barn. So cute! The kids loved picking out their own pumpkins. This for sure is the start of a new Halloween tradition!






Then next night for Family Home Evening, we carved them....

And the evening wouldn't have been complete without caramel apples...



Then there is always Halloween parties and parades at the kids' school. The kids march around the inside of the school in their costumes while the parents and siblings watch from the side. Katelyn was a 50's girl, Emma a baby, Mason a baseball player, Riley was Minnie Mouse and Landon was a pumpkin.



Then came Halloween. What a fun night! Everyone in our neighborhood sat out in the driveways and passed out candy, which made it very easy for the kids. We also had 4 "stopping stations" in the neighborhood with donuts and hot chocolate. They asked us if we could have one at our house. It was actually really fun. I set up a table in the garage, less windy in there, with the donuts, hot chocolate and a tub of candy. We also set up our fire pit in the drive way for those cold trick-or-treaters. Parents appreciated that one. We passed out almost 100 donuts! It was so fun. Now really it was our ward who sprung for all the donuts and hot chocolate, our home was just a distribution center. But those that came not from our neighborhood just thought I was the coolest lady ever to being passing all that out. And who am I to correct them!? All in all it was such a fun night!

Landon at 5 months

Just thought I'd share a couple of Landon's latest pictures. He melts my heart.

Daddy Daughter Date

Last week Josh and Emma went to Emma's first Daddy Daughter Date for Achievement Days. It was a pumpkin carving contest. ANY contest is right up Josh's alley. They created two different pumpkins. First, they created Emma's pick a "grandma pumpkin" which I thought was very cute. Then they decided to go a little...grosser. Then they created the "sick pumpkin". Complete with a bottle of Pepto-Bismol. There were awards for the top three pumpkins and Josh and Emma's was one of them! I was very proud. (So happy Josh is never embarrassed to bring a long the camera to these type of things.)

The Phantom of the Opera

Last weekend Josh and I and some friends of ours went to Las Vegas for a little mini vacation. The guys went to the UNLV-BYU game while us wives went to see The Phantom of Opera. Yes, I know us girls got the much better end of the deal. We had a great time. I have never seen Phantom before, or any musical for that matter, and I was blown away. I absolutely loved it! I just am a little sad Josh missed it. But Josh had a great time at the game. BYU won, which is a very good thing, otherwise it would have been a very loooong drive home if they hadn't. It was a very quick trip, but well worth it!