The Spirit of Christmas

Jacob entered an art contest at school called the "Spirit of Christmas"....and he won! He won $10.00 and his art work is on display at the Springville Museum of Art. Go Jacob!

I forgot that smell...

We spent Thanksgiving break at the Johnsons. When we first arrived, as we were unloading our things, Sam stopped at the front door and sniffed, saying "What's that smell?" Julie asked him what he meant, and he said..."It's the Johnsons...I forgot that smell." Then she asked if it was a good or bad smell. Thank goodness he said it was good!

Then when we got home and unpacked, Sam picked up "Horton" his stuffed elephant, and sniffed, saying excitedly: "You smell like the Johnsons!"

We're glad we can "SMELL" the Johnsons..we love spending time with them and all our family!

THANKFUL

Kelsi, Hayley, Karissa

Thanksgiving dinner at the Johnsons.

Jacob, Grandpa Blake, Blake

Mindy, Bryan

Cousins!! :)

"I just want Turkey!"-Sam

Yes, he ate the ENTIRE turkey leg.

Checking out the ads for BLACK FRIDAY.
(Lisa, Julie, Jessica, Mindy, Kristi...
and Grandma, in the back doing dishes!)

Sam's new bike!

Dancing with our 'rockin' Santa!

(Jacob, Sam, new horse, Oreo, Kelsi)

WE ARE THANKFUL FOR...

"Family and the Gospel"-Bryan and Mindy

"Everything!" -Karissa

"Family, including Oreo. And clothing, shelter, and food, including ice cream." -Jacob

"Oreo." -Kelsi

"Jesus."-Sam

It was a GREAT thanksgiving week!--so fun to be with FAMILY. We had a wonderful THANKSGIVING DINNER at my sister, Julie's house. We enjoyed a mini vacation staying at the Johnson's for 4 days! I got to go to the BLACK FRIDAY shopping with my sisters and niece--so much FUN! The kids had a ton of fun with their cousins. And now we're just facing tears because they miss their cousins so much. But we came home with some great memories and souvenirs: a cute craft :) and all of our goods from shopping and Sam got a new bike from Uncle Dave!
Now we're trying to get back into the swing of things...but I'd take the vacation back any day!

We just got our Christmas decor out...and our traditional dancing with our 'rockin' Santa.

Kelsi had her first violin lesson today--from me :) She seems to like it...so far so good.

And we've also relieved a bit of stress...I took back 2 boxes of contacts today--thank goodness Maria was nice and let me...we now have a credit on our eye doctor account. Karissa decided she VERY MUCH DISLIKES contacts. She still has a box to wear occasionally, but at least we were able to take some of them back, and she's no longer under the pressure of having to wear them all the time.

Christmas is just around the corner! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Blah, Blah, Blah

We're getting ready to go to the Johnsons for Thanksgiving Break, and we're all very excited, and some of the kids have been packing for days! As I was helping Sam pack, he said to me, "Mom, are you just so excited to go see Aunt Julie and go Blah, Blah, Blah and talk to her so much!"

New Moon

(Mindy, Karissa, Kelsi)

The girls and I just got back from New Moon---LOVED IT!  Yes we're a little crazy :) but it's all good and fun.

Sam had quite the feast at school today...tons of great kid food!

I was in charge of Jacob's class party--his teacher wanted us to do a service.  So everyone in the class brought donations for Primary Children's Hospital and the kids made cards for the children at the hospital.  We also had a popcorn machine with fresh popped popcorn and a movie.  I think the kids had fun, and I'm looking forward to delivering all the donations and cards as a family.

Bryan has been BUSY...painted the garage and built more shelves in the garage...it looks really good!  AND he finished the cupboard and drawers for our half bath---WOW!

We enjoyed going to Applebees with Mom and Dad on Friday, and playing games after...makes for a fun date night :)

We're really excited for Thanksgiving week!!!

Cozy Corners

Sam's Cozy Reading Corner

Jacob's AWESOME new bunk bed!

We made a "reading corner" in Sam's room that he is very excited about :) he slept there last night--hope his neck isn't too kinked.

Jacob got an EARLY Christmas present from Bryan and I...a custom built bunk bed and he LOVES it!

The girls' exciting news is that we got New Moon tickets!

I spent the entire weekend in bed...literally. I was super sick! It was a blessing that Bryan was home so I could stay in bed. I'm very grateful to be feeling better :) However, I do have my work cut out for me today...slowly, but surely it'll eventually get done.

Bryan cleaned out our garage (yes while I was in bed sick)...REALLY cleaned out our garage and built an awesome shoe shelf out there. It's very NICE walking out into such a nice clean garage--something I will LOVE getting use to.

Reflections

Karissa with her winning photograph for Reflections.

Karissa entered a photograph in Reflections and won a MEDAL! It's now moving on to the district competition.

Other exciting news is that we have a wonderful garage door that WORKS! It's so nice to be able to get in and out of the garage easily! And we also got a new door knob...I'm feeling spoiled :) it's so easy to get in and out of the house now. It's also fun to have a change of color...the garage door we got is tan...so we painted the front door and shutters to match.

Kelsi's braces are starting to feel better---Yeah! That first week was a bit rough.

I got to do the "Magical Tuesday" for Sam's class today...I did the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk...Sam was VERY EXCITED about me doing it.

We had our stake conference...it was very good.. the theme was temporal and spiritual self-reliance. Our stake president said that part of being self-reliant means that the Lord can rely on you...I thought that was a good thought...and have been pondering it ever since.

Well, It's been a SUPER BUSY week...and I'm not sure what I would have to done to change any of it...I just need to figure out how to better balance everything I'm suppose to be doing!...and I need some serious catching up on sleep!