Turkey Day!

So it's 7:00 in the morning and I can't sleep. The one day to sleep in and I can't do it. So I'm snooping on all the blogs that I've missed in the passed few weeks. As I'm looking at everyone's blogs, I'm realizing I need to sit and take a few minutes and think about what I'm thankful for. After my past year, I've had a few things happen that don't necessarily bring the grateful mood into my life. But I'm going to try to refocus my thoughts with a start this quiet morning on what I am thankful for. Let's just say it's practice before I'm put on the spot at dinner this afternoon!

1. Family
Hanna-she is so tenderhearted and smart with a mind that doesn't stop. I am thankful for her deep thinking and questioning mind.
Alizah-she is a special girl with quirks that I do love. I am thankful for how hard she tries to be brave.
Piper-wants to be big girl and a baby at the same time. I am thankful for her desire to learn new things.
Brandon-I am thankful for the amount of effort he is putting into this family at this time.

2. My House
I love where we live and the land and neigborhood that that surrounds it. Every morning as the ducks fly over the creek, I think of what a lucky family we are to live here.

3. The Church
I am thankful for Heavenly Father for providing a church that is supportive and full of people that are willing to love. I am thankful for the Savior for giving his life for us to provide a way that we can repent of our mistakes and move on with Faith.

4. Friends
I am thankful for the many friends that I have that listen when I need them too with or without giving opinions back! I'm thankful that they they love me for who I am and are willing to help build me up.

5. Jobs
I am thankful for the opportunities I have to provide my family with the things that they need.


Ok, now for a few more thankful things that I'll just list in any given order....

dead mice,good customer service, drugs for dental work, ice cream, Maggie & The Ferocious Beast, DVD players for cars, cell phones, cheetos/oreos, computers/internet/email, i-phone, removable showerheads, Dyson vacuum cleaners, TEVO, contacts, employees that have workethic, dead mice-oh wait did I mention that already, better do it again, dead mice.

I have many, many things to be thankful for and I think that in my busy life that the negative can easily overpower me. My new year resolution (I might as well start early) is going to be to think more positively. I heard a technique yesterday that I'm going to try to start. It's called stop and redirect. When you are thinking something negative, you visualize a stop sign and redirect yourself into a positive thought. So I guess for Christmas presents, my friends might be getting stop signs to help me out with this!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone and I hope you have many things to be thankful for also!! The kids are stirring and I need to start my assignments for the dinner before they get up. We are going to a friend's house this afternoon. The kids are excited and I'm not having to cook that much so I'm excited!

Deep Kindergarten comments

My kids in kindergarten have been talking about the election. Some of their comments that I heard were definitley one sided to each of the presidential candidates. After reading Korbi's blog, and the article about the terrible disgrace we have shown as a country to our current president, I couldn't help but get my thoughts out on the matter. I have never told a class who I vote for or which candidate I support. Instead I've tried to teach the kids that no matter what we think, there are other people out there that might think differently and if we think we are right, we still need to be considerate to other's opinions. The article on Korbi's blog is interesting in the light of the election that was just held. Even though I did not vote for Obama, I need to take into consideration that he is our President and until he proves otherwise he needs to be supported. I guess I'm so surprised how young these deep feelings of support, respect, etc. are fostered. For example, Hanna came home from school and told me that our new President kills kids. Well, after a few days I figured out that she has just been introduced to the topic of abortion. I now have to have this conversation with her and despite my thoughts on the matter, I was shocked at how second graders are percieving things that are happening in our country. I just hope that parents can be a little bit more aware of their comments and try to teach kids to think for themselves and not be persuaded by other's opinions. Children this young really should have no opinion because there is no way they could have all the information to make an educated decision. And I think this is the biggest problem with elections, conversations about politics (well anything for that matter), etc. is that many people don't have all the facts before they are making their opinions known. I myself need to be more educated in these matters and am trying to make it a point to read more information.

So, on lighter notes, I have another mouse-mice haunting (well not haunting because they are not dead...yet) me. I really feel their eyes on me when I walk down every morning for the past week and see the mouse traps LICKED CLEAN and not set off. I think they are probably making fun of me in their own sick way. So my neighbor, Jerry the hunter, has baited the traps with bacon rines tied to the traps with string. So they'll have to pull and pull and hopefully,....SNAP!!!!!!! Jerry is such a kind man. The kids even know that when we have a problem, we call Jerry. We are so blessed to have Jerry and Tedde down the street and I'm really not just talking about the mice right now. They are always available to help us and we so appreciate them.

Twilight Fever

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

I guess I'm not as excited about the new twilight movie coming out as my sisters are, but I do look forward to it. ( My Idaho sisters are going to a before party, a limo ride to the movie, and an after party!) So I had to take the quiz and see which character I was like. Maybe some of us Washington residents need to make plans to go to the show together. hint, hint....

A.I.M. Halloween Carnival

My Rockin Staff!!
Ok, I know they don't look too professional in this pic...but they are awesome!
We put together a fun afternoon for a hundred+ kids AND we were all smiling in the end :)

Hanna and her good friend Ella. They loved letting Alexie dress them up and do their makeup!

Beck and Piper. Beck was anti-Halloween and wouldn't dress-up. And Piper was at one point seen stripping her costume also...

Alizah was a bunny fairy turned princess fairy. My favorite is her "super-fast" tennis shoes that had to go with her outfit. She also enjoyed Alexie and her make-up. Now, every time Alexie comes over, Alizah asks if she can bring her make-up!


We had a fun afternoon for the first party of many for this Halloween season. We've carved pumpkins twice already and have a Stake Halloween carnival on Thursday and this is all before Halloween! We'll be traveling on Halloween day and arriving in Burley hopefully in time for trick-or-treating. The kids will all miss their school Halloween parties, just like last year. What's with family planning things on such a major holiday...just kidding! There is plenty of candy to go around and my kids DON"T need anymore sugar. Piper's newest thing is to take the entire pantry sugar container and hide in the living room and eat it by the spoonful. Why haven't I found a new place for the container yet? I guess she takes after me. My aunt still teases me becasue my favorite food at one time when I was a kid was butter and sugar sandwiches!!!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Something must be shocking to Alizah!

Alizah loved the leaves and loved to be chased around the "forest" of trees.

Piper hung in there for a few of the field trips this week and picked a pumpkin every time.

Hanna and Paisley (this outfit and picture is funny to see cuz I took Piper's picture the exact same way a few years ago in the same outfit!)

ALizah loved the GREEN pumpkins-they were actually easier to carve!


Ok, all my fonts/color is messed up and I couldn't figure it out in the above lines....
So we went to every one of my school's pumpkin patch field trips (six times in all). We were the drivers for the hay ride down to my neighbor's patch, so my kids definately got their fill of field trips this week. We also only lost two pair of gloves through the whole week! Hanna got to skip school and come to one of the trips. She's having a hard time with the amount of second grade work so it was kindof nice to give her a little break and let her do another type of learning! The school kids rode the hay ride, did the pumpkin thing, played in the leaves, gathered pinecones, then played in the backyard. My favorite time was when one of the classes, Alizah included, played pirate ship in our backyard swingset/fort. They were "heaving" up the anchor (a wrapped up volleyball net) and yelling at each other pirate style. It was so fun to see their imagination. You just don't see very much of that anymore with all the academic push so young. I won't get on my soap box today, but it's just fun to see their minds at work without a pencil in their hand...We had a busy week. We'll post pictures of the pumpkins we carved and the Halloween carnival that was today-as soon as Korbi emails them to me:)

I also have a story that I wanted to post, but I don't know if it is very appropriate, but I figure this is like our family's history-so I'll just say this much. My seven year old and I just had the "talk" today. I figured she was WAY TOO YOUNG!! But a neigbor girl has been telling her things and she was asking way too many questions, so I figured I better be the one to be giving the answers instead of an 8 year old. So I just wondered where my little baby has gone??? She has grown up and I'm just counting my blessings she came to me and I pray we keep this relationship for at least a few more years!!!!!

Thoughtful gift

I got a package and a card in the mail today from my Grandmother. It was a thoughtful card with a nice treat in it! And the package had three black wooden letters in it....A.I.M. This stands for my business and will look great in my new office!! I promise pictures will follow soon when I get the room put together. I just had to post quickly and tell her thank-you for the thoughtful gift and it was nice to know she was thinking of me. I rarely get a chance to talk on the phone and do anything in person, usually because people are asleep by the time I slow down for the night! :) It's sure fun to get mail and i appreciate all the nice thoughts for our family lately and the kind gestures of cards, lunches,and packages. It's been a good day!

Olympic Superstar Tour

Our Future Superstars!! The girls were so excited to see the gymnasts. Our two little ones, Laney and Alizah even wore their leos and everyone got a kick out of them!

WOW!! Nastia Liuken and Hanna!! We were talking about Alizah's birthday and having a princess come and Hanna pipes up and says I want Nastia and Shawn to come to my b-day. I hate to break the news to her that this is the closest she'll ever get even though it was only for a few seconds. I couldn't believe how fast the security rushed you through. The girls wouldn't even talk to the Olympians and they were just really busy signing things.

Shawn Johnson and Hanna and Victoria-a teammate.

So this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for our girls. We had great seats and when the gymnasts ran by to change events or move formations, they would run along the side and give out High Fives...Hanna got to give Nastia a high five! I had two backstage passes for the autograph session so Hanna and Victoria got to be with only about 30 other people that got to go meet the gymnasts, but I had been e-mailing one of the head ticket guys and he actually let me slip in with them, so I got to take pictures and got a shirt signed along with a few posters for the gym. Hanna had her leo signed along with the other Olympians from Woodward Camp this summer. Hanna was actually pretty sick with a high fever and wasn't too energetic the whole night. I felt so bad that she wasn't enjoying it as much as she could have. She was a trooper and I guess she'll remember it in the end. Alizah had so much fun. She kept asking if they were real and all she wanted to do was touch them. I was so grateful to be able to take them. When I was in high school, I took my sister Jake to one of these and still remember meeting my idols and getting their autographs. I'm thankful to be able to give my kids these memories.