Christmas Tree

 

Candy Day

It's the most delicious day of the year!  And also the first day we get to really celebrate the Christmas season, with Christmas music, chocolate and lots of sneaking candy.  Nothing makes a candy day better than being surrounded by my kids and Josh, and feasting on chocolate all day long.  Don't worry, we saved some for everyone else.  We just got our fair share too along the way!

 

Black Friday

We ventured out in the wee hours of the morning to black friday shop "in person" this year.  It's been a while and it's way different than it used to be, but I have to say its a lot of fun and much less stress than the olden days!  We wandered around Kohls, Target and Walmart and even stopped for breakfast without so much as a small crowd in any of the stores.  Gone are the days of pushing through hords of people and throwing things from one aisle to the next to get just the right gift.  We had a leisurely morning and were quite successful with our purchases which is a win!  I think we may keep up this Black Friday tradition after all!

 

Thanksgiving 2023

We feel so blessed this year as we gathered with loved ones to celebrate Thanksgiving together.  Our bounteous blessings are evident when we set our table and sit together with lots of love and energy present in our home.  I couldn't have asked for a better day to remember how blessed our life is and how grateful we are to be close to family.  Happy Thanksgiving to all, near and far!

 

Thanksgiving schoolwork

Desh worked hard on some Thanksgiving worksheets today, just in time for the holiday!

 

Some things...

Do you ever feel like life is passing you by without asking permission?  Like you look up and all of a sudden your kids are all taller than you and they grew up right before your eyes?  Yah, I'm there.  I'm suddenly shorter than my two oldest boys, not to mention the girls that passed me up years ago.  I love my kids TO DEATH...and all the things they're doing make my life crazy and fun!  

Liev started going to the gym with us and boy is it a hoot to watch him try and lift weights with those skinny arms of his!

I've been the activity days leader for the 10-11 year old boys and we've had so much fun getting to know them and doing fun things together.  The last activity we had with them was to make marshmallow guns and have a marshmallow fight.  It hit the spot.  Those boys could not get enought!

Rhen and Josh cleaned up our yard one weekend while I was out and cut down an old bush that was getting unruly. 

Overall, our life is wild and crazy and fun.  I wouldn't change a thing about it.

 

BYU football

 

We LOVE going to the BYU football games together! This year has been a mixed bag of good/not so good games, on and off good weather and fair weather fans (Beck swapping to cheer for OU at the last second). But it's always our favorite fall tradition and we can't get enough cougar tails and chocolate mint brownies...

Rhen's friends

Rhen has a darling, fun group of friends that hang out all day during school and then somehow still manage to get together after school and on weekends, in between practices, jobs and homework.  They had a "Friends-giving" at our house this week and Rhen pulled out the nice dishes and all.  Potluck style with lasagna as the main dish, the Friends-giving was a hit!

 

Piano Recital

The kids have been working so hard on their piano recital pieces the past couple of months and their hard work paid off tonight!  They got to perform all their songs tonight and everyone did amazing!  Including Desh who is in his first year of piano and has only had a few months of learning.  So proud of these young ones who work so hard!

 

Sadies

Rease and her cute friends had so much fun asking dates to Sadies this year and coming up with their outfits for the "wild west" theme.  They planned their day date to an escape room and then had "cowboy nachos" at one of the houses before the dance.  The highlight was taking pictures at the Bluffdale Park that has western props all set up and were perfect for pictures for the dance.  She had a great time with her good friend Brian and I know they probably just laughed the night away like they usually do when they're together.  Ha!  Love this girl and her amazing friends!

 

Family Pics

 

Girls Trip

We took a girls trip to St. George to take advantage of the gorgeous fall weather and fall colors, hike and stay at Stephanie's house just outside of Zions National Park.  It was the perfect getaway to do something new and enjoy great friendships!  We had the most amazing weather and our hike on the west rim of Zions was just stunning.  We hit the fall colors at just the right time and enjoyed all that it had to offer us! 

One of might favorite things we did was visit the St. George temple and got to go inside for the open house!

 

Marching Band

Marching Band season is always a busy, great time for all of us, but mostly for Rease.  She absolutely loves every minute of the practices, uniforms, late nights, bus rides, performances, friend time, changing routines, pep nights and all.  She soaks it all in from the end of July until the first weekend of November when they perform at State in St. George.  

They had a really solid routine this year and worked so hard to master it.  They changed things up mid season and added new parts when needed.  By the time they got to state it was basically perfect.  They performed it so well and ended up taking 3rd at State which was so amazing!  I am so happy for her and proud of her for all her hard work!