The Perfect Ending to a Beautiful Sabbath Day

After the good day I had at church with my kids, we came home and had an even better evening. As we gathered around the table for dinner, we reminisced about the good old days when they were all younger. We talked about monkey brains(yogurt with food coloring in it) that Jeff would make them and they had to promise not to eat while he stepped away for a moment. They thought it was so funny that when he would come back they had eaten it all gone. Somehow Jeff got them to eat their food better when it was monkey brains instead of actual yogurt - I don't know why that sounded better to them. We ended the day with a tradition of ours on Sunday evenings. When the little ones go to bed, we pull the games out. We always have a good time with the kids and Jeff being goofy and not playing right and me telling everyone to play the game right. I'm just thankful our kids enjoy being with us.

Another tradition in our family is drinking hot chocolate in the winter. Here Taylor is trying out her new recipe she found for hot vanilla.

Game time

A Pleasing Day

To avoid the word proud I will say I was very pleased with my Madi yesterday. What a very special girl she is. Yesterday at church she received her Young Womanhood Recognition and Medallion. She bore her testimony after and Jeff and I both thought she is so mature for her age. She truly has her priorities straight and has a love of the gospel and her Savior. To make me even more pleased with my children on this Sunday, I was able to watch as Taylor was set apart as the Beehive Secretary and Jeffrey was set apart as 2nd counselor in the Teacher's quorum. It gave me a moment to think about how pleased I am with each of my children and how thankful I am for the good examples they are to their peers and the good choices they make. Sometimes I can't believe that they can be so good. How did I get so blessed? I love and enjoy them all.

Madi's dinner of choice on her special day - Fettucini Alfredo with prosciutto and bruschetta. Uncle Tony made this for her before and she loves it now.

Deseret First Duel - Utah vs. BYU

Wall Street Journal rated the rivalry between BYU and The U of U the 4th best in college athletics. It makes for a fun week prior to the game in Utah. All schools in Utah have everyone wear red or blue the Friday before the game. I wore my BYU sweatshirt Friday also and had fun with comments back and forth with strangers at every store I went to that day. The Dorius family came over to watch the game with us. Sadly, the game didn't play out the way we would have liked it to but we got a lot of laughs out of it. It began to be a joke with how many times BYU's quarterback handed over the ball to the U. Nathan made the call every time. Hall would have a couple complete passes and Nathan would say it was time to hand the ball over to the U and sure enough it happened just about every time he said that. Maybe it was all Nathan's fault. Jeffrey had a blast watching the game because he thought Nathan's comments were so funny. We look forward to next year at this time.

Nathan cooking up some yummy grub(I went to bed with a stomach ache)

Tanya and I a little frustrated at the end of the evening. I don't know who's little hands are behind our heads.

Piano Recital

Madi and Mikayla had their first piano recital here in Utah. Actually this was Mikayla's very first recital. They both did a great job. Their teacher is Chrissy Horton(in the brown sweater and white shirt upper left in picture) and she is great. I happened to find her while looking for tennis lessons on Craigslist. She lives just down the road from us so the girls can walk to her house. she graduated from the U in music so she is very knowledgeable and loves teaching.

Another fun opportunity

My kids have already had so many neat experiences that you can only have living in Utah. Last week they had a morningside. It is basically early morning seminary so Madi and Mikayla were used to it. I don't think they happen too often but when they do, you don't want to miss it. At this morningside the guest speaker was John Bytheway. The kids all seem to have enjoyed it. The girls went straight to school from there but I picked up Jeffrey and brought him home. He was telling me how funny it was and that they had a yummy breakfast after also. Jeffrey said that John Bytheway was telling them that when he was asked to come to Kaysville for a morningside at 6:00 in the morning, he couldn't exactly say he was busy or had a meeting at that time of morning. I just wish I could have joined them.

On their way out the door at 5:20 am.

Dinner at the Christianson's

Angy is an old roommate of mine from BYU. She is a really neat person and I am grateful to be her friend. She and her husband are a great example to follow in so many ways. We went to their house Saturday for dinner and introduced our kids to each other. We have several the same age and it looked like they all enjoyed spending time together.

Brandon, Mikayla, Jeffrey and Madison playing Wii

Me and Angy

Olivia and Anna

Taylor, Emma and Ashley

Volleyball

Taylor and Mikayla had their first year of church volleyball. Actually it was their first year of ever playing volleyball. When I was growing up it was a part of mutual but here it is it's own, separate program. Madi wasn't able to play because she had other things going but will play next year. Church basketball is next and Madi is looking forward to it.



I think it is so cute that I have three kids the same height right now - Jeffrey is the other one.

Grandma Shannon's visit

Jeff's Grandma Shannon came up and spent the week with us. We all enjoyed having her, she is a joy to be around. Jeff and I took her to lunch in Salt Lake and we were able to show her the Salt Lake Temple where we were married. She joined us at some of our friends' homes we were invited to for dinner a couple of the nights also. We also went to a really cute Christmas boutique in someones barn. We loved having Grandma Shannon and hope she comes again.

I threw this picture in for Mom to see the cute barn the boutique was in.

Taylor with Grandma Shannon at the Christmas boutique.

Glenn, Grandma Shannon and Jeff at the Christianson's for dinner

Not the best picture but I really just wanted a picture of the snow falling outside. It was beautiful to watch from the top of the Joseph Smith Building while eating lunch.

Loved the view from the restaurant - snow falling and the temple

Easy, Yummy Pumpkin Cookies

The Sharp family introduced us to some very yummy and very easy pumpkin cookies. They are very moist and soft. Here is the recipe:

1 Box spice cake mix
1 29 oz. can pumpkin
chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for about 15-18 minutes

Halloween Parties

In California I think every elementary school had a Halloween carnival but apparently in Kaysville only one does in the whole town. It is now so big that they have it at the high school. I feel sorry for the PTA because I can't imagine all the work that goes into putting it together and cleaning it up. Taylor's friends have parents that helped with it so she was able to help with her friends. They all went shopping the night before and bought matching shirts for the fun of it.
Olivia had her class party that I was in charge of as the room mom. It was fun being there with her but I was very sad that I couldn't make it over to Emma's class and be a part of her party also. I'll have to work something out for the valentine party so I can make it to both.

Taylor and her friends at the Burton Elementary carnival

Olivia grabbing for free tacos and ice cream coupons at the carnival

practicing their shot for the balloon dart board

I thought this was a cute picture with Olivia on one side and Taylor on the other side of the booth

Olivia the mummy at her class party

Olivia and her friend Natalie

This wasn't a Halloween party but it was the only picture I could get of the kids at the Kenneth Cope concert before my camera's battery died. I could have taken a picture with Kenneth Cope also if my camera was still working. Oh well, I'm sure we will have other opportunities out here. The boy next to Jeffrey is his friend Brooks Hunsaker.

New Dinner Group

We have started a dinner group with some friends. Our ward has split now but most of us are still in the same ward and it will be a fun way to stay in contact with those that are not. Because it was Halloween, we had a mystery dinner for fun. The husbands were there too but they were scattered by the time I took the camera out. We all had a fun time. We have made many good friends since moving here.

Kim, me, Jodi, Kim's friend and Cindy

Fun the Idaho Way

The Day after Halloween the town of Weston Idaho gathers together. They all bring their pumpkins and the property owner brings some dynamite and a gun. The man in charge says a few words like "we are the most well known rednecks in the United States" (because of this activity which is shown on youtube called pumpkin blow). I was lucky enough to be able to catch a picture during the explosion. it was fun to watch. We were late getting there because Jeff had a church meeting that morning. Matt took his time bringing his pumpkins down one by one in hopes to kill some time so we wouldn't miss it. When we finally got there, everyone was yelling telling us to hurry and get up the hill - so all eyes were on us running as fast as we could up the hill, over the fence and to where everyone else was, watching and ready to go. We went to Matt and Aimee's for lunch after and to visit. They have quite a farm now and the kids had a lot of fun playing with all the animals.

Before

During

After

Taylor and Dalis

Jillian, Madi, Mikayla and Eliza

Jeffrey and Matt out by the cows

Emma having fun with the other kids throwing the chickens and watching them fly

Olivia, NOT afraid of the dogs. This was huge so she wanted to make sure we took lots of pictures with her and the dogs.

Cute little Jillian. The Sharps have the cutest kids.

Another cutie, Eliza with their new puppy.

This is the flume we float down in the summer by the Sharp's house.