Random Fun

Thanksgiving Bingo

and Pie....

Fun cousins!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast...."The best day of my life!", according to Hyrum....

"'cause I got to eat at school instead of doing work!"

Halloween all bundled up ready to Trick-or-Treat

Grandma LOVES the Halloween donut game (where you eat a donut that is dangling off a string). Seriously, she insists that we play this game every year. She is always the champion. How many other great grandmas do you know that would do the donut game and LOVE IT!

Grandma has a beautiful Pagoda tree in her back yard. In the autumn it is magnificent. More on this story later!

We Love You!

This fall, the weather was very warm and then cold....Hyrum was very confused. He walked home from school wearing his coat and boots (because it was snowy in the morning). On his way home from school it was warm again. He was roasting in his winter gear and was delighted that one of the neighbors had their sprinklers on. He came right home and got in his swimming suit. When he asked to go out and play I wasn't paying attention and absently told him he had to get his boots on first. Only when he announced that he would be out running through the sprinklers and he'd be back soon, did I take notice of his clothing.

I don't know if any one else has children that have to wear at least 2 different Halloween costumes in one season (depending on their mood I guess). Good thing we have a big costume box! Mari rotated between Tinkerbell and Supergirl. If you can't tell, I'm Perry the Platypus and Ben is Dr. Doofenschmirtz from Disney's Phineas and Ferb.

Eve's first costume was a purple princess....This Twister costume was more her mood at school

Hyrum waiting for the party.
This was Hyrum's original costume "Mr. Police Man" until my sister Holly gave him a Transformer costume for his birthday. Later, he went trick-or-treating as Batman.

Emma wore her pointe shoes for her costume. She had fun showing her class some of her dance steps. This is the last year all my kids will be in the school Halloween Parade :(

Hyrum was a great soccer blocker!

Emma loves the computer. When she grows up, she wants to be a graphic designer so she can design ketchup bottles (no joke!)

Birthday Buddies!

Cupcake facial!

Everyone is always singing or dancing at our house. Not a meal goes by when someone doesn't randomly get up from the table and start dancing or singing or showing their latest trick. I had a friend call on the phone and said, "Where are all your kids?" "They are here" I replied...."Oh, it just seems so quiet!"....I'm not sure how to take that...but we do have fun!

...and my favorite! I must say that I ROCK at Dance Dance Revolution!!!!

Behold!

Mari is sweet and charming...most of the the time....

We love her very much.

Mari has learned the art of dressing herself...

Mari is an interesting little girl. One minute she's total-girl, the next....well,

A few nights ago she informed me that she didn't want to act like a princess anymore, she wanted to be Spiderman.

She is always singing and dancing. During lunch she kept trying to sing, even with her mouth full of carrots. I kept telling her to act like a princess, not a monster (the song she was singing was more like a grovely growl than a song...but with carrots flying everywhere) She looked up at me with those blue eyes and started singing much more sweetly "We go potty and poop in the toilet. La la loo."

"Is that better Mom?"

Trying not to laugh I tried to explain that we don't talk about that kind of thing.

Looking very confused she said, "But we DO!"

Later, I was in the kitchen making dinner. I hear Mari behind me. She says, "Mom!"
I turn around to answer her and.... there she stands, pants in one hand, shirt in the other. She throws her arms out and says, "BEHOLD!"

And yes, she is completely naked!

Oh Mari. What are we to do with you?

A Tribute to a Special Girl

Emma, my 11 going on 16 year old. You are sweet, responsible, kind, caring, thoughtful of everyone around you. You are always looking for ways to help. On Sunday (fast Sunday) none of us had eaten since the night before. Ben was at the church from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. He had to stay later than expected because of a last minute meeting. He called home to tell us to go ahead with dinner, not to wait for him. Emma knew it was no fun to eat dinner alone, and that Dad had been fasting the whole time too..so she waited to eat until Dad came home. I know she was really hungry, but was able to think of her dad's feelings before her own. Ben felt loved.

We've been catching glimpses of the woman she will become. She will be strong, obedient, and loving. She will accomplish much and help many people. Tonight for family night, we watched the new video clips "We Believe" put out by the church to introduce the Mutual theme for 2011. Emma will be joining the Young Women next month...she is very excited and ready. After we watched, Emma testified to us that she knew that the values and principles talked about in the DVD were true. She knows that she will be happy if she continues to make choices that will lead her to Jesus Christ. I love you Emma!