Pictures!!

I had to post this pictures because I thought it was so cute. We were trying to take a couple family pictures and this is her cropped from one of them. Such a poser!

Grady "helping" at our garage sell we had on Saturday
My handsome boy at our ward Christmas Party.

Ally and some friends singing karaoke at our ward partyMy sweet hubby and me

The family

This was so funny, we were having dinner and we look over at Grady and he had piled peas inside the bed of the toy truck and convertable car. Gotta love little boys

After we got our tree set up I told the kids I wanted a picture of them and the tree. So, they thought it neccessary to lay down below the tree to not block it at all. Goof balls! Oh, and what do you know Ally is posing again!

This was Gradys attempt at helping us with theChristmas Tree

Silly Boy

Christmas Spirit.....

I have REALLY struggled to get into the "Christmas Spirit" this year for reasons unknown. It could be that I am working and have had NO time to do anything Christmas thus far. It could be the lack of money to do anythng Christmas this year. Or it could be that I haven't tried very hard. I decided last night to attempt to try and get myself in the spirit of Christmas. I sat down with the kids last night and read them a story titled "The Giving Chest" it was a good little Christmas story about the gift of giving. It helped a little. The kids enjoyed the book so it was a success. Then today after work I met Travis and good ol Target to do our FIRST Christmas shopping this year. With money so tight, as it is for everyone, we really werent' doing a whole lot and it made it a little more meaningful to make sure the few things they were getting were "good". That also helped a little. I am starting to feel the Christmas Spirit. We have our ward party tonight and I am really hoping this will finish off the job of getting me excited for Christmas. I also hope to take goodies to some friends Monday night with the fam for FHE. What are some things you have done to get you and your family in the Christmas Spirit?

Spelling Bee....

So, my amazing 8 year old little boy made it into the school spelling bee. He won 1st place out of his class and is now headed to the school bee which is going to be between the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. He just brought home THE LIST of words to study. Yikes! There are over 1150 words to study and let me tell you, they are NOT easy. A few examples:

*incriminate

*omnivorous

*bellicose

*obsequious

*ostentatious

*magnanimous

Yeah, he is in 3rd grade! Holy Cow.

We are so proud of him for making it regardless of how well he does in the big one. He is such a smart kid and always tries to do his best in everything he does. I never have problems with him and his homework or anything. He just comes home and gets it done. What a great kid!

Stomache Flu, UGH!!

We got home Sunday night from Az. and all was well, I was feeling good about that I had already done most of my laundry at my moms before we came home, the kids were in bed, I was busy making out my workout plan for the next morning (I was supposed to start teaching my new class MOn. morning). and Trav and I were just talking about "stuff". I went to bed thinking about all of my stuff to do the next day: work, get out christmas stuff for FHE, clean, grocery store, etc etc. Well instead I wake up around ten with a HORRIBLE stomache ache. About 1 am it started, the throw up, I won't go into details but it was not pretty. I spent all night on the family room floor. Needless to say Monday I was EXHAUSTED and still felt horrible. My friend, who watches Grady on Mondays and Wednesdays, came and got him and watched him for me anyways. HUGE!!! I was able to rest all day, which was so good since every time I got up I got sick again. Travis was amazing, cleaned the house, bathed the kids, played games with them, the whole deal. My good friend Rhonda knew that I was sick and was soooo thoughtful and brought dinner for the fam. I love good friends! I am feeling much better today. Now, I am just trying to build up my strength to go back to work tomorrow. I HATE the stomache flu and anytime I get it I remind myself I am so GRATEFUL that I will not be pregnant again, EVER, and that this flu only lasts a few short days and not months. Ha ha! Now lets just hope nobody else gets it.

Thanksgiving!!

We had a wonderful trip to Az for Thanksgiving. Lots of food, family and fun! The kids of course had a lot of fun with all of their cousins who were in town. This year Cayden was especially happy because my cousin JoJo and his family came into town and his cousins Calvin and Noah were there this year too. It was a treat for him since he is usually surrounded by girls, mostly! I always take my camera with me every where we go and then NEVER take it out for pictures. I don't know if I feel stupid busting out the camera while it is just random normal things going on or what my problem is but now I am regretting not taking more pictures. Here are the very few I took when we took the kids rappelling with my family. Well, they were supposed to post under this but they posted above, sorry. We had so much fun rappelling and I am so proud of Cayden and Ally, they both did it. If you have never been it is SO fun but scary to get over the edge and I am so glad they went and liked it so now we can make it a family activity. Emily has some more pics from rappelling so I will get those and upload them too.