it's December!

When I look around, there are signs everywhere that it is December.... Christmas lights & decorations, parking lots that are always full, every check stand at every store has a line, snow and freezing temps, the background on my blog.... but one of the biggest signs is that the choir concerts have officially begun. Kenzie performed last night. Maddy is next week, and then the big school-wide sing is the week after that. Because Kenzie is in 8th grade choir, we were lucky enough to get to purchase "the dress". Mind you, it's a $65 dress, that will never be worn again once choir is over. Kenzie looked beautiful, but I just cringe at spending so much on something that will be used so little. The concert was all about Christmas and the girls sounded awesome.

Told ya she was beautiful...that straight hair
took us over an hour...her curls are stubborn!

The kids' favorite song of the night was called "Fum, fum, fum".
It's a Spanish Dance Carol, but it's hard not to giggle when 70 girls
are all singing fum, fum, fum...yep, still giggling.

cranberry soaked

Thanksgiving....we ate all the usual stuff...turkey, stuffing, yams, rolls, potatoes, veggie trays, pie, and of most importance: cranberry sauce. Of course, I left the cranberry sauce in the fridge at my house and remembered it just as we were ready to bless the food. Tim made what should have been a quick drive home for the cranberries. We all waited...waited...and waited...and then started making up ideas of what could be taking him so long. We were guessing he had been pulled over for speeding. Kelly was guessing Tim was just backing in and out of the garage... something he hasn't done for several weeks while we stored Nicole's stuff in our garage. As it turned out, we were all wrong. On the way back to my mom's, Tim was crossing 100 East in AF (his light being green), while the girl coming the other way plowed right through her red light. Tim barely made it out of the way. When both cars stopped, Tim got out to check things out. He could just fit his finger in between the two cars....really, could not have been any closer. After trying to calm the hysterical girl driving the other car, Tim climbed back in the mini and realized the cranberries were face down, soaking into the seat. He made it back, we saved enough sauce for dinner, and spent our after dinner time bissel-ing out the seat. Guess it couldn't be Thanksgiving without a real reason to be thankful!

pre-dinner pics

pictures of my kids would be so easy if they could always
just be completely insane!

Lindsey came up with a make-your-own turkey craft which
entertained the 16 year old down to the 3 year old
for a good part of the afternoon.

All you Argyle cousins, doesn't this remind you of
the crafty stuff Aunt Bambie used to have us make
every year at Thanksgiving?
One of my personal favorites were the marble/bead/bandana
necklaces.... yep, I wore those proudly!

I am thankful for so many things:
my entirely awesome family,
wonderful friends/neighbors,
bissel vacuums (to clean up cranberries),
my warm bed (especially with winter upon us),
my mini (that somehow just keeps holding together),
and most importantly: the blessings,
big and small, that I see everyday in my life.
Hope you all had a very thankful day!

the farmer and the turkey

I'm sitting here in disbelief that it is already Thanksgiving weekend. For those of you in Utah, or those hearing the weather reports, last nights "Utah Blizzard of 2010" was more like lots of wind and a skiff of snow. The temperature has dropped into the teens...I think I'll take fluffy snow over the sub zero temps that are on the way. The last few weeks have been packed with the usual craziness, and a few added surprises. Kelly and Nicole sold their house, bought a new house in AF, and just signed the closing papers yesterday. Lindsey and Tim had a foundation sinking issue, and got to have 5 massive pillars drilled into their foundation and pushed 100 feet down into the bedrock. Messy, messy, messy.... So we've all spent the last few weeks packing, moving, cleaning, and all that stuff. We're hoping December will be less eventful. Jace's kindergarten class put on a Thanksgiving program yesterday. I pulled out my camera and found these gems on the memory card....bored and babysitting....with a camera

Jace played the part of the farmer
looking for his three Thanksgiving turkeys

The night before Thanksgiving, when I had gone to bed
I heard 3 turkeys talking and this is what they said.
The 1st turkey said, I think it would be nice
to sleep behind the haystack and stay warm and dry.
The 2nd turkey said I think I'll find a tree
and hide up in the branches where no one will see.
The 3rd turkey said I think it will be fun
to hide the farmer's hatchet and run, run, run, run.

farmer Jace...asleep...sort of

Then on Thanksgiving morning when the farmer came around
those 3 turkey gobblers could not be found!

Bowing to the audience

The perfect way to start our Thanksgiving break!

turning twelve

That's right...our little Maddy turned twelve on Friday.
Although you wouldn't know it by her size,
she is all growin' up and becoming a young lady.
She is one of those rare 12 year olds
that still loves to play polly pockets and barbies with her little sister.
And her bookshelf is still full of books on fairies,
and she can read your palms and tell you
exactly what type of fairy you would be....
and we love her for that!
Maddy is already hard at work on her
personal progress for young women's.
She is determined to earn her recognition award
before she leaves Beehives....and knowing her, she will.
Tim took her to the temple on her birthday
to do baptisms for the dead.
Maddy words when she bore her testimony about it today
"it was the most spiritual experience I think I've ever had,
since my baptism day". Such a sweet girl!

...ever wonder what you feed 12 year old girls...
tiny little finger foods....LOTS of tiny finger foods...

all the BFF's

our family party was tonight

...ahh the keyboard...she's been waiting and wanting
this since last Christmas

yep...12 candles...

If I know Maddy, she probably wished that fairies were real...for sure real.
Happy Birthday Mads! We love you!

trick-or-treat....smell my feet....give me something good to eat!

Halloween....can't believe it's already here.

Having Halloween fall on a Sunday results in
many extra dressing up occasions and parties.
We dressed up Friday for school,
Saturday morning for a ward party,
and again Saturday evening for trick-or-treating.
I don't think it's ever rained so hard during
prime candy getting hours,
but the kiddos still managed to fill their buckets
(thanks to a last minute trick-or-treat at the church
and a good daddy who went out with them in the rain).

Mr. Harry Potter himself.

Cruella de'Ville and her dalmation puppy.

the "we are awesome" dance

Tinkerbell....fairy dust and all

our cowgirl

It was all treats and no tricks....just the way the kids like it!

treats and tricks

TREAT:

Tonight was the annual FHE pumpkin carving night.
The kids worked and worked to get all the stringy, sticky, seed filled goop out of their pumpkins.
Tim finished them up by scraping the insides with a spoon.
Everyone picked a design, traced it onto their pumpkin
and got busy carving.

you know exactly what he's saying just by
looking at his face!

seriously concentrating

waiting for some parental guidance before
digging in on her own

the throw-up shot is also becoming a tradition

check out the carving ability!

TRICKS:
A couple of weekends ago, I woke to this lovely sight in my yard.
I haven't gone toiletpapering for years, in fact, I didn't think
it was done much at all anymore. The boys responsible did bring me
a plate of cookies and hershey kisses...almost enough to make
up for the mess!

Last nights storm blew down the rest of the tp that I couldn't reach
...at least that's the one positive about the storm.
And please, rest assured, Tim is already working on the
payback plan!

barnyard boo

Can you believe it's already fALL bReaK?
This year has flown by...
and I have finally found my fall-ish spirit.
The house is pumpkin'd out and we finally pulled out the
Halloween boxes and found the costumes.
My house smells like apples and pumpkin spice and
I'm getting the itch to start baking
and making big pots of soup.
Yesterday morning we took the cousins and grandma to the farm
which was all decked out for Halloween.
I love that my kids...even my teenage kid...
can't get enough of feeding baby goats, petting horses,
and picnicking at Thanksgiving Point.
There were Halloween games set up around the farm
for the little kiddos which Lindsey was kind enough to spring for.
The older kids waited in the very LONG line for the wagon ride.
I was later informed by both my girls that the ride was "totally lame"
....next time they can wait in the longer line for the horse rides.

"BE SILLY" = "BE WIERD"!

baby goat lips

our musketeers

c'mere little goatie!

so busted!

Warning: Do not feed your hair to the goats as it could cause
digestive problems.

no idea why Carter's making that face....

mama! quick, take my picture with the llama!

this was the extremely awesome prize at the spider throw...
nice.

Nothing like a day that leaves everyone happy!