Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we got to head up to my parents for a week.  The kids were so excited and could hardly wait.

My mom's family (pictures above except for one brother) were having a family reunion. But the days before were filled with lots of cousins and some fun activities.

 We made a thankful tree for family night.

 My parents had a bounce house brought in my dad's shop, which provided the kids with hours of entertainment (especially when the wind was blowing ferociously).

 One day my sister Jenny helped all the kids decorate their own dinner plates, which all the kids loved.

The kids also loved playing in Grandma's dress up bins.  Quite the combinations, I would have to say!

Sarah and Kathryn got to have a date with their Aunt Natalie and cousin Katy.  She took them to Red Robin for dinner,

 a chorale concert,

 and then to Sonic for shakes.  They absolutely loved it!!  Thanks Natalie :)

 Another highlight was trying to catch all the kitties that would come visit on the back porch.  Here they are taking a break for a photo shoot.

 There were two other constant things that the kids were always begging for: wii

 and the ipad.  Luke was constantly hiding somewhere so no one would bother him while he played games.  

We were also blessed to see our brand new niece, Ellee.  She was born the Sunday before we got there.  We also got to go out to a delicious dinner place, just the adults, and see the movie "Lincoln", which I loved.

The day before Thanksgiving was filled with pies and more pies.  That was our assignment for the meal so we baked and baked away.  We ended up making 18 pies which turned out fabulous.

 That same evening we made 8 homemade pizzas for all the family in town.  Boy were we tired by the end of the night!

Thursday we hung out at the church all day, eating, playing a game to see how much we knew about our grandparents, and visiting with people we hadn't seen in ages.

 These nieces of mine were so cute and loved hanging out in the gym together.

Another highlight was playing basketball in the gym--family tradition.

The rest of our week was filled with some Christmas shopping (and no it wasn't on Black Friday), setting up my parent's christmas decorations, shooting, making cinnamon rolls and biscuits and gravy for everyone, having a little baby shower for our new niece and pretty much everyone getting the flu.

Wow!  what a week.

80's Skating Party

One of our good friends turned 40 so we had a surprise party for her.

It was a blast.  We all dressed up in our best 80's outfits and went skating. 

 Sam thought a mullet wig would be just the thing!

 Sam "trying" to be cool with our friends Chris and Ann.

Some of the ladies.

And this talented lady made an awesome themed 80's cake.  It was fantastic!

We had tons of fun, especially skating with no kids.  Plus it was so funny all the lovely looks we got :)

Magic Valley Youth Orchestra

 

See this guy.  He had his first ever Orchestra concert at the beginning of November.  He did amazing.

Can you see him back there?

He is one of the youngest and has been practicing very hard.  By the time he practices his lesson music and orchestra music he is at 1 1/2 hours of practicing time a day and he does this 6 days a week.  I just think that's amazing.

 (the violin section)

 Luke slept through the concert.  Guess he was kinda tired.

 Hanging out waiting for the concert to start.  My parents and my two youngest sisters came to town to watch Seth.  We had a grand time with them and so grateful they made the effort to come.

Family picture with Seth.

Violin Recital

Seth and Kathryn had their Fall Recital last week and did great.  It was Kathryn's first ever and she played fabulous.  

Seth's friend Logan is now taking from the same teacher and they like to pretend their violins are weapons.  Boys!

I did take video but I can't get it to upload but it was a Halloween recital, hence the dressing up.  Kathryn played 3 versions of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and Seth played "La'Cinquantaine" by Gabrielle Marie and "Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 13, 3rd Mvt." by Seitz.

They are both doing very well and Seth so well in fact he plays much better than his violin.  So if any of you hear of a great, reasonable violin let us know :).

Halloween

Halloween this year was absolutely beautiful.  Wonderful weather, perfect for trick-or-treating.

We started the evening with dinner with some friends and then heading out.

 Seth was a hobbit (he did have hairy painted feet but it wasn't that warm!).

 Kathryn was a black cat.

 Luke was a vampire.

 Walking down to meet some other friends.

 Kathryn with one of her bestest buddies that was also a black cat.

 Being silly.

All the kids.  Sarah was a siamese ghost with her bestest buddy Makayla.  They came up with the costume all themselves and that it was absolutely great!

Bishopric Retreat

Our good Bishop's daughter owns a cabin up in Driggs.  A tiny little town that is between two beautiful mountains.  Every year she lets him take the bishopric up there for several days.   

And boy do we have a grand time.  Our days are filled with basically nothing.  We lounge, laugh, eats lots of yummy food, visit, laugh, eat more food, play games, laugh, eat more food, sleep a little bit, play scum, and eat some more food.

 It's great!

This is the "cabin" we get to stay in and the view from the house.

On the way down we stopped and ate dinner with my bestest buddy and her husband at Sam's favorite restaurant--Texas Roadhouse.

But seriously we have so much up there.  Friday night we played Reverse Charades, which was loads of fun.  And then we played scum after our annual fried shrimp feed.  Boy was that entertaining.  My cheeks hurt, my sides hurt, and all from laughing so much I couldn't hardly stop crying.  Between Shannon's "crotch row" (she was really trying to say "quatro") and Shannon and Heidi tormenting Bryce, we laughed ourselves silly.

And this is what happens when you try to take a picture of yourself.  After about the 5th try you get a sort of decent one and then just give up :)

Family Pictures 2012

Here's some of our family pictures we had taken this fall.  We loved them!