WHY I AM THANKFUL

Thanksgiving

Because I don't keep a journal, and I am now considering this as my form of journal, I want to express how thankful I am on this Thanksgiving weekend.

I woke up earlier than the rest of my family Thursday morning and during the quietness of the morning I sat and thought about how many things I have to be grateful for.  I thought about my husband, the love he has for me and our children, I thought about our children, Alyssa, Amanda, Addy and Tanner.  I thought about my parents and Justin's parents.  I thought about my brother's and sister and their spouses and Justin's sister.  I thought about my niece's and nephew's.  I thought about the good friends I have been blessed with.  I thought about my testimony, the gospel, the power of fasting and prayer, the feeling I get when my prayers have been answered.  I thought about all of the examples in my life that make me want to be a better person.  I thought about the gifts and talents I have been blessed with, and especially for the gift of obedience that I have been blessed with.  I thought about things that make be laugh.  I thought about things that inspire me.  I thought about my home.  I thought about my toys.  I thought about how lucky I am to live in the USA!  I thought about all the times I have been blessed because we paid our tithing.  I thought about the trials I have overcome.  I thought about the talk I gave in church last week, and how Heavenly Father WILL always be there for us and help us.  Thought about how grateful I was that the talk was over!  AND I thought about my new favorite saying "I CAN DO HARD THINGS"  and thought, life is hard and scary sometimes, but I am grateful for the opportunity I have to prove myself!

I could have gone on all day, but I had to get to work and start cooking the yummy Thanksgiving meal, that we were able to share with some of my family!  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Twilight the Movie

TWILIGHT!

Last Friday the girls left school early so we could go see Twilight.  We bought our tickets about a month ago, but had to get there 2 1/2 hours early so we could get GOOD seats!  We went the Harkins at Park West and found out the no one knows about that theater.  We, along with our friends Linda and Carly were to only people there until about 30 min before the movie started!  No problem getting the best seats in the theater!  We all liked the movie and I even went and saw it again with my friends Jennifer and Becky on Tuesday!

Twins!

Amanda and Kiwi Twins?

I always thought it would be fun to have twins!  This is as close as it's going to get!!

Primary

Addy and Marley

I took this picture last Sunday during sharing time because they looked so cute and happy standing up front while everyone sang Happy Birthday to them!  Their birthdays are 1 day apart, only Addy is a whole year older than Marley, believe it or not!

These Are My Friends!!

The Chocolate Fountain!

Don't worry Toni, Wendy and Alyssa didn't lick the chocolate fountain until after the Golden WHEEL gala was over!

Twilight!!!

Only 2 more days!

On Friday the girls are going to skip school so we can go see Twilight with a group of friends!  We have all read the books and can't wait to see the movie!  Obsessed is what we are!

For the Golden WHEEL gala I was able to get a boxed set of the Twilight series signed by the author Stephenie Meyer for our auction.  They sold for $400.00!!  I have a friend that is in the same ward as Stephenie Meyer and she was willing to ask her for the donation for me!  Super Cool!!

Congratulations Alyssa!

Marshall Ranch Softball team!

Good job Alyssa.  She informed me a couple of weeks ago that she was going to tryout for the softball team at school.  And I said, do you know how to play?  She said, I have played in P.E.  and I need you to go buy me a mitt.  I said, you can use the one I had when I was a kid, and she reminded me that she is left handed.  So Justin took her to get a mitt, and while they were there he also bought her a bat.  He also lined up a kid in our ward to teach her how to bat correctly.  He must have been a great teacher!  She said that almost everyone on the team uses her bat because they really like it.  So now I joke around with her and say she only made the team because of her bat, no Alyssa, no good bat!  And for the picture posted, this is what happens when the ball hits you in the chin!

New Bands on the braces!

Does Service get any better than this?

We were unable to make it to Alyssa's appointment to get the bands of her braces changed, so Dr. Matthews made a house call!!  It's all in who you know!!!

Knife Hand Strike? Jump Kick?

Orange Belt it is!

Monday night my 4 karate kids moved from a white belt to an orange belt!  They each demonstrated knife hand strike, muscle block, low block, jump kick, round kick and side kick, all while yelling Get Back, Leave me Alone!  Should I be Scared??!!??

I have 4 amazing kids!

Way to go!

We just got home from the Peoria School District Cross Country meet. I am so proud of Alyssa, Amanda, Adyson and Tanner!  They all ran their very best and did great!  Alyssa got 24th place, Amanda got 10th place, Adyson got 1st place, and Tanner got 37th place!!  The meets are so much fun because half the kids in our ward run on their schools cross country team.  So we all sit together and cheer on each others kids!  So each of the kids has a full section of parents cheering them on!

They sold shirts tonight that say:  *Math Homework * Cross Country *tightening your braces 

Then underneath that it says PICK YOUR TORTURE

I think that is soooo funny and sooo true!  Running that far is a lot of hard work.

After the meet we all went to Lenny Burger for dinner and ice cream to celebrate!  We filled up the whole place with our family, The Leon Family, The Matthews Family, The Smith Family, The Swartout Family, my parents and Justin's parents!  It is so fun to have so many great friends!

He Did It!!!

Tanner has been working really hard in school this year!  We are so proud of him and his good attitude towards learning.  I had told Tanner that if he ever got 100% on a spelling test he could stay home from school one day and we could hang out together and have fun!  So last week Tanner stayed home from school one day and we read books, baked banana bread and played counting games.  He had no idea that everything we did was a way to learn something!

Happy 10th Birthday Adyson!!!

Adyson will be 10 on Monday November 3rd

Happy Birthday Addy.  We are so lucky to have Addy in our family.  She is very sweet, and a super hard worker.  She works hard at everything she does, including school, piano, running, karate, skiing, wake boarding, and chores.  She likes to do what is right, and we really appreciate her for that!  I can't believe that she is already 10, life goes by toooo fast!!  

Golden Gate Bridge

In January Justin and I went to San Francisco with our good friends Rob and Bethany Matthews.  It rained hard for 2 of the 3 days we were there, but we still had a great time! 

Pacific Beach July 2008

Amanda Surfing

Amanda wanted to know why there wasn't a picture of her surfing so here it is!  Both girls were amazing.  They stood up on their boards the first time they tried!!  Surf's Up!!

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW

Skiing or Snow Boarding?

Winter is almost here!

It is getting close to ski season again!  Last year we let the girls snowboard for the first time.  We were hoping they wouldn't like it, but oh were we wrong!!  They LOVED it!  Our favorite place to ski is Alta, Utah and they don't allow snowboarders.  Sorry girls!!!  Maybe we can compromise some times!  

We love being able to go on ski trips and ski with all 4 of our kids, it is sooooo much fun!  Last year Justin and I were on the lift wondering were our kids went, when we saw the 4 of them skiing together under the lift.  It made all the years of teaching and learning worth it, just to see them together having a great time.

Cross Country

Cross Country is our thing! 

All 4 kids are running on the Marshall Ranch Cross Country team this year.  It is so fun to watch them run.  Sometimes my heart starts beating really hard and I get nervous for them!!  I must be too competitive!!   I even cried last Saturday when Addy took first place at the Cactus Invitational.  I know, I'm a goof ball!!

slide ride

for addys birthday our family rented a giant slide and all the family came over to celabrate and enjoy the slide. our cosine kiley spent the night and she and addy put their hair in curlers. this pic was taken the next morning when we all got up early to get our last ride befor we had to take it back. it was one of my favoret days.

sea world rope net

this pic is from sea world at the huge playground on the rope net. 

seg way trip

mom and dad(right) go on a seg way around san fransisco with some good friends.