THANKSGIVING-YUM!

We had Thansgiving at our house this year. We had a fun time having everyone over and doing lots of fun things. I wanted to get more pictures, but we were busy putting everything together. Thanks to all involved-hope it was fun for you.

What a pretty bird-our first Thanksgiving turkey-turned out GREAT!

Wyatt watching everyone come-he loves it when people come over.

Aunt Stacey hangin with Wyatt and Caitlyn.

What a cute little man-Wyatt just chillin on his bed after dinner.

Here's Bridger getting ready for some yummy Thanksgiving fixins!

Give Thanks

On October 3, 1863, one of my favorite people that has ever lived, Abraham Lincoln, instituted a national day of thanks on the last Thursday in November. This is a picture of Bridger standing by the statues of the Lincolns in Springfield taken during our trip earlier this year.

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God...They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."

I am touched by these profound words and realize that I need to be more grateful for all of the many blessings I have received. We are truly blessed!

Back to life, back to reality...

Here is a picture of a HUGE spider that was just hanging out at the zoo.

Here are the world famous San Diego pink Flamingos.

Here is another shot of the flamingos.

Here is a shot of the back of Bridger's head looking at-can you guess-the flamingos.

And the last picture of the flamingos-that would be when the camera went on the fritz. So, while it may seem like a lot of flamingos-it's all I have!! Too bad we couldn't document our trip better. We made it to Universal Studios-a disappointment-and then ended Monday at Disneyland. Tuesday we got up and drove to San Diego-stopped at the beach to watch the surfers and see the dolphins playing-too cool-then ate at Point Loma Seafood-famous with the locals-had some great fish and headed to the airport thinking we had seen the last of the smoke-SURPRISE-it gets to pass over us yet again! Good to be back-happy to see my own bed!

VACATION!

So, we are in SUNNY California enjoying all the AMUSEMENT California has to offer. We have already been to the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, California Adventure, Disneyland and are heading to Universal Studios tomorrow, that is if the fires don't hinder us from getting there. It is HOT, HOT, HOT-did I say hot? I wanted to write a few things down because as luck would have it, I think I took 4 pictures here and then my camera BROKE-AHHHHHHHH-We also forgot the GPS and so, we purchased one while we were down here and so I didn't feel like we could spluge again for the camera as the GPS is pretty essential for us so we can have a stress-free family vacation. When we got to the Zoo it was so amazing, we saw them out with a HUGE white wolf taking a walk with a dog-go figure. We saw all of the cute animals out and I missed so many great shots! The next day we fed the dolphins, pet the bat and sting rays, played and rode all of the rides, saw the shows and headed to Anaheim. We spent all day in California Adventure yesterday. We loved the new Toy Story Ride, and I love the Muppet show there. I think it just reminds me of my childhood and that's why I like it so much. After watching it, something else dawned on me. Darin reminds me of the two old guys that sit in the balcony and mock everything-he always has corny jokes like they do, if we were Buddhist, I would for sure think he would be re-incarnated as them! We spent a great deal of time in the brother bear camp area. Bridger loved riding on the zip line and Wyatt fell in love with a slide there. He went up and down that slide for about 2 hours, just laughing and hugging all of the kids that came there. We were there from open to close just enjoying everything. Before we left last night we took Bridger on the Indiana Jones ride-he LOVED IT! Last time he was here he was too short to ride, so this was quite the occasion! This morning we went to Disneyland for a few hours. Bridger got to do the Jedi training and fight Darth Mal-that was quite the experience for him. He loves Star Wars and cherishes his certificate they gave him for training. We came back to the hotel to relax and swim. I am trying to get Wyatt to take a nap, the black circles under his eyes are a little scary! This has been such a great time had by all-this is our first real family vacation. Darin hasn't had to work at all during this trip and it has been so GREAT! We love you all and will see you soon! Take care. When I get back I'll post all 4 pictures from our great vacation-you'll just have to use your imaginations!

AHH FALL!

OK-so I spent the last week lamenting and complaining about all the sleep I was loosing, being short with my kids and husband and just being all-around grumpy. Today, after Church I went outside to enjoy the crisp fall air and saw all the beautiful flowers, trees, ground covers and leaves and felt completely humbled. I failed to see my blessings during the difficult days of sickness-like they say you need to be sick to appreciate health. I love the fall and colors that are everywhere. I love the lighting, the overcast rosy light that permeates the fall evenings. I love the changing leaves, I like to walk on them and hear them crunch under my feet. I love the quiet that pervades the air, when all of the animal life hunkers down for winter. I love that I am alive to see it all and take it all in. And most of all I love God for giving it all to me to enjoy and appreciate!

How I miss my sleep....

We have been battling virus infections for almost 3 weeks now, needless to say, there have been a good amount of non-sleeping nights during this time. I remember when I could stay up all night and go, go, go the next day. It has finally caught up with me, I am a big grouch when I don't get my sleep, and my kids aren't doing that great without it either. I just hope they are over it before we head to Disneyland next week-I took this picture of Bridger with these on and thought they were a pretty good indicator of how I feel right now!! Sleep, oh sleep how I miss you!

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE

Today is the day to go and let your voice be heard and recorded! I know that the lines can be a detraction when you have to haul all of your kids and wait in line for hours, but considering what all our founding fathers sacrificed for us, it pales in comparison! Also, to prevent this frustration, although it will not help you in this election, you can, if you are registered to vote in the state of Utah, sign up for an absentee ballot that will then be mailed to your home, which you can either mail back or drop off at any voting location!
http://elections.utah.gov/absentee%20form.pdf
Visit this link, fill out the form and then fax it in and you will never have to wait in another line again! Let's show our gratitude for all our blessings by voting to make our voice heard!

On The Moral Purposes of Law and Government

In lieu of recent political events, and anticipation for the outcome of proposition 8, I am writing and sending information to a talk given by Robert George at BYU. Right now it is not available in transcript form, but I would highly encourage you to listen to the MP3 format that is currently available. In this excellent talk, Robert George, not a member of our faith, spelled out the need for us to be not only educated enough to respond to conversations regarding issues of our time, but the need to simply have these conversations time and time again. It is amazing to me the precipice we sit on and the far reaching implications involving these extremely important foundational issues-the time to act is now. It is no longer allowable to merely sit on the fence and assume that "they" will take care of us and save us. It is not "they" but us that will save us and our children. Please, please, please take the time to study and ponder these issues and be educated in a way that we can present truth and touch hearts to help us press forward!
THANK YOU!!
www.byubroadcasting.org
then search Robert George-it was an address given on October 28, 2008 entitled on The Moral Purposes of Law and Government-

Makelle's Baptism

Today Makelle, my niece, was baptized. We are so proud of her and her choice to get baptized. It was a great experience, Makelle sang with two of her friends, and did a great job! Her mom continued her tradition of reading a cute story from the friend about the Holy Ghost and giving her a "comforter" to help her remember what the comforter feels like. She had her name and baptism date sewn into the comforter so she would have a lasting memory of her baptism. Bridger is so excited to get one, because he has seen them given at his cousin's baptisms, he just thinks everyone automatically gets one (thanks a lot Cara-sewing is NOT my strong point!) I do think it is one of the best things I have ever seen given at a baptism. Her big sister Kendyll played the closing song and did a great job also. Afterwards we went to Makelle's favorite restaurant, Ligoris to eat. It was a fun day for all-thanks for being such a great example!

Halloween Hangover!

Here's Darin in his costume-it was pretty darn funny-he gets money for dressing up and entering a pumpkin at work-we cleared a cool $50.00-not bad for one day's work!!

This is Wyatt when we started, he wasn't too sure of anything-his favorite thing he got-not the candy but a halloween bouncy ball-he was spitting out the candy!

After the trick-or-treating-I think we should have stopped there!

Here's Bridger doing the pre-pre trick-or-treating at Darin's work-they throw a party for all of the kids-can you say candy!

HELP! We all woke up with big Halloween Hangovers-Bridger was supposed to be at a wrestling meet this morning at 7:30 AM-needless to say we didn't make it. Darin tried to stir him this morning and was meet with a bigger monster than we saw last night! Glad Halloween comes once a year-a little happy to see it go!