December Sampling

So, here we are sampling photos from December!

 The 5 kids in front of the Christmas Tree... Haylee 10, Trent 9, William 11 m, Laycee 5, Logan 5

 This year Freddie Rat Elf sent his sister instead so Franceska came for a visit (basically he just wore a skirt this year lol)

Williams favorite part of December... taking the lids off the advent calendar over and over

 

 Haylee and London at their christmas concert

 

 Trent's karate studio was in a parade so here they are waiting for Trent

 And he is in the background and impossible to see

 My sister Linzi came and visit so we had Arianni over to play with William

 We got a new dog named Slinky... who Laycee seriously thinks should be her personal accessory

 William got to ride the carosel for the first time

 We got our first orange!  SO excited because we have 5 new ones this year!

So... that is our December 2012

Family Reunion

So we decided as a family that this was the year that Dave's family would likely change forever.  He already has one niece married and one nephew just returned from his mission.  But this is the beginning of the slew of nieces and nephews growing up.  So for one last family gathering, we had a reunion.  It was awesome... they made bracelets

 glow in the dark bowling

 christmas trees

 Big kid glow in the dark frisbee

 balloons

 we had a live clue game, archery, pictures, freeze tag, bottle rockets, minute games... it was awesome and so much fun to be together one last time.  The next day, we went hiking with Amy before she headed back home.

It was really a great holiday weekend, busy and full but so wonderful to spend together.  Dave was here, we were with family and all felt right.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such a special day for me.  These last few years have been so hard because for us, thanksgiving is about family and Dave has been gone.  And then the years before that, we were away from family.  So this was a special year for us.  I love seeing the Legacy that I married into.  This picture does not even show everyone in Dave's family and yes these are his brothers and sisters and their children so immediate family!  Because of the size and diversity of their family, we eat thanksgiving lunch, although if they move the time up any further, we will have to start calling it breakfast!  I wish I could say the exact count here, but I am close My inlaws, 10 children, 10 spouses, and 46ish grandchildren!

 We then went over to my mom's house for dinner.  Again, what a great Legacy!  I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so much family.  I am thankful to value family and thankful that my mother and mother in law also valued family.  My parents, 6 children, 5 spouses and 14 grandchildren!

 My mom once again ordered a bouce house and it was so fun!  This is helpful to keep the kids busy.

 She also requested that we each bring a "carnival" game to play with the kids... we had throw the paint colored balloons.

 toilet toss

 unpictured was a bob for apples (which is disgusting by the way!), milk toss, ball toss, and bb guns?  Mom also made a checkers board and we played human checkers!

 That night the girls went out shopping and the boys went to bed.  Apparently Laycee stayed up too late because what did I catch her doing on Black Friday?  Yes napping in shorts and a tee on the trampoline lol

Bubbles

Have you ever seen those tv shows or commercials that make fun of suds coming out of the washer.  Well I felt like I was in that one day when the dishwasher is sounding weird so  go over there and find bubbles oozing out of the dishwasher!  I had no idea what went wrong... how could that have happened... until I remembered the events of that evening.  And I asked Trent to start the dishwasher (which he has done before) and tada... he accidentally put in the dish soap instead of the dishwasher soap because they were both "green" according to him.  Needless to say, we had some soapy dishes for a week!

Race Time

So the fall time is race time!  We love it.  This year we participated in The Really Big Free Marathon in Vegas.  The first picture here is over fall break meeting up at Amy's and the kids participating in the junior ranger program at a Lehman Caves.

 Dave and I were so excited to be running with family for this race.  This was Scott and Amy's first half marathon so it was awesome!  This was mine and Dave's second.  I believe it was also Mark's second but he has the upper hand on us all with a couple fulls under his belt as well.

 Here we are after the race. 

 Two weeks later, we were set up to run Shun the Sun here in the Phoenix area.  I unfortunately hurt my foot in the vegas race :( so Dave ventured that one on his own... kind of, Lynnae was there running her first half with her sister too.  Here is dave in the black shirt getting ready to take off

 The kids got their faces painted while we waited

 Here he is running across the finish line!

The fall race season was so fun.  It was such a great experience to do this running with family.  We loved it!

Halloween

A penguin, Mario, Luigi, Cinderella and a misfit witch... They love that they can finally pick instead of me making them do a theme!

Random Life Photos

How does a month pass so quickly?  I think so much is happening over here that blogging is low on the priority list.  I need to take more time.  So, here is a quick overview of the remainder of Oct and Nov.  I have a couple events to post separately, but here it is...

 I love that Trent carried William in the Moby

 My inspiration for starting a whole foods lifestyle.  Greensmoothiegirl (ie Robyn Openshaw).  She has begun an amazing change in this house. 

 Trent is moving on up.... Blue belt!

 This William is nothing but mischief... here he is at 10 months getting in the laundry

 swinging out back

 looking super cute

 This photo was misplaced, but here is Haylee's Oct concert.  She has gotten so good at the cello.

 And he learned how to move the stool to the counter and climb up it... yes at 10 months!  He just thinks he is so grown up!

and a preview of the twins school pictures.  I love them!