The Best Christmas Ever!

Sleigh in grass, two reindeer is not enough. (They had to go to Bogus Basin to find real snow).

Cookies with Nana.

Frosting, what a beautiful mess.

The Loot! With a special Ambree book from Nana--too cute.

Papa made all wooden toys. Rev's got a ride-on airplane and Ambree got a wagon, it is too big to fit on this blog!

Lots of games, movies, and tons of delicious food!

Handmade hat, scarf, and mittens from Auntie Lindsey.

The Best Christmas Ever! The entire family together at our house for 10 days! We had a blast!

Wedding in Rexburg

Rexburg, ID Temple
Congrats Jessica and Quentin! (Jayson's Family)

Revery with his freezing cold hands.

Ambree posing as usual.

Such a beautiful Temple! I have not been back to Rexburg since I went to school there.
Jayson and his brothers singing. . . their best performance yet!
Ambree loved dancing with her cousin Connor. That was a big surprise, because usually they are hitting each other. I like the dancing better!

The rose Connor gave Ambree right before Jessica threw her bouquet.

This is how Ambree slept in the Hotel, after she woke up at 2 AM and did not go back to sleep until 4 Am. Mom could not sleep either, hence the picture.

Christmas Card

Jayson

Rank: Director

Intimidating feature: Talks your ear off by saying nothing at all.

Favorite Item: His wife’s saloon girl get-up.

Special Ability: Engages 6year olds in weekly Sunday school lessons and enforces excellent behavior.

Hobbie: Falls asleep while putting the kids to bed.

Theme Song: New Divide—Linkin Park

Brittanie

Rank: “The Mother”

Intimidating feature: Inappropriate laughter coupled with sarcasm from latest House episodes.

Favorite Item: Tempurpedic mattress and Dyson.

Special Ability: Can run 5ks with a bun in the oven.

Hobbie: Coordinates 150 primary kids as 1^st counselor.

Theme Song: I Gotta Feeling--Black Eyed Peas.

Ambree

37lbs 39inches

Intimidating feature: Calls people outlandish names like “you big chair” or “you old man.”

Favorite Item: Hobbyhorse and jump rope.

Special Ability: Magically changes into imaginary, farm, and domestic animals at the drop of a hat.

Hobbie: Navigates the computer like a Mac Genius.

Theme Song: Special Agent OSO, and Hello Seattle--Owl City

Revery

23.5lbs 33inches

Intimidating feature: Growls or pretends he is a monster or dinosaur.

Favorite Item: White blankie and Funshine Carebear.

Special Ability: Melts your heart like butter. He is a cuddle bug!

Hobbie: Does Summersaults off the couch or his jungle toys. Copies everything his sister does.

Theme Song: Australia by the Shins and All Is Love—Where the Wild Things Are Soundtrack

The Majestic CTR Theatre . . . Admit One

Jayson had an incentive for his primary class. Each Sunday they had good behavior they could earn a ticket. They had to earn five to be admitted to the movie. Needless to say, they all got to come!
Ushering in the kids.

Our version of stadium seating. Yes, that is food storage, put to good use!

Concession Counter. (Empty) I forgot to take a picture with all the yummy treats we had. The kids polished every bit off.

We had M&Ms, licorice, caramel corn, cookies, crackers, and of course Pop Corn. I was the concession girl.The kids watching the big screen (wall). We used a projector to show the movie UP.

A great time had by all. I think some of the Dad's had more fun than the kids. This was a super fun activity and we had a blast putting it together. Thanks for coming everyone!

Jayson's family does themed Thanksgiving events. This year was "Old West."
(kids were excited they got to wear their Halloween costumes again). We basically made all the costumes ourselves.

Our little posse- Calamity Jane, Jesse James, Texas Jack, and Lily Olay.

There were games for the kids and adults. Ambree loved the horse race and Grandma let her keep her lucky horse at the end. She sleeps with it! For dinner we had BBQ, corn bread, salad, and Root beer.

Here is our Saloon piano player.

Here we are at the Root Beer bar of the Saloon. All the adult card games were played in the Saloon that we decorated. The winners of each circle got to participate in a shoot out at high noon.

Here are the finalists. We also had an amazing talent show to top off the evening. Jayson sang a cowboy song with his 7 brothers and I sang, "He shouldn't, Hadn't-a,Oughtn't-a Swang Me" from The Great Race. It was very fun, but the kids were exhausted (and the mom!) after the long eventful day.

Gratitude

So Thankful for:

My wonderful, happy, healthy family
The roof over my head
My husband's job
My health and ability to carry children
The opportunity to stay home with my children
My education
The right to live in a free land and a safe neighborhood
The privilege to serve in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The blessings of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life
The Atonement of Jesus Christ
The Love of God

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
October 2009

Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s love for you.

God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely.

He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our résumé but because we are His children. He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked.

What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us

i gotta feeling

Happy Halloween!

Calamity Jane and Jesse James

This was the only half way descent photo I could get of the little outlaws!

He wants to be a cowboy, baby!

I actually made Ambree's costume from scratch! (the vest and skirt) NO pattern and NO help from Jayson--pretty good if I do say so myself! Jayson made Revery's vest.

They had a blast at our Ward Trunk-or-Treat(24th) and then Ambree got to go out with Daddy on Saturday. She was ones of those hard-core late night trick-or-treaters since we had to wait for Daddy to come home from work.
She is becoming quite the Pro, even running from house to house!
I carried on the Halloween tradition of Clam Chowder and Monkey Bread!One trick-or-treater boy said, "oh it smells good in here! What are you cooking?" I thought he was going to ditch the trick-or-treating and come eat with us.

Escape from Prison

Saturday I ran in the Prison Break 5K with my good friend Mandy. She totally rocked it! I tried to keep up, but she is fast! (Plus I am carrying around a little extra baggage these days!) It was super cold and a little windy, but we had such a blast!

We are standing right in front of the Idaho State Prison. The prisoners were watching the race from the windows. Towards the end several army Tanks passed us, just not something you see everyday.
Right before the finish line Ambree ran out to run with me. I just grabbed her and we crossed the finish line together. She wanted to have a flag to wave at me she said. Jayson brought the kids to cheer me on again. Thanks for the support Family!
All the finishers received medals and they had a breakfast afterward. A very exciting day, this has become addicting!

Pumpkin Carving Party

We had the Kimbers and Taylors over for a great party last weekend. We started out with Navajo tacos, Jayson did a great job on the dough and frying! Our first time making them so it was quite the experience. Lets just say I swept the floor 5 times and mopped 3 times in one evening.

Ambree was a dragon or tiger most the night and really didn't want to have anything to do with gutting her pumpkin. She did have a great time with all her friends though.

I had fun making "nasty" candy jars; such as milkweed bugs, crocodile teeth, slimy worms, and ear wax. The kids loved the candy assortment.

Jayson did Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc, but I just realized we did not take a picture and now he is already shriveled up.