Catching Up!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. I have so much to be grateful for. This was the first year I cooked a turkey for people that I remembered to take out the gibblets. We had 3 of my brothers over for the weekend. We did a whole lot of nothing. I did get up for shopping the next morning. I even took Dave with me to my first stop. He wasn't excited about it but he was a good sport. I gave him his map and sent him off in one direction and I went the other. He was back in bed by 6:30 am and I was on to the next stop with Melanie. Upon my retun of shopping, I was hoping to hit the bed. But to my surprise I came home to all the Christmas stuff spread all over the house. Mikayla wanted the tree up so she could wrap her present for Valerie and put it under the tree. I guess we will try and hold off Valerie for and entire month or 25 more sleeps! (as Hailey would say)


Nov/Dec. always brings around lots of performances. Ashley performed at halftime of a basketball game for tumbling. We even managed to get her hair up in a spiderweb despite it being short. Mikayla had her first ever ballet performance. She looked so adorable out there!


Last weekend we headed up to Boise to watch the BYU/Utah football game. Yes, I said Boise. We couldn't get it on our TV and it was an away game so we decided to make a party of it with my brothers. It turned out to be not the greatest party for BYU fans. We still had a good time though.
It was my brother, Justin's 28th birthday. My sweet little Cade made him a gingerbread cake and put a "J" on it out of whip cream. He did this all by himself! I soon hope to assign him a night to make dinner!

Dave had a conference in Sun Valley a few weeks ago. I was able to sneak up there for one night. It is not easy finding a babysitter overnight on a school night. One more reason I can't wait for my mom and dad to come home!

Lack of Blogging

So much has been going on but I really have not felt like blogging much lately. I have been thinking a lot about my good friend Lana and her daughter Emma. Emma was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. She is my daughter, Ashley's age. She has the sweetest smile. They have been at Primary Childrens hospital for over a week. My heart breaks for them and the trials that lay ahead. I do know that through the help of our Heavenly Father they will make it through this. We continue to pray for them and invite anyone who desires to add them to your prayers.

Here is an example of how my brain has not been working so great lately. The other day I was driving and came to a 4 way stop. I couldn't think which way to go. If I turned one way I would end up at the gym. If I turned the other way I would end up at work at the hospital. (it seems I am usually going to one of those places) I was on auto pilot, but as I sat there I realized I was on the complete wrong side of town. I was supposed to be going to pick up my daughter at gymnastics!

Tender Moments

As I was tucking Hailey into bed last night we had this touching conversation. I am so thankful for these little moments that I am able to enjoy.

Mom: Thanks Hailey for playing so good with Valerie today. I like it when you two can get along.

Hailey: I did not fight with her all day. Do you know why? I am trying to be like Jesus.

Cade turns 12!

12 years ago Cade was born in Moscow, ID. My OBGYN wanted me to stay in the hospital and deliver Cade on Halloween. I wanted him to have his own birthday so I left the hospital and came back the next day.

My baby boy Cade is 12!

Cade has always been a happy, easy going boy. He was a big fan of the Jazz...

and the cowboys....

We celebrated Cade's birthday Saturday and I forgot my camera for the whole day. Cade took a buddy to the NazzKart indoor arena. They raced and rocked climbed all afternoon. We then headed to Gerdies for pizza. He really liked the desert pizza and could skip the rest. In fact, on Sunday we made homeade desert pizza - marshmellow/blackberry. It was tasty!

Father and son with matching soccer shirts from Mexico. Bimbo is a big bread company down there ( just in case anyone was thinking something else).

It was a big weekend for us. Cade was ordained a deacon and received the priesthood. He had his bishop's interview last week and was challenged to read the BOM every day. The deacon's quorm presidency came to visit and told him to read a story out of the New Era every day. He has such a good heart and tries so hard to be obedient. He has been reading up a storm even though that is not his favorite thing to do. He said, "I had no idea you would have to read so much once you became a young man." He is such a sweet brother to his sisters. Every time Cade walks in the door, Valerie is the usually the first to run to him yelling, "brother!" We love you Cade and are glad you are part of our family.

CRAZY FUN WEEK!

Most often, I really like Halloween. It probably would not be so crazy if we didn't cram all of the activities into 1 week. Making sugar cookies is fun for a while and then I seem to be stuck with finishing up and clean up. We all love the going to the pumpkin patch but I hate reaching in and cleaning out the pumpkins to carve them. Thank goodness for Dave! The kids had so fun deciding what to dress up as that we ended up in full out costumes 2 nights in a row. Our neighborhood gets an insane amount of trick or treaters. Our first trick or treater came at 4:45 and our last at 11:00! I was soooo out of candy by then! Most the time we don't even have a chance to close our door because of the steady stream of trick or treaters. We even have a cop patrolling our front entrance to our neighborhood. No cars are allowed.

Cade and friend Cole as?????

Witches brew at Pages house. Billy baked us up a whole bunch of goodies!

Valerie - She is such a mommy's girl. I hold her everywhere I go. In fact, on the way out of church on Sunday she was so tired that she was walking and telling me, "hold me like a baby, hold me like a baby." She surprised me this Halloween. She loved it and was not scared of the millions of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. She didn't want to hold my hand and she would walk right up to the door with her sisters.

Ashley, Mikayla and friends

Rock Star!