Thanks, Friends!

Today was such a fun day. It was creative Thursday with the "blogger moms" and we got together and made Christmas gifts for our neighbors. I feel so lucky to be a part of such a fun group of friends. We meet each Thursday and work on different projects that we need to get done. We do lunch and enjoy visiting while we work. It's so great! Today we made wood boards with vinyl lettering. We finished about 250 boards today. It feels so great to get something big like this accomplished. Although I didn't take pictures of the process (I left my camera home on accident), it was quite a huge undertaking and probably pretty funny to see. Kristy and Wende were covered in sawdust from sanding the boards, and Janae, Patsy, and I were frantically wiping the boards and sticking the lettering on. Karrie brought Papa John's pizza for lunch. It was really good! And I brought a Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle because I was feeling festive and in the mood for some holiday baking! It was great to get together!

We went to Janae's cabin a few weeks ago for a girl's retreat and that was a blast, too. We stayed in our pajamas the whole time and worked on some fun banner projects. We watched a few chick flicks and took a beautiful 4 1/2 mile walk. Great food and great girls! I feel so blessed to have these friends!

Thanksgiving in St. George

Thanksgiving in St. George was so much fun this year! Unfortunately, no one else could join us but it was a lot of fun just our family of 5. I made the Thanksgiving dinner all by myself, and although it wasn't as fancy as if it had been done by the entire family, it turned out really well! We had such a nice relaxing weekend! We spent time playing basketball and tennis, watching TV and playing pool, reading and putting together a puzzle, going to see the movies Twilight (I did this all alone since I was dying to see it!) and Bolt. We enjoyed the Johnson trail walk when the weather was really nice and took some great pictures in the red rocks. It's so beautiful there! It's amazing that it's within walking distance of my parents' home. There is so much to do there, we just love the time we get to visit!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday, so I wanted to share 10 things I love about her. She is absolutely amazing!

1. She is the most selfless person I know. She is ALWAYS thinking of others!
2. She loves her family more than anything else in this world. I'm so thankful for this example.
3. She gives the best gifts! Christmas with my family is amazing. There are always TONS of presents and she is so giving she provides gifts for all of the kids for the Hutchinson party. Wow!

4. She has such a strong testimony. She is always finding ways to increase her spirituality. I love the way her testimony strengthens mine.
5. She is the BEST party planner! I wish I inherited her ability to throw parties. She knows how to do it perfectly and always has the yummiest food!
6. She is a fantastic cook! Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are sooo good.
7. She is the BEST grandma! My kids get gifts every time she's in town and I often get phone calls to check on my kids' clothing sizes because she shops for them all the time! She loves to spend time with them when she's here. She even sits through all the Halloweentown movies my girls love.

8. She is a wonderful wife. She sacrifices so much for my dad and is so patient in all that he does. She spent many years of his career traveling and loved him through it and now she does the same with his golf addiction!

9. She helped me (and my siblings) acquire our love of Disneyland. She would take all 5 kids to the park by herself while my dad was at meetings. What a trooper! My parents have taken us on more trips to Disneyland than I can count. My mom even talked my dad into taking me and Lyn on a trip to Disneyworld a few years ago. It was so fun! My parents, Lyn, and I enjoyed the parks together. What a great trip!
10. She is my biggest cheerleader! No matter what I'm involved in, she is always so supportive and she's my biggest advocate. When I was a teenager she came to EVERY event I was involved in and even as an adult she always shares how proud she is of me, no matter what I'm doing. Thanks, Mom!
I love you so much! You're my greatest hero!

Disneyland Fun!

We had such a great trip to Disneyland last week! We went with the Moore's for a 5 day trip and Jeff and Jenny happened to be there at the same time, too. We were there over Halloween and were able to go trick-or-treating in the Disney Grand Californian Hotel where we stayed. The hotel is absolutely beautiful and has its own entrance into the California park. It's so weird that the kids are old enough that they would go off on their own to ride the rides. They loved being with their friends and cousins. We loved the new Toy Story ride that opened up this summer. It was a fun 3D ride where you shoot targets. I even beat Phil's score! We enjoyed dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant and Phil and I went with Jeff and Jenny and her parents to Club 33 (a secret restaurant inside the park that you have to be a guest of a member to get into). It was such a great trip! What can I say? We love Disneyland!

Goodbye, Red Sox!

Phil and I were really sad tonight to watch our Boston Red Sox lose to the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS tournament. We are avid Red Sox fans, thanks to Lyn and Randy! We have really enjoyed getting to know the players and cheering on our team over the last few years and look forward to every game we can watch.

We had the opportunity back in March to fly to LA with Lyn and Randy and watch the Dodgers/Red Sox pregame series just before the regular season started. It was so fun to see our team live and watch some fun games in the ambiance of the stadium. We even had our first "Dodger Dog" (which wasn't very good). It was such a fun weekend and I loved seeing "Big Papi", Manny (the traitor), Pedroia, Ellsbury, Youk, and Lowell, to name a few.

Tonight ended the year as we lost 3 to 1 in game 7 of the series. Boston was down 3 games to 1 last week and had an amazing comeback Thursday night to win game 5. Saturday they won game 6 to tie the series and the momentum was in the Red Sox dugout. However, after a 1st inning homer by Dustin Pedroia, the Sox just couldn't get it done. We will sure miss watching them for the next few months and look forward to spring training and next season! Go Sox!

HALLOWEEN FUN!

This afternoon we got together with Grandma, Carri, Lexie, Jami, and Kate for some Halloween activities. The kids had a great time. Grandma bought t-shirts that the kids decorated themselves and then we made yummy spider cookies! It was a fun time together with the cousins. All the kids love this fun holiday. Next Monday we get to go to Shane's brother's house for a haunted house. We're so excited!!

Sally Foster!!!

Sally Foster runs my life each fall. I volunteer to be our schools' fundraising chair with my friend, Rachel. We've done it for 5 years and each year we think we have it down but there always seems to be a glitch of some kind. This year, as we were ready to pass out the packets to the teachers, we found out labels for 5 classes weren't printed and we didn't have enough packets to send home with the kids. Frantically, about an hour before school got out, we got the packets and labeled and stapled flyers to each of them. It was a crazy day but the rest of the sale is going well (so far).

Our display turned out really cute this year. We were chosen as a pilot school to run a "Go Wild" incentive program where the kids can win a beanie stuffed zoo animal. It seems to be working well and the kids really like them. Natalie received one yesterday and has taken it everywhere with her today, even to dance.

I have another few weeks of this craziness but it certainly is worth it when we see how much it supports our PTA. So we'll keep our fingers crossed for another great year of Sally Foster!

I'm online!

I'm so excited to finally be blogging! I have some great friends who are big "bloggers" and have been big motivators to get this thing going. I'm looking forward to sharing our family with others and be able to have a place to journal for myself.

James, Lauren, and Natalie were being goofy when we went out to dinner to celebrate James' birthday the other night. I thought this funny pic shows their fun personalities and their close relationship.