CHRISTMAS!!!

This year for Christmas, we went to my parents house again. We decided we would head down Christmas Eve and have the party down there with them, but Randy had to work, and didn't get home until really late. We got there, ate, let the kids open their jammies and put them to bed. It worked out great!

Being Santa's "helpers" was fun too. Stetsy, Mom, and I had a great time together. At 12:30 (officially Christmas day), Mom finally convinced Stetsy and I to give her the gift from all the kids, and it was well worth it! We all went in on a western rug for her living room. She was SO excited, and SO happy! (pictures to come).

Before we went to bed:

Christmas morning:




Briallen got the "Tismas sooter" she has been wanting for months! She was pretty excited!

Randy was able to sell some car parts a few month ago and get these little motorcycles for Emma and Natalie. He fixed them and the Jeep up, and the kids rode them all day. It was definitely the highlight of Christmas! I think he might have been more excited than they were at first!! :)



Every year we are so blessed, and so spoiled! We had a wonderful Christmas with the family, and made lots of fun memories!

My Daddy

Last Tuesday I got a call from my sister, Stetsy saying that my dad had had an accident with a horse and that he was being life flighted to Las Vegas. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I wasn't ready for something like this to happen. The first thing I did was pray that everything was going to be okay. Then we prayed again as a family. He had 6 broken ribs and some bleeding on his brain. They kept him in ICU for a few days to keep an eye on him, and he recovered enough to be moved into another room for another day. He was able to come home really quickly, and has been healing wonderfully. He is such a tough cowboy!! He is still VERY sore, and will be for quite a while, but is so glad to be home. It was such a scare! It's crazy how life can change in an instant. We are so blessed to have such a great daddy, and I am so grateful for the power of prayer.

Here are just a few pictures of him...I love him so much!!!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving it was the Bundy's year. A lot of the family was able to go to Phoenix and stay with Ammon and Lisa. It was such a blast! There were a lot of people and a lot of food, but not a lot of drama, which was great!! Ammon and Lisa were wonderful hosts, and we all had a really good time.

For a date night for all of the married couples, Ammon took us all to a professional hockey game. I had never been to anything like that before, so it was a lot of fun!! We were so grateful for Ammon and Lisa treating us to something so fun!

Mom and Dad sat behind us all and they were next to this lady wearing a santa hat. She was so into the game, and she got my dad to stand up and cheer, and get really into it. It was so funny!

Stetsy willingly watched all of the kids for us while we went, and I just wanted to tell her how thankful we are for her!! She is such a great aunt, and so fun! The kids all LOVE you, Aunt Stetsy!!

One night, Stetsy, Savhana, and I were all goofing off taking a bunch of fun pictures of us jumping on the trampoline.... it was dorky and fun!





Ammon and the guys took all of the kids out to the shop and helped them all make their own treasure boxes. My kids LOVE theirs, and they are constantly finding new treasures to put in them.


Rebekah's favorite place to be was in the fire wood holder. She would get in and out, in and out all day, and if anyone got in her "spot" then she wasn't very happy. This one time she did let Brinklee sit in it with her. (I think this is one of Brink's favorite spots too, and she was so nice to share).


We were so happy to have little Braxton there, he is such an adorable little baby!!





Thank you so much, Ammon and Lisa for inviting us into your home!! We had such a wonderful time!

School dance festival

Since time has completely flown by, I have not updated for quite a while! But around Halloween every year, the elementary does a dance festival. It's really cute! Each grade learns a dance to a different song, and performs it for their family and friends. Natalie's class did the chicken dance, and Emma's danced to "You've got a friend in me" from Toy Story. They both did such a great job!! They were so adorable. It's fun as a mother to see your kids do things like this!!

A conversation with Emma

Emma: Mom! I just got a really big wack out of my ear!!

Me: You got wax out of your ear?

Emma: yeah, but just one wack! It's a big wack!

I then realized that she thinks wax is plural; like wacks.... haha!... (just thought I would write this down).

Experimenting....

Just for fun, today I decided to pull over on the side of the road and take a few pictures. I am trying to learn more about my camera and about photography. We had been in town all day, and my kids were a MESS, but it was okay. Just had to post. :)

Note: Look at Briallen's new haircut she gave herself... I know what you are thinking, but I had the scissors up high. I went outside for a few minutes and came back in to her yelling "MOM!! I TUT MY HAIR!!!" with the biggest grin on her face. Hopefully her bangs grow back fast... And until then, she will wear big bows.

Oh, and Rebekah was asleep, so I chose not to wake her up!

Late Happy Halloween!

First of all, this posting thing is weird right now, so I apologize for my photos being lined up all crazy.

For Halloween this year, I was a nerd. Emma was Scarlet O'hara, Briallen was a princess, and Rebekah was a bear.

Natalie was Snow White and Naomi was a rodeo clown until we made our first stop at Grandma's house. Then Naomi looked in the mirror and decided that she did NOT want to be a rodeo clown. So Natalie gave Naomi her costume and decided to be a beautiful bride. We went trick or treating around the neighborhood, and had a great time!

Naomi: (notice the western shirt underneath from the clown costume... I have to choose my battles... )

Elders Quorum Halloween Party

On Saturday night, we had our Elders Quorum Halloween party. It was a lot of fun! We played lots of games and had yummy refreshments. They had a little nursery for all of the kids, and it was SO nice to have a night out with my hubby!!!

Here we are: a couple of nerds...

Seriously SO sad!!

I think I have officially reached my lowest point! My house is messier than it has EVER been, and I have had absolutely no motivation (or more-so energy) to clean it. I have been embarrassed so many times from people coming over and witnessing my mess, but still haven't gotten it cleaned. Well, today Molly and John came by for a surprise visit on their way through town!!!! How exciting! I was so glad, and felt so lucky that they did, and yet the whole time I was completely humiliated by my own stupidity!!! Though we had a really good visit, and it was SO good seeing them, I couldn't stop thinking about my mess. I couldn't even let Molly use the bathroom because just a little bit earlier one of my kids threw melon rinds down the toilet and clogged it. This is officially my wake-up call. I will no longer be humiliated.... I need to come up with a plan and a schedule and hopefully my kids will help me. I hope that I can find the thing that fits me best, and if anyone has any suggestions, please throw them my way! :) I am SO sorry Molly and John, and I promise that if you are ever brave enough to come to my house again, it will be clean!! I love you guys, and thank you so much for coming! :) And to anyone else that might be brave enough: please wait at least a week.....haha! :)

p.s. I was going to post pictures of what it looks like, so I could do after pictures and you could all be impressed, but I have to think about that first.... maybe when I get it clean. I just thought if I "report" to my blog every now and then about my progress, maybe I can keep up the good work!

October already?!

Okay, so I can't believe it's already October. Let alone, the 17th of October! Halloween will be here before we know it, and that means the year is pretty much over! It's going by WAY too fast for me! Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I am not fond of going door to door and asking for candy... and every bite of candy my kids take makes me sicker.... lol! But I am SO excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I DO love this time of year! A time for families to be together and to feel the spirit of the season, and I am excited for that! :)