I can't believe that Katie is already a month old. The time has gone so fast. She is starting to smile and really look at us when we talk to her. Her favorite thing to do is stare up at the shelves on our wall. I think she must see angels up there smiling at her. 
Merry Christmas to everyone! It has been such a wonderful day. After going to bed very very late (or maybe I should say early this morning) and then waking up to no power, we got a late start on our Christmas morning. We didn't come out to see what Santa brought until close to 10:00 am. It took us a long time to get everything opened but the kids really enjoyed it. They were all so good. Some were a little hyper but we didn't have any discipline problems which is a great gift for me and Dale. We spent the night at my mom's house which is one of my favorite things. Things seemed pretty mellow there too. I really love Christmas and it made me so happy when a few of my kids told me this was the best Christmas ever. We added a fish and two hampsters to our home this year. It will be interesting to see how that goes.
Here is a picture of my Christmas present for this year. My kids gave me a wonderful massage chair and I love it but this is my favorite present for sure! Katie has been such a joy to have around. I can't get enough of her sweetness. I love how much everyone loves her. She is the center or our world right now. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year!
I know this picture probably looks really bad but it's very innocent. Kyson came up to me, just like he is in the picture, and said "Mom, look at my owie." Dale and I were laughing so hard and Kyson had no idea why. He just stared at us. What a cute little birdie finger though.
We put our stockings up today and couldn't believe how many there are. There couldn't possibly be that many people in our house! I just stood back and looked at them all lined up and couldn't believe we have 8 stockings for Santa to fill. What a fun (and loud) Christmas morning we will have one week from today.
gave me a gift certificate at my baby shower for a hair makeover. It was wonderful!went to the school to do the last of the 5 Jr. Achievment lessons in Jaxon's class
Took Jadon to his violin lesson
Went to Burger King with my family for dinner
We will have a post of the baby as soon as possible!
Jaxon has a very strong presence in our family. He tries my patience all the time. He is very stubborn and I hope that it will make him a leader who is determined to get what he wants when he is older. As I made the slide show that is posted below, I loved looking at his smile and the excitement that he has for life. I love my little Jaxon and am happy that he is in our family!
I'm excited for her to be here but I think I'm really going to miss being pregnant. I love sitting on the couch every night and feeling her move around. I've decided to try and enjoy every day I have left as much as I can. Sometimes it's hard because my kids are off track and some days they have a hard time entertaining themselves and I don't have the energy to do anything fun with them. It's beautiful outside and I would love to take them to the zoo but I think if I had to walk those hills I would deliver a baby there. Anyway, for the most part, this has been a pretty enjoyable pregnancy and I'm thankful that we will have a new little baby in our home again!
I had the opportunity to volunteer for a few hours in Jadon's class today. They are studying Egypt right now and we made Egyptian Death Masks today. We used gauze that had plaster on it and put several coats on their face. The best part was when we got to put it over their mouths and they couldn't talk to us. It was really fun. 
This is Jadon and his friend Andrew waiting for their masks to dry. Don't they look scary. Inside their masks, I know they were trying to smile.
Before we started putting the plaster on their faces, we cover their face in Vaseline so the plaster wouldn't stick as bad. It still kind of hurt to pull the mask off after it was dry. If you are like me, and you like to pick scabs, it is fun to pull it off.
After all the kids were done, some of the kids talked their parents into letting us have them do masks on us. It was fun! They are going to decorate them at school. I told Jadon to do mine. I can't wait to see what it looks like.
Tonight our family went to the pumpkin patch so the kids could all pick out their own Halloween pumpkins. They were really cute. We got it all done pretty quick. They all ran through and found what they thought was the perfect pumpkin. I think this will help me get in the Halloween spirit and get out our Halloween decorations that the kids have been asking about since October 1st. 
Today was our kids primary program. This is the only program that all of my kids will be in together. Kyson is a sunbeam and Jadon is in his final year of primary. By the time our new baby is a sunbeam, Kierra will also be out of primary. It was very enjoyable to just sit with my husband (and my parents who came) and enjoy the program. This is the only year for a long time where we will be able to sit in sacrament meeting without kids. I love to watch my kids sing Primary Songs and wave at me when they get on the stand to say their part.
Sometimes I can't believe that we only have 10 weeks to go and other times D-day seems forever away! I'm definately to the uncomfortable part of pregnancy. I feel huge and can't believe that our baby still has to double in size before she'll come out. OUCH! I am thoroughly enjoying feeling her move though. I love knowing that this is the last time (yes, it is the last time!) I am going to be pregnant because I enjoy everything just a little more. Still don't have a name yet though!
This weekend I was able to go to Logan with my dear friends Amy, Michelle and Laura to attend "Time out for Women". It was an incredible weekend!!! For those of you who have never heard of it, it is put on by the church and women from all over come together to listen to speakers, hear music about the gospel and learn about being better people. We learned some wonderful things, laughed, cried, slept (a little) and had lots of yummy food. There are so many wonderful things that I got out of this weekend but the thing that really stuck with me is this. We, as mothers, often don't feel appreciated, especially by our children. Day after day we do everything for our children with no thanks from them. In fact, sometimes they complain about us and what they don't have. What we have to remember is that our Heavenly Father appreciates us and everything that we do for his children. It's a simple thought really but makes me feel appreciated. If you ever get a chance to go to Time out for Women, do it! It is a great way to make you want to be a better person. I am also thankful for Dale for being so willing to stay home with my kids while I went. They said he did lots of fun things with them. He's a great dad!
Since our anniversary and Lisa and Paul's anniversary are both in August, we decided to go out to dinner together. A lot of people recommended Ruth's Chris so we decided to go there. Before we left we were telling Jadon where we were going and that it's a really expensive steak place. He told us no food is worth that much money. I told him that spending a night with my husband and having good food is worth it to me. We did have a good time. It was a very nice setting and we had a great waiter. I have to say that I've had steaks for a lot less money that were just as good. But the dessert....yummy yummy yummy! We had a good time visiting and laughing. I love going out with Dale, anywhere. I'm so thankful for such a wonderful husband who always makes me feel good about myself and can always make me laugh.
Today was Jake's 1st day of Kindergarten. Even though he is my 4th child to send off to school, I was still sad. I feel like once they start school, I lose control of them. I can't make sure they are always OK. This year our school let the parents come in for the first 1/2 hour and had us assist them in finding their seat and tote tray and where to hang their backpacks. I loved that! He was so cute and excited to be going to school with "the kids" as he calls Jadon, Jaxon and Kierra. They all walked home together and they all took good care of Jake. I can't believe that 4 of my kids are now in school. Kyson is feeling sad that he isn't going to school with them but I'm sure we'll have some fun times every afternoon just the two of us.
This weekend we had a surprise party for my Mother-in-law. She turned 60! We have been planning this party for a couple of months and had everyone in her family, and some of her friends, in Idaho to surprise her. The look on her face when she got to her brother's house, where we were all waiting, was priceless! She was very emotional and genuinely surprised. While we were eating dinner, Gladys asked me why would we do this for her? I was shocked! Nobody deserves it more than her! Anyone who knows her, knows what a wonderful, selfless person she is. She will do anything for anyone, especially her family members. She recently has moved to Pocatello and we miss her very much! I know that she is so happy to be around her siblings again and to finally have a place she can call home so we are happy for her.
We wanted her entire family to be there, so we flew Crystal (her oldest grandchild) in from Arizona. I think Gladys was very surprised to see her and was very emotional. When we were taking these pictures, Jake said to me "Grandma's face isn't red anymore. She had a red face because she was crying, but she wasn't sad, she was happy. She was crying so much that it looked like her face was sweating!" It made us all cry because we love her so much and want her to have what will make her happy! Happy Birthday Gladys!
After a short but very eventful summer, the kids got to go back to school today. I love the first day of school. It means that we can get back to a daily routine again and I feel a little organized.
Jake is going to Kindergarten but they don't start for another week. I can't believe that I have 4 kids in school. Jadon is in the last year of elementary while Jake is at the start. I can't believe how time flies! 
While we were camping, my sister, Holly, had her baby. She was 6 weeks early. Because of several complications during Holly's pregnancy, the baby stopped gaining weight so they decided they needed to get her out to help her grow. Holly ended up having an emergency C-section and Aubrey only weighed 2 lbs. 15 oz. I got to go see her last night and this picture really doesn't portray how little she really is. The green binkey in her mouth is huge! I brought one of the diapers home that she wears and it is soooo little and it doesn't even fit her. The most amazing part about her is how much she acts like a full term baby, she's just really small. Holly went home and had to leave her there. Hopefully she will be able to bring her home in a few weeks. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful technology we have to help these little babies survive!
We just got home from our annual camping trip to Washington Lake in the Uinta's. We had a great time! We were there with my sister Lisa's family and my brother Paul's family. These pictures are kind of in a backwords order. I just wanted to put some of my favorite's on here. The picture above was taken at Provo river falls. We actually stopped by on our way home. We got out and took a few pictures but wanted to stay for a while and walk down to see where the waterfalls end. I guess we'll have to do that one next year.
I love this picture of all the cousins! They had a great time playing together. Paul's family camp was across the street from ours so the little kids were constantly going back and forth between campsites. They rode bikes a lot in the street together. They spent a lot of time playing and coloring in the tent trailors and making up games outside. It was so much fun to see the cousins play together!
Every year we take a family picture somewhere different at Washington Lake. This picture was taken in the evening right behind where our trailer was parked. The lake is behind us. The thing that I love the most about camping is how much we do together as a family. 
I am so thankful for Jadon. Ever since he was little, he has always wanted to do the right thing. He is always a great helper to me. Whenever we go to the cabin, camping, on a trip or anything that requires a lot of work, he is always there helping me. He always likes to keep busy. When we went to Bear Lake last week, he got up at 6:00 because he was so excited to go. I wasn't up yet so he decided to vaccum out the van. 
Jadon is a hard, dedicated worker. His 5th grade teacher was very impressed with how hard he worked and how responsible he was with his work. He takes care of our lawn by himself and has recently started mowing our neighbors lawn for money. He is 110% dedicated to baseball. He always wants to be early to practices and games and he always has his head in the game. At almost every game, when the team is in the dugout, you will find him leaning against the corner of the dugout watching the game. He played 1st base this year and did a great job!
Jadon recently graduated from cub scouts to boy scouts and finished everything he needed to do. He got his arrow of light several months before he left cub scouts, which is kind of rare in our troop. He has always loved scouts! He loves the outdoors. He can't wait to go camping every summer and absolutely loved being out on the water at Bear Lake. I've told people before, that he was born in the wrong century. He would have made a terrific pioneer!
Jadon loves the superheros, just like his Dad does. I think Jadon's greatest hero is his Dad. He loves to do anything with him. Anytime Dale is going anywhere, besides work, Jadon wants to go. Ever since he was very little, he has loved to help Dale with the car. He loves to ride the motorcycle with him. Dale will be spending the night with Jadon at scout camp tonight and I think that is one of the greatest birthday presents Dale could give him.
We just spent 3 wonderful days in Bear Lake with Some of my mom's family. We had a great time. I couldn't believe how long the kids just played in the sand and water. They never got tired of it. I had to make them go back to the cabins every day. Dale rented two waver runners and everyone had a good time on those. We brought our trailer and set it up in between the two cabins. One of my favorite things about it was sleeping outside and listening to the stream and looking at the stars. This is the only picture that was taken with my camera. My aunt Sandy took a ton of pictures with her camera so I didn't even bother getting mine out. When we were getting ready to leave, the moon was really pretty so I decided to get a family picture. You can't see the moon in the picture but at least we have a family picture from Bear Lake.
