It's Beginning to Look A LOT like Christmas

Last Monday night, Trev was invited to go the Jazz Game with the boys.  With friends with tickets on the third row, courtside, you just can't pass that type of guy night up.

So I happily waved him off (I actually was really excited for him :)), and the kids and I did this for Family Night:

Ate dinner (compliments of Shiney)- 

Prepped a quick spiritual thought (compliments of London and Morgan)which was given in the car -

Hit the drive-thru at one of our favorite shake places for ice cream - 

Then finished off our night with decorating our Christmas tree and decking the halls!

Not too shabby of a night, if I do say so myself. :)  

A Weekend in Zion

We love Zion's National Park in Southern Utah!

Our love affair with this place began almost 10 years ago when Trev and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary, hiking up to Angel's Landing.  

Over the years we have visited it a few more times and fallen deeper in love with the towering red cliffs, stunning hikes, and calming waterfalls.  It is a love we have began to share with our children.  

So when Trev's brother Rich, and his wife, Lisa suggested we all go down there, share a house in St. George, and hike in Zion's we were all in!

Being that we all have extra kiddos at our house we decided to try and make it more of an "older kids" trip...translation - Abby and Claire got to stay at Grandmas.  A fact that Abby in particular exhibited opposition to.  Guess the days of leaving them behind may be over. :)

We went over the weekend before Thanksgiving, so we took my cousin Jordan with us as well as Shiney, Morgan, and Jake.

All told there were 13 kids in all, and 5 adults.  Jake was the youngest.  I missed my little girls, but I have to admit we had a blast with the big kids!  It got me excited for the teenage years with my kids...so many fun things you can do with teens!

Here we are lounging at the house we rented and oh man, all the food we ate...kind of embarrassing really.

On to Zions!  Trying to decide what hikes to hit first...the boys trying to convince me and Lisa that we should do Angel's Landing...ummm not happening with 13 kids!

Cruising on the shuttle while it rained.

Taking in the scenery with family.  Priceless.

Oh Zion's...you never disappoint.  You can't help but feel awe-struck and grateful to Heavenly Father and the Savior for this beautiful world they have created for us when your right smack dab in the middle of Zion's. It is Zion in every sense of the word.

What a great way to instill gratitude for the earth and it's Creator just in time for Thanksgiving.

Brace-Face

Yep, this just happened!

Before:

After:

Isn't she adorable!!! :)  Love my little brace-face.

She is here next to me, and so I am going to let her tell you all about it. :)

Morgan-

Ok,just a few min.s ago i got braces.I'm telling you got to get braces at fairbanks for your braces! And that's a prosise!

Well there you have it...in her own words. :)

Neat moments.

Recent Additions to our Home

Back in September we suffered a tragedy in our family.  Our brother-in-law Greg, passed away.  He was survived by Trev's sister Amy and their 10 children.

Since that time, we have had the blessing to have 2 of their dear daughters staying in our home.  They are both just lovely and we have loved having them here.  They will only be with us a few more months before they will rejoin their mother and siblings in their new home that is currently under construction.  

We will miss them when they go.  The older girl is Cheyenne, who we call Shiney.  She is 15 and a great teen.  Her sister London is 8. Her and Morgan have become BFF's.  What great girls they both are.

Fun Fact about Shiney:  She is a GREAT cook!
She loves cooking, and we LOVE eating her creations. :)

For one of her Personal Progress Projects she decided to make us all dinner for 2 weeks and start a recipe blog to document her meals!  Yay for us! :)

Her blog is : www.shineysilverspoon.blogspot.com

Feel free to check it out and try her recipes...so far they have all been wonderful!

So here they are - Chef Shiney and Little London

This girl has particularly benefited from having a fun cousin move in. :)  As have we all!  Love these girls.