The Christmas Tree.........

I like to wait until after Christian's birthday to put up the tree but this year was so busy with things going on the only time to get it up was right after Thanksgiving. I don't think he minded one bit!

 I really wanted a real tree this year but the cost made me think twice, maybe next year. So we got the fake on out. The kids love to help, and I'll take it, it takes awhile to get it up. I usually do the lights and tinsel and it took me a little longer this year to get that all up. Actually 3 tries to get the lights on this year.........long story, you can ask Layne about it, he thinks its funny, I on the other hand do not!

Anyway, it is up and looks wonderful. It's always fun to put up the ornaments and reminisce the history of the ornaments and what they mean. I gave the kids some ornaments and the level of tree they could put them on. Julia was excited to put them on the middle of the tree this year. Christian got the bottom of the tree and was not happy. He told me, "Mom, these are the boring ornaments." Sorry pal we all had that job at least once! I also debated  putting up my second tree. I thought Christian still might have a tough time keeping his hands off the tree this year. I didn't put it up but wish I had, he is doing a good job not touching the tree this year.

Thanksgiving........

Thanksgiving this year was held at our house. So that meant I was the one to do the turkey. In my 39 years on earth, I will admit I have never cooked a turkey on my own. My mom and sister Amy walked me through the process. Didn't seem to bad until the next morning while preparing the bird. All I can say is EEWWW, GROSS! Chicken and hamburger don't bother me but a huge turkey, just gross. Anyway, the kids and Layne came out and agreed with me on the gross factor. But we finally got it in the oven and let it cook.

Everyone started to gather and we made all the last minute food preparations. The bird turned out nice and golden brown! All the food was wonderful and so was the company. It was a great day! It was a day that will be remembered. And everyone for some reason kept saying how great all the food tasted this year?! I agree, maybe we were just super hungry or maybe it was all that extra love we put into it this year :)

 Last minute prep.......

 The Kids Table :)

The rest of the day we just talked, played games, napped, watched football, ate more pie and goodies! The best part was being able to spend time together! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

 Mad game of Monopoly going on!

All the Grandkids!

Foster Care.........

So instead of continuing on with proctor care we are switching gears and go to do foster care. We are looking to do foster to adopt. We are wanting to add to our family because we do both feel that our family is not quite complete and this is our best option, not only to add to our family but to also help children in the process.

So to do this we have started the process, which is a lot of paper work and a lot more training. We have all the paperwork done but now this month we did all the training, which was 32 hours worth. That meant 8 classes, four hours for each class, and they were all at night, either in Orem or Murray. I set up the schedule and made a plan so we could get all the classes done in 3 weeks. It was a hard  3 weeks on us and the kids but we did it. First week was 2 classes, the second week just about killed us, 4 classes, which means a lot of time away from home. Finally the third week we took the last 2 classes. We are done with training. We are waiting to do a home study which takes about 3-4 hours of them checking your home for safety and then interviewing your family. So it is definitely a process but we are excited!

More to come!

Fall........

This time of year is always my favorite. Cooler temperatures, leaves changing colors, football season, back to school, holidays, what's not to love!

My sister, mom and I made a trip up the AF canyon to look at the view and see the changing colors. It's always amazes me how beautiful a place we live in once you get up in the mountains. We just don't take advantage of it enough! My mom got a great shot of Christian that sums it all up!

My sister also has a very creative and keen eye for taking great pictures of just everyday things, especially nature. I just don't think to take pictures of stuff without people in them, except for an occasional sunset. She took this one on the way to school with her youngest Jane on a nice fall day!

Most of the color was gone when I was trying to get some pictures with my kids but they love to play in the leaves. So I took them down to the park and got them just playing and enjoying the day. So simple and so joyful!

Mom, I'm making a 'leaf' angel

Happy Halloween.........

 October has been a fun and busy month for us. Lots of trips and Halloween fun. We had a little neighborhood party a few weeks before Halloween and the kids had a blast. They had games, food, and a little parade, prizes and a photo booth! It was a great way to start of Halloween :)

 It's just not Halloween without pumpkins. I just kept putting it off this year for some reason but finally we found a big variety at Macy's and picked a few out. The kids loved being able to climb up the pumpkin mountain and pick out their own pumpkins. And then of course be able to carve. Well, at least pull out the insides while mom and dad had to carve them. Christian didn't want to have anything to do with the insides but Julia was all over it!

We all decided to have Halloween/Trick or Treating at our house this year. All the girls decided to be witches this year, which was really cute! So we had a knight and monster, but you could never tell what Christian was because he never wanted to keep his hat on. So we kept trying to come up with what he could be without the hat, a virus or some kind of candy!

It was great trick or treating in our neighborhood because all the houses are pretty close together and lots of them. We went for an hour and the bags were getting heavy so we stopped by the house to drop off the younger kiddos and let the bigger kids keep going. They made out like bandits. It was a lot of fun. It brought back lots of memories. I use to go over to my cousins every year and go trick or treating with them when I was a kid, fun times!

This year we did try something new. Instead of having our kids on a sugar high for a month, Layne offered to buy the kids candy back. They picked out however many pieces they wanted and then Layne would pay them for what was left. Christian got $5 and Julia got $10 this year. I thought it was a great idea. Layne then took the candy to work to have his coworkers eat the rest!

Winner, Winner.............

We had our annual Halloween coloring contest at work. Julia wanted to enter so she worked extra hard this year. Her age group was 7-11 years old and also had the most entries. But come to find out she won! I told her the news and she was so excited! She won 4 tickets to go to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. So we all got to go for free this year! It was awesome. Thanks Julia for sharing your prized with us! We had a great time!

Park City.....

                                                                                                        

Layne and I took off for the weekend to get some early Christmas shopping done and to have a little break from the kiddos. It was a great little get away and we stayed at a little cute B&B, The Torchlight Inn. I've never stayed in a b&b but have always wanted to. I didn't even know it was a bed and breakfast till we got up to the place. I thought it was going to be a hotel, so that was a nice surprise. It had different rooms named after different winter Olympics. It felt cozy and comfortable like a home but not like a hotel. Real wood burning fireplaces, cozy rooms, down comforters, very nice.We had a cozy night watching the Giants game! Breakfast the next morning was fantastic. The owners cooked for us and all homemade it was fantastic! The owners are from back east, wife from New England and hubby from Scotland. It was interesting to talk to them and hear their story about the Torchlight Inn. I would recommend it to anyone going to stay in Park City.