I Love to see the Temple.......

Went to see the Temple Lights for FHE in December. We had my parents go with us too. We all had such a super great time. Loved all the beautiful lights.
A sweet missionary offered to take our family picture.
My parents went with us so Rob insisted they get in the picture too.
Cooper,Carter, Kennedy, Walker and Tanner
The Christus statue in the Visitors' Center. The kids were in awe looking at it.

Walker asked me why they had a firework up on the top!! haha I love that goofy kid!! :)

Kenna, Tanner and Cooper

This is a typical picture........
Tanner and Cooper wrestling around. Carter trying to get in the middle of the action. Walker watching everyone else. Kenna off in her own lil world!!
My Mom and Dad and Carter. We were so happy that they decided to go with us. It was nice to spend time as a Family and the peace of the Temple grounds just made it that much better! Rob and I are so grateful for all the help my parents give us with the boys and getting them to school every morning even though it can be a pain and inconvenience to them. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

O Christmas Tree, O christmas Tree...........

Well Rob has always had a grouchy disposition when it comes to putting up Christmas lights.......actually anything to do with Christmas gets him grouchy!! We call him Scroogy Mc-Grinch and it fits him well!!
What a sweet surprise when I got home from my primary meeting back in December before Christmas Scroogy McGrinch (AKA Rob) had bought and put up outside Christmas light decorations. They were even the ones that the week before I commented on in another yard that I liked and how many you would need to have to look the way I would like it. Thank you hunny!!!!

An evening with Santa..........

We had our Ward Christmas party this week and let me tell you it was..................GREAT!! The activities committee really took into consideration the ages of the children in our ward when planning it. The majority of children in our ward are under the age of 8-9 years old. So it started off with everyone being told that Santa had been sighted in the area and if they would sing loud enough he would hear them and come for a visit. So of course we sang and Santa came running in.

Santa told the children what he has been up to and asked if they had been good of course. He told them while they ate their dinner he would wander around and visit then later the children could tell him what was on their list. He then helped them recall the real meaning of Christmas and talked about the Saviors birth.

Walker was in awe of the whole thing!! We had a delicious ham dinner with all the fixins!! Super yummy!! Then they had a craft set up in another room for the children.
The craft was pipe cleaners that we strung with beads and made into a snowflake. I didn't see one child complain about the craft they were all so excited!!
Walker enjoying his project.
Kenna getting her craft on!

Even Cooper made one which surprised me because I thought he would claim to be to old.

Carter put his finished snowflake on his shirt because it was a "spider". After this all my boys turned their snowflakes into spiders which made them even more fun to play with!!

After the craft we went and the kids got to visit with Santa and tell him what they are wishing for Christmas. Kenna was to scared to go up to him. Walker was a bit nervous but he wants a Spider Bionicle sooo bad he risked talking to Santa up close. Carter could have went on ALL night talking but we cut him short after a bit so everyone behind him in line could have a turn. Santa's helpers gave them a treat.

Then we went back to the cultural hall and had dessert and visiting till it was over. It was great to be able to just have a chance to visit and make friendships with the different people in the ward with out having a program and needing to be quiet. I love that it was low key and that it was geared towards the children so there wasn't the crying and frustration out of boredom. Way to go activities committee another success!!!

Homemade Ornament Exchange 2009........

Well this week we had our annual Brunch and Ornament Exchange and just like always I had a great time. This is my 6th year participating and although I am always stressed to find an ornament to make I love it!! It was sooo wonderful to see my friends in Mesa that I miss. I wish I would have gotten better pictures and ones of everybody but that is what happens when you are busy visiting you forget to take pictures!

Genie and Legay

Paula and Ericka

Thanks goes out to Heidi our organizer!! I only wish it could have lasted another few hours!!

Cooper's Orchestra Concert 2009.......

This month was Cooper's Orchestra Concert. He is playing the trumpet this year. Yes he plays a different instrument each year so far!! He really only joins because his friends are in it.
The concert was great and Cooper did a good job.


I guess we will see what instrument next year brings......

Dear Santa, I Was Very, Very Good..........

We took Kenna and Walker to see Santa Clause at the San Tan Mall and then to play at the play area. If you do not purchase the pictures with Santa you are not allowed to snap a picture on your own camera......so no pictures of Santa cuz we didn't have all the kids with us and Kenna wouldn't even sit with Santa. She only would mumble what she wanted.

Walker and Kenna just love to play at the lil play area they have at the mall.

Kenna just loves to play with Walker and is always watching to see what he does.

Walker was so pleased with himself that he could climb the butterfly alone and even sit on the top of it.

I wanted pictures of them together and they didn't want to hold still for that long so here is Kennedy making sure Walker is still next to her.

Walker liked the dragonfly...........

he had to point out to us where the pee comes from........ugh such a boy!!



Had to get a few pictures of Kenna.

8 is GREAT!!!!!!!

Carter had his 8th birthday in November!! So on December 12th he was baptized and became an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The few days leading up to the baptism were a little bit stressful. An LDS firefighter had died that week and his funeral was held at the church building we were going to have the baptism at. So that means we were bumped to another building. The way it works is that funerals have precedent over any other activity that is planned at a building. Now usually that is no big deal but the problem was getting the final ok on WHICH building we were to use so we could let everyone know which one to go to. Here there are LDS church buildings on every other corner (we are lucky!!) so it was a matter of details. After that detail was solved it was all good.


We had a real nice and simple day. We had friends come from in town that we hadn't seen in far too long so that was nice and we had our friends from out here that made it too. My parents were able to come also. My mom gave a talk about baptism and Rob talked about the Holy Ghost and baptized Carter. After the baptism we went home and everyone came over for a luncheon. I am thankful for our friends and family that came to support and show love to Carter on his day. Thank you.

Here we are waiting to go into the Chapel. The kids were all smiles and eager to get their pictures taken.

Tanner didn't really want to get a picture taken.

Cooper wouldn't let me get a picture of him. He had to take the camera and get a picture of himself by himself!!

We have a Bobcat now.............

Well Carter received his Bobcat award this month in Cub Scouts! He is soo happy to be 8 and be able to be in Cubs. He was so jazzed the few days leading up to this night and pretty wild the day of because of his excitement. YEA Carter!!!


Here we are as he pins the mother's pin on me.

Happy Thanksgiving......

This year for Thanksgiving we had everyone over to our house. I had the camera battery charging two days in advance........but then forgot to even take one picture!!!! So this will be a short post with no pics. :(

There were 22 of us in all this year. Rob, Me and our 5 kiddos, My parents, Grandma Rachel, Jessie & Brandon, Eddie, Chris & Chance, Amy, Paul and their 5 kids.

My lil sister Jessie made pies for the first time and I must say her pecan pie was really dang good! Way to go Jessie!! My brother Eddie made a Pumpkin Roll and he did a darn good job it was delish!!
We ate and sat around visiting. It was a nice drama free day!!

Were the "Best of Friends".....

Kenna really looks up to her brother and loves him so much. These two have so much fun playing together! I love listening and watching them play. They do fight sometimes but not too often and not for long. They are precious.

Carter's 8th birthday.....

For Carter's birthday Rob and I took him his favorite lunch (Jack in the Box) to school and had lunch with him. The boys really think it is so "COOL" if we come and eat lunch at school with them.......they will out grow this soon I am sure.

The book fair was going on in the library so we went there after eating and Carter picked out three books. My Mom had taken him in earlier during his class's library time and got him a couple of books for his birthday which he thought was so great cuz he is a lil book worm! I was busy looking at books and forgot to take pictures.:(

We got KFC for dinner that night which he likes too! We didn't have a party this year because over the last 10 weeks I had been writing a primary sacrament program which I got at the last minute and trying to get it organized, the 3 other boys had b-days, a couple of award ceremonies for Scouts and School for the boys, over 3 weeks of me being sick in fact this was one of my first times out in weeks...we think I had swine flu, some of the rest of the family was sick also, Halloween, getting ready for Thanksgiving and we still had x-mas to get ready for, a son that started a fire in the house trying out his Scout skills with a battery and steel wool (luckily only burnt his finger tips) can you guess who this is....cooper, had to go to court to forcibly evict our renters who have trashed our house and not paid rent in 4 months (still dealing with that), 1 baptism that I was getting ready for and the regular day to day life. I am sure I have left out something!! Whew........

One lil monkey......

I cannot get enough of this cute face!!!