We are thankful...

On Thursday, November 15, was Ashton's first pack meeting. He was SO excited!

 Look how many awards he earned. He's amazing! I'm thankful that he LOVES scouts, what a great program! I'm thankful for his motivation. He is very self motivated!

 On Friday, November 16th, the multicultural feast was at the kids school. It was yucky as usual!  I'm sorry, people just make yucky food. I made homemade rolls but because they have the CAFE (which really is beautiful) now we have to follow certain rules. I didn't even see my rolls. Maybe they were all ready gone? I hope they didn't throw them away. :( Not going to make rolls next year. I will just buy something store bought like everyone else. :( I'm thankful that my family loves to eat my homemade rolls. :)
Ashton made a turkey hand and I didn't even get to see my daughter. She doesn't care much about seeing mom at school. I'm thankful that she had good friends.

 On Monday the 19th my mom took all of her kids and spouses (we left our kids with sitters, well mine and Briana's were with Granny :)) to Salt Creek (missed Brett, he was on a hunting trip). What a FUN evening! We ate delicious food and laughed and laughed. I'm thankful for my hubby, mom and siblings. I'm thankful that we love each other and love to be together. They are my best friends, my favorites. :)

 After dinner, mom took us to see "Lincoln", a great movie! I'm thankful for my mom who loves to do things with and for her children.
On Tuesday the 20th, we had a DoTerra class at my house. Love telling others about essential oils because I'm thankful for the oils and what they have done for my family.
Later that same day the kids made rock turkeys. They turned out SO cute! Timmy and Amanda's kids were there too. SO FUN! Thankful my mom got all the supplies to make something so cute, that I will keep forever.
I had to leave to go to school. College doesn't take the whole week off. :( Got to cut into the cat's digestive system and it is all so fascinating. :) I'm thankful for opportunities to learn.

 Wednesday evening Ashton went to Martial Arts and earned his last tip. Now he gets to test for his orange belt. I'm thankful for Ashton's perserverance and determination. Sierra got to sleep at Grandma's house with cousin Kate. I'm thankful for cousins who can be like a sister.

 Happy Thanksgiving!
I started the rolls and then Jake and I went on a run and Ashton rode his scooter. We got to the intersection of Wiley and Orchard Village and across the street were little boys yelling Ashton's name. It was cousins! They rode there bikes to our house and picked Ashton up and Ashton got to go on a bike ride with them. :) They got to play in the tree first though! I'm thankful for strong legs so we can run, ride bikes and play in trees.

 I finished rolls and we got ready and went over to Jake's parents house and enjoyed a beautiful day with Daily's, Travis and Miriam, Brown's and Penrod's. We ate yummy food and played "Say Anything". I love Thanksgiving!
On Friday Jake and I put up the Christmas lights and then me and the kids went over to Grannie's and made our traditional candy houses without candy this year. :) I'm thankful for traditions!

 Sierra made a village with the temple at the center.

 Kate and Nixon spent the night at our house.
Yesterday morning Briana texted and asked if we wanted to hike Vasquez Rocks. Yes, we did. I quickly made a coffee cake, YUM! We went and met mom, Norris and Briana at Granny's. Took 2 cars to Vasquez, me and Briana were following directions from my phone and I decided that you can't trust the phone. It took us on a wild goose chase. Finally we got smart and called my brother and he led us the right way. :) I'm thankful for my brother. We met Amanda and her crew and Jack, Timmy.
We had such a great day! Love to be with family. Love to be outside. I'm thankful for the beautiful world Heavenly Father has created for us to enjoy.

 That's Norris and Rossi at the top!
Thankful nobody got hurt!

Last night we had Thanksgiving with my Dad and Tori. So yummy! So thankful for the apple slaw Tori makes, it is SO good! :)

After dad's house we got out our Christmas decorations (per children's request). I'm thankful for this time of year to celebrate the birth of my Savior. I'm thankful for Jesus Christ!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks Aunt Pam for the picture! I will blog more about our day tomorrow, I'm tired! :)

Black Friday

Did not wake up early for all the chaos...instead we went about 2 pm and was in the midst of pm chaos. Was not too thrilled until we hit Target and then I went crazy, not with sales though, it seems everytime I do Black Friday shopping most things I want are not on sale but because I was there I got alot of my shopping done. YAY! Heather K. was the one who said "can we just run into Target really quick?" YES! Thanks Heather! I LOVE Target!
We decked the halls yesterday too! Jake did the dreaded lights on the house. YAY for daddy!
Had dinner at my mom's house with everybody and the missionaries. We got to have another Turkey dinner! :) Yes it was still delish!
Today had mount-o-eggs for breakfast at dad's followed by Thanksgiving dinner tonight! Delish once again!
I am grateful to have so much family that wants to feed us! :)
Right now Jake is watching recorded USC, Ashton playing with dinosaurs, Sierra reading a Christmas book to her AG dolls. I love the sounds of my children playing. I love the sounds of their sweet voices in our home, I am thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I did my part...

We had such a beautiful day! The weather was so beautiful, we welcome the chill in the air and the skies were blue and the sun was shining. I woke up early to make rolls for a friends family and for my own family. Ashton and I went on a little bike ride. Then we went up to mom's to enjoy yummy food with our family. Briana has been here since Tuesday with her kids and we have enjoyed them immensely. Aunt Ruthie came with her family and we always love to see them. I love Thanksgiving because it is a great time to sit and enjoy visiting with family while eating really yummy food and homemade PIE, I LOVE pie!!!






So much to be thankful for...family, my good husband, my beautiful children, food to eat, clothes to wear, cozy beds to sleep in and warm heaters, the scriptures, our prophet, my savior Jesus Christ, good health, good books, love and goodness! :)

a perfect weekend...

All of Jake's siblings came into town for Thanksgiving, and Aunt Leanne too. We enjoyed every minute of the time we got to spend with everyone. Wednesday night we ate yummy taco salad and then played some games.

Thanksgiving day we took pictures at the park and then we played and cooked and ate and looked at Black Friday ads. My kids enjoyed being with their cousins!

On Friday was our Young Family Reunion! In the morning we went for a hike at the Placerita Natural Area. Very fun!

Then we had lunch, sandwiches and pasta salad, all together at Terry and Janelle's. Janelle wanted to paint a flag with all the grandkids hands and feet prints, so after lunch we painted. We then had a pinata at the park!

Then we had a video Scavenger Hunt...so so fun!!! We were split up into 4 different cars, 4 different teams and we had clues to go to 4 different places. We had a list of things we needed to do and video ourselves at the different locations. I really enjoyed, I thought this was so fun!!!

For dinner we ate Chinese food together and the kids ate out in the garage on a blanket the whole weekend, they loved it!

After dinner we watched old family movies and played a couple of games. I won the jar of skittles because I guessed the closest number. I guessed 220 and there were 238. I never win anything!!! Janelle and Terry then shared some thoughts...Janelle was emotional and said that Jenn had told her not to expect much out of the Family Reunion, so she wouldn't be disappointed when it didn't go perfectly. Janelle then said that the Reunion exceeded her expectations! She thought the weekend was perfect! We all enjoyed being together, I thought it was a pretty perfect weekend too!

Thanksgiving Program

Today was Ashton's Thanksgiving Program at school. It was so so cute! He sang all the songs and remembered his parts!

Ashton drew the picture he is sitting by. One of the things he drew was a heart and he said to me, "mom here is my heart!"

This is Ashton's best buddy, CJ!