December Fun

This is such a fun time of year. Excitement for Christmas is in the air, but so is just hanging with friends!!

Everyone had a piano recital this month.  Sam and Nate take from Miss Debbie Rowe (who we love).

 Jake and Luke are still with Lori Serr.  Her Christmas open houses are my favorite recitals.

 I got to chaperon a field trip to the nutcracker with Nate's 1st grade class.  SO MUCH FUN!

 Nate is the social butterfly of the family, he's a little bit of a goof and so fun to be around.  He got called up as a volunteer on stage.  He was pretty pumped about that.

 

Jake had a concert in the hall welcoming in the Mapleton Junior High students.  8th grade orchestra is pretty legit!

Some Sunday night full court basketball going on in our basement.  I love when all the boys play well together.  Makes me so happy that they are friends.

 some live footage so we can always remember these Little Dudes that will some day big Big Dudes, but hopefully they will always have this kind of fun together.

 This cute bug is hard to keep entertained, but when he's happy he's the cutest thing around. 8 months old!

 Mimi and Brielle are best little buds.  I love that they can make girlie even the super hero costumes.

 Nate and mimi just needed a little picture together.  Because they are cute.

 

One day while we were feeding Drew, Mimi decided to try it too.  This video is THE BEST!

 

 Trying out our new Snow Cone maker from Adam and Kelly's family - YUM!

Bar 10 Thanksgiving

We NEVER tire of going to Bar 10.  I wish we could go every year for Thanksgiving.  It's better than a family reunion, or maybe it IS a family reunion. :)

We started the day off with ranger rides to Pa's Pocket to eat lunch

 Here's the kids a little too close to the edge for my liking.

 We got the chance to show a cute Chinese student the Grand Canyon.  She came to America as an intern teacher from Su MaMa and the Chinese Club.  She was so sweet to have around.  It was fun showing her horses and the Arizona Strip and Grand Canyon for the first time.

 Cousin time is the best time.

 These boys are always out exploring and hunting when we are out at the Ranch.  It was the first time Jake had used a pellet gun. 

 Unfortunately, he was watching the pellets smash on the rocks and accidentally shot Grandma in the elbow.  EEK.  He will be taking hunter's safety ASAP.  And hopefully Grandma will forgive his idiocy.  We are lucky it was an arm and not an eye.  That would have been awful!

 Uncle Gavin leading the trail ride.  We are so lucky he is generous enough to come out there as much as we can.  We love the Bar 10.

 These big cousins are the best.  I was around when they were little, but I haven't been around as much through their growing up years.  Well, they have all grown up so well without me around!  I sure love each of them. L2R: Kason, Lindsay, Jessie, Preston, Lexi

 CHECK OUT THIS FEAST!  we did a lot of eating with a lot of food to choose from.

 And more eating and more food.

  This is how they all fell asleep.  All crashing in front of the fireplace after a long night of laughs and a full day of fun.

Just a shot of a really dirty cutie pie.

 Cute baby Drew.  Getting big.  This is the absolute worst time to be at the ranch because he is crawling and the floor is not that sanitary here.  But luckily we have so many fun older cousins that kept him happy the whole time.  Actually, I overheard my sister in law say, "AnnDee says he's super cranky, but I am not believing it."  AHHH, what if we are turning a corner and he becomes happy now?!  none the less, I will take any good behavior from this little dude that I can.

 Some beautiful shots during the ATV ride to the rim.

 Taylor took a group of boys down to the river.  The water was FREEZING, but it didn't keep them out.  Luke did eventually shed his clothing too.

 Jake getting ready to make a plunge.

 What happened to the boys?!  I think this picture is awesome. :) So typical of my life.  Never anything put away, but even more than that - ALWAY NAKED!! (PS - Lukes cloths, so there is proof he got in, or at least prepared to get in. )

I felt really bad for our cute Chinese friend, because Mimi did this as soon as we got home!!  eek.  I hope her plane ride back to China is not miserable!!

November Stuff

We started the month off with a Pokemon Chinese Club party.  I've been helping in the Chinese club the past year, and it;s been a lot of fun.  We put on 2 semiannual parties.  The first one was a hit!

The pictures below are something I'm super proud of, but give all the credit to Lindsay Nadauld.  We volunteered to fix Murphy and Morgan's couches. They scored some sweet couches for free when they got married, but as they were driving away from picking them up from some nice lady's house, they fell out of the truck and scratched up the frame.  I had no idea how to really fix it, (Wait that's not true, I had a great idea how to fix it, but didn't think I alone could execute), but with Lindsay by my side, it turned out awesome. Ah.  A pat on the back for Aunts AnnDee and Linsday!

Just a candid shot of Taylor helping Jake with his orchestra songs.  I have to document it, because I don't Jake will last long at orchestra!

 Luke doing his wax museum program.  Here he is below with his buddy Jacob Cochran AKA (Charlie Chaplan)

Here he is doing his monologue for Jackie Robinson.  Super Cute!

Jake had a football tournament in Mesquite the first week of November, so we took the whole family and enjoyed some warmth and fun in St. George!

Grandma showing off her home grown produce.  Made for some yummy BLT sandwhiches

 They built a new "all abilities" park and it is SUPER cool.  We had a fun afternoon exploring there.

 Laura is the best baby sitter with the little kids.

Lily and Drew

 Only in St. George can you play in the water in NOVEMBER. 

 It's been super fun to have both sets of cousins in St. George.  We get to see Taylor's family and My family. Funny that Lincolns kids are actually better friends with Heather's kids than mine are to either of them in some ways.  It makes it so much fun to go visit.

 Red Shirt (Nate, little kid we don't know, Millie, Jane and Sam)

 Jake's team had fun in the Tournament.  They won one and lost a couple.  But, the weather was great, so we aren't complaining!

 Check out that sunset!!

Piano recital time.  The boys did great.  Luke and Smith (Bowing)
 Jake, Joseph Holman, and Hunter  Robison.  All the same age, but woe, Joe is TALL (all showing their  judging certificates). Nothing but superior for these guys

 BYU basketball has started and Taylor is always very excited when he gets to spend time with one of his favorite's Nick and Kate. 

 Another favorite, trying to feed the beast called Andrew.  Murphy was giving it his all to try to get Drew to like him!

 A blurry picture of our family night.  Mimi was the cutest little charade player.

 And another picture of a frustrated Andrew who is learning how to crawl!

This was a first for us.... Luke played co-ed city volleyball.  He had a ton of fun, and their team won the championship. Of course, he had the best coach of all time.  We love Heidi and all the Galbraiths.

 And another first was me coaching Basketball for Sam and Nate.  This is about the level I can handle. We all had a lot of fun though. Love that 1st and 2nd grade is combined and Sam and Nate get to do all the sports together this year.  MUCH easier logistics.

 Cute Mimi is ready to go to the ranch in a couple weeks for Thanksgiving. :)

We got a quick visit from Lincoln and Lindsay and boy did these two girls have fun together.  I hope they are best of cousins growing up.

The boys had their school thanksgiving programs. Sam was a cute pilgrim.  A toothless one. 

 This pilgrim had no mercy on the Turkey this year.  Even though it's his buddy Creed.  I love Creed is really showing his true fear of Sam!

 Natey had a program as well and made up an Indian dance to show off.

 I love two things about this following picture.  One - Mrs Shaffer, because she is so awesome.  I hope both Mimi and Drew get her too!!  Two - Nate wearing his awesome Native American outfit Grandma Heaton made.  Originally for Luke, but now it's been handed down.  He was so happy to have a REAL costume today.

 Some of my favorite pictures of this boy.  He is just finding his hands and fingers and it's so cute.