december in review

calendar quotes:
each family prayer, each episode of family scripture study, and each family home evening is a brushstroke on the canvas of our souls. -Elder Bednar
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we were able to go to the temple with kent's littlest sister, kari for her endowment (all kent's siblings were there-how neat) and then we had dinner at red robins, i had to get a picture because koy always sings the little advertising jingle...red robin-yummm!

then we all got together for a fun family party, we played some minute to win it games...the kids had a blast. here a few are seeing how many m&m's they can suck up and put in another bowl...
then we had a wild and crazy version of pictionary...
and then a silly white elephant gift exchange, here are a few of the fabulous gifts being modeled...
koy was the only one to sit on santa's lap this year, brooke has never been a fan and chooses to just stand by him and kaden informed me he was just to old...
we also got to enjoy the kids cute christmas program-brooke was an elf and so cute with her pointy shoes---the rest of my kids could probably do without a christmas program but brooke absolutely loves it, the whole thing...she sings all the classes songs and tries to learn everyones dances, she never tires of the practices and sings all the songs for us. koy on the other hand was a little disappointed that instead of PE he had to practice for the program, he would much rather play hockey...
we also got together with our pingel cousins and made ginger bread houses again this year---i love seeing the creations they come up with and lets face it...there is just no ruining a ginger bread house, they always turn out cute. kaden even made an outhouse complete with santa and a mysterious brown blob? :)
kelsi had been bugging me for a long time to get together with Aunt Christy and her kids...they love to play outside and i am not the best at that. so of course they didn't disappoint and made an 11 foot snowman, i'm sure it will be standing in july...
kaden had to test drive the ski bike, an invention of our cousin, tyler...
and then of course we had christmas, here's a view before all the kids woke up. it's pretty hard to miss that motorbike right in the middle of the living room but we have the most hilarious video of kaden running right past it to his stocking, not even noticing it...
kent had been working for months on this bike, he got it all cleaned up and running. i'm sure it will get lots of use this spring. here are a few of my favorite christmas morning shots...
i love when i get this kind of reaction (even from a 14 year old)...
and kent had to get his traditional fit everyone and their junk in a picture...
and my best christmas present was kent being home and having fun with us for 2 weeks...love that!
and of course the celebration doesn't stop there for us, we had a party for kelsi that night. she was so excited to get her own snowboard and all the gear that goes with it...
i love christmas time---spending time with family, giving gifts, beautiful music, good food, reflecting on our saviors birth and just the general happy feeling of the season!

november in review

calendar quotes:
"for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." -Romans 15:4
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we started november off with a super fun all boy birthday...koy has a great group of boys to hang out with---they were all so well behaved and cheered each other on as they each bowled. boy energy is so fun to watch, everything is "awesome" and "cool" with a whole bunch of sound effects to go with it.
we were supposed to do a ball battle but it was out of order and the boys settled for playing the arcade games. koy is such a cute little 6 year old. we really all can't get enough of him in our family...he sometimes asks why does everyone kiss and hug me? and i just tell him we just can't help ourselves!!!
kelsi made this cute cake for koy...he wanted a bey stadium with some beys battling-i'm sure glad kelsi tackled that one. kelsi really is becoming quite the good artist and enjoys using her skills to help out.
koy was super excited to find a new bat at the end of his treasure hunt and we were all super excited that it was a beautiful sunday afternoon and we could put it to use.all the kids decided to pose for a shot...
can you believe it's november? look at that green grass---we love playing baseball as a family, which is so funny to me because it is probably one of my least favorite sports to watch. it always gets us laughing!
then one week later- this is what november looks like...
gotta love where we live! kelsi took this picture on our sliding glass door, she thought it was so cool that the snow blew on the door and made a heart shape...
i love the month of november because it always reminds me of how grateful i am. we wrote what we we were thankful "4" and hung them on our tree...i was so happy that my kids quickly filled them up, i could've had so many more because they had so many things they were thankful 4.
we were expecially thankful that our daddy was spending thanksgiving with us...we decided to go to a resort in yellowstone for a couple nights-it was fantastic!
the kids loved using the fancy glasses at every meal and toasting each other...
the work-out room was a favorite place to be, someone was laughing that we're the only family that enjoys exercising while on vacation (kaden ran 5 miles in the two days on the treadmill)...
we just enjoyed relaxing, sometimes it's nice when you are away from home so you don't have to look at all the stuff that is undone around the house and just enjoy doing nothing. we played games...
read books...
i even smiled while i was cooking...
finished a puzzle from the lobby(i love doing puzzles)...
and of course the most favorite activity was swimming(a close second was riding the elevator to the pool), they never tire of it! and i never tire of watching them enjoy it!
i'm so thankful for all my blessings :)

CHANGE

ahhhhhh! change-there is one thing for certain and that is that everything changes...i sometimes have a hard time with "rolling with the punches"---i usually am pretty easy going and it takes a lot to shake me up but about a month ago i was shook up with a whole bunch of changes at once (the same week) and i'm just starting to feel like i can handle it!
change #1:
kent decided to switch jobs and is now working in North Dakota in the oil fields, his new shift is 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off...love the 2 weeks off, it's a long 2 weeks on. his first 2 weeks he logged 219 hours-that's averaging over 15 hours a day (i don't know how he does it!) but appreciate that he does :)
change #2:
i got called to be the 2nd counselor in the relief society...i was just getting used to the secretary thing and finally getting all my reports in on time. i am so happy to still be able to serve in the relief society, i have loved getting to know our sisters.
change #3:
my hours at work changed from 3 hours a day to 5.
change #4:
koy turned 6...he's still my baby!
change #5:
my babysitter which koy loved going to decided not to watch him anymore and i had to find a new sitter...i think this was the hardest, koy is so easy going and will do what ever- i think that comes with being the youngest but it's a lot easier when he is totally happy which makes me happy.
...i know in the end i'll be happy with everything these changes bring.

october in review

calendar quote:

when your children see you respond to adversity in faith instead of in despair...
they have a starting point to meet the challenges that face them daily.
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we started the month still in potato harvest, i worked for kent's friend dan again this year for 4 days driving a potato truck---i was a little less nervous this year but not much. i found this potato on the conveyor belt, it looked like it was smiling at me...
we also had a weekend of wonderful conference talks, we have been rewatching and listening to one a night for scriptures. brooke saw that me and kelsi were taking notes in a notebook and she also "took notes"...
i liked that day too! over potato harvest koy had to come up with a monster that he created, he decided to use all his tools from his metal collection---all my kids have gotten to make a monster for kindergarten and i think it's so cute to see what they come up with...
my pumpkins in my garden were miniature this year, so i told my kids we would go buy them-well i have never had to buy a pumpkin before and i didn't realize they were so expensive, so i asked if they would each just share a pumpkin and carve one side each...
we had very different pumpkin designs this year, no faces! each of the kids chose different signs? they were really into beyblade and wizard 101 this year. i do have to say when lit up the signs looked really cool...
one of my kids favorite halloween activities this year was riding in a giant shopping cart from a local grocer. these two boys look a little too happy behind bars, that's a little scary...
my kids are getting so big, i noticed this alot during this halloween...they went to all the carnival events with their friends (i tagged along or got found when they needed money), they each picked their costumes (not me), i sat in the car for trunk or treaters and they walked around without me. it's exciting to see them develop their own sense of self, i'm just glad they still let me tag along :)

my cute little halloween treats...

no more brushing

koy excitedly came and told me "guess what mom, i don't have to brush my teeth anymore- i can just eat one of these (a mint) and my breath is really fresh!"

jealous

sometimes i look at my kids and get a little jealous. kaden can read all day, i would love to read all day...
kelsi can spend a good 2 to 3 hours just getting ready for the day-i'm lucky if i get 20 minutes...
koy can do whatever he wants all day long with not a care in the world. oh, i would like one of those days...
brooke spends her days flipping upside down, doing split leaps, and cheers. i used to do the same things...
i am so glad that i can see my kids enjoy being kids and i love when i get to act like one too!

september in review

calendar quotes:
"when you get to the end of your rope...tie a knot and hang on" -from a great talk, don't know who it was by but they likened the knot to the gospel

"my beloved friends, every day is part of eternity. what happens here and now is forever important." -Richard L Evans
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started the month out with hunting season, i was so excited to go with kent again this year. we were able to go for 3 days and 2 nights...just us! we didn't have much luck, except for this lovely find...

we got rained on for a whole day and camped out in kents pickup listening to his ipod, eating, watching movies and i read a whole book..."the hobbit". it was very relaxing!
the kids competed in the youth triathlon this year again. koy and brooke swam 50 yards...
biked for 1 mile...
and ran for a 1/2 a mile...
they were awesome, koy is such a competitive person...he really tries hard to win (must be his dad in him).
kaden moved up a level and had a pretty hard event, he had to swim 100 yards...
bike 3 miles and run 1 1/2 miles...
i love this picture of kaden finishing, one of his friends cheering him on! so fun :)
we decided to take a trip to the ice caves, i have wanted to do this ever since i heard about them in college. the kids absolutely loved it, we were able to only hike one of the passages and would like to get back and go in the other one- hopefully before the year ends...
the kids were such good little hikers and explorers, we didn't have the best flashlights and at first my brooke wasn't so sure about the dark (and it's very dark) but soon we all were so interested in everything about the caves. i'm not sure why there are these big yellow "yes" signs through it but there are a few of them...
kelsi also hit a big milestone this month, she lost her very last baby tooth...
a neighbor took some pictures of kelsi and kelsi didn't like that you could see her missing tooth and wanted to photo shop in one, not me...you can still look a little "little" :)
i know i say it often but i do love living here. my camera doesn't do a sunrise justice but i love when i'm up early enough to see them...the rays shooting out from behind the clouds this day was so pretty!