Merry Christmas!!!!!

Visit with Santa

Santa and Mrs. Claus visit children at a little house at the downtown park. We enjoyed taking Savannah to see Santa. She told him that she wanted a Spider costume. That was the first time I had heard her request. I have no idea why she wants a spider costume.

Kelli is 14!!!!!!!

We had a good time celebrating Kelli's 14th birthday! A few days before her birthday, she had some friends over to make cookies to take to friends. Now she gets to go to the church dances!!!! It seems that all of the sudden she looks very grown up!

"I wonder what it is?!"

You never know! She could choose to go to MIT!

Is this love, or what?!

This is what happens when you put birthday candles in the microwave cake when it is still hot.

Attitude...

I was going through recent pictures and found this one that the kids took of themselves. Savannah looks like Little Miss Attitude in this picture.

Kasey's band concert

Kasey had a beautiful solo in one of the pieces at her fall band concert. Enjoy listening!

Annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot

The annual Turkey Trot has become one of our favorite family traditions. It was very cold this year, but at least we didn't have snow or ice.

The middle picture didn't turn out so well, but maybe you can see the smile on Savannah's face!

Savannah's favorite parts were running and getting a prize bag and

trophy at the end of the kid's race.

Double Reeds R Us

Kelli and Nathanael are pictured here after their first Middle School Band concert of the year.

Kasey made the district orchestra! They rehearsed all day at a local university and then had an evening performance. We have since learned that she made the All-state orchestra. She will participate in a 4 day festival in January. She is excited about this accomplishment and really enjoyed the experience of playing in an orchestra.

It's that time of year again!!!! Go Utes!!!

Kent isn't normally a football fan, but he LOVES Utah football. He diligently follows the season and gets really excited!!! This year, Utah is making him proud with an 10-0 season. He gets so involved and excited that I hardly recognize him when he listens to a Utah game.

In honor of the BIG Utah vs. BYU game on Saturday, I found this banner for him. Thank goodness for ebay!

Halloween 2008!

Savannah was a bride for Halloween. These pictures were taken at her school Halloween parade. I made this dress as a sample for my wedding dress so that I could send it to my mom when she was making my wedding dress. I kept it and put it in the kids' dress up box. Savannah found it a couple weeks before Halloween and said that she wanted to be a bride! I was excited that she could wear it. In the second picture, Savannah didn't want me to take her picture, so she put her head down, but I think it looks like a posed bridal picture.

Nathanael wanted to give out candy at the cellar (dungeon), so he made a sign and lit the path around the house so that people would go there for candy. He even put Rusty (our medival knight) on the path to show the way. He kinda blends in, but maybe you can see him by the bushes.

We always put the plastic pumpkins on the porch roof. We like the happy, fun side of Halloween more than the candy, (no NOT Really.) We like the happy, fun side of Halloween more than the scary parts of Halloween.

Kasey's Homecoming

Kasey's Homecoming was actually October 4, but I haven't taken time to post pictures. She went with a boy from another ward at church and a group of her friends from school. She wore a dress that a friend of mine lent her, so she didn't have to make or buy it!!! I am so grateful that she is a bargain formal shopper!

Field Trip Week

With a kindergartner, 2 junior high students, and a high school senior, dinner table conversations at our house are very interesting! Topics include college applications, the next youth activity, soccer practice, and which little kids lost their clothespin for misbehavior. A couple weeks ago, the whole week had a similar feel. On Wednesday, October 8, I went to the Pumpkin Patch with Savannah's class. Everyone should experience tromping in the mud with 100 kindergartners to look for just the right pumpkin! It was a lot of fun, but a challenge to keep up with what felt like chasing ants around an ant hole.


On Saturday, October 11, I went with Kasey and the high school band to Northern Illinois University's band day. About 20 high school bands joined NIU's marching band for the half time performance of the football game. When we arrived, we stepped off the bus to the sound of one high school's drum line rehearsing. It was so exciting!!! I really enjoyed the day listening to fun music and visiting with the kids and other parents. It was so fun seeing Kasey right in the middle of the field leading her section of the band.

Summertime - Part 1

All summer I took pictures for this blog. Now I'm playing catch up! I hope that you enjoy these "better late than never" photos.


Celebrating the June 1 birthday boys!



Kasey went on a church youth pioneer trek. She wore pioneer clothing and got to pull and handcart through the mud! She had a great time getting a taste of what the pioneers experienced as they crossed the plains.

Cute Sisters

Nathanael gets braces!

Before:




During:



After:

Summertime - Part 2

All dressed up for the 4th of July!

Notice that Savannah has her ears plugged before it was even dark. Once the fireworks started, she was just fine and didn't even plug her ears.



Too early to rise: I don't remember why she got up so early, but it must have been too early. Savannah played until she dropped!



Road Trip!!!

We knew that the gray van was on its last leg. In April, we looked at cars so that we would be ready when it was time. Kelli, Savannah and I were on the freeway on our way to pick Kasey up from Drum Major Camp when the van just stopped. Thank goodness for a cell phone and towing coverage! We had to wait quite a while, but the tow truck towed us to the nearest town. Kent and Nathanael were at Scout Camp, but Kent came to help us. The gray van needed a new engine. We felt that it was time to get a new car. We got this little Ford Focus a few days later. It is VERY basic (I had to talk Kent into air conditioning) and even has a stick shift. It has been really fun. Kent loves driving it! We really like the lower gas bill!

Out with the old:

In with the new:

For our summer vacation we spent a couple days in Springfield, IL. We went to the Abraham Lincoln Museum and New Salem, the village where Lincoln lived when he was a young man. Kasey stayed home to work.

How do we measure up to the Lincoln family?

We once heard that Abraham Lincoln said that he was 6'4", nearly. Since then, Kent has said the same thing. What do you think? Are they the same height?