Broken Nose

Rough night for this cutie!! Less than two minutes into her basketball game and she broke her nose. She was so mad that she had to leave the game! Anyways it has multiple breaks in it and she needs to go see and ENT. Dang the luck anyway!  

A Walk With the Girls

I love nice warm days when the sun is shinning and life just feels great!  Last week we had one of those days and just had to get out and go for a walk!

Santa Run

Every year I sign up to do the Santa Run in Gunnison. Now I don't run so the name is a little deceiving but I do walk it. This year I wasn't too sure that I wanted to go. It was so dang cold!!! I honestly just wanted to stay in my house where it was warm and cozy. However, I decided to tough it out. I am so glad that I did. I got to walk with my cute niece, Miranda. We talked the entire time and just really enjoyed each other. Even though the snow hitting our faces stung!!! It was a good time.

Here is all our family that ended up going. Linsi, Mariah, Miranda, William, and Vicki in the back. Rhley, Addison, and Cherish in the front. 

Cherish and her girls ran part of it! Crazy!! William went home with his dad because it really was just too cold for him. Rhiley ended up riding the 4 wheeler with Kavon. 

Beauty All Around

Oh my goodness! This was the view from my front porch this morning!! It was stunning! How can anyone see something like this and not thank our Heavenly Father for such a beautiful world? I wish I could have sat outside and such watched to changing sunrise. Sadly it was way too cold for me and I didn't have enough time. However, I did get the chance to spend a few moments enjoying the view.

Even my son, Bryson, commented on how pretty it was. I am so thankful for the small moments in life. It truly is the little things that matter!

Time Out for Women

Every year my mother-in-law (Glenna D), sister-in-law (Stacy), and I have gotten tickets to go to Time Out for Women. This year Shirley joined us there. I have to say this is one of absolutely favorite traditions! We have such a great time together. But the best part is the messages the speakers give. It's always amazing to me how much they apply directly to me! This year the theme was "Centered in Christ." Goodness it was perfect!!  Every speaker gave ideas and stories of including Christ in our lives. I left feeling so inspired and encouraged! One of my goals that I came up with this weekend was to memorize "The Living Christ." I know that it will help me and guide me. I am so very thankful for weekends like this where we can go and have fun but also be spiritual fed!!

Soccer Banquet

Sheridan's soccer team held their team banquet this past week. It was really quite nice to go and spend time with these great girls!!We laughed because Sheridan is playing basketball now and had to come straight from practice to the banquet. So she was a little sweaty!

Her best friend, Julie and her both got awards at the banquet. They were also both team captains this year and loved every minute of it!

Here is a picture of the girls on the team that made it to the banquet.

Sheridan was given the Bulldog award. It was awarded to her for being a true bulldog on and off the field. She went out of her way to help and encourage everyone.

The four senior gave out funny awards to all the team members. They shared stories that had happened throughout the year.

Then Heidi Facer gave the senior and Mia all a rose and told them how much they meant to her. She was their coach in Middle school and she just loves them!

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The four seniors this year were Ashley Boore, Sheridan, Julie Snyder and Anika Liddiard. They have really enjoyed playing soccer together!!

A Visit with Grandpa

Brian and I got to go visit with his Grandpa this week. I have to say there is something special about visiting elderly people. They have such a sweetness to them. Grandpa is always excited to visit with us! Even though his memory is not as good as it used to be, he still remembers Brian and is happy to visit with him.

While we were there Grandpa told us the same story about 5 times but he was so excited to share it that each time he told us his face lit up and he had the cutest little smirk on his face.  He thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing his childhood!

My favorite part is that whenever we leave he always thanks us and says that we are the only ones that ever come and visit him. Now I know that isn't true and that he is visited by Brian's family but it is so sweet and cute that I just love it!

Shrek

Bryson, Sheridan, and I had the opportunity to go watch the Middle School play. There is something special about middle school plays. Those kids love what they are doing and there is just so much joy coming from them that the plays are just special.

Bryson's best friend, Jon, was in the play. Every time I see his costume I just smile. It takes a pretty special young man to dress in a pink grandma nightie! I am so thankful to him and his friendship to Bryson. It's great to have such friends!!

My niece, JaKayla, was also in the play. Isn't she just adorable? She was one of the narrators and she did an amazing job!  I sure do love her and her sweetness!  

Halloween traditions

Beware the traditions you start! because you have to keep them. When my kids got older and trick-or-treating was a thing of the past I tried to think of something that we could do to make Halloween still hold the magic. So our Halloween meal was born. Each year I make some sort of scary, funny, crazy Halloween themed food. This year was no exception. The problem was that I just didn't have the time I needed. Oh well, this is what we got this year. It was YUMMY!

 

Then when it gets late enough that we are no longer getting trick-or-treaters we turn off the lights outside and have our own Halloween fun. We also did a murder mystery with our family. Even though it wasn't the funnest one, we still enjoyed getting together. And of course we played cards late into the night. 

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!!

Carving Pumpkins

 We all have family traditions. We are just getting into the season of traditions at our house. One of those traditions is carving pumpkins for Halloween. Now to be honest I think it's really quite gross. I hate getting my hands all gooey with pumpkin guts. However, I love the creativeness of this. I love to see what cute designs mys kids will come up with each year. Honestly, mine are pretty generic and I am ok with that. Here is what my kids did though.

Bryson wasn't happy with just one face this year so he carved many faces all the way around his.

Sheridan just did a fun design. It looked so cute. Sadly it collapsed but everyone still commented on it as they came by our house.

Kenzi and Conner argued the entire time they were doing theirs. Kenzi wanted to do a much harder one than Conner felt like they could do. Eventually they compromised though.

Here they are all lit up and looking fabulous!!

Factions: A Murder Mystery

Halloween is one of my favorite days. I love the costumes and the fun!! So this year Brian and I decided that we need to have an adult Halloween party. We found a murder mystery that looked like fun and then invited a few friends over to join us. Everyone was part of four different factions:

Vampires

Werewolves

Sorcerers

Humans

Jesse and Lisa

Trent and Tanya

Lee and Natalie

Brian and Mariah

Justin and Colette

Tim and Gaylynn

It took a little while for us to figure out how to be our perspective parts but all in all it was a really fun night! In fact I think it might end up being an annual event!

50th Anniversary

My parents are the best!  I have been so lucky to have them in my life.  This weekend we celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  It was so nice and don't they just look happy!!!!

We had a meal and then we pulled out the desserts!  YUM! YUM! All the grand-kids were in heaven with this table!  It was so fun to watch them go back for seconds, thirds, etc.

Not everyone made it to celebrate but it was great to see the posterity of my parents.  They have quite a few grand-kids.  Each one feels loved and appreciated.  What great grand-parents!

All my brothers made it to celebrate with my parents!  It was really touching to have them all there with my dad.  There is just something special about a brotherly bond.

So all of us except my sister, Kara, made it.  I have to laugh at this picture!  I think every family has a goofball in pictures.   In our family it's my brother Ryan.  When I got this picture I asked him what the heck he was doing and he said "I was just having fun!"  Thanks Ryan for making our family fun!

This is my favorite!  I love having our spouses in the picture because they are my siblings too.  We really have a close relationship!  My brothers and sisters all choose to marry the perfect person for them and it makes our family great!

So thank you mom and dad for starting this crazy, fun, loving family that we have.  It all started when two people fell in love!  We are so grateful that you made it work!! Happy 50th anniversary!

Service

One of my favorite things about being LDS is the importance of service. Sometimes it Can Be a little overwhelming but it's So great That we teach or kids from a young age to serve others.

This week I got to drive my 12 year old son around while he did fast offerings. It was a tender time for me.