6 Deans + a Dog

Will is now 10 years old. No more single digits for Will. For his birthday this year he chose to have his party at Holladay Lion's Club for swimming. He had quite the list of friends. He is so lucky to have such a great group of boys that he goes to school with and plays on sports teams with. We are very lucky to have Will in our home. He is a very quiet, shy, smart, fun and handsome boy. He is our game player. He is always up for a game with the family. Luckily for him a few friends gave him some new games to play for his birthday.

We had the grandparents over on Sunday Nov. 21st to celebrate the boys birthdays. I bet you can't guess which side of the cake is Jake's and which side is Will's =)THE BIRTHDAY PARTY.
We met at our house for donuts, hot chocolate and presents. While we waited for all the boys to arrive they played Just Dance. The boys loved, loved it. It sure was entertaining watching them play.
Garrett, Jon B., Luke A., Payton, Noah, Luke D. John F., Justin
Austin, Logan, Will, James, Jo Jo, JoshThe boys had a great time swimming.
Luke D., Austin, Jon B., Logan

Josh, Luke A., Will, Jo Jo, Justin

Luke A., Will, Noah

Garrett and Payton

A big THANK YOU to Kristine for helping me drive the boys to the pool and staying to help keep me company.

The day after Thanksgiving we went with some friends in our neighborhood to search for our Christmas tree. This year we went up to Thousand Peaks Ranch up by our family cabin thanks to Michelle Bagley's invitation. The kids had a great time sledding, snowboarding and snowmobiling with their friends in the neighborhood. Mike, Rachel and Will went with the other dads and some of the kids to search for the tree while the rest of us stayed back and hung out and played in the snow. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. Thanks Michelle and Dave for letting us tag along this year. We had a great time hanging out with you and your family.

The sledding hill.

The moms that were there.
Kim, Me, Michelle, Kristine, StephThe search is on.
Will and Rachel

We have a winner.

Good pick guys...LOVE IT =)

Now we just need to decorate it. After they got back with the tree Dave Bagley took the kids on snowmobile rides.

Morgan, Jake, Rachel, Brayden, Noah, Will

Grace, Maggie, Brooklyn, Sadie, Rachel, Allie

Thanks for a FUN, FUN day!!!

My sister Amy's kids and our kids all ran in the Turkey Trot 5k Thanksgiving morning in Cottonwood Heights. It was a very cold morning but the kids did great. No complaining. Amy ran with Morgan, Rachel and Annie ran together, Steve ran with Jake and Adam, Mike ran with Will, James ran alone and Sadie watched with me while I took pictures. I think all of our kids are learning to love running like the adults do.

THE START
Annie, Morgan, Adam, Jake, James, Will, RachelThe Dean and Murdock families before the race.Sadie watched and didn't even complain about being cold =)Jake - (12 yrs) - 25:55 and Adam - (11 yrs) - 25:54

Will - (9 yrs) - 33:06James - (8 yrs) - 34:49Rachel - (14 yrs) - 37:47 and Annie - (14 yrs) - 37:47Morgan - (17 yrs) - 40:01?THE FINISH
The runners and the pacers.Santa even ran this year.

HO, HO, HO

Great job guys!!!

THANKSGIVING
Thanksgiving this year was at the Nelson's. We had a great time spending the day with the Nelson cousins. Everyone was there this year except Mel and Brad...they stayed in Illinois. We ate kind of early so we could hit the 4:45 show of Tangled....which the whole group loved. After the movie we went back to Ruthie and Robert's for pie and games. FUN, FUN day.

The KID table.

The ADULT table.

Jake received the priesthood today after church. Both of our parents were there to support Jake. It was a very spiritual experience. We all sat in a room and the bishop first bore his testimony about the priesthood than he asked each of us if there was something we wanted to say to Jake. I went first and I told Jake how proud I am of him and his choice to receive the priesthood and that I hope he will always live a life that he can be worthy to use his priesthood power. I am so grateful to now have 2 priesthood holders in our home. It was so touching to see as me, both grandpas, my mom and Mike all told Jake how much we loved him and bore our testimony of the importance of this gospel and what the priesthood means to us that Jake sat in his chair with tears flowing down his face. It really is amazing to me to see our kids grow and feel the spirit in their own lives and gain their own testimonies. I am especially thankful at this time of year to be a wife and a mom to these kids that are teaching me so much. They are my world and I wouldn't want to go on this journey in life without them. (I just wish it would slow down a little.)

These two are getting very close as they get older. It is so fun to see them interact and talk to each other. I am so glad they have each other and consider each other friends. They are way better kids than I was at 12 and 14.Happy Thanksgiving Week!!!

Jake is now officially "12" years old. That means on Sunday he will be getting the priesthood. I am so proud of the smart, fun, handsome and loving boy he is. He has definately had a day of celebration. It started this morning with scones and presents from the family, then Mike and I took him to Dragon Diner for lunch, then he had his birthday party at Progressive Power Tumbling, then an after party at our house with a few of the boys and to top it all off he had his 2 cousins Adam and Alex sleepover....
FUN, FUN day!!! Progressive Power Tumbling.
The Group.Jake and Ethan

EzraWill

Christian and Luke

Adam and Hudson

Of course Mike had to join the fun.

Pizza break.
Jonathan, Will, Alex, Adam, Luke, Christian, Ethan
Jake, Ezra, Hudson, Peter

The after party at our house.

Ethan, Will, Jake, Ezra, Alex, Adam, Jonathan

The sleepover.

I am ready for bed...these birthday parties can be exhausting!!!

Thanks to Michele Chisholm a group of girls in my ward just got back from our "4th" annual trip to Vegas. This year only 5 of us were able to go. We sure missed those that couldn't make it but the 5 of us that went sure had a great time bonding and hanging out together for 3 days and 3 nights =)

Here we are at the beginning of our shopping weekend....No purchases yet.

The first night in Vegas we ate at Brio Tuscan Grille.
Me, Michelle, Michele
Kristine and StephAll of our purchases after the first shopping day.As always I didn't have a problem finding lots of deals shopping =)Kristine celebrated her "39th" birthday while we were there. To help her celebrate we got 4 take out desserts from Chilis.
Happy Birthday Kristine. The 2nd night in Vegas we ate at The Cheesecake Factory.

Michelle Bagley was my bed buddy this year =)
Since there were only 5 of us we decided instead of using all 4 bedrooms in Michele's dads house we would move 2 mattresses into the master bedroom and have a big slumber party all weekend. It was fun pretending we were teenagers again.

Not really quite sure what we are doing with our hair...
just being goofy.Thanks again Michele for letting us stay in your dads house and the fabulous weekend. Can't wait for next year =)