On Dec 7th, My sister Jody's little girl was blessed in their ward. Little MadiLiz looked so cute in her beautiful dress. It was a really nice blessing given to her by her daddy, Josh, and the testimony meeting following was wonderful! They had lots of support on their special day. Unfortunately, Clint had to stay home with 2 sick kids.

Josh, Jody, and Madelyn

It would take too long to name everyone so in short, this is lots of my family and Josh's family. :)

L: Jody, Josh, Madelyn, Janine, and Kolby; R: Bela, Kolby, Janine, and Talin (Janine and Jody have been really good friends since they were teeny, tiny.... and Kolby is Clint's brother and marrying Janine on Jan10th. woohoo!! How cool is that!?)

Funny note about the pic on the Left: right before we took this picture I lifted my arm to put around my dad and my hand happened to be in a fist, and I clocked my dad right in the nose! Ouch! Ya can't tell huh? I felt bad, but we were all kinda laughing about it. :)

Dec 5 was our ward Christmas dinner! We had "christmas morning" in the evening and had breakfast for dinner! It was really cool and we all had a good time. Of course Santa came to visit. Clint and I got a kick out of it, cause he was played by our friend, Marshall Miller. It was great to see him all dressed up. With his squinty eyes and rosy cheeks, he fits the part pretty well. :)

Carson wasn't so sure about the whole Santa thing... as you can tell! Emma loved it! Lily sat in front of Santa for a long time and watched the other kids go. I didn't think she'd get up there at all, but then all of a sudden she stood up and climbed right up on his lap... yes, cutting in front of all the other kids in line. haha. Everyone was pretty nice about it and the parents looking on thought it was pretty funny. She didn't care about ringing the bell santa had, but sure loved the candy cane he gave her afterwards. haha.

Now, don't think Santa was the "surprise" I talked about in the title of this post....

This is....

My friend, Dia's, husband has been gone to boot camp and training school for the military since August 18th. He came home a week early and surprised his kids at the ward dinner! It was so cool, and I even got a little emotional (totally not planned). I actually knew he was coming cause Dia and I and her sister, Britney walk every morning together and we've been talking about it. But it was still sooo cool to see the kids reactions. I love Dia and think she is so great and it was soooo fun to see their family together again!! (check out Dia's brother in law, Howard, trying to duck out of all the pics. haha. No luck, Howie)

Emma turned 7 on November 30th, and Carson turned 1 on December 2nd
We invited both families to come over for cake and ice cream and some games. It was really fun and we loved having everyone there. We even had a "high school musical" quiz that each kid did, and they could team up with an adult if they wanted to. The funniest part was most of the adults knew nothing about that movie. It was hilarious.

On the 17th of last month, Jennifer took us back to Redstone and took our family pictures. It was beautiful weather, so we decided after pictures to stay and have a picnic. It was really fun and it was so nice to spend time with just our little family.

On the 19th of November was Jaron's 5th grade DARE graduation! It was the 25th anniversary of the DARE program this year so all the kids got some pretty cool shirts. Being part of the PTO at the school, I got to help with it, which was fun! My sister, Jennifer, came and took pictures of the graduates, and Dunkin Donuts donated a bunch of donuts for refreshments. Officer Hull of the Henderson Police Dept. was the instructor for the 10 or 12 week class (can't remember the length) that teaches kids to stay away from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. It was great. All the kids sang the DARE song (which was pretty catchy!), and then 5 kids read their DARE essays to the audience, and Officer Hull spoke, and even the Chief of Police, Jutta Chambers, was there and spoke. It was a pretty neat program, and I was pretty proud when Jaron got his certificate. Way to go, buddy!!

Thanksgiving Boxes! The week before Thanksgiving the youth in our ward went on a scavenger hunt and collected food from many people in our ward boundaries. Then the Relief Society divided it and boxed it up, and then, with the help of the bishopric and others, we got to deliver it to different families in the ward. It was lots of fun and it makes me feel so good to serve others. This picture is the only one I got out of a whole week of activities and others helping to pull off the project. :) Oh well!

This is a picture of me and a couple of my counselors. They are such wonderful people and I am so lucky to have them serve with me! LtoR: Me, Sanna Cain, and Kathy Johnson



This year we decided to decorate for christmas a little earlier than usual. We knew thanksgiving weekend would be extra busy so the Sunday evening before thanksgiving we decided to jump right in and start. The kids were totally excited about it... or should i say the girls were totally excited about it.... Jaron didn't care one way or another. haha.


LtoR: Emma and Lily carefully taking the glass ornaments out of the boxes (they ended up breaking several that night and in the weeks ahead. haha); This is how Jaron helps decorate! haha. Silly boy!



Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year!! Me and the kids went to Campbells to have thanksgiving lunch (Clint had to work all day). It was delicious! We ate with mom, dad, ky, kourt, and Kam; and Janine and Kolby, Bela, and Talin; and Kayden and Stephanie. We visited for a little while after lunch, and then we were off to my parents house. Clint met us there after work. Kristin and Ryan came down from Layton, Utah for thanksgiving and it was so fun to see them (it's always fun to see them!). When we first got to my parents we discovered the little girls had turned mom and dad's bathroom into a hair salon and everyone was taking their turns being pampered. Several of us got our hair done and ended up looking pretty fancy. Then we all ate some more delicious food and then some of the guys played the Wii for a while. The day after thanksgiving everyone came over to our house and had dinner, played, and hung out. I am sooo lucky to have the family I do. They are soooo wonderful!!
Jeremy taking his turn at the salon with his daughter, Shaunie, as the hairdresser. He plays the perfect part... reading the paper and everything. haha.; Emma doing Leah's hair... what cuties!

Some of us at Thanksgiving dinner: Jody, Jesse, Ryan, Kristin, Rachel, Me, Clint (Mike is holding Madelyn in the foreground)
Josh, Ryan, and Clint playing the Wii

AT Our House the Next Day!...

Fun pictures of the crazies!!

While everyone was over we played Hullabaloo (Left picture) and Ryan taught the girls to armwrestle (Right pic)... aren't we proud!! haha. (that's Auri and Emma armwrestling)

My house after most everyone left. haha. (it's looked worse). I've decided that I'd rather have a house where people can come and play, and make memories, and build good fun relationships, and not worry about ruining things, than having a house that's clean all the time. Now, don't get me wrong... I LOVE a clean house! It's less stressful and I feel more put together when it's clean... but doesn't a messy house make for funnier pictures!! haha.



The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend was my friend Amanda's baby shower! I was so glad I was able to go. It's the first baby shower for her I've been able to go to, cause Amanda's lived and had all of her other babies in Utah. Amanda's been one of my very best friends since we were 5 years old. The funniest thing about that is that I live in the house that I grew up in and she now lives in the house she grew up in .... which is down the street from me! :) what a funny world. Amanda's having her 4th baby and her first girl! Her oldest boy is Emma's age and they go to school together. I just love Amanda, and think she is absolutely wonderful! I can't wait to see her little girl!... only 5 more weeks to go!