minty hot chocolate with mellows

It was cold when we left Oregon.  Our van said it was 5 degrees.  It slowly warmed up the closer to home we got.  We are at 32 degrees.  I don't' think I have warmed up yet.  One of the best remedies for being cold is..................................................................................................................................

He likes what he is having but not being photographed

 A yummy family home evening treat.

Thanksgiving 2014

Here are some photos from Thanksgiving.  

This was taken after many had already left the table.  We had 26 people.

Josiah took first dibs on a turkey leg.  

Here is our rock star.  

Camille (this dress was used when I was in young women's 5,000 years ago), Nysa, Sadie.  These girls are great.

Elijah didn't want to miss out on dressing up.

We all went roller skating Friday night.  We had so much fun or at least I enjoyed it.   Elijah liked skating on the carpet but not the rink.  

The tradition of setting up the Christmas tree and other decor at my dad's.  It's not Thanksgiving weekend without this happening.  My dad has a good thing going here.  

unlikely spectators and shoes

Jarom's last soccer game was cold so we had some interesting spectators with us.

These shoes are officially retired to the trash bin.  I had no idea how bad they were till I went through soccer stuff at the end of the season.  

Soccer 2014

Some action shots of Sadie and Jarom.  They both had a great season even though neither of their teams won hardly any games.   They did have fun playing.  Jarom does have one more game this Saturday and then we are on to Basketball and wrestling.

I love this one.  It looks like she might take a bite out of the ball.

It was down pouring at this game.  

Maeve, Sidney, Reese, Mia, Sadie.  The old timers of the team.

This is a typical Jarom look with tongue sticking out and big smile on his face.

This was an exhausting day.  Jarom's team played three games in an all day tournament.  

They had to do something while they sat out and waited to go back in to play.

The background of this picture is our fields at the beginning of the season.  Watering lawns during the summer doesn't happen around here.  

Kegan, Leon, Adam, Landon, Jarom, Steve, Noah

Thankful

I have slacked in my November tradition of being thankful each day for something.   There is one person I am so thankful for today and every day.  He reminded me this morning that it has been 14 years to the day that I called him on the phone.  Nathan is the one who remembers dates and events much better than myself.

I was living at home with my parents at the time and going to school for my elementary education degree.  It was a tough decision to make to go back home at age 27 but I knew it would save me on having to pay for rent so that I could get through school as quickly as possible.  It was a time in my life that I decided school was my priority especially since marriage didn't seem to be the option.  I continued to date and since I was living in my hometown others that I have know for years tried to set me up with everyone under the sun it seemed.  I continued to have the determination to finish school and move on.  

Then one day my mom presented me with a picture of this guy and his phone number.  She mentioned that she had passed a picture onto this guys parents, through a friend, of me.  I felt a little silly that pictures were being passed around of us.  The picture that was given to me of him was taken while he was cutting a piece of wood with his table saw wearing safety glasses and big ear protection head phones (my scanner isn't working or I would load it up on here).  I had no idea what he looked like from this picture.  To be honest I didn't really want to go on another set up date.  My last thought was if he is interested he can make the first call.   A week or two (I don't remember the time frame exactly) passed and I got to thinking that it wasn't going to hurt to call him.  I was used to things not working out so it wasn't going to be any different if it turned out that way.  He claims he would have called at some point.  I am so thankful I made that first phone call.  After the first date I was interested but I had no idea what kind of man I was getting and I am grateful I stuck with it.  I am weird...I wanted to get married but I was also scared to death of it or something.  Nathan lives the gospel.  I am thankful that we are one in our beliefs.  He is a hard worker.  He will work even if he doesn't necessarily like his job.  I am thankful for that quality that allows me to be able to stay home with my kids.  He puts his family first. He will always do something for me instead of working on anything he may be interested in.  When he is working on something that is of interest to him he will stop whatever it is to help one of the kids with a project they started at that moment.  This is partly why he never gets any projects done.  There are many other qualities I love about Nathan.  I have been so blessed to have him in my life and I know as the years continue I will find that I am even more blessed than I am today.  

Ooze

The kids were quite interested in this the other day.  We let them make it (I had a weak moment or something).  Fair warning though it isn't mother friendly but the kids have enjoyed it.  

Halloween Day!

Our kids have been reading the Harry Potter series lately and decided they would be a few of the characters for Halloween.  We had a Dumbledore, a Harry, and a Hermione.  We also had a turtle that we decided was an animagus since he carried a wand too.  Nathan made the wands for each of the kids.  The wands were the most liked part of their costumes.  They turned out so nice. The kids have been trying to put all sorts of magic and spells on people.  It might be kind of fun if they actually worked. 

A close up of the wands.  L to R...Harry's first one that Elijah took over, Dumbledore's , Hermione's, and Harry's.  Sadie says that her dad is amazing.  I would agree and he had lots of fun making them.  

I have been looking over old photos today and reminiscing on past Halloween's and other memories.  I made these costumes (except cat woman) as I was talking with my mom a little over a week before she passed away.  This picture makes me smile because I love my kids and thought they looked so cute and because I loved to be with my mom.  I am so glad we have pictures to help us remember so many good memories.