Family Pictures 2011

Finally, without further adieu, here are our 2011 family pictures taken once again by my good friend Kourtney Jackson (318photography.com). We love her work and think she is awesome!  She did an amazing job of capturing that one second when our two year old was actually looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. I was super worried about Jase and he definitely was a lot of work, but I think he stole the show this year. His cute, crazy, busy little personality shines in these pictures and I love them. Kylie of course looks as adorable as ever. She takes this pictures taking business pretty serious and is great at the "posing and smiling."  Now I just have the overwhelming task of deciding which pictures make my wall. 

Day 9

Today I am thankful for lazy days. I didn't have a thing I had to do, which meant I barely got dressed, but I was able to read Jase a million books, played Princess Yahzee with Kylie about a 100 times and watched hair tutorials I found on Pinterest with a good friend of mine. I also made a pretty good dinner and now my husband is during the laundry. I mean really, what is there not to be grateful for on a day like that?

Day 8

Today I am thankful for my warm house and sweaters and blankets and coats and scarfs and gloves and boots and heaters because I have realized, and maybe it's my old age, but I absolutely HATE the cold. 

Forever & Ever

Today I am thankful for eternal families and the chance I have to be with these guys for ETERNITY!

DAY 6

Today I am thankful for rainy, NOT snowy winter weather where I had the chance to cuddle up in my bed with my whole family and watch a movie...for about the 2 seconds it lasted until Jase got restless and ran off to find his toys.

No Crazy In-Laws Here

Today I am very thankful for Jeremy's family.  I was extremely fortunate to marry into a really great family that welcomed me with open arms from the very beginning...No crazy in-law stories here. Jeremy's parents have always been very kind and generous and are extremely thoughtful. They have gone above and beyond in more ways than we can count and we will be eternally indebted to them! I have also been blessed with amazing sister-in-laws (and brother-in-laws too) who have become great friends of mine and my kids LOVE their cousins and any chance they get to hang out with them!  Family is so important to me and I am grateful we love close enough to get together often. Today we celebrated my father-in-law's 60th birthday by going to lunch and then watching Jeremy's nephew play in a football game and I am totally honest when I say I look forward to these times when we can get together. 

Papa Smurf

Can you guess what this is?

If you said Papa Smurf, the turkey would thank you! 

Kylie read a book at school about a boy who befriended a turkey and then helped disguise him so he wouldn't become Thanksgiving dinner. She brought home a picture of a turkey with the instructions to disguise it somehow. Jeremy, being the creative genius that he is, turned the turkey into Papa Smurf and I think it is so cute!! I was gone while they did it, but when I came home and saw it, I thought it was so funny and way cooler than any idea I had to try and disguise it. 

Today I am thankful first of all, for feeling so much better than I did yesterday and for the type of dad Jeremy is to our kids. He's kind and loving and very hands on. He;s more than willing to help with school projects or reading with Kylie. He loves to play and wrestle around and tease the kids and he's extremely helpful. He is also very diligent in making sure we read scriptures and say prayers as a family every night.  I am VERY thankful for him and the good example that he is!

Day 3

Today I am thankful for a nice comfy, cozy bed...and a toilet...and soft toilet paper (TMI, anyone?) 

It all started early this morning while I was on my run, and if you have never been in this situation it is by far one of the worse situations to be in I think. I was on my way back, but was still probably a good two miles out when I got the worse stomachache of all time. It was extremely uncomfortable to run, but walking only made it that much longer before I would be home. It was a terrible situation, and the longest half hour of jogging/walking in my life. I was so grateful to finally bust through my front door and be home and I spent most of my day curled up in my nice warm bed bed trying to feel better!

I also can't forget how thankful I am for pretty mild-mannered little kids (they definitely get that from their dad) that were more than willing to either watch movies or play with each other while I rested...and also a husband who didn't seem to mind at all that our house looked like a bomb hit it when he got home! I mean, really even on a terrible day, I still have so much to be grateful for and I am definitely thankful for that!!

Thirty Days of Thankfulness

I'm a day late, but I thought maybe it would be a good thing for me to post each day during the month of November something I am thankful for. I have spent a lot of time the last little while really trying to concentrate on all the wonderful things I have in my life. I find that I can be single-minded and put all my energy in something I really want and forget to appreciate all the things I DO have. November seems appropriate for this type of thing so here it goes...

I've got two up my sleeve to make up for yesterday. The first is a given and by far the thing that I am most thankful for and that is my little family. I love my husband and children more than anyone in this world. They make me happier than anyone else.  I am thankful for their patience and unconditional love. They make life worth living and I so grateful for them.

Last night Jeremy and I were talking at dinner about how grateful we are for his job. It's not a dream job by any mean and a lot of days he comes home pretty wiped out, but after some recent developments and changes in his company we are just so grateful they value him and his work ethic enough to let him continue working down here in St. George. In an uncertain economy we have always been blessed with a job and there is no way we couldn't be grateful for that!! 

HALLOWEEN 2011

It was finally time for the "real" part of Halloween as Kylie pointed out on our way trick-or-treating. And the kids couldn't be more excited! We were first invited to go to the college for a truck-or treat put on by all the different sports teams.  The kids loved that. It was a fun place to go for easy access to loads of candy and fun sports players. 

Once again, they were having to pose for a very unwanted picture. They were both anxious to get on their candy- getting way. I think Jase had his eye on the sport's track and all the people heading over there for the goods. 

After the college we headed over to arguable the best trick-or-treating neighborhood St. George has to offer complete with a Santa Clause that hands out ice cream and houses with king size candy bars. Not to mention long, well lit streets with tons of houses. We meet us with some other friends there and had a good time zig-zagging back and forth across the streets from house to house. 

The Santa Clause house had a  huge line last year, but we must have got there just at the right time this year because we walked right up and got our treat.

On the way home we stopped by a house we had heard about that carves over 80 pumpkins each year and displays them around their drive way. It was pretty cool to see. They had some fun pumpkins the kids thought we were neat.  

We then came back home and went around our neighborhood. The last two years we haven't been established enough to really get too many trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood so we have always just had a good time taking the kids out, but from talking to a few neighbors that did stick around this year, they said there was a great turnout in our neighborhood. So I guess maybe either Jeremy or I will have to stay back next year and actually hand out the candy we always buy.