Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving morning started out with a fun game of Flag Football for Dustin and about 23 other guys.  I made Aaron and Devin hop out for a picture while dropped Dustin off.  They were so kind to oblige.  They said they had a great time.

 

The girls and I sat around making these little turkeys for our contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.  It was fun to spend some time doing this project together.  We also made name tags for everybody.  Oh an we did make a few pies too, but they didn't take as long as these turkeys.  Well except the meringue I asked Dustin to whip for me.  After about 20 minutes and it still not getting peaks I decided to read the instructions and realized it shouldn't be in a plastic bowl and the eggs should have been whipped before adding the sugar.  He didn't give up though and whipped for about 45 minutes.  Oh .. good times.  I don't think he will agree to help me with meringue next time.  Should have got a picture.

 

Dinner was at my mom and dads this year.  The little kids got a table to themselves and so did the bigger kids.  I am so thankful for these kids.  They are so busy and so happy and make life so much more fun!

 

 

So thankful for my good husband.  I sure do love him! 

Glad I can sit by him for Thanksgiving dinner. 

 

Grandma & grandpa Bateman (mom's parents) 

 

Dad & Mom 

 

Jeremy & Lisa 

 

Kenny & Heidi 

 

After dinner the kids played and we brought a few new games for them to play.

 

Ella holding her 2nd cousin Sagelie.  Judd & Shey's baby girl. 

 

We played "Roll a Turkey".  The kids rolled the dice and drew the part of the turkey that went with that number.  Fun idea I found on Pinterest. 

 

Then we painted all the kids hands and made turkeys out of them like we did at our house a few weeks ago.  We had a clever idea to do this to Heidi and Kenny's hand prints.  :)  

 

I have so much to be thankful for.  This year I am especially thankful for family and good health.  We recently found out my father in law has pancreatic cancer.  It truly does put things in perspective when you see things like this.   Our family is the most important thing.  This life is too short to be upset or to be lazy.   Every day we have together is a gift, a blessing.

 

So thankful for the gospel and my testimony of it.  Thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ who has provided us a way to overcome sin and death.  Who gives me hope and happiness in trying to be like him.

PreThanksgiving Celebrations

We have had fun getting ready for Thanksgiving this year.  We decided to use our Crayola Kids paints and make a cute turkey on our window.  We have had more compliments on that thing than I ever imagined.  :)  The kids especially are in love with it.

 

We also did turkey handprints.

 

And for Family Home Evening we did a Thankful tree and wrote things we are thankful for on a leaf.  It was a fun activity.

 

Some of the things are: Family, Grandparents, School, Vetrans, healthy body, Priesthood, Jessica, Dad, Jesus, Heavenly Father, Alissa, prophet, steak, flowers, clothes, Molly, Ella, cousins, Book of Mormon, pie, diapers, hair, internet, a bed, water, a car.

 

Vetran's Day

Ella's school invited us to submit pictures of family members or friends that are or have previously been servicemen/women for our country.  We wanted to participate and sent a picture of her uncle Devin and cousin David as well as a friend Vernon Richmond.  We have lots more people we could have sumit like grandpas and other cousins, but it was pretty last minute so we went with this.

As I was searching google for a picture of Devin I found this article which actually we got to see on TV while we were living in Logan and KSL was our news channel.  It felt like the first time I had read it again though as tears freely flowed.

 

Idaho Soldier Heads for Iraq, Despite Family Illness

November 14th, 2004 @ 4:31pm

John Hollenhorst reporting For every soldier in Iraq, many sacrifices have been made. But it's an especially poignant sacrifice for a Sergeant who left Utah today, headed for war. Devin Braithwaite would almost certainly have been excused from going to Iraq because of family hardship. If he'd asked. But he didn't ask. He's the father of four boys and a girl. His wife had a liver transplant last year and still has a serious liver disease. His 13-year old daughter is living at the Ronald McDonald House while being treated for a brain tumor. It returned four years after Ashley first had surgery. Sergeant Braithwaite says his Idaho Falls community has always rallied behind his family in times of trouble. And now it's time to return their sacrifice. SSgt. J. Devin Braithwaite/ Idaho National Guard: "People have always been there to help me. And I really want to have a chance to serve and help. I want to serve my country and I want to serve the people in Iraq." He had a last hug with his daughter and the rest of the family in Salt Lake this morning. Then he boarded a plane to rejoin his Idaho National Guard unit headed for Iraq. Johnna Braithwaite/ Idaho Falls: "It's sad. It's sad to see anybody have to go off to war. But it's a good thing for our country. If we didn't have good people like him, where would we be?" Ashley Braithwaite/ Cancer Victim: "It's hard. But, like, you kind of get used to it."
Ashley is currently undergoing radiation therapy because her tumor is inoperable. Sgt. Braithwaite's unit is expected to be in Iraq by Christmas.

 

Without question this is an amazing family.  What a blessing it was to watch his dedication as he left for service.  He found me that picture above and also this picture of when he was younger in Desert Storm.

 

This is his son David who is now serving in Italy as a First Class Airman.  So glad we could honor them on that special day.  I actually felt guilty for not doing more of that throughout the year.    Their sacrifice is great.

 

When we told uncle Devin about the slide show he decided he wanted to come have a "date" with Ella.  He came to her assembly and stood in the back with her all dressed in his uniform.    They showed multiple video clips of Vetrans, kids from her school telling what a Hero is and then the 6th graders sang a song about Heros while the slideshow of the men/women we know was shown.  I felt such gratitude to the brave men and women who faithfully serve or have served our country.

 

 

It didn't take too much convincing to have Devin come to her classroom to talk to the students about freedom and America.  All the students had written a letter to a Vetran and one of the little students came to the front of the classroom and with the microphone read her letter.  So precious!

 

 

Mesa Falls

After a long week we woke up Saturday surprised by not having much we HAD to do.  Dustin had a "wild hair" as he called it and suggested we go to Mesa Falls.  I wanted to go there all summer and we never made it so I jumped on the opportunity.  We loaded in the car, just the 5 of us, and headed toward Ashton to eat lunch at Big Juds.

 

The kids are always mesmerized by daddy's straw wrapper moving like a snake.

 

After lunch we got the kids all excited about seeing a waterfall!  We headed over to Mesa Falls.  We didn't plan too well with Alissa and I in Crocs and me in a sweatshirt.  There was so much snow we should have had snow boots, gloves, hats and I was wishing for a coat.  However, we didn't let it ruin our trip.  We got all wet and threw snow and laughed a lot.

 

Until the very end when noses got red, fingers were frozen and it started to get dark.  Then we got a little anxious to get back into the car. :)

 

So good to get out and get some fresh air and be together. Doesn't get much better than this.  Sure do love this little family of mine.

Ella

Found a bunch of videos last night.  We had a great time watching them and realizing how priceless they are and how even more priceless they will get as the kids get older.  I'm not sure how that time passed so quickly.

 

I love this video of Ella all disoriented from just waking up from a nap. :)

Heidi's Endowment

On Thursday, November 1st I had the opportunity to attend my sisters own endowment session.  It was a day I have looked forward to for a long time.  3 out of 4 of us were there out of siblings along with my parents.  Dustin wasn't able to make it there in time from work so he got to watch the kids.  I missed him terribly but it was an priceless experience for me to sit next to my mom and sister and be in eye contact with my sister in law and 2 grandmas, great grandma and aunts, uncles and friends.  It strengthens my testimony that this is what matters.. family. 

 

Because Dustin was watching the kids, I got to go with them to Smitty's for a late dinner together.

So great.  I love my sister and am so proud of the decision she has made to serve the Lord full time on a mission in Arkansas.  Such a good example to me and her 6 little neices.

The Magical Soap

A few months back we were at Grandma and Grandpa Braithwaites visiting when Alissa come running to me all excited about this soap.  I came to realize it was her first time using bar soap and she just discovered it makes bubbles when wet and doesn't when dry.  I am so glad I had my Ipod there to video the excitement.  Priceless.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Yay! I have tried and tried to upload videos to blogger and haven't been able to get it to work for years!  It's working for me.  Here is a video we made this week for Grandpa's Birthday present.  Ella figured out how to play Happy Birthday all by herself this past week by plunking around.  I had to help her with one sharp. :)

 

Zinnias

For the past 3 years the girls and I have planted zinnias from a seed.  They just grow so big and beautiful.  Here are a few pictures I had loaded and never posted about. 

MONSTER Molly

I was sitting in the kitchen Saturday morning organizing coupons when I hear CRUNCH, CRUNCH.  I turned around to see Molly had pulled my memory card out of the laptop and had bit it right in half.  Goodbye to all my pictures from March-October.  Hopefully I got the good ones saved on the blog.

Bob & Haley at Leos

We had a special treat this week!  We got to meet up with our great friends the Hughes at Leo's place.  We haven't been able to see them for about 2 years and it was so fun to see their cute kids and visit for a few hours. 

 

 

We miss these guys! 

 

This is the last attempted picture of all the kids. 

Not sure where Ella was.  They have sure grown lots!