Funny Hannah

Hannah: Mom, you scared me

Me: Oh, I did

Hannah: It freaks the poo of me, very scary

Thanksgiving Family Pictures

I always try to take family pictures on Thanksgiving. I always get a lot of groaning from the guys and my brother constantly complains that we made him put a sweater on, but they always turn out great.

You can't imagine how many pictures I had to take of all the grand kids. It's nearly impossible to get eight kids to look at you at the same time let along smile. I did my best. I was surprised that we got the whole family shot just in two takes.


Us

The girls by nana and papa's new decoration

The grandkids

Nana, Papa and the grandkids

My mom and dad

The Taylors (Sierra, Chris, Enoch, Jarom, and Meg)

The Francs (Gabe, Nikki, Cole, Kwinton, and Cali)

The whole fam!

Twilight Movie

On Saturday me and Meg went to see Twilight. I loved the books. I had read a lot of reviews before going in to the movie and some were good and some were bad. I have to say I really did like the movie. I heard complaints that there wasn't a lot of action in the movie but really if you read the books you know this is mostly a love story so that doesn't bother me at all. I also heard that some of the effects were cheesy but as you read the books it doesn't seem so silly because it seems part of the world, but I can see where bringing it to life is a little silly. I've never seen a person run especially fast or climb a tree so of course it's going to be weird. Anyway, the movie was great. I think the actors did a great job and am looking forward to the next one. I do, however, think that I won't ever get Dan to see this movie. He's not a big chick flick kind of guy.

More Elf Kids (we sure do have a lot)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Our Kids As Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Go Utes! Go Utes! Go Utes!

Sorry BYU fans, that 2nd half was rough.

Odd Find Of The Night

I went to hop in bed and pulled back the covers to find one of Hannah's shoes lying there full of change. Don't ask me why she did this or where she got the change. Maybe I was tired but this struck me as funny.

Bump In The Night

So I have to tell you about the scary experience my cousin had a few weeks ago. They were asleep one night when my cousin Amber's husband Chris heard something outside. He thought it might be the wind but decided to check on it anyway. He looked out his back window and saw a man in the backyard. He could tell that the man was trying to get into the house so he woke up Amber and had her call 911. She grabbed her two little girls from across the hall and called the police. They heard the man enter their garage and then break the window on the door that leads from the garage into the house. They locked the door to their bedroom and she got into the closet with her girls, still on the phone. They heard this man go through all the rooms in their basement and then heard him coming up the hall. The cops were telling her that they were almost there. After the man searched through both the girls rooms across the hall he tried to open their door. Chris was pushing up against the door as the man was ramming the door with his shoulder. Finally the man broke the door open enough to reach his arm in and turn on the light. When he did he saw their dog (a boxer named Athena) looking at him. She's pretty scary looking and Chris yelled "Athena attack". When the man heard this he dropped the piggy bank he was holding (yes that's all he was stealing, a three year old's piggy bank) and ran. At this time dispatcher told Amber that the police where there. They found the man out back hiding behind the garage.

I can't imagine what kind of fear they felt that night. Especially with their children in there with them. I don't know what I would have done. You never know what the man would have done if he had gotten into the room with them and the dog wasn't there. This person was just a 19 year old strung out on drugs looking for any kind of cash he could get his hands on. It's scary to think he would go that length to get it. They have since gotten new better doors and new locks. He went through their cars in the garage while bleeding so they had to get their cars cleaned completely. It made me start thinking about what if a situation like that happened at my house. What would I do, what kind of protection do I have. I'm so grateful that nothing bad happened to any of them.

Yikes!

Just in case your wondering why I'm blind the next time you see me . . . when I went in to the get the flu shot for me and the girls the other day I was squirted in the eye with a flu shot. Yes, you heard me right, squirted in the eye with the flu shot. Well, I went first (to show the girls it didn't hurt) without incident. Then Emma went and although she had to be held down by me and two other nurses (she didn't believe it didn't hurt) we got it done. Then it was Hannah's turn. The nurse and I held her down (even though she wasn't struggling she's my tough girl) and poked the shot in her leg. When she began to push the shot in the needle snapped at the syringe and the liquid went squirting everywhere. Mainly towards my face. It stung a little and I panicked a bit inside thinking I might go blind. Meanwhile Hannah sat still while the nurse pulled the needle out of her leg. We got me wiped up and Hannah another shot (which she still barely whined about) and she told me that my eye would be fine. I don't know if I believed her or not but so far my vision is ok. I'll keep you updated as to if I do go blind or my eyeball falls out.

The Killers - Can't Help But Love Them

Girls just want to have fun

Playing Games

I love to play games. I enjoy the interaction and competition. Now that the weather is changing and I've put away my bocce ball, badminton, softballs, lasso golf ect and now it's time to pull out my board games. I have all kinds of board games, the picture shows about half of them and the rest are in my trunk or at my parents house. I have a few family members that groan when they see me bringing in my games but they know once we get playing we have a great time. I love playing Scrabble with my husband or Guess Who with the girls. My favorite group games are Pictionary, Scene It (or any trivia game) or Boggle. Not a big fan of Yahtzee even though I do own it. What are your favorite (or least favorite) board games and why??

*Twinkle*

My dad came over to my house today to help me put up the Christmas lights on my house. I can't believe how fast Christmas is coming. I probably could have done it by myself but I can just imagine my here alone putting up the Christmas lights alone falling off the roof and nobody noticing for a long time. It's nothing fancy but at least I got them up. This is the best picture I could get in the dark.

More Harry Potter

Can you tell I'm excited

My aunt and uncle were in a head on collision this past Sunday night. I guess someone veered over to there side of the road. They are in South Carolina for her job so we haven't be able to visit them. My uncle is pretty beat us but my aunt had to have surgery in the ICU and so far is looking like she should be ok. Hopefully she will be able to get out of the hospital and well enough to be home for Thanksgiving. It just always makes you think that things happen so fast. Remember to hug your family when you get home tonight. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Suprise Visit

Friday afternoon I got a surprise visit from my husband. He didn't tell me he was coming home this weekend. He told my family and they arranged the surprise. I was so excited to see him after my long hard week. It doesn't look like he will be able to come back again until Thanksgiving so I'm so glad he made it. He gets to fly to California on Wednesday to spend some time there with a bank. I hope it's warm because if it is he is so lucky. I don't like the cold.

Update: My Other Neighbors

So my other neighbors - with the horn that honks forever in the night randomly - bought a new SUV and the honking one is now gone. It's like the neighborhood is on my side this month. You know, it's the simple things in life that make it great. Like a quiet peaceful night of sleep.

Running On Empty

So I ran out of gas today . . . in my driveway. I was heading out to run some errands when my car died pulling out of the driveway. I know, I know, it's my own fault for not keeping a good eye on the gas gauge but I just get in the flow of things sometimes that I don't pay attention. So I first walked over to the lady standing across the street taking her dog out. She saw me trying to start the car and asked if I needed a jump. I felt so embarrassed to tell her no, I just ran out of gas. I asked her if she had a gas can for her mower in the garage. (We have an electric lawn mower so we don't) She only had about a half a gallon so we tried that and it was no help so I thanked her and tried to give her some money for the gas and headed over to another neighbors house. A lady opened the door. I asked her if she had a gas can. She happened to have a can with about two gallons in
it. That did the trick. I thanked her, made her take some money and headed on my way to the gas station. I don't know my neighbors very well but I was very gratefull for all their help. Lets hope I can get my crap together. That was so embarrassing.

Update: My Noisy Neighbors

My noisy neighbors moved. I had nothing against them personally but it's so nice now that it's quiet around here. With them gone and Dan not here snoring and twitching in my bed I sleep so nice. Woohoo!

Snow *groan*

We woke up to snow this morning (as many of you know). Emma ran to the window and was so excited seeing the snow. I remember being like that once upon a time. What ever happened to make (most) adults go from feeling the excitement of seeing snow to start groaning. Could it be that WE have to drive in it? WE have to shovel it? WE have to bundle children and ourselves up for it before we leave anywhere? I'm sure those reasons have something to do with it but seeing the girls get so excited made me wonder what happened. I made a promise to myself that I would try and enjoy it like I used to and not be Mrs groany pants. I actually do love driving in the snow. It's those other drivers that scare me. And, you can sled in snow and sledding is awesome!

Halloween

I'm finally finding a minute to post our Halloween pictures. We had a lot of fun trick-or-treating at grandma's house. We also loved having Dan home for the weekend.

Cali, Hannah, Emma, Me, Nikki, Papa, Sierra, Enoch, Gabe. Cole & Jarom in wagon.

Getting ready

Emma's first piece of candy

Papa was scaring the kids

Emma tried on Nana's wig

Jarom the vampire

Cole and Jarom got to ride

Me and Nikki

The Routson family came to visit

Hannah got tired and wanted a ride too

Too cute!