Thanksgiving

My Grandma Smoot started this tradition of the Thankful Turkey.  On family night we took turns putting the feathers on the turkey and saying what we are thankful for.

We spent Thanksgiving day at my Aunt and Uncles house in Sandy.  My Dad was carving the turkey as Parker and Wright watched.  I think they were both hungry.

They both enjoyed feasting on their Turkey legs.  We went around the tables and said three things we are grateful for.  Parker said he was thankful for repentance.  I was impressed by his answer.

Addy with cousins Nova, and Aspen.  They are all around the same age.  Addy told everyone that she was thankful for "Grandma that is in heaven with Jesus."  It was the sweetest thing to hear her say that.  I am so glad she loves her Great Grandma and misses her like I do.

The cute teenage girl table.  These are the cutest cousins.  I laughed when Faith said she was thankful for "Hot guys"!

Kev and I enjoying our food.  I had two helpings of everything.  I was not watching my calories for the day.

We took a cousins picture with my cute Grandma!  Celebrating Thanksgiving with her was one of the highlights for me.

We tried to take a Great Grandkids picture.  A couple were not cooperating.  My Hayden being one of them.

He was okay with getting his picture taken with just him and Grandma.

A big thank you to my Uncle Wright and Aunt Janet for hosting all of us this year.  We had the best day.

Halle and Grandma Loni were both wearing stripes.

The kids all had fun taking turns on Grandma's ipad.  She loves to spoil them! We also got to stop by and see Kevin's parents later that day.

Young Women In Excellence!

I was in charge of Young Women In Excellence night this year.  It was my first big event in Young Womens.  My Mia Maid class chose to use Embark for our theme.  I wrote up the program and my friend Shea made it cute.  She added in the graphics and colors.  She printed them off and we had them on the tables that night.

I made this craft to use as a decoration.  The girls also made some of the table decorations and a cute handout with a lifesaver.  I didn't get any pictures of those.

We had two table for the girls and leaders to display a project they worked on this year.  I did a scrapbook page of my vegetable garden.  I grew a garden for one of my Faith projects.

Mckenna sharing one of her projects.  She shared her crosstich that she made during several general conference sessions for Addy.  One of my friends complimented Mckenna on her confidence.  It is true that she doesn't get nervous in front of large crowds. 

We had a photo op for the girls. I made the Embark banner and a friend let us use her ship.  The girls had fun taking selfies.

We had a chocolate fountain for dessert with lots of yummy things for the girls to dip.  My friend Chris was in charge of the fountain.  She melted six pounds of chocolate and we ate it all. 

Some of my cute Mia Maids enjoying their food.  Macy came up to me and told me that everything turned out perfect. She said, it was simple and not overdone, and the program wasn't too long.  It made me really happy to hear that.

Kenna took some pictures of me with some of my Mia Maid girls.  We were missing three of the girls in this picture.

I love this silly one of us! Aspyn's face is classic.  I laughed so hard when I saw it.  Two of my Mia Maids, Aspyn and Emily were both recognized for receiving their Young Women awards.  It was fun watching the DVDs that their parents made for them.  I am so proud of them!

Mckenna with her cute friend Tessa. They both received their ribbons for Faith.  One of the girls couldn't come at the last minute and Mckenna was so nice to fill in for her when I asked. 

I am so thankful for these wonderful leaders that I get to serve with!  We have so much fun together.  I couldn't have put this all together without their help.  It ended up being a fun and spiritual night.

Thankful for my friends

I am grateful to have such great best friends.  We got together last weekend to celebrate my birthday.  We went to dinner and then did some shopping at the mall.  It is always fun when we get together.  We have been friends since we were kids.

I came across this picture the other day.  It was when we were sixteen years old.  I just turned 35 and we are still best friends.  We will always be the three musketeers.  I love these girls!

Halloween

We spent all week celebrating Halloween.  On Tuesday night we carved pumpkins.

It was nice because our three oldest carved their own this year.  Mckenna's was very creative! She made braces for her pumpkin.  She was gluing the wire on in this picture.

On Thursday Addy had her Halloween parade and program at school.  It was her first preschool program and she was adorable.  My favorite song they sang was a Halloween version of  The Itsy Bitsy spider.

On Friday I helped out with Hayden's class party.  I was in charge of the game.  We played Don't eat Casper with skittles.  It was fun seeing Hayden interact with his classmates.

I pulled Halle out of her class party to take some pics.  This is her best friend Maddie.

After the class parties they had the school parade.  Hayden was one of four Iron man in just his class.

Parker got recognized by the school for the most original costume.  He was the only Santa in the school. He said it was fun when the kids shouted out, "Hey Santa, and Merry Christmas" to him!

Halle was our Spider Countess.  I made a web in her hair and we put plastic spiders in it.

On Saturday the kids finally got to go trick or treating.

Mckenna designed her own costume again this year.  She was a Jellyfish.  I helped her make it happen by taking her to Hobby Lobby to grab supplies.

Hayden wearing his Iron Man mask.   His chest also lite up in the dark.

Halle all ready for trick or treating

Our happy little bumblebee.  Halle wore this same costume when she was this age.

Parker had fun filling his Santa sack.  He got almost ten pounds of candy.

I wore my Grandma's Austrian costume in memory of her.  This is the second time that I have worn it.  I wore it for my school's world's festival when I was in sixth grade.

Hayden, Addy, and Halle's pumpkins all lite up that night.

Santa with his scary pumpkin.

The best part of the night was when we had surprise visitors trick or treating at our door.

My best friend Jan and her son Zach came.  I also got to meet Jan's boyfriend George.  I had fun showing him all the crazy pictures of Jan and I over the years.  They hung out with us the rest of the night.  It really made my Halloween!