Our 12 year old!!

This was David's birthday breakfast! Happy birthday 12 year old! Hard to believe he is really that old! Time flies!

He really wanted to go and eat lunch at his old school, so I pick him up for lunch and took him there to eat with one of his all time favorite teachers Mr. O and some good friends. David and I surprised him that night and took him to dinner at the Roof. It was so fun! We had window seats that looked out over temple square. It was definitely a night to remember. Something a little special to celebrated a special day and a special boy on his Magical Birthday. 12 on 12/12. We love ya Bro!

I loved how this tree is decorated! The ornaments are like a ribbon going up the tree.

David is all ready to be a scout. He got a new backpack and coat and lots of other little camping gear items.

One of my favorite things to do is make my kids birthday cakes. I created this one with Grammy's help, and it turned out pretty good. I got the cake all baked and David reminded me he really wanted a apple pie. I felt really bad that I had forgot his birthday request, but once he saw the finished product he wasn't too sad anymore.

The week before David's birthday he had a guitar recital. He loves playing the guitar! He is really progressing along. I love how his teacher does the Christmas recital. She just has all the students play together and then has the families sing along. It works out pretty good and kinda fun!

His teacher invited him to be in a musical bluegrass group called Squeekin' Strings. He thinks it is pretty fun and I think it is a good chance to learn to play with other instruments.

We enjoy just listening to David play the guitar. David and his teacher! Good Job Bro!

Funny Comments

David found it much more comfortable to wear shorts with the larger brace he has for his leg. Since he doesn't typically wear shorts he didn't really have any he could wear and go to work. We picked him up some from a couple different stores. There really wasn't much to choose from hence the season we are in. Anyway we found a couple good pair. So one day last week he choose to wear this outfit, which I thought was fine, but apparently I am not the best at fashion. He got some pretty funny comments. Here are a few.
One guy said "I used to have a pair of pants like that until my dad got a job."
David went to a meeting and at the end of the meeting he stands up to leave. The lady sitting next to him says, "Oh my goodness!" (since he isn't even supposed to be wearing shorts) Then she notices the his injured kneed and asks in a more concerned tone, "What happened?" After a brief explanation she comments, "I was just so surprised you are all business on top and party on bottom."
Then his boss informed him that the ladies on the pick line were saying he could be in the next company calendar. I thought it was all pretty funny!!
David is doing amazingly well. The physical therapist think he is doing awesome for being not even three weeks out of surgery. He is going to be back to normal in no time. She did say not to over do it still, and she can tell with his personality that he might, so she warned him to be careful. Oh I wanted to share with you that the polar care ice pack thing I was telling you about, yeah it only cost us a whopping $275.00. We got the hospital bill today, and it was unreal. We are just thankful we have insurance.

Abi's Room

Over the weekend we were able to get some vinyl up in Abi's room. It turned out pretty cute! She is very pleased!!!!

Over the door shot.

At the head of her bed.

In the corner. Yeah finally something new. The kids rooms got a good cleaning too, which was much needed. Nice to have something clean in the house. :)

Thanksgiving Day

Due to all our ailments we had a quiet Thanksgiving at home just the six of us. We finally got dinner on the table around 5:00 pm. We had lots of good eats and had a nice time together. Despite a couple minor aches and pains we definitely have plenty to be Thankful for!!!!!!!!!!!! David has been referring to Elder Bednars conference talk lots and we have been working on having more thankful and gratitude prayers. The kids have really caught on and it is amazing how much we really do have. We are truly blessed!! I think we need a Thanksgiving once a month. :)
Oh yeah and all the pies. I went to Costco the night before and missed getting a pumpkin pie by 5 minutes. I was so sad, but I made some since that is all the kids favorite! They wished they all had their own, but they were good to share. Spence did find out he like chocolate cream pie over the weekend.
Here is the apple pie. I used the apples from one of our apple trees. It was very tasty! David loves pies and he would have loved if I had made at least 2 more a cherry and a blueberry. I thought six was enough since there was only six of us. :) I will try to get those other two flavors in soon.
Here is Spence our little Indian. He had a thanksgiving feast at school and thought it was great!!!! He was so proud of his attire. Too Cute SPENCE!!!!!!

Knee Surgery

Our dad had a ACL replaced. It was quite the surgery. More than maybe we had anticipated. He is doing better now, but it is always nice when dad slows down so we can all enjoy him. Spencer was loving all the games they got to play and the snuggling time with dad too. William also enjoyed those same things. He started therapy so he is on his way to recovery. They sent us home from the hospital the coolest (no pun intended) Polar care ice pack thing. All you have to do is fill it up with ice and water every 8 hours and it pumps cold water to the ice pack on the knee. Very COOL! I am thinking I need this will all my back/hip problems. We do get to keep it forever, so if you ever have orthopedic surgery you should borrow it! It is the green, white and blue thing.
David had Ted hose on so he didn't get blood clots. He looked hot with them on!

1st Place Reflection Winner

Here is our Abi girl with all her first place gear! We are so proud of her and her great idea. Good Job Abi! Her entree will go on to district and be judge or maybe it is just area. Anyway we will keep you posted. Here is the actual entree.
The theme was WOW!

Turkey

Becky made another turkey this week at Special Needs. She has all the good ideas. :)

I liked the pipe cleaner head. Very clever!

Beck has all the good ideas! Thanks for sharing Becky!

Thanksgiving Table favor

I thought this was a cute idea for table favors for Thanksgiving. Becky made it at Special Needs Mutual. It is a snack pudding turned upside down and then you add the feathers and wings and head. You could ever add real feathers. It would be a project you could do in the next week.

Good job Becky! We love it!

David's tape sculpture

David did this really cool project for school. We taped his whole body in pieces and then cut it off and put it altogether. It was really cool. You start with one layer sticky out and then two layers sticky in. The head was a little tricky. Definitely a parent help project."Here I am to save the day!"

It is kinda crazy to have another David in the house. He had to take it back to school and now his teacher has 30+ hanging from her ceiling.

Becky's birthday celebrations

My mom made Becky a star quilt for her birthday. It is so nice and soft. I love it!Beck got the Emma movie which she was so excited about.

And of course a birthday cake. She wanted to eat at Chuck-a-Rama, so none of us really wanted any cake and ice cream at home, so we had it the next night. Love ya Beck!

Fun kid activity

I found this idea in Family Fun. I tried it out in Abi's class for the Halloween party. It was really fun and something just a little different. Some of the kids really caught on to the idea, some not so much. I took a few pictures of some of the great ones.

I just had lots of magazines and paper bags and let the kids go at it.

Flash from October

Here is a small flash from Oct. I am not too sure where the time has gone, because November is almost gone now. We did make some fun memories! My kids love carving pumpkins and their dad does too. He does like to break out the power tools for carving. He figured that one out the past few years. It works wonders.

Happy Birthday Becky!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKY!Today my sister turns 28. Hard to believe she is that old. She is still as cute as ever! Happy Birthday Beck! Hope you have a wonderful day!!!!! We love you and glad we get to share your life with you! Thanks for all you do for us!

Jody and Brandon's Wedding

We went to Manti for my niece's wedding. It was such a great and memorable day! I was so glad I got to share it with my family.

The kids couldn't resist a roll down the hill. I was a little late at getting a photo of the actual rolling, but got David climbing back up.

David and I were married here 13 years ago on Nov. 2. Fun to be there for Jody's wedding so close to the day we were married. 13 years later we have 4 wonderful kids to show. Fun day to take my kids to the Manti Temple.

Jody and Brandon
October 24, 2008

Okay for the real fun pictures. So cute! So this is my sister Angela and her family. They finally have a brother!! YEAH!!! Now Stan isn't so out numbered. :) They all looked so good this day.
All the sisters Anne, Cami, Jody, Klea, Erin, and Lizz. This picture is so cute of them all. One down 5 to go. Can you imagine 6 daughters weddings? Crazy, but at least they have Cami the wedding planner!
Jody looked so beautiful! I can't believe she is married, well yeah I can she is pretty amazing! My little niece that isn't so little anymore. She was only 10 when I got married.

Cami's amazing creations. I understand these cakes quite intense. Cami with some help hand rolled all these pearl balls out of white chocolate. She dusted them with pearl dust. She said only for her sister. I thought this was such a cute idea! Brandon's mom decorated for the dinner with these. They are pumpkins painted black with white lines. So clever, I loved it!!!!!

Bee adventure continued. . . . . .Honey Extraction

Here is the other end of the honey process. The beginning of this story is in a post back in May. This is the honey extractor. You can put 3 frames inside and then spin the honey out.

This is a frame. David is cutting the outer wax off so we can get the honey out. He is using a heated knife. Having the knife hot makes the job much easier. Here is another frame. Notice the difference in the color of the honey. It is so interesting how different pollen makes different colors of honey. We think that the dark honey is from wild flowers.
This frame still has the outer wax on it. It is so interesting how they build the comb up and then fill it with honey and then cap it with more wax.

Trying to keep control of the bees. If they get in where you are extracting their honey it can be a little crazy!!!! The white box is called a souper. Inside the souper you can fit 10 frames.

Filling the jars with the honey. It is kinda a sticky job.

The finished product. Honey in the bottle. David let the kids have the nearly empty honey bucket. They were so excited, but it was a little crazy 'cuz they got so sticky!!!!
Having a hot dog and marshmallow roast in Grammy's backyard.

We had a fun weekend and lots of good help! Thanks Summers and Grammy!