Thanksgiving

We had a rare treat this Thanksgiving. My sister Lindi and her family came to visit. This is their first visit to Newport and what a great time we are having. Thanksgiving was incredibly entertaining -- watching me struggle through making my first Thanksgiving dinner. YES!! my first! I have never claimed to be domestic -- it is one of my many flaws that I am not proud of. I have been married for 14 years and have only made one other turkey, but not a whole dinner. Cooking is definately not my forte'!!

Lindi is amazingly patient as is her husband Jared. We have had such a great time with their family. On Friday we took the family to Priest Lake and checked out a couple of camp grounds. It was snowing and cold, but we toughed it out. The lake was beautiful and the company was great!! We had a tailgate picnic and took lotsa pictures.

Lindi has more pictures on her camera that I am going to have to steal before she leaves tomorrow.

Trip to See Grandma Glennis

Well, it was a short week for the kids because of parent-teacher conferences so I took the opportunity while I could to take the kids to see Great Grandma Glennis. She is such an amazing, wonderful lady -- her name should say it all! Here are some pictures that we took while we were down there. She is so beautiful! Can you tell I love that woman? The first picture is of all Lindi's, Annie's and my kids, then a group of just Annie's kids and then my kids. I tried to get Don to bring his, but they couldn't make it.

This is probably my favorite picture of them all. I just love it! Of course, I dearly love both of the people in this picture. Annie -- you workin' on that will yet?

I just think this picture is wonderful! Audrey couldn't take a bad picture if she tried -- she is so beautiful! Two beautiful ladies together. AHHH!
I had such a wonderful visit with my grandma. She made me laugh and cry all in the same visit. She is amazing and has a spirit about her that I greatly admire. She is exactly who I strive to be like. I hope that I can carry her name with honor. I love you Grandma!!!





Funny Boys!! That's Ephriam in the back with the funny hat and Keagan and Soph wrestling next to him. Tommy and Jacob are quite the friends. They are very fun to watch interact with one another. They love wrestling together!

End of Sports

Mariah had her last gymnastics class last night so I went and took some video and pictures of her. She really enjoyed gymnastics and cried when she found out they were closing the gym. Opportunities up here are so limited for the kids, it was very sad to see one go away. Here are some pictures of her rigorous work out.






This is my little MONKEY! I couldn't believe it the first time I saw her climb this rope. I had to turn the camera sideways to get the video, now I can't figure out how to turn the video -- so I guess just turn your head. Sorry!!



Keagan also had is last soccer game last night. He was very disappointed. He had a great time playing soccer, now we gotta find something else to keep him busy. It was kinda difficult taking pictures of his soccer game because it was so late in the evening, but here is the best I could do.

Football Time

Yah! It's football time. And I'll be honest, it is my least favorite time of the year. Travis is gone A LOT! The poor guy works so many long hours and, in my opinion, not near enough compensation! Coaching is a demanding and thankless job. BUT!! The kids like football. I took this picture of Soph while they were playing -- she is very serious about this! Then there is a little clip, if I can get it to work. The last picture is the latest group photo of the kids. Not the best, but it's my kids. Gotta show em off!

Keagan's Birthday

Keagan just turned 6! With all my other kids it's always been "WOW! I can't believe they are that old!" But with Keagan, it's always seemed like when his birthdays come I'm thinking "It's about time!" He has always seemed older to me than he really is. He's in kindergarten this year and he seems to like it. Kindergarten is all day every day here now, it really takes a toll on him. Here are couple of pictures from his little party.



You think his favorite color is green? I let the kids do the sprinkles -- we didn't have many left after that!!

His dad wasn't too sure about this gift!! He was wrong! It's been a big hit with all the kids -- Even Soph!! Funny enough, Tucker plays the kindergarten games on it. He thinks they are fun. I guess we all have to feel smart once in a while.

That's Kayd, my best friend's daughter. She stuck her lips in a cupcake -- thought she was pretty funny so she demanded a photo. She actually is pretty funny. That, of course is Soph as well. I really do wash her hair every once in a while, she decided to cover her hair in Aquaphor. That's stuff is very difficult to get out. Her hair was greasy for quite a while.

Random Pictures

I liked Johna's blog so much, I decided to move my own here. The most exciting thing that has happened to us in the past couple weeks is going to see Johna while she was in Boise. I forgot my camera, of course.

Since I don't really have a theme here, it is just going to be some random pictures of our family. Okay, mostly the kids.
I just love this picture of Tommy and Sophia at Grandma Wells's house. These kids are so much fun to watch play together. Tommy is a kick -- we just love that kid.

I thought it was so funny to watch Soph playing in the potty chair at Grandma's house. It just cracked me up! She has such a personality.

Keagan had the digital camera for awhile at Grandma's house, here are some of the pictures he took. What a photographer!




I could do this all night! We had so much fun at Grandma's house this summer and have some really great photos to remember it by. Almost time for family pictures again. Speaking of, here are a couple of pictures that were taken at Matt and Nicole Stott's wedding in Montana. Enjoy my "Random Pictures" and hope for more of a theme next time.