HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY, ZACH, AND SETH

WOW! They are eleven years old. It has been an amazing journey. Digging through pictures (just to find a few to post), brought back a ton of memories. In the coming months I intend to scan all of our photos, and create a true journey of the past 11 years of our lives. We have been so blessed. Jeremy and I are really struggling with the thought that we are on a downhill journey, at this point, in raising our family. We only have another 8 years, before they make major decisions in their lives! They are amazing kids! I don't know who has taught them all that they know, it certainly has not been their parents. It truly takes a village to raise a family. So many people have had a major influence in their lives. They are surrounded by so many people who love them! THANK YOU

I pray that the upcoming years will be full of stability, love, and commitment to the things that they have been taught. I would not want to be a teenager, in this day and age. The hurdles are huge! I am grateful that they have each other to lean on, and each other to tattle on.

So far, we have been able to have coed parties. We have attempted to do the "boy thing" and the "girl thing", but every time they decide they want to do the party together. This year we have rented an ice skating rink, and we will be having a big party combined with all family and friends! I will post the details later.

BYU or Utah

Never before have I felt so torn over the upcoming football game. I am a BYU fan, I attended the Y for 3 1/2 years. My dilema is two fold, my husband is a huge Utah fan, and I have enjoyed watching most of the games with him this season. Deep down, I think Utah is the better team this year. Second, if the Utes make it to a BCS bowl game, it could mean a mini-vacation for our family (I love to find any excuse to travel), depending on where?? I am looking forward to a good game!

Pinching Pennies

In an effort to save a buck, I am attempting to do family pictures on my own. We had these pictures taken out our cabin a few weeks ago. I took the ones of the kids, and a friend took the ones of the family. I am in the process of editing and developing, and framing them. If you can figure all of this out, you can save quite a bit of money. I am actually taking a photoshop class next week. I am very excited!

Halloween has come and gone, and I neglected to take any pictures?? What a loser! I guess it is because the kids get older and they aren't totally into dressing up (they do it only because they want to go trick or treating to get candy!). Another thing that I have learned this year is that candy is to readily available to my kids. I remember at this age, that I wanted to go trick or treating for hours to fill up my pillowcase. I think my kids went out for a total of about 45 minutes, returning with barely any candy. I guess it is time to buckle down, and throw out the junk food. (this will be harder on me than the kids!) Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! We host an open house for family and friends. We have soup and other munchies available for people to eat through out the night! It is fun to have friends and family gather, it is the memories we make that will last forever!

It has been an amazing fall! I can't remember the last time we had such great weather this late in the year! It was awesome. I must say that I am grateful for the recent snow fall, it has allowed me to shift gears and focus on the upcoming holiday season.