Happy Thanksgiving

Just want everyone to know how thankful we are for you our family and friends. We hope everyone had a great day and yummy food.

Braces

BEFORE .....

....AND AFTER

By the way. Photos taken by Kelsey. It was not me taking up the nose shots lol.

Congratulations Kelsey We Love you !!

Primary Program

I love the Primary Program. I hate the prep but the end results are always a treat. The little little kids are always sooo cute with their loud singing or misspoken words. Everyone in the congregation is either laughing or crying because it's just so darn sweet! And lucky for Kelsey since Joe got released from Primary she didn't have to sit alone. The other 3 kids and I were all in it.
Josh had a speaking part and his class sang the verse of "Home" that says "Home is where there's father with strength and wisdom true. Home is where there's mother with all the children too. " Cute.
Alison had a line and then all the Activity Day girls plus us lady teachers sang Childs Prayer. That song makes me cry!
And then there was Jon's. He had 2 speaking parts. Then the Valiant Boys plus the missionaries got up and sang Called to Serve. It was neat to see these 11 yr old boys with the missionaries.

Miracle

Many of you know that Jennifer has Breast Cancer. Well it had spread and doctors found another lump in her left breast. Monday she went in for a lumpectomy. The doctors did a quick ultrasound to double check location. They found NOTHING on her left breast. The did the test several more times to check and it was all gone! AND the lump on her right side shrunk!!! Her doctors have her scheduled to come back in a month to remove the lump on the right side. This was amazing news! We are so thankful that her cancer was discovered early to begin with and her proactive doctors. I am always and forever thankful for the power of prayer and fasting.

I am also thankful for the most obnoxious and stubborn sister ever who refuses to give in to anything! Love you Jen!!

Our Surprise Visitor

....was Joe's sister Brandy! What is happening to the world when Joe's family comes to see us. I think it's one of the "signs" haha. It has been 4 years since I saw her. I had run into her at the park on one of our visits to WA. That sounds crazy to most of you I am sure but Joe does not keep in touch with his family. If they call he'll talk but you will never catch him calling or emailing them. The last time Joe and the kids saw her was probably 8 years ago. And when Joe and his sister got together last night... the stories they tell...you know why. His family was a mess. That compounded with distance leads to not many family reunions. It was fun to see her and have my kids meet her. She was Indiana visiting a friend (altogether another story) and she called Saturday to let us know she was there and I thought wow you are close (state wise) but how close? Turned out she was only about 2 hours away so Sunday after church she came over. She stayed all afternoon and the kids had fun with someone from dad's family being around. It happens soooooo rarely. All in all it was a great time. So Brandy if you get on here.... it was great having you and we should do it again soon.

New President

I have to admit I was torn this election. Not whether to vote for McCain or Obama but if I should even vote for McCain. Not a big fan either way but with only two to choose from I picked McCain. I fear Obama's socialist ideas. I get tired of people justifying that it's ok that we work hard and loose more money as long as it goes to a good cause. What? We lived in Germany we saw their economy. We talked to the locals. We know how hard it is for them to pay ridiculously high gas and other taxes and work every day all day so that those who choose not to don't have to.

I have always been a procrastinator and the moving around in the military makes it hard to start let alone keep a good food storage. This election has been a huge wake up call for me. Even before Obama won I could see the need for me to get my butt in gear. I see that our country is so far to the left it's going to drag us all down. Pres Hinkley said that we are going to hell in a hand basket and it's true. I feel it's important for us to be diligent with our family to make sure good principles are reinforced daily... hourly...and that we have the provisions that we need to live when indeed it all falls apart. My mom used to worry about our generation. I worry about my kids. I fear that they will never enjoy the freedoms we obviously took for granted!

Rest of Halloween photos

I forgot to post pictures of the kids. I got the younger 3 before they headed out but Kelsey had gone to a friends after school so I didn't see her until we met up at the church and although I brought the camera I didn't get pictures. However she was a vampire... a pretty one lol.

I don't know why it looks like he has attitude. Jon was a prisoner. He even had the board with the prison number he just wasn't wearing it. He added the Napoleon Hair for fun.

This was the costume that almost wasn't. Alison was the Corpse Bride and it took forever to find the costume in her size and after paying extra for quick shipping it didn't show. It took lots of phone calls to DHL to get them to find it and get it to our house 2 hours before it was time to go. Good Times!

Joshua was a Clone Trooper. I told the kids to bring pillow cases to pack their candy (I'm old school) Josh grabbed his transformer pillow case and was not going to trade it out for a plain one. Oh well. It was dark and I am sure no one noticed.

After we took back in our body parts from the yard, Alison decided they needed to be dressed and put together. These are her clothes and display. She was actually trying to make it look like the evil two headed baby ate the guy but she couldn't get the doll to sit right for the photo. She makes her father proud!