Kinlee's recital

These last two posts are out of order.  Kinlee's recital was in the morning the day of my birthday and then we went to lunch.  But Kinlee did an amazing job and we are so proud of the progress she is making.

My birthday?

My birthday this year was super crazy!!  Since we knew it was going to be a crazy day, we went to dinner the night before as a family.  Jerika met a very nice boy online and he wanted to go out with her before going home for his Christmas break and Friday night was the only time either of them could really get together.  So, he went with us to dinner and we all had a great time.  Even Jerika said that she wanted to take us on all of her first dates that way she could get to know them better.  So, he showed up at our house right before we left for dinner and that is when he met her and the rest of the family, poor kid.  But, we liked him from the beginning and he even brought me a birthday card and present, yup I was impressed!!  On a side note, she has gone on 4 dates since the beginning of the month and 2 of them have been family dates.  Back to dinner, we went to Idaho Falls to Plum Loco and then did a little Christmas shopping and this kid was such a trooper.  Ray got me a new bath robe for my birthday and a new sweater and Jerika got me a new straightner.  My friends and family took really good care of me too. 
On my actual birthday, Kinlee had her piano recital at 10 am, which we were VERY thankful for.  I was in charge of the ward Christmas party that night and if the recital would have been in the evening it would have made life very difficult.  After the piano recital we went to Pizza Pie café for a quick lunch before I headed to the church.

 

These are the super fun people that joined us for lunch.

 

This is what 300 rolls looks like (aka 25 dozen).

 I was put in charge of the Christmas Party with my cute friend Brook Pinnock, who I really think did a lot of the heaving thinking and then the bishop told us we would ask whoever we wanted to help us.  So, we got a small committee together and it turned out really nice and went off without a hitch.  There was enough food, the program was good and lots of people even stayed afterward to help clean up.  When we were ready to go, the Bishop asked me what he could have me do next year on my birthday.  I just laughed….. 

Bunco Christmas Party

We had dinner at Frontier pies for our Bunco Christmas party this year.  Kathy brought a game to play that involved this hat and of course Allisa was the only one will to play it with her.

 

Action shot, she is trying to throw rings onto the hat.

 

 

Look Allisa made the rings on the hat.

 

Amanda, Judy & Allisa 

 

Kathy, Nakia, Mandy, me.  We missed DeAnn this year and Sheila too.  She finally had her last chemo treatment the other day and we are all wishing her the very best!! 

December Bdays

So, for starters, I wanted to put this picture on here, because I am pretty sure that this is the closest my mom has ever come to striking Nakia.  And no doubt dad and I are most likely thinking, "wow, its about time".  Just kidding Nakia, love ya. 

40, 70 and 46.  Wow I can't believe it we still all look and act so young. 

I am not sure why, but I think I need to be the center of attention or something, I am sure that is what fat people do though. 

 

Happy Birthday to 2 of my favorite people I love you both!! 

Decorating the tree

I am not going to lie, our Christmas Spirit this year has really been lagging.  But, Ray made us get out the Christmas tree and decorations for it and made us put up the tree and the girls decorate it.

 Yup, it is the same old same old decorations.  We had every intention of getting new ones this year, but never got around to it.  So, it is purple again.

 

 

 

I really love my babies and we did have a good time watching them put up the tree.  I think next year we are going to do service the whole month because we want to help other people that are as sad as we have been this month.  And I know for sure that our sad doesn't even compare to a lot of other people's this time of year. 

On our way home

 

 

 

 

Temple Square lights

This was the tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial building, it was spectacular. 

 

 

 

The rest of these are pretty self explanatory.  We did have a good time, but since it was so warm there were so many more people on temple square than I have ever seen.  But is was well worth the trip. 

Road trip because we have a sad kid

Ray and I decided Friday night since Jerika was super sad and our family was heartbroken, we should do something fun.  So we surprised Jerika and Kinlee the next morning and told them we were going to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake.

 

So, we all loaded up, even Jake and headed to Utah.

 

We went to Scheels and met Austin and Kelsie there and they spent the rest of the day and evening with us.  We even rode the Ferris wheel, well Austin, Kelsie, Ray and I did, the girls refused.  It was super scary, but I was a good girl and didn't scream. 

 

 

I took this picture and posted on facebook, she really was just pulling faces, but I was hoping Dallyn would see it and feel BAD!!  I know juvenile, but I was a little angry with that boy on that day and today too.  I guess that is life though and when your child is sad, you hate the reason they are sad.

 

 

 

We had to get a hotel room that would let Jake stay with us, he is used to travelling in the big truck and was a little confused about the whole trip.  We checked into the hotel and walked to the train depot and then walked to the Cheesecake Factory to eat.  It was a 2 hour wait just to get seated, so we went to a hamburger place and waited just an hour.  So by he time we got to temple square it was a little later than we expected.   

Family Picture

Borrowed info

Here is something I "borrowed" from one of my favorite bloggers, it really helped this week.

Life is going to be a roller coaster of dark days and light days. But I can promise you this: if we pray for the ability to see ourselves as God sees us—even the moments when we feel broken and weak—let me rephrase that . . . especially in the moments when we feel broken and weak—we will be blessed with a different view. We will be given the ability to see our own strength and the gifts we have been given. We will be able to view ourselves as an eternal being, and not just a temporary body. We will be able to find our ability to one day be made whole from anything in our past that has shaken us.

And it is truth that brings you to the knowledge that you are enough.

Don’t let others destroy you. Be you. Find strength in your story—even the parts that want to take your power away and leave you with nothing left. Even if the jury of life is sitting in front of you . . . staring—and you are wondering if there is anything left for them to see—God still sees it all. He feels the silent tears you are crying inside. He hears the gentle whispers your heart is pleading. Maybe you feel alone from where you are standing—but He is not far away. So those moments that darkness has surrounded you, and you wonder if everyone has forgotten who you are—pray that you can remember, even if no one else does.

Sometimes the greatest miracle of all is—waiting around for someone to see your worth . . . but finding it for yourself instead.

God is not dead. He lives. He is waiting for each one of us to remember Him, to find hope not only in our stories, but in His creations. He sent His Son to die for us—that we could one day live again. So we could make it through the trials and the days our bodies go into autopilot. He knew it would be hard. He knew there would be no remote to click fast forward through the darkness and the pain—so He allowed His perfect Son to die to atone for the world.

Grace—it is the power that is inside each one of us. Because of Him  . . . the trials we spend pretending we do not feel the pain—will strengthen the view we have of ourselves. The power that lies in each one of us is greater than anyone else can see. It is a hope that only we can find; in the stories only we can live.

Believe in Him. Believe in his plan—and never stop believing in the one person he gave you to be your greatest cheerleader . . . YOU. No one else has been where you have been—the pilot of your destiny is you. Truth is—you are His greatest creation of all. And when you can see that . . . you will know He is not very far away.

SO SO SAD!!!!

There have been A LOT of tears shed at our house the last few days!!  After Kinlee’s concert the other night I checked my phone and I had missed a few calls and gotten several texts from Jerika and one of her friends.  Dallyn had broken up with her via text message and she was a basket case.  She had gone to the movie that night with his mom and sister and he had texted her during the movie.  Ray was home thankfully, so we headed to St. Anthony to pick her up.  When we got to the theater she was outside with Sherry (HIS mom) and she was crying just as hard as Jerika.  Needless to say life at our house has been pretty sad and I have one devastated girl on my hands.  I realize things happen for a reason and I am just glad he decided this now and not after they were married, but when someone hurts your child it does not make for a happy mother!!  It has put a little kink in the Christmas Spirit at our house too.  I am feeling really happy today that I only have 2 kids and I feel bad for putting my own mother through this when I was younger.  You never do truly understand some things until you have kids of your own and have to deal with their heartache, it is really hard sometimes.

Kinlees Christmas concert

Ray took these this his iphone and I will admit they are better than the ones I took with my Samsung.  However, that is all I like about his iphone, I just don't get it.

Kinlee's group did an amazing job singing as did the rest of the people performing.  It was the high school as well, bands, choirs, and orchestra.  We love the new choir teacher!!

 

 

 

Furry visitor at work

 

Shopping and lunch

These were our lunch pictures after we went Black Friday Shopping.

 

It is what it is

Have you ever noticed that life just isn't hard for some people and then other people just can’t catch a break?  I was thinking about this last night and thinking about some of our trials that we have in life compared to other people’s trials.  Now, I realize we shouldn’t compare trials and I don’t do it often, but sometimes I just look and people and think, wow you have no idea what it is like to struggle with anything.  Then this morning, I had a cute old couple come into my office because they are deeding a house they have into their granddaughter’s name.  Usually we aren’t supposed to prepare deeds for people unless they are doing title work, too much liability.  So, I didn’t create and prepare the deed for this cute couple, but simply walked them through it.  They told me the story of their granddaughter and what is happening in her life and how she can’t work because she is taking care of her 5 kids and her very sick 35 year old husband (blood clots and dementia just name a few).  Quite frankly the story is a little heartbreaking and really put my life into perspective.  I wasn’t really feeling sorry for myself, because quite frankly that ship sailed a long time ago, but I do have to think of what is to come and what the future holds for my family of 4.  This lady has 5 children and a much younger husband, and oh a missionary out.  So, when I am reading of other people’s good fortune and ability to pay things off, because they quite possibly have never had a medical issue in their entire life, I need to be thankful for my trials and experiences that I am having.  Once again I would like to reiterate that I am not having a pity party, but I think we need to look around us every day and really see people that might be struggling and try our best no matter what it might be to help alleviate some of their stress, especially this time of year.  And then remind ourselves those around us whose lives aren’t hard at all (in our eyes anyway) and have everything handed to them on a silver platter could not handle what we handle and we have the opportunity of being the stronger person. 

Thankful Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving seemed a little more quiet than normal, maybe that is because we were missing about 10 kids.  And I mean MISSING.  We really hate it that other families want to share our family on holidays and we actually have to be good sports and let them go.  This year we did have a few newbies.  Catie came for the first time this year and we got to have Adrian with us too.  And KaReena's brother in law Wayne got to experience the crazy too.

Some things never change though, no matter who is at dinner, nobody really likes their pictures taken and so I am always the bad guy.

This was all of us, except Wayne was nice enough to take this picture.  The one I took with Wayne in it didn't work.  Just in case you don't recognize everyone, it is Me, Kinlee, Catie, Shelby, mom, Jerika, dad, Lydian, KaReena, Ray, Daxton, Adrian, Brian, Mauna and Terry.

After dinner we played a game and then headed home. 

Friday we went shopping in Idaho Falls with Shelby, Catie, mom, me, Kinlee, Jerika, Nakia, Brayli, KaReena and Lydia (I think that was everyone).  Then Saturday night we went back up to moms for dinner with everyone because Blake was back.  It was a really fun weekend and fun to spend time with everyone.  I really am Thankful for my family.