Really, I'm thankful!

Our Thanksgiving weekend was fun and crazy! We were so excited for a visit from Grandpa Kerry and Grandma Karrie. They arrived here Tues. night, came over and surprised the kids as they were getting ready for bed. It was SO good to see them after almost 4 months. We talked and played games and made our big weekend plans.

The first thing we planned was a trip to Independence and Liberty Missouri. These two cities are a little over an hour away and they are church history sites. There is a Visitor's Center in Independence where we watched a video on the importance of family, and how families can be forever. It was so fun to see this with our kids and my parents. They also have interactive displays, copies of the Book of Mormon in all the different languages, and other fun things for the kids to see. The favorite part was a pioneer display, They have a model of a log cabin where you go in and learn about the pioneers who came to settle in Independence. There was a play area where the kids could play pioneer style with checkers, a covered wagon and a kids' size cabin. It was a fun place to see.

After the Visitor's Center we headed to Liberty so that we could go to jail. That's what the kids kept saying anyway! We went to see Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith and several others were held for over four months. They rebuilt the jail on the original floor in the exact place where it once stood and built a visitor's center around it. This place is amazing! The sister missionary who was giving the tour told us that the spirit is unrestrained in the room where you view the jail, she wasn't wrong. The spirit was so strong there, it was such an amazing experience to share with my family. I was so glad that we took the time during our thanksgiving break to visit some church sites.

Of course when we left for our day I grabbed the camera, but forgot to charge the batteries! So pictures? yeah, I got nothing! Such rookie mistakes, when will I learn? Kev and I decided it would be a great reason to go back again!

Thanksgiving day was so not what I had planned. Kevin and Preston went to play football with other families from the ward, like always. What wasn't like always was the phone call I got that morning. Kevin called to tell me he thought he had broken his collar bone during the game and that we needed to go to the ER! SERIOUSLY! At first I didn't believe him, I thought he was kidding me like usual, it took him a few times of explaining before I took him serious. So off we headed for x-rays. Yup, he broke his collar bone, not just fractured it, BROKE IT IN HALF!!! Yup, it's his right arm. Yup, he's right handed. And yes, finals are only a few weeks away! We don't do anything the easy way. It was a nontraditional day with a nontraditional dinner (ham, way easier!), and several rounds of dominoes. Despite the difference, we still had a lot of fun; well Kev probably didn't have quite as much fun!

On Friday we got the news that our dog Molly wasn't doing well and needed to be put to sleep (see previous post). It was a hard morning for us with lots of tears. I'm glad my parents were here to be with the kids, they were such a great help. The day was beautiful, almost 70 degrees outside, so we (except Kev of course) decided to get out for a break. I found this place the day before, the Family Fun Center where the kids got to hit golf balls and get some coaching from Grandpa. We also drove a few laps in the go-carts. Preston was stoked that he got to drive his own, and he was the only one on the track for his turn. I took Nick with me, my dad took Kaydie, and my mom took Palmer. We all had a great time. It was so fun to see the smiles and hear the laughs. We needed it that day! We also took my parents on a little driving tour of Topeka and got treats at Dairy Queen. We had such a fun day hanging out together.

Saturday was the day that came too fast, grandma and grandpa had to start driving home. We spent the morning together playing more dominoes and war, then we had lunch at Red Lobster. It was so hard to say good bye. At least it was more of a see you soon, since we'll see them for Christmas. We had such a great thanksgiving with my parents, I am so grateful they made the trip. Thanks Mom and Dad! We all love you so much.

Now for the wound photo gallery!

Notice how his right shoulder slumps a little compared to the left?


Yes, he's my hairy gorilla. No, it doesn't bother me! I love him like crazy:)

His right shoulder blade looked like it was kind of sliding off.
One of these shoulders is not like the other!



I should have paid more attention to what day it was when I took these pictures.
I'm not sure how many days had gone by, but the bruise had turned a spectacular yellow!

It's now been a little over a week since the big game and he's doing a lot better. We now think he might have cracked a couple of ribs along with breaking his collar bone. Our bishop who is a doctor also told me he thought Kev had done more damage than just his collar bone from watching the way he is holding himself and the way he is moving. You know how turkey bowl is, go big or go home! Really, the football part had nothing to do with it, he was running to catch a long pass, stepped in a hole, and fell hard. He will want me to clarify that yes, he caught the ball!

Finals start this week, he will be able to dictate his essays and circle answers instead of fill in scan tron bubbles, so he should be fine for those.

It has been been all kinds of crazy this past week, but what's life without the crazy? If we didn't have the crazy could we appreciate the good times? All I know is that it was a good thing we started off thanksgiving weekend by learning about how Joseph Smith was very kind and gracious during his time of adversity in Liberty Jail. That put a broken collar bone in perspective, it can always be worse, so why not just smile and make the best of it?!

Our Molly

Our dear sweet Molly passed away.

Kevin and I adopted her almost 10 years ago.

We knew she was the right dog when she leaned up against the gate so that we could touch her.

We could not have picked a better dog. She was such a friendly and loving dog.

Preston and Molly were the best of friends. It was so hard for him to leave her behind when we moved. He spent our last morning outside with her. You can see how hard it was on him by the look on his face. Kevin and I couldn't bear to watch him pet her and just sob. Our hearts were broken for him that morning.

Even though she was an outside dog she was the seventh person in our family. She has been with us for nearly ten years. The kids have never known life without her. They loved playing with her in the back yard even though she would never fetch. They loved playing with her in the snow, feeding her snowballs and watching her bounce all over the yard. They fought over whose turn it was to give Molly treats, and probably gave her way more than she needed. They got a kick out of watching her get "baths" in the summer when we would hose her down on hot days, and they always laughed when she would dig in their sandbox. They loved their Molly.



Leaving Molly behind was a hard decision for us, the only reason we could do it was because we knew Aubrey and James would be so good to her. They moved Molly inside with them and their dogs. She was happy to hang out all day on her pillow. She quickly found a place in the Pratt family. We are so thankful that she had such good care and so much love in her last few months.

Molly was an old dog and was suffering from being old. She had arthritis that made her stiff and it got worse this fall. She had a hard time getting up and down stairs, and was starting to have difficulty squatting. Then on Thursday her foot was injured and she needed to go to the vet. He told Aubrey and James that her quality of life was quickly going down hill, and he did not think that she would get better. So together we made the hard decision to have her put to sleep. We were so sad at the timing because we would be home to see her in three weeks, but we didn't want our Molly to suffer. She passed away Friday morning.

We love you Molly. We'll miss the way you "talked" to us. We'll miss your bum wagging. We'll miss your floppy ear. We'll miss you howling at sirens, and we'll miss you sitting on our laps. Keep Grandpa Joe company while we wait to see you again. We love you.

Preston saves the day

WARNING... Not for young viewers!!!!

About a month ago I was making dinner and Preston came up to me and told me that he knew who the tooth fairy was. I knew what he was talking about so I gave him a wink and smile. Then a few days later Palmer lost a tooth. Palmer wanted to save his tooth and get some money, so he decided to write a letter to the tooth fairy asking her to leave his tooth behind. By the time he remembered to write it and leave it under his pillow about a week had past since he lost the tooth. Well, crazy life took over, and that night the tooth fairy forgot!! Palmer came into our room with his chin quivering "Well it looks like I don't get any money." (CRAP CRAP CRAP) I asked him if he had looked everywhere, then I started quickly thinking about what I could do to save the day. Then Preston comes in and says "Palmer the tooth fairy left you some money, it's right here(he holds out some coins), I found it under your pillow." Preston had hurried and gotten some of his own money to save Palmer's day! This a moment that will make me smile forever. Preston was so funny all that day, he kept rubbing it in. I would get comments like "I guess the tooth fairy was really tired last night." We had a good laugh about it.

Then, I started to wonder if he had any other suspicions about the holidays? So last night we were talking to my dad on speaker phone, and my dad asked what Santa was going to do with us going home for christmas. Nothing was leaked, we got the speaker off and the subject changed before anyone noticed, but I saw Preston's light click on. When we sent the kids to bed I asked him to hang back for a minute. He looked at Kev and asked "Yeah, so what IS Santa going to do this year?" I asked him what he thought about Santa, and he looked at me and says "Well, I hope Santa does better than the tooth fairy!" He is so funny. We had a little chat about being a good actor for his brothers and sister. I'm excited for a new experience this year...watching Preston play Santa's little helper!

A friend of mine invited us to a bike park last week and my kids LOVED it. It is a BMX bike park so it's a dirt track with tons of hills.

It was so funny to watch them learn how to ride up hills, and learn how to roll back down the ones they couldn't quite get up:) I think they ran their bikes up as many as they rode up. We had a great time, and they did NOT want to go home. They were begging to go there all weekend.

They were out of school yesterday and we went again so they could have another go at those hills before the weather goes bad. They did so much better the second time. Preston cruises around most of it, Palmer and Kaydie still can't get up all the hills, but most. Some of them are really steep and tall!! Nick likes going down the hills and could get over the small hills, but I did A LOT of pushing yesterday:) We found our newest favorite place!

Cold Stone Anyone?

Our new holiday candy tradition

Make your favorite ice cream!!

Too bad I didn't think of it 'til Saturday.

When mom and dad don't eat all the candy for you there is

still a pretty good selection....even a week later:)

Bring on Valentine's Day!

Happy Halloween

Oh the fun of halloween! All the strategy that goes into everything. These are the pumpkins for this year. Preston's is on the right. He did it himself. I didn't get a good angle on it, but he carved a face on the front and a monster on the back but the monster part broke. He worked so hard and did such a good job, I was sad for him. Nick and Kaydie's pumpkins are in the middle, Kaydie's is on the left. She insisted that she carved it by herself, and she did. I helped her a bit, but she did pretty darn good with the little pumpkin saw. Nick was happy to let me do all the carving, he wrote on the back of it with a pen when I was done. He's goofy. Palmer's is on the left. Again, he had to do it by himself. We laughed because everything he carved was so little. Halloween on a Saturday was awesome, they had a lot of time to spend on their masterpieces!

And then there were the costumes!

Harry Potter. He loves the glasses and the scar. He wore the tie to church

Miss Hermione Granger. She could have won the look alike award! I think she picked the perfect costume this year!

The Death Eater. Darn those masks,

why can't you wear them to anything?

The hunter. He can't wait til he can wear the camo for hunting! Too bad he'll have probably outgrown this set by then:)

Our halloween weekend was pretty fun. Friday night was the big trunk-or-treat at the church. We had yummy chili and homemade pie. I went as a referee, Kevin almost dressed up too! He put on his Nicaragua baseball shirt with his jeans and went as "Ward Softball Guy" it's the most he's done in ten years so I'll give him credit. Maybe next year we can see if we can get him to do more! We had a great time and got lots of candy. The kids liked how they were able to fill up their buckets in about 20 minutes!

Saturday was pretty laid back. We carved pumpkins and hung out most of the day. I didn't want to trick-or-treat in our complex because I don't know very many people. It feels weird to teach your kids that strangers are okay on halloween. So we went to a little spook alley that the office staff here put on, it was so awesome, they went to a lot of work to make over the offices. After that we had dinner and played the Wii and some halloween games. The kids missed our halloween traditions from back home, but they adjusted and had a good time.

Now we get to look forward to a visit from grandma and grandpa for Thanksgiving, we can't wait!!

all I want for christmas is....

my two front teeth!!!

we love halloween

Last Friday night kicked off our week long halloween extravaganza. We had our first halloween party with the JRC. We dressed up with high hopes of winning the costume contest, made our best Clam Chowder for the soup cook off, and got ready for the donut eating contest.

I only got 1 out of three! My costume didn't win, a couple dressed up as Ken and Barbie took that one. Nerts! Then our Clam Chowder didn't win either, but some awesome tortilla soup did, so no hard feelings. BUT, I totally rocked the donut eating contest, BOOYA! The donuts were on a string held up by guys on the stage(we were at the church). Kaydie sat on the stage and helped me eat it. I would hold it still so she could take a few bites. I didn't realize that either I'm a hog or I have a really big mouth cuz that thing was gone in about three big bites. I won a gift card to Cold Stone as if I needed more junk! I have to share with Kaydie though because she helped.

These are the costumes for this year. It's a Harry Potter year, other than for Preston. Nick is Harry Potter, Kaydie is Hermione, and Palmer is a death eater. Preston wants to be a hunter. I am trying to get a witch costume together for this week, we'll see how good my sewing skills are. I bought the beginnings of a witch costume but it's too short so I need to make some capris to go with it. Why do all adult costumes have to start with "Naughty" or "Sexy"???? Can't I just be a good old witch? If it doesn't work I still have Princess Leia on standby.

We are excited for our halloween week. We have the school parties on Wednesday (because there is no school Thurs or Fri., Sweet!) Then we have the ward party on Friday, and then we're having our own family halloween party on Saturday. Lots to do, but so much fun!

I have to start this off with my own personal disclaimer: I am usually so far behind the times it's embarassing, so I'm sure this will only be new to me. That being said, I have to tell you about my new favorite things.

1. INSIDEOUT A CAPPELA. Two words: AWE-SOME! I LOVE their music! My kids heard some of their songs in primary one Sunday and couldn't stop singing them, so I ordered this CD. If you haven't heard them, find their website! Your kids will never sing Once There Was A Snowman the "right" way again, but it will be so worth it! They have another album called Sharing Time that I'm gonna have to get. My kids love these songs, we haven't stopped listening to the CD.

2. cakewrecks.blogspot.com is my new favorite website. It makes me laugh out loud. I love seeing things that make me feel like maybe I'm not so dumb! It is full of professionally made cakes that leave you wondering. If you have time to spare or need a laugh, check it out.