VERY MISC & NOT IN ORDER.

Over Thanksgiving weekend we had dinner at some friends house & had a great time. They are the type of people I LOVE being around in hopes that their goodness will permeate me somewhat & I will somehow become more like them:) We skipped all the shopping on Black Friday which I think I will NEVER EVER do again. Stuff costs too much at regular price!!!! We left early Friday and headed to Omaha.

Ashlynn having a preschool Thanksgiving party.

REVERENCE
On our way out the door to stake conference I was feeling overwhelmed & frankly NOT in the mood to go. I didn't want to be out in the hall with Ashlynn constantly & it just sounded like
A LOT of work. A few months ago I bought this reverence book & Ashlynn LOVES it. It has helped also as we talk during the week about how to behave in church. Well on the way out the door I had an idea take a string & fruit loops for Ashlynn to string. (I wonder where that thought came from:) It turned our BRILLIANT!!!! She literally put fruit loops on that string for the first hour & a half. So if you have a stake conference coming up remember your string & fruit loops:)
P.S. The meetings were wonderful & I left very happy that I was able to be apart of them!

Love the sweats with the shirt BUT I REALLY LOVE these BOYS:)

Bass pro shop is tons of fun this time of year. On the weekends it has lots of fun things going on Alyssa was such a big helper with Ashlynn writing a letter to Santa.

Loved the ones that adults left behind one the table kinda funny.
YOU MUST BELIEVE TO RECEIVE:)

The gingerbread houses at the Mormon trail center I must say are AMAZING!!!!! LOVED this one it pulled at my heartstrings.

Britton loves having his picture taken. The other boys you don't see much that is because 1 they NEVER stop moving & 2 they HATE it:)

This is my friend Brenda & her 2 little girls. We met them at the zoo. I haven't seen her in about 20 years. We Loved getting to hang out with her and her family. Ashlynn loved having some little girls around.

At least we have 2 girls who will let me take pictures. Our boys are like

"PICTURES ARE LAME."

It was a great weekend. ALREADY Can't wait for Christmas break!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

I was out shopping and the kids &
Jers made this funny movie to wish you &
yours a Happy Thanksgiving.

DAUGHTERS

The other day I was on facebook & someone had posted this quote. I LOVE IT!!! I might would change the words "this world has to give." to say "that God has to give." Nevertheless, I love the quote. It made me think about how blessed my life is because I am a daughter of such an elect lady. My life CONTINUES to be blessed EVERY day because I am JoAnne's daughter-even though she was taken by the cruelty of cancer over 8 years ago. I cherish the fact that I get to be the mother of 2 beautiful daughters that fill my life with joy every single day.

I often hear moms complain about teenagers. Although they have their moments(at times many), having a teenage daughter is AWESOME!!!! I have someone to go to Broadway shows with who gets as EXCITED as I do. I have someone who wants to watch shows like Monte Carlo with me and I can blame the fact that we are seeing it on their, not my own, LOVE for younger movies. I have someone to talk to who definitely LOVES to talk as much, OR MORE than I do. That is hard to come by. :)

I LOVE that ASHLYNN is still home. I think I cried all day the day she started preschool. It was a wake-up call that my life is changing stages WAY toooo fast. I only have 2 more years of a kiddo at home & then they will all be at school all day every day. That makes me want to throw-up. Not that some days I don't rejoice as they walk out the door. I do. In fact, most days as Britton, being the last one to leave, walks out the door, Ashlynn & I crank up the tunes & do a HAPPY dance. But still, we are SUPER-elated for them to return 8 hours later:)

I LOVE that Alyssa finally got a sister. I cannot imagine life without sisters nor, would I want to.

I LOVE how with girls, when they are little, you get to play dress up & have little tea parties.

Then they grow up and you still get to play dress up, but you send them off to real parties. That is a little scarier :0

Right now, the thing I LOVE about Ashlynn is how EVERY morning, as she comes downstairs, she acts as if she hasn't seen me for years. She runs to me with her high-pitched voice, "MOM," and gives me a HUGE hug-it's priceless. I Love how excited she gets about the little details of life that we seem to miss as we get older. Her age is such a blast. I LOVE how Alyssa is so attached to her phone that I can get ANY room cleaned, keep grades up, and get good behavior just by threatening to take it away:) . What a great and powerful tool we as parents have in today's world. I LOVE that Alyssa is so into doing her Personal Progress right now. She is on fire with it. We have to force her to put it away to go to bed or do her jobs. Not a bad thing to have to force your kid away from. Today I am thankful for my daughters. Thank You Heavenly Father for sending them to me!

MAGICAL

The other day a lady at the gym mentioned a trail she had been riding out in Adel & how beautiful it was. I am a sucker for that kind of stuff. Partly why I LOVE Iowa so much in the Fall it is gorgeous. Just driving on the freeway to go to the store is an adventure filled with vibrant crisp colors. Yes I know that sounds so lame, I really do LOVE all the color and after Summer the air without humidity is golden.

Ashlynn loves this trail daily she asks to go to the "HER" woods. She wants to go see her butterfly & caterpillar:)

I am kind of (okay not kind of )I am a HUGE scardy cat to go places like that alone. Someday I WILL be brave(It's a goal:). For the time being I force others such as my husband to go with me on my trails. Just look at this cool bridge really I am doing him a HUGE favor in having him go right:)

The 1st time we went on the trail I could not get the older kids to go. Ashlynn however LOVED crunching through the leaves.

throwing them

running in them

It is a beautiful trail!

A WEEK OR SO LATER...

Ashlynn & I decided we wanted to go on this walk again a week later. Due to the fact J.D. was not home I forced the older kids to all go. I told them they didn't have a choice. I wanted to go & I wasn't going alone. This was met with MUCH complaining so I made them a deal. They LOVE the waukee Ice cream shoppe so I told them if you enjoy the walk & do NOT complain I will take you after we leave.

We had such a great time. The kids all got along they didn't complain that they weren't home playing with friends Riley even said "Thanks mom for making us go this really was fun." I LOVE being a Mom. I wonder if I will ever- not -have to bribe my kids to go on a walk with me ha ha.
It is amazing how bribery for something as simple as Ice cream can make an afternoon that could be a disaster filled with why do we have to do this. A MAGICAL memory filled with so much fun!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I LOVE LOVE HALLOWEEN!!! 

 I love walking around on Halloween nights and meeting the people in our neighborhood. It is the only night of the year I see most of them. I KNOW, shame on me. Riley was not allowed to go out this year because he felt jobs were dumb and he should not have to do them. As you will see in the pictures, he was right out there with us. We left him at home, but Jers said, "I will be right back." the next thing I knew, I saw Riley. Jers sent him out to go with us. (As parents, we struggle to be consistent with consequences with our children). 

When leaving, Daxon commented, "It isn't the same without Riley." In my opinion, Memories are worth breaking the rules for. Halloween only comes around once a year, chores are forever. 

Alyssa and Riley are, by many people's standards, too old to go Trick or Treating. I am one of those parents who couldn't care less; you only live once, and it is better than many of the other things your children could be doing:)

Ashlynn was a flower. It was a great costume because it kept her cozy and warm. Ashlynn was so much fun this year. I LOVE her age. Everything is so MAGICAL. We went to the first couple of houses, and the concept of trick-or-treating clicked. 

From then on, she was on a mission to fill her bucket. Ashlynn smiled at every house as she said trick or treat, followed by, THANK YOU HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! 

 As we neared the end of the neighborhood, she commented, "This is the best Halloween EVER." 

 Alyssa stuck right by our side until we reached our house, then she joined her brothers for some quick moving where she could really cash in on some loads of candy:)

The other day on "The Dating Divas," they had a hobo costume that I thought was so ADORABLE. We altered it to be Alyssa's style. I think she makes a pretty cute HOBO -especially with that Goodwill bag hanging off the back:)

On Saturday, the ward had a cute little party for the primary that the youth put together. It was fun, and the kids had a great time hanging out with friends and trunk-or-treating. The bird was a pretty cool touch for the werewolf look, don't you think?

THE MIGHTY HUNTERS
I never see these two on Halloween. They are way too FAST. In the 1st block, you see them, and then they are gone for the next two hours. 

Now, onto the festivities of Thanksgiving. I'm LOVIN IT!!!!