November and December

We traveled to have Thanksgiving with Grandma "Soup" as  Emily calls her and Grandpa Mitch.  We were able to catch a BYU basketball game and bowl at BYU.

We went skiing at Solitude.  Everyone loved it!  We saw our  old friends from Ohio, The Taylor's while we were there.  Even Emily skiid in their ski and play program!  She was so cute with her pink little skis.  The kids had a private instructor, they were all skiing down the hill no prob by the end of the day.  I even got to the point where I  could get off the lift without falling!

I've always wanted to take the kids to see the lights at temple square like I used to do every year growing up.  It was crowded!  They had extended the lights out into the surrounding areas all the way to the conference center.  It was fun remembering the true meaning of Christmas.  We didn't get to see Mr. Kruegers Christmas, maybe next time!  Mom, Nate, Leanna, Julene, Charity, Ryan, Rocky and Jada came with us.

We had our first professional photo shoot ever with April Hendrick 's photography at Medipark here in Amarillo.

So the kids are each deciding what they love to do most.  Petey loves chewing all of our toys to bits. (note the armless Barbie)

Emily really loves to take ballet with her friend Zoe.  She makes me get up and do ballet with her during dinner time.

Hailey has really improved her tennis game.  She has a wicked serve!  She wants to expand lessons to 5 hours a week next school year.  

Sam's passion is Ninjago.  He loves Ninjago legoes, acting out and drawing Ninjago.    His exzema has been doing a lot better since we have started Dr. Mc Carthy's 5 step program!

Dec. 8 I bought myself and Seth plane tickets, we flew to Dallas at 6 am.  I rented a car and drove 40 min to find a soccer field, spent the day at games, drove us back to the airport, boarded the plane and returned home by 10:30 pm.  Something new for me.  Seth has been playing in tournament games with a handpicked team that hopes to make Lightening Club Soccer come summer.  He also is playing basketball with his best friend Nathan.

Emily has been so fun this Christmas.  She believes in Santa with all her heart.  She wanted to make sure we didn't have a fire in the fireplace going on Christmas Eve so Santa wouldn't burn himself.  She got to be the little pig in the Christmas Nativity pageant at her preschool.  When Santa came to her preschool she was so excited her cheeks got flushed, her heart started pounding and she started jumping up and down with excitement.  The picture below is when she ran to give him a hug.

Emily had her tubes reinserted after 2 ear infections in a month, we figured out her tubes had fallen out.

Seth was wrapped like a mummy by classmates at his school class Christmas party.

Sam was the wiseman during our annual Christmas Eve Nativity reenactment.  Here he is following the star...

here he is giving baby Jesus the thumbs up while Mary (Emily) makes soft cooing noises.

September and October

 We celebrated Seth's 10th birthday party and Sam's 7th birthday party by getting a huge waterslide inflatable, a cotton candy machine, a popcorn machine and snow cones.  We had quite a few people show up, I was glad it was outside and We could just hose off the mess!

 We spent labor day in Ouray (your way), Colorado.  We had a lot of fun ATVing and hiking around the mountains.

 The scenery was nice to look at

 The kids started school, Hailey is going to Bonham Middle as a 7th grader, Seth is in 4th grade, our neighbor Mrs. Leland is his teacher, and Sam started first grade at Sleepy Hollow Elementary.  Emily started preschool at Sonlight preschool with her best bud Zoe.

 We ran the Dirty Dash in Albuquerque on Sept. 8

 Emily didn't enjoy it at all.  She wouldn't let Aaron get mud on her.

 Seth raced through it and was one of the first to finish.

 Sam tolerated it.

 Hailey LOVED it!  She reveled in the mud.

 We all chipped in to buy my mom tickets to New York for her mother's day and birthday present.  It was an adventure from dancing statues in the Broadway show Mary Poppins to shopping to seeing the statue of Liberty and Ground Zero, I even saw an old mission companion at the General Relief Society broadcast.

 I ran my first Half Marathon in the Canyon with my friend Sarah Crane!

 For Aaron's 39th birthday we went to Maxwell's pumpkin farm with a bunch of people and we decorated the house spooky for when he got home from work.   He likes to have yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

 Seth drew this picture to enter into the reflections contest and won in the school!

 Halloween!  Grandma and Grandpa Thompson drove out to spend it with us.  We went to the ward Chili cook off and Trunk -r- Treat on the 30th.  We had the neighborhood over for taco soup and trick - or - treating on the 31st.