Thankful.....

So I don't know about you but Thanksgiving came faster than I could even imagine. I swear it was just Halloween. It's starting to scare me how fast the months go by.

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year. Conwey's sister Kasi usually lets us use her house for these things but got a well deserved break this year.
I have to say I really love all of our family. This year it was just Conwey's family but I feel like they are mine too. There is such a sense of love between all of them and I am just very grateful to be a part of it.

We woke up on Thanksgiving morning to this....


A little eire but definitely felt like a Thanksgiving day out! So Conwey and the boys headed off to a Turkey Bowl at the High School and played for a good 3 hours, while Sienna and I headed off to the gym for a couple of classes to try and burn some calories in preparation!
Then it was home to get things ready....I think I fell into my bed at midnight without ever really sitting down. Now I understand better Kasi! :)

I didn't let my kiddos get off scott free though...

This is Jackson tackling me because I took a picture of him vacuuming....I don't know why they are so nervous when I take pictures....it's not like they would ever be out there for the world to see! :) And he really did tackle me to the ground! I had to fight to keep that picture....

Conwey is always the mashed potato maker in the family....so this is what he did for a few hundred hours....


Then the guys in the family came up early and all went to play a mean game of basketball......

Yes those are folding tables...Conwey keeps telling me to get a dining room table but honestly this would be the ONLY day we would ever use it....and yes we decided to go with paper products this year because lets face it who wants to do 3 hours worth of dishes after all that cooking! And I did not do all the cooking. Then I would have been very stressed out...they don't even make me cook a Turkey (vegetarian) Thank Heavens!!! All the food was so delicious! My highlights were as always my mother in law Jill's yams, Paige's sweet potatoes, Sierra's yummy pretzel salad...hmmm I think I may have a sweet tooth. That was all before dessert! Hence the workouts!


Everyone starts arriving...Madie and Baby V

Noah and Sienna love each other...they kept doing "cheers"

Ceily who just turned 13! Happy Bday Ceily! Not sure what she's eating there......


Our favorite family card game....Chowzer....

The exhaustion starts to creep in.....Hunter

Nico and Ed

Lana Lu

Ed...asleep sitting straight up in the chair.....Love him!

So this year I have so much to be Thankful for! My awesome family far and near, my wonderful dear friends, my husbands job, my health and my family's health which I feel is such a great blessing...my faith, my home, my blackberry....Just kidding! (kind of...)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!

No Words.....

So when you have a child who has had their heart broken and they cry in your arms and you can't find the right words to say to make them feel any better what do you do?

I am watching one of my kids go through something tough, and I am sure it's only the beginning of our journey of tough things, but I really am at a loss of what to say. I think as a mom I feel so frustrated because you just want to fix it so badly for them. My heart aches and I wish I knew what to say.....and I know it's only a temporary problem. I know things will be okay...but to him it feels like the saddest thing ever.

Oh man it is hard being a mom! Hardest thing I have ever done........

Lost Blog.....Halloween 09

So I almost had a heart attack last night because Hunter deleted my entire blog. I was seriously in tears and so was he because he felt so bad. He worked for about 8 hours and some how got it all back. I can't tell you how relieved I am. Now I really need to find out how to back it up or turn it into a book. Anyone ever done this? I would love to know how.....

Now on to belated Halloween post....this year is all kind of a blur. We were in the middle of getting the cabinets done and didn't even carve our pumpkins....we realized it on Halloween night as we were getting ready to go trick or treating so we just hurried and did a couple. Well Conwey and Summer's husband Sean did them.

So none of my boys want to dress up anymore...sad. They just put on a mask and go. What ever happened to the creative days of thinking of costumes and digging through stuff to make them up.
Sienna was Rapunzel this year. We walked into a store and it was right in the front and that was the end of what to be for Halloween. She found her costume and never thought twice about it.
Conwey's parents always come up and go with us, and this year went down to his sister Jayne's house. It was really weird not having them here. Conwey's dad always hands out the candy and his mom walks around with us. We missed them a lot this year. Hunter had to hand out candy and called me after about 30 minutes saying we were out of candy. You have no idea the huge basket I left him..luckily we had back up candy. We missed my sister Rachel and her husband Jimmy this year too.



This was at our church Halloween party..this is her "best friend" Emmilyn....(Sienna loves her and says they are best friends)

Coop and his trick or treating gang....

Sienna was mad because I wouldn't let her hold baby Louisa by herself.....how scary does Jackson look holding that sweet baby! She looks a bit scared actually....

Conwey's sister Summer, her husband Sean, and their new baby Louisa....and Sienna of course.

Doing the trading....and this is only one of 3 huge bags of candy...how sick is that? I use to have to walk miles and miles to get not even half of that and we use to get things like popcorn balls or a bag of pennies or a Hershey kiss...man these kids have it good....this is maybe 1 hour of trick or treating.


I usually hide it a few days after Halloween and they totally forget about it all.....hopefully!