Recording Artist and Art Artist

 There's Jake playing the recorder in the school concert.  

He was jammin.

 They sounded amazing playing song after song....very impressive!

And Breezy displayed her artwork out in the hall...this girl has skills.

And they both have some pretty fabulous teachers too I might add!

First Santa Sighting..

 was at the ward Christmas party on Friday night.  

Luke was questioning the authenticity of this jolly bearded man...I think he might have been on to something.

He was reluctant to sit on his lap, so he stood beside him and told him he wanted a toy for Christmas.

He's so easy to please!

And even Bree got in on the action.  

I keep thinking it will be her last year, but then I saw Rachel Crook and Sydney Potter paying a visit to him, so maybe she has a few years left in her yet:)

And as to what she asked for?

A microphone

and

Two airplane tickets for me and her to go see Rachel and Brad in Florida.

Crossing my fingers that Santa delivers on that one!

We missed Jer and Jake who were having a ball on a scout campout.

But we had a fabulous Sunday today.  

We all piled up in my bed and read stories together.  

My favorite Sunday in a long time:)!

Hiking Camelback

 Pre-hike pic.  Aw they were looking forward to a nice little stroll up the mountain.

About halfway there we took a little break.

 And to our surprise, we ALL made it!  

Luke sang Humpty Dumpty had a great fall all the way up the mountain. 

Jake did not like that one bit.

 Could not have been a more beautiful day!

 Incredible view!

 I think the way down was even harder than going up.  

Definitely scarier.

Everyone was a trooper, but I think Luke and Jer might have won the prize.  

Jer was so patient with him and Luke just walked and hummed the whole way.  

The rest of us had some pretty fine moments too:

Jake's 100% chance you'll die if you fall from here call,  telling Adam about the Phoenician, Jer telling me to get lost, telling all the runners they could do better, Riley giving a "smile and nod" to a strange man who didn't know Jon was just behind him, breaks with Britt, Jer taking the inside track, Jon helping Luke only to get denied, just 10 more minutes to the top (x10),  getting dark way too quick, cell phone calls and taxis home, and the freakish man that claimed Breanna was long lost clear up the mountain all by herself.  

But best of all was going grungy to Barros and not caring one bit!

 Loved that half of Anthem just happened to be there too.

Thanks Mums for pushing us to the top, we loved it.

Making this an annual event for sure!

Turkey Day Delight

 Riley and Brittany had the place decked out to the nine!   

The tables looked like they were straight out of a magazine, it was all gorgeous!

Check out those name turkeys!

 The food was divine!

We talked, played wizard, watched football, ate way too much, and went to see Hugo.  

The thumbs were all over the place on this one.

So thankful for this sweet little family of mine.

And for good health.

And amazing friends.
And flip flops in November.

Loved this fabulous Thanksgiving Day!

Jake's Amazing FHE

 He shared with us some thoughts on Gratitude then set us off to make Thankful Turkeys.

 It was challenging for some of us:)

 Turns out we're 5 Thankful Turkeys

I Love You Jake!

A Tree Lighting First!

 We've lived here for over 5 years and have yet to see the tallest Christmas tree in the US be lit even though it is literally in our back yard. 

 We don't love crowds.  

But we decided to brave them this year and it was fun.

 He was showing quite a bit of crack this year, but Jake kept watching his back.

 This is the closest she got to seeing Shane Harper.  

But she was pretty excited to see him rock out.

And we almost didn't last long enough to see the tree light up, but we made it.  It was so pretty.  Don't know if we will be able to convince the boys to come back next year, but I think me and Bree will be back for sure!

Vamipires, Werewolves and Winners!

Waited on a chilly night for 2+ hours with the line wrapping all the way around the building.

(Thanks for letting us cut, Ri and the 100s of people behind you:) 

Chipotle and free Twilight cups made it even sweeter.

Brought out the fangs to help us get ready...

 (good thing I brought a 20 pack cuz Sarah kept "losing" hers:)

 And thanks to smooth talking Jamie, we got first dibs on an empty theater.

Turns out it's best to discuss where the prime seats in the house are
before leading a mob of crazed fans into the theater.

Made for a hilarious last minute scramble, but we scored some sweet seats.

 And why the smile you might ask?

Britt turned up big winner of the night.

When the theater manager came in with a trivia question,

"How did Bella break her hand?"

Brit's hand shot up and the girl in the blue sweatshirt came through with exactly the right answer.

Got some sweet movie prizes for it too.

Britt, remember who your BFF is, k?

Maybe one of the best GNOs on record.

Countdown to Hunger Games is on.

Pilgrims

Ever seen cuter pilgrims?  

Tried to get them to eat their Thanksgiving feast with these getups on.

That lasted about 30 seconds.  

Love these cute boys!

Veteran's Day Parade

 Bree's School Float

 Jake's Scout Troop/YW Float

 Jake and Breanna's Principals, all decked out for the festivities.

It was the perfect parade day.

Got to walk with Jake which might have been the highlight.

That and winning the shout out contest.

 But James won the writing contest.  

He penned the most amazing float description in parade history.

I could hear it over and over and over and over.

In it's entirety.  

Not the abbreviated version.

I love Veteran's Day.

 I'm am so grateful to all the men and women 

who fought for our freedoms.

And so glad to live in a community that honors them!

Veteran's Day Game Day

The Fischers and Taters came over for a game day...

Big kids played Puerto Rico, Carcassone, Life and Just Dance 3

while these 3 played outside and let the sprinklers get the best of them.

Might have been my favorite kind of day!

Jumped on this band wagon...

 and upgraded last year's grateful tree to this beut!

Even Ava stopped by to add a leaf or two.

Thanks Pinterest for helping us take it to the next level.

And thanks Ashley and Shawn for the pointers on the branches:)

Can't wait to see what my favorite thankful leaves are this year.

Soccer Divas

 First off, thanks to Polly for hooking us all up with Hot Chocolate!  It was such a cold morning and the hot cocoa was soooo toasty and good! Thank you!

And no one knew it was picture day, so the girls came au natural. 

They are pretty cute that way.

 Natalie and Sydney

 Natalie, Sydney, Breanna, Georgia, Anna, and Natalie

They have such a fun team and Bree is so lucky to get to play with so many of her friends!

Go DreamCrushers!