2009 Family Pictures

A sneak peak at our Christmas card photos. Laurisa's best friend Kylee took our pictures this year. She is an amazing photographer and really has the eye. She took so many good ones that it is going to be hard to choose which one goes on the Christmas card. Thanks for taking our pictures Kylee, you are so talented.

I couldn't Wait!!!

Something has happened to me. They say that you become more like your spouse with time, and I think it has happened. Wade has a very difficult time waiting for Christmas or Birthdays to give presents. So following in his footsteps I gave in...I couldn't wait for Christmas to give the girls their skirts that I made them. I rationalized it by thinking of the many times they could wear them before Christmas. I just couldn't hold back. Could you if you knew how excited they were when they saw them. I will probably be disappointed in myself when Christmas rolls around, but for now I have great satisfaction seeing them look so cute in their new skirts! And they fit them perfectly, thanks to my friend Kelly who is great with measurements, and I also have to thank Katie, who posted these on her blog in the first place and tempted me to want to make them! So, Happy New Skirts Joslyn and Laurisa!

Hoorah!!! Jossie's home!

We are so excited, Jossie's home for a visit! Right when she arrived she wanted to go to her favorite restaurant, Gecko Grill. When we arrived we were so excited to see Aunt Ginger and Tony. Laurisa was there with all her friends for a girls night. It was the perfect night having my family all together!Today we cleaned the church. I love cleaning the church as a family because it makes us appreciate our church building even more and I get the greatest satisfaction out of serving as a family. I love seeing my kids work hard. When we came home Joslyn wanted pumpkin pancakes. Wade was so happy to have his daughter home that he was flipping pancakes. I love the relationship these two have! He would do anything for her.

5K Run

My friend Rosemary and I ran the Gilbert Days 5 K. It was fun to have a running partner. She has ran a few marathon's, so she is a veteran. She kept a good pace for me the whole time. Thanks for running with me Rosemary!

Cross Country banquet

Cross country season has come to an end. The boys went out for cross-country to get in shape for the wrestling season, and fell in love with it. They are natural runners and were fun to cheer on. Jake should have got the "ralph award" because he threw up during every race, but two. I was surprised to hear another child win the award. I didn't realize, that it was a common practice. It amazed me that he still enjoyed running each time no matter what happened.
Mitch finished the year strong after coming back from tendinitis in his knees. He lettered this year and made varsity! The boys enjoyed being on the same team together and are now in amazing cardiovascular shape for the wrestling season. Way to go...all that hard work paid off.This coach is the most amazing coach. He really builds the kids with his positive nature and truly believes in them. He even runs with the team which makes all the kids even love him more.

Snow in Arizona?

Mitch got asked to Winter Formal with these cute snowflakes hanging in the front yard.

This is how he answered back! These teens are so creative, it amazes me!

The best pancake mix ever!

I absolutely love anything with pumpkin mixed in it, especially this time of year! This mix makes Amazing pancakes! You can pick it up at Trader Joe's. I also bought my favorite pumkin spread to add on top, that can also be purchased at Trader Joe's. Enjoy!

Girls Hike~ Hike of the Month!

I found this "Hike of the Month" in my hiking magazine. I was telling my friend how much I missed my hiking club when I was living in St. Louis, and she said, "well let's all go hiking!" So we decided to try out the hike of the month. It was an unmarked trail so it made it even more of an adventure! It was a such a beautiful hike and completely hidden. I love to explore Arizona and it is the perfect time of year for hiking. I love doing anything with these women, they make everything fun. We had such a wonderful time that we already have our hike planned for next month.

Aebleskiver's~ a danish treat!

My friend Meg posted these on her blog a while back, so last week when I was at my favorite kitchen store I bought an Ableskiver pan. They are in between a pancake and a popover and make a yummy family night treat. You can fill them with just about anything. We made several varieties; fruit, chocolate melts, and mini peanut butter cups. They were all a hit.

Here's the recipe:
Great Grandma's Danish Aebleskiver
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs-separated
Optional: apple slices or other fruit for filling

Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Add buttermilk and egg yolks. Beat egg whites untile light and fluffy, forming soft peaks. Gently fold egg whites into batter.

Heat Aebleskiver pan on medium heat. Grease each cup (little butter or oil, or spray vegetable oil) and fill 2/3 full. Cook for approximately 1 to 1-1/2 minutes (per side) until golden brown, flip using a toothpick. When both sides are done serve with a sprinkle of confectioner's sugar. Best when served warm.

Optional: fill each cup only a 1/3 full with batter place a small amount of fruit in each cup and cover with an additional 1/3 batter.

yeilds: bout 35-40 Aebleskivers

Highlight of our week!!! or year!

My beautiful cousin Kristen Oaks came to visit us this weekend. She called me a few months back and told me that she had been invited to speak at a Regional Conference in Arizona. So for several months we have anxiously anticipated her visit. We had such a wonderful weekend with her, soaking up every minute. She is such a remarkable person, and has an amazing gift of making everyone in her presence feel loved. I feel like a much better person just being around her. She makes everyone feel special. I came away from this weekend feeling fed with such amazing words of wisdom, self improvement, and a desire to cherish the relationships I have. She has a remarkable gift of staying connected to those she loves and we feel blessed that she always wants to spend time with us. We went out to eat several times, went on walks, and had many talks.
We also cherish her book, it is a family favorite! It will change your life! We love you Kristen! Thanks for inspiring us with your beautiful words of inspiration! One of my favorite quotes she said in her talk was, "being a member of the church, not just a nice way to live, but it is the reason we live."

Relief Society~What a blessing

I love the Relief Society Organization of the church and feel so blessed to be a part of it. What other infrastructure is organized in a way that offers comfort, support, love, service to all in need, and brings people unto Christ and his teachings.
We are all women of God, he has a purpose and plan for each of us. He loves us so abundantly and wants us to share our unique gifts with each other. The Relief Society program of the church provides a way that we can do this, and by so doing we learn and grow from each other.

"Women of God can never be like women of the world.
The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender.
There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind.
There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined.
We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith.
We have enough greed; we need more goodness.
We have enough vanity; we need more virtue.
We have enough popularity; we need more purity."
Margaret D. Nadauld

I love our beautiful Relief Society Theme.

We are beloved daughters of God, and our lives have meaning, purpose, and direction. As a worldwide sisterhood, we are united in our devotion to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Exemplar. We are women of faith, virtue, vision, and charity who:

Increase our testimonies of Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study.

Seek spiritual strength by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Dedicate ourselves to strengthening marriages, families, and homes.

Find nobility in motherhood and joy in womanhood.

Delight in service and good works.

Love life and learning.

Stand for truth and righteousness.

Sustain the priesthood as the authority of God on earth.

Rejoice in the blessings of the temple, understand our divine destiny, and strive for exaltation.

I am so blessed to be apart of this gospel with an amazing organization of women and hope that I can one day live up to what this theme represents.

Our lives our blessed because of Mitch's birth

Happy 17th Birthday Mitch!!!

It is hard to even imagine what our family would be like without Mitch.

Who would:
give each member of our family 10 minute hugs and snuzzle us.
show us a sense of style
play the guitar and piano to us
give advice and leadership to each sibling in the family
treat his mom like a queen and his sisters like princesses
have his brother for his best friend
choose to have family time over friend time
treat girls and women with the utmost respect and be a perfect gentlemen
make children love them and get on their level and have fun with them
bring magic in our lives and stick tricks on the ceiling
be our amazing gardener
take care of his brother and drive him to school and pick him up from friends on the weekend
really care about your day
work on eating healthy and getting good exercise
tell his parents they are the best all the time
be a friend to everyone
always stiving to better himself
put the Lord first
prepare for his mission years before he is going to leave
be responsible with his chores and never complain
run errands for his mother whenever she needs something
be a loyal friend
call or text his siblings just to let them know how much he loves them
give endearing nicknames to his mother, and sisters
notice the little things in life, like the beauty around him
joke, tease, and have fun
lives life by making good choices and encourages others to do the same
look only on the best in people and makes others feel good about themselves

Giving Mitch a little help blowing out his candles with him!


Girls came over to visit and Breea even wrote a song for him and came over to sing it. If we didn't know they were such good friends we would have been a little worried since the line, "I love you Mitch", was sang about 10 times. These girls have been his good friends for years. Mitch is a very loyal friend.

We love Halloween

Dressing up for Halloween has always been a favorite around our house! Every year it is fun to see them really get into their character. They really play full out the part. Mitch was listening to Mexican music, Jake was cracking his Indiana Jones whip, and Laurisa truly was Tinkerbell. All the little kids wanted pictures with her. She celebrated Halloween all week with three parties to go to.And of course Halloween wouldn't be the same without dressing up Paco and Roxy. We started this tradition a few years back and now everyone looks forward to seeing what they will be each year.The best part of Halloween was a visit from Waylan (our little Lion). He was so adorable and passed out the Halloween candy for us. We are retiring and giving the job to him every year! It made our home having a little one for Halloween!