Thanksgiving!

We had such a fun turkey day! Randy started the day off running the turkey trot and then we headed over to his aunts house (Aunt Carolei and Uncle Stephen) for lunch. The kids had so much fun playing with tons of cousins outside. They have a huge backyard with a great swingset and really tall old slide that the kids LOVE! Taylor's face cracks me up in this picture....She was being so goofy and funny.

Travis and Blake playing football

Tommy, Ashlee and Megan

Anney LOVED the swings. Since we don't have a swing set in our backyard she loves to swing non stop anywhere she can! Everytime we drive my a park, she yells "WEEEEE" ( that means swing!)

Taylor and Emmee chose jello as their dessert. They both really ate all of it! They look so much alike to me!

Randy visiting with the Phelps relatives!

Megan was scared coming down this slide!

Anney, Travis and Randy!

Taylor!

Now she is brave with her hands in the air!

Taylor and travis

After the Phelps we went over to my parents church and had dinner with my family. WE ate a ton and then played volleyball. We had a great time! This is Walker, Taylor, McKay, Bethany, Tyson, Katie and Kendall!

The cooks (my parents!) They did a great job! Thanks mom and dad for all your hard work!

My grandpa and grandma leavitt and Uncle Kerry!



Lindsay, me, Brig and Shelby (engaged and getting married January 2nd!)

We had a great Thanksgiving and I'm so grateful for my family and my husband's family! We are also so lucky to have wonderful friends but most importantly we are thankful for the gospel in our lives and our testimonies!

Randy's First Turkey TROT!!!

Right before Randy Left The kids getting ready to leave to go see daddy finish!


Randy finishing the race.......Had to get a photo with the "famous turkey"


Randy participated in his first ever turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning this year. He started running about 6 months ago and he LOVES it! HE amazes me how well he has done! He has really gotten himself into incredible shape and he looks great!

The weather was nice and cool with rain sprinkling off and on through the run. He did the 6.2 miles in exactly 1 hour. he had a great time also. The kids and I had fun cheering him on and seeing him finish! Way to go babe...keep up the great work!

Happy Happy Birthday!!!

Everyone Singing...I think Bethany and Reagan loved singing the loudest!


Blow!

Grandpa and Grandma Leavitt.....Bethany and Reagan

Grandma Leavitt...doesn't she look amazing?

Happy Birthday Grandpa and Grandma Leavitt, Reagan and Bethany!! All 4 of these guys birthdays are within a few days of each other. In fact Reagan and Bethany's (my cute sisters) birthday are the same day! (I even have 2 brothers born on the same day!) We had everyone in my family come over on Monday night for F.H.E. and cake and ice cream. They loved blowing out the candles on the cake...my grandma said she hasn't blown out candles ofr years! They are 82 and 80 now. They are amazing people. They are the greatest examples of Christlike love and service. In my eyes...they are perfect! Grandpa Weight (my dad) gave the lesson on traditions and asked all of us to share some traditions we remember as kids and traditions we have in our own families now. It was a great lesson and made me realize how lucky I am to have such a great family. We've done a lot of neat things and my parents have kept a lot of our traditions alive every year. This time of the year is spent with a lot of family and some of the traditions seem "silly" but when you stop and realize all the memories and great times you've had with one another, you are so glad you've kept those traditions alive. One of our favorite traditions that Randy and I both had growing up was going to grandmas house every Sunday night. Randy would play card games and visit with his grandma for hours. I remember going to my grandma and grandpa weight's home for popcorn and punch every single Sunday night. As kids we LOVED that and looked forward to it every week. Randy and I have continued that on with our own kids and they love it! That is one of the first things they ask me every Sunday morning...."Are we going to grandma Ferrin's and grandma weight's house tonight?" They LOVE it! I'm so lucky to have both of our families close by and be able to spend time with them often. As the holiday season is upon us in full force, think about how lucky you are to be able to be with your family and some of the neat traditions you have.

Happy Halloween!!! (i'm almost a month behind!)

Holy cow...how pathetic am I? This blogging is just like my scrapbook...way behind! At least i'm only a month behind and not 4 years behind! (maybe that's because I only started my blog 6 months ago!) We had the greatest Halloween this year! The kids had a blast. We had our annual Halloween party at Grandma and Grandpa Ferrin's house. We eat dinner, play games, decorate pumpkins, and Aunt Shari and cousin Ashlee make their famous "witches brew." The kids LOVE it. The highlight of the evening is trick-or-treating inside grandma's house. Each of the adults pick a room in the house and the kids trick or treat to each door. Uncle Sean was being hilarious and he picked the pantry and handed out Canned FOOD! The kids were laughing so hard about canned tuna, etc. What a fun night. Here are a few pictures of the night.....

A fun tag for you ALL!!!!!!!!!!

1.Do you like blue cheese salad dressing? nope....not at all. Yesterday they were sampling some and it was disgusting!!

2. Have you ever smoked? Nope......NASTY!.

3. Do you own a gun? I don't own one myself.....but I do own a great glue gun!

4. What's your favorite drink at Starbucks or other specialty coffee shop? I've actually only had their hot chocolate and really didn't care for it.

5 Do you get nervous before doctor appointments. Nope.....most of the time I'm just happy to get them over with

6. What do you think of hot dogs? I only like all beef ones and they have to be grilled. None of the boiled or microwaved junk! Also, I hate the one's they hand out at carnivals or free things...those are disgusting!

7. Favorite Christmas song? All of them! I could listen to Christmas music all year long!

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? i never really drank much in the morning (besides milk on my cereal) but lately Randy and I have been having a healthy energy type shake for breakfast!

9. Can you do push ups? Yep!

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding ring

11. Favorite hobby? Cooking, scrap booking, exercising, shopping

12. Do you have A.D.H.D? Some would think especially if it's time to sit down and watch tv or a movie!

13. What's one trait that you hate about yourself? I worry about EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY!

14. Middle name? Leigh

15. Name 3 thoughts right now? I wonder how long Anney's nap will be today? How will Travis do in his baseball game tonight? What am I going to make for dinner that is quick and easy?

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Diet Dr. Pepper, my "shake" and water

17. The friend you had the longest? Briana

18. Current dislike right now? My house needs to be de-cluttered really bad before the holidays!

19. Favorite place to be? At home or on vacation with family and friends

20. How did you bring in the new year? at a family party with Randy's family!

21. Do you like to travel? I love it but I won't do it in a car. My limit is 6 hours in a car...after that it has to be by plane!

22. Name three people who will complete this? Joni, Shari and someone surprise me and do it!

23. Do you own slippers? yep, but I'd still rather wear flip flops!

24. What color shirt are you wearing? white

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Nope!

26. Can you whistle? Nope...my kids make fun of me that I can't!

27. Favorite color? Black, pink or brown

28. Would you be a pirate? Nope

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Normally I don't sing in the shower...most of the time I'm yelling at Anney to get out of the bathroom or close the shower curtain....

30. Favorite girl's name? Taylor, Megan and Anney

31. Favorite boys name? Randy and Travis

32. What's in your pocket right now? No pockets in my pants!

33. What is the last thing that made you laugh? Megan....she makes me laugh all day long!

34. Best bed sheets as a child? I remember they were floral and my sister and I would share a bed and draw an imaginary line down the middle of the bed to "mark" our sides!

36. Do you love where you live? I do!!!

37.How many TVS do you have in your house? Two...one in our bedroom and one in our family room

38. Who is your loudest friend? If I say, she'd have to shoot me!

39. How many pets do you have? 1

41. What is your favorite book? Not much of a reader...I did read the peacegiver and I loved that.

42. What is your favorite candy? Reeses peanut butter cups or peppermint patties...all of it must be frozen though!

43. Favorite sports team? Arizona diamondbacks!

44. What were you doing at 12a.m. last night? Snoozing...probably wondering how long until Anney would be climbing out of her crib!

45. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning? I've got to get up and get going cause I'm going running and then have to hurry and get to the kids classes at school!

3 Kids with strep.......1 more to GO!!

My poor kids! Travis had strep last week and Megan has been sick most of the week so I took her in today and sure enough...she has strep also. Anney has a green nose and showing the signs of starting it. The doctor gave me and antibiotic for Megan and Anney so hopefully they will both start feeling better soon......It's only been a week and I'm sick of having sick kids! I'm sure Taylor will be next, but at least all the kids will of had it! Hopefully Randy and I don't get it!

As far as an update on the kids......

Travis has his last regular season baseball game tonight.....their team is Really good. They have only lost one game so I'm sure they will make it quite far in the playoffs. He loves to play baseball and his team is so fun to watch. It makes up for all those years we sat through T-ball and coach pitch games!

Taylor is doing so well in school. I love how she strives for perfection in everything she does. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but she tries so hard to be obedient and good in everything she does. She is going to be put in speech a couple days a week at school because she can't make the "R" sound very clear. It's really quite cute how she says it, but her teacher doesn't think it will be so cute in 5 years! Randy and I gave Taylor the choice if she wanted to be in it or not, and she decided she really wanted to. It helped that my mom told her my brother did speech and it's okay to be in speech and I think that made her feel better.

Megan has strep like i said earlier and is distraught to miss another day of preschool. Poor kid! She LOVES preschool and her teacher. I think she is just as sad also about missing out on riding her bike. She spends all afternoon outside riding up and down the street. She LOVES to rider her bike and most of the time I have to tell her to SLOW DOWN cause she rides so fast!

As far as an update on the monkey...she continues to climb out of her crib. In fact she knows how to climb in and OUT now! I think I'm just going to make her crib into a toddler bed and then put a gate across her door so she can't be out wondering in the middle of the night!

Sorry this post sounds like a christmas card! Remember this is my journal.....

Oh I have a yummy recipe to give you....I got this off my friends blog and it was super yummy! We made it last night and the kids loved it!

Cranberry-Chili Chicken

1/2 cup Heinz Chili sauce
1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
2 T orange marmalade
1/4 tsp. allspice
4-6 skinless boneless, skinless chicken (about 1.5 pounds)

I just cooked it in the frypan, basting it in the sauce. We served it over rice but I'm also planning on doubling the recipe and cooking it in the crock pot all day long, then serving over rice or pasta! Enjoy!

Tonight i'm making beef stroganoff in the crock pot so I'll post the recipe tomorrow!

Have a great day everyone!

Can you believe this little monster is 18 months now and go in the nursery!! Randy and I have been counting down the Sundays since she was 6 months old. She has been our hardest kid to confine in church. Most of the time we don't even make it 10 minutes before we are out in the hallway. She is so dang smart that as soon as we sit down she points to the door and yells bye bye cause she doesn't want to stay in there! She's a turkey I tell ya!

She LOVES the nursery. I knew she wouldn't cry one bit also. I'm sure she is much happier in there then in Relief Society or Deacons quorum.....and her mom and dad are much happier also! We love you Anney....but you wear us out!

Also....this little monkey climbs out of her crib now! Anyone have any suggestions? It's a little frightening knowing your 18 month old can walk around your house in the middle of the night.....and I'm not going to take the risk of her hurting herself as she jumps out of her bed! I don't know what to do...all i know is i don't want her sleeping with me! She's just as wild in her sleep as she is when she is awake!

Good times at our house let me tell ya!

****Also i wanted to add that I took Anney in for her 18 month well check up and she is 33 inches long, her head circumference is 18.5 and she weighs a whole whoppin 20 lbs. exactly!!!***

random pictures....

I'm trying to be better at updating our blog. It's seems like the longer I wait the further behind I get. These are just some fun pictures I took this past weekend. We spent (well I should say Randy) spent all day saturday cleaning the toyhauler and quads. Like I said earlier, we brought it home from being up in Showlow all summer and it was filthy!!! He powerwashed and scrubbed the whole thing down! He also spent lots of time cleaning all the quads and camping things we brought home. I had to grab the camera when I walked outside and saw him up on the roof scrubbing away! He is amazing and is such a hard worker. I tend to do things as fast as I can and he is detailed and does such a good job. I would of sprayed the thing down with a hose or payed someone to come detail it! Also..you must notice our beautiful front lawn. The grass is so green and pretty. I'll take pictures this weekend after I plant all the winter/spring flowers. One more funny thing is Randy planted the front lawn and he ran out of time that day to plant the back lawn. So being the "so called nice wife" that I think I am, I decided to surprise him a couple days later by planting our back lawn We don't have that very big of an area of grass so I thought how hard could it be? Well let's just say Randy's lawn is beautiful and mine is very patchy. Very green in some areas and nothing in other areas! Oh well, next time I'll just let him do it!

Bye Bye Showlow!!!

I know you are all sick of seeing pictures from Showlow and where we spent a lot of our summer. For October break we went up to Showlow and brought our toy hauler home. We've had it up there all summer and have enjoyed many trips up there to the "cool" country. Well it is officially freezing up there now! It rained off and on and even hailed. Everything was very muddy and wet but we had a great time! Thanks so much for the McCowns and their parents for letting us park our trailer up there for the summer. The kids loved being able to ride quads, play with their friends and just have a great time! Here are a few pictures of our last weekend. For the next six months you will get to see lots of dune and Mexico pictures (so sorry!!)

Megan learns to ride with no training wheels!

Megan LOVES to be outside riding her bike or scooter. I've never seen anyone ride as fast and crazy as she does! The other day we were outside and I said, Megan do you want me to take your training wheels off and she was so excited. So off they went and with a little help from Beckie our neighbor, she was off! This girl has no fear of anything.........she is crazy!!! She's already asked me if she can ride her bike with the kids next year to kindergarten and wants to know when she can do a triathlon!!! SCARY!

HELP!!! I need a new phone!

Well my phone has kicked the bucket. I've had problems with it since I bought it and last night it officially is dead!

So I had the motorola Q (didn't love it at all, not the most user friendly.) I want the full keyboard and calendar for sure, other then those two things I'm not sure if I care about anything else.

What kind do you have? do you like it? Have you heard of any "new" phones out there?

Thanks!

Weekend FUN!!!

This little cutie LOVES to have her picture taken! She had a new outfit on and she was like MOM, take my picture! The thing that amazes me is she is dressed the same way I dressed when I was her age. Leggings, Big Shirt and a side ponytail! That is crazy that look is coming back. I REFUSED to RAT her ponytail though!!! Heaven help us if that every comes back and she Has NO BANGS to poof either!




The Family all enjoying a delicious dinner! SO YUMMY!

My niece Olivia is so stinkin' cute. Here she is singing all of her fun songs she knows. WE would stop singing at the end of every line so she would finish it for us, it was adorable!

This is Randy's new toy. This is our smoker that we bought. It is awesome. It has a couple big pork roasts in it cooking away. We pulled them after and poured BBQ sauce all over it. They are so YUMMY and delish!

Grandma and Grandpa Leavitt and Shelby(brigham's "fiance") and Megan and Whitney. They love Shelby.




Anney and her tiara!!




This was our weekend project...Planting a winter lawn! Hopefully it will be beautiful and green in a couple of months!


Last but not least the stitches came out today! She did great. I had to hold her down and she screamed for "DADDY" the whole time, but tahnks goodness it took less then a minute to get them out! Hopefully this is the last of the injuries for a while!