Thanksgiving

 For Thanksgiving every year we always write down what we are thankful for. Every year we do it in a different way. A few years we would write it down and put it in a pumpkin basket. This year we decided to write it on a tree. I had some blue poster board and so we drew it and then painted it. Then we cut out some leaves and wrote a few of the things we were thankful for. The next 2 1/2 weeks we added some more of what we were thankful for.

 Brooklynn was thankful for lots of things like school, books, animals, family, vacations and lots more.

I am thankful for my awesome husband and kids, books, doctors, my camera, the Gospel, my house and of course lots more.

Cameron is thankful for his pants, movies, Grandpa Oldroyd and Grandpa Budd, Daddy's helicopter and socks. Ryan is thankful for his job, family, Xbox, sleep, running and more.

 McKenna is thankful for sleep, food, brother and sister, blankets and dancing.

 This is only part of what it looked like. It was a lot of fun.

We made apple pie one day and baked them in a muffin tin. We each got to each our own individual pie.

The kids loved it!

 They were yummy!

 This year we had Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Brooklynn brought her pilgrim had from school and Cam had a little indian hat. I am very thankful for Thanksgiving. All of our ancesters immigrated over from Europe, Some from Holland and Ireland and much more. I have a 10th great grandmother who's parents wanted so badly to come on the Mayflower, but never had enough money to make it. Her husband was able to make the dream come true for her, but tragedy struck. Her husband was killed, but she survived. I owe a lot to her.

The kids loved it and ate a great meal.

McKenna didn't eat much more than crackers and yams! No wonder she is such a skinny little thing.

My mom had a fun little treat for the kids to make.

They loved it!

We read some stories that I brought over.

My mom had a surprise for us.

 It was the Elf on the Shelf. The first night scared Brooklynn to death, but after that she was fine and loved it.

Reflections contest.

The reflections contest theme was Diversity Means.... So when I explained what the word diversity was, Brooklynn immediately knew that she wanted to paint a picture of her eyes. In the description she said "Diversity means that everyone is special and different. Even me and my two colored eyes." She did the whole thing. All I helped her with was draw the almond shape with a pencil and she did the rest. She didn't win anything, but I was very proud of her and she is an amazing little artist.

Talented little Berkie! I love this girl.

I can't believe what a talented little girl I have. And she is just so grown up.

St. George November 2011

We cuddled and watched movies!

We went shopping!

Swimming! Even though it was a freezing weekend, it happened to be a really warm pool. We went swimming almost every day we were there. I happened to enjoy the hot tub more!


We had a lot of fun at the park. We have gone to two different parks while visiting St. George. This one was fun, but my favorite is the one by Uncle Kelly's house.


Cam is a daring little boy which is not good for a crazy protective mamma!





Brooklynn loves playgrounds too. And always has a lot of fun posing for pictures.




Little McKenna was cold, but had fun in the tunnel.

Snow Canyon Half Marathon

We were freezing waiting to see the guys come through the finish line. But it is always worth it.

Poor Brooklynn was an icecube. So sad. But she loves watching Ryan's races.

Ryan finished quick, but was also freezing.

McKenna had it the best. She got nice and toasty in the stroller. She even fell asleep for about 30 minutes.

Cam watched with Grandma Oldroyd for Grandpa to finish.

The two finishers. It was fun for them to do this again together. I am trying to find a good San Diego race that they can run. Then we could go to Sea World. Brooklynn's dream vacation.

Ron finished in ... (TBA)

Ryan finished in ... (TBA) and got 2nd place in mens ages 30-34. Way to go Ryan!

Halloween 2011

We went to Gardner Village and did the witch hunt and got the kids and Grandma Bean's faces painted by my cousin Jennifer.












I got to help at Brooklynn's school Halloween party.
We read stories!

Played lots of games.

Did some crafts!

Decorated and ate cookies!

Brooklynn was really shy during the parade.

Grandma Bean came to watch too!

Halloween is a fun time at our house. We have 3 birthdays in October and I love to dress up and our house is always decorated!

The kids got to eat Count chocula cereal for Breakfast.

I dressed up as Rapunzel.

Brooklynn was Jessie from Toy Story 2.

Cameron was Buzz Lightyear.

McKenna was my cute little Peacock!

It was a fun Halloween. We got a lot of candy. (We actually still have some of the candy. I think I will just throw it away since it is almost Easter.)