Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving rocked! The plan was to go to the parent's house and have Thanksgiving with my brothers Trent and Tysen and their families. When we got to Sanford we found out that my brother Burke and his family had driven in from Kansas to surprise us all, and my brother Carson and his family had decided that they could make it also. We were all there. All 29 of us! Thursday morning we got up and packed up all of our guns and headed to the prairie for some target practice and skeet shooting. Bryce and Nate shot a pistol and a shotgun for the first time. McKay shot the .22 for the first time. It was loud and dirty and fun! Then we headed back to my parents house and took family pictures then we feasted! The turkeys were amazing. One was from the oven and one was from the smoker. Both of them are really good. We stuffed ourselves silly. Then the boys rode four wheelers on what they call the "woopdie doos" Friday we went back to the prairie for more shooting and more four wheeling, and of course a trip to the cave. It was great to be together. I loved seeing the cousins getting to know each other better and seeing the four new babies together. It was one of my favorite thanksgivings ever!

Halloween

Why does Halloween have to be a weeklong holiday? I know That's just the old lady in me talking, but really.

Any way, I have to post some pictures.

They are out of order, but what ever.

Sooo Scary

Bryce dressed up as a Chip and passed out candy.

Gracie was an Egyption Queen

Abby was a Zombie Cheerleader. She's a little too good at that look.

Ready for Trick-or-Treating

My baby Elephant slept almost the whole time.

my first Halloween shirt from Uncle Carson, Aunt Chelsi and Chloe.
I love that fuzzy head!

McKay was Ironside the Transformer!

Nate was missing from the action. He wanted to be Slinder Man but we couldn't find a costume so he just played on the computer all night.

I'm still a runner!

Today I ran! Okay so it was more like a walk/jog/run, but I did it. All 3 miles of it. We got a treadmill from Kathy last weekend, so now I can get back to running without the fear of being seen by the general public. It felt great. I am ready to start setting new goals. I'm excited to run some of the races that I have done in the past, only faster! I'm grateful for a strong healthy body that is capable of running, even if currently it is slow and can't go very far.

I was just thinking

People have different opinions, of course. Matthew McConahay is hotter, no George Clooney is hotter. We can even have a difference of opinion on slightly more important issues. I can accept that. I can respect people with opinions that differ from mine. But then there are things that are not a matter of opinion. You are either right or you're wrong. For example (and I'm going to use a nice big heavy example to make my point) abortion is morally wrong. Now you might disagree with me, but that does not mean that we have a difference of opinion. It means that one of us is right and one of us is wrong. I don't pretend to have all the answers. in fact, I'm sure I have very few of them. But I'm tired of being told that I should be accepting and tolerant of  different opinions, when we're not actually talking about opinions at all. We are  talking about what is right and what is wrong.
Any way, these are just some of my thoughts today.
Last night we had a fantastic election party with our friends and neighbors. Of course the outcome of the election put a damper on our party. But I am grateful for the privilege of voting and the opportunity to teach my kids about the election process. I was very disappointed about my state going blue, but grateful to live and what was a battleground state. the extra attention that Colorado got and the opportunity to attend rallies for Mitt Romney were very exciting for our whole family. I believe that my kids will remember this election. They learned about the electoral college and campaigning and about some of the issues facing our country at this time.
I am proud to have had the chance to vote for Mitt Romney. I believe he is a great man and would have made a great president. I'm glad that the election is over and, as always, I am proud to be an American.

I love these faces!

We finally made it out to take some pictures, including a great one that will be on our Christmas cards that I already ordered and have every intention of sending out on December 1st. Next year perhaps Sam and I will make it onto the Christmas card.

I love these kids and their cute faces. I'm so glad that they're mine even if they are growing up after I told them a million times to Stop It!

Speaking of growing, Little Peanut weighed in at 11 lbs. 3 ozs. at her 2 month appointment last week. This week I had to choke back tears as I packed away her newborn clothes. When I came across the tiny pink jammies that she wore at the hospital I almost lost it.

And look at Nate. Who is that kid? And you should hear his voice, all deep and man like. I can hardly take it.

Bryce didn't go Trick-or-Treating this year. What's that? At least he still dressed up.

Seriously, no more blinking!

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Totally off topic-

Last week I was called to be the secretary in the Young Women's organization in our ward. I went to my first activity last night with the Young Men and Young Women. I don't know if I'm cut out for this. Teenagers kind of scare me. This calling will definitely force me outside of my comfort zone and also be a much bigger time commitment than the other callings I have had recently. I'm really quite nervous about the whole thing. What I am hoping that I gain from this experience is a greater ability to connect with my own teenagers, present and future. I also hope that I will be able to bring something to the youth that I will be working with. I don't yet know what that might be. After last night I feel that it might be even more difficult than I originally thought, but I have faith in the process, so bring it on.