Officially graduated to the BLUES!

After 16 years on the bunny hill we finally graduated to the blue runs (intermediate for you non-skiers).  Grace has been doing a blue or two each day but this trip was totally blue!  Can I get a WHA WHA!  We skied all together as a family for the whole morning!  It was beautiful!  It was a great way to start our Christmas Vacation!  Lauren and David flew in on Monday and joined our ski trip!  It is so good to have everyone home!  Jackie and Justin and the babies come tomorrow! 

1st time all of us at the top of the Mt. Schwietzer

Isn't this Beautiful!

Grace skiing down the back side

Steve and Savvy

Lauren decided to try skiing again after boarding for the lasts 5 years.  She did great!

Christmas at Schwietzer Mt.

Giving Thanks

We just had the best weekend!  The grandchildren were here.  We had a great dinner.  We even watched some Bear Basketball.  We missed Lauren and David they were in California with the Parkers:(  But we get them for Christmas! YAH!

Addison had a Turkey outfit!  So Cute!

Grace got out Addison's Christmas present early and she loved pushing Weston around! HA

She is sooo funny!  Weston LOVED it!

Watching Uncle Derek's basketball game

Savannah playing some hoops!

Yep - The whole family is #11 this year

High scorer for the game - 19 points

Truancy at its Finest

Our Elementary School does a race called the Turkey Trot right before the Thanksgiving break - if you have been reading our blog long you can go back to each year in November and get the results.  They put a child from each grade and they race around the playground to a crowd of cheering students and parents and they each get a number of how they finished for their grade and take it back to their team.  They add it all up and Viola..... You have a winner and everyone on the team gets a free turkey.  Well most of my kids LOVED it.  They use to not make everyone be on a team.  If you didn't want to you could just watch but it is no longer a choice!  So Grace did NOT want to participate and so she skipped school.  Lucky duck - on the day she gets to skip school is the first REAL snow fall and she and her friend stayed home and played all day in it!  Like Lauren said "Lucky little Snow Duck!" HAHA 
They actually are called the McDonald Elementary Ducks!

and then there was one ........

It seems I have always lived in a house FULL of people.  I am #3 in a family of a million and left that chaos to marry Steve - we filled up our house with chaos and I am starting to realize I may not have chaos for very much longer.  When my kids were little and people would tell me I will miss those days of chaos, I was very skeptical.  But I think they are right!  I think I love chaos!   OK - the reason for all this deep reflection is because this week on Family Night we carved pumpkins.  YEP you guessed it, only one child showed up:(  So Grace and Steve carved pumpkins.  I remember being extremely stressed when we found out (surprise!) I was pregnant with Grace.  Who knew she would save me from a premature empty nest!   Derek also turned 18.   He had a great birthday and now as he said "he can legally buy cigarettes!"  What a goof ball!  He loves to tease me!  One year from now and he will be on a mission!  AHHHHHH!   It seems life is in Fast forward - except Thanksgiving is taking forever to get here!  (that's when I get to see my grandchildren again!)  Also ........ I know a lot of information today........ Grace was in the Monster Mash at McDonald School.   My LAST CHILD to participate before she moves on to the middle school next year! 

Thank goodness for good ol' DAD!

Grace smiling like a pumpkin - Don't ya just love that little face!

Only picture I could sneak of the 18 year old! HA

My cute little twister game

Grace and her friends getting ready for the Monster mash- Mckenna was a lamp, Ashley was a peacock and Rachel was the cookie monster.

Monster Mash

Seeing the girls;)

The kids had fall break last week so we headed to Utah to see everyone! Savannah had to stay home because she had volleyball and missed a few games because she just spent the weekend before out there helping David and Lauren enjoy their wedding present she gave them - Taylor Swift tickets- yes she also got herself one. Ha.
We had a GREAT time seeing everyone! I miss everyone! So an update on everyone....
Jackie and Justin are just doing great! Justin just passed his check ride to be a commercial pilot! Yay! Now he is working on his CFI so he can teach! He is working really hard and will graduate this year and then teach flying so he can get hours. After he gets 1000 hours in he will apply to the airlines!;). Jackie is the BEST mom! The kids are just thriving. She is busy with play groups and doctor appointments! She also introduce Grace to the cricut- which now she is obsessed with having one!
Lauren and David are also doing great! They have really hard schedules this semester. But they have almost every class together!;) Lauren LOVES living with her study partner! They live in the upstairs of a cute little one bedroom house and have it fixed up really cute! Their living room has a big long cardboard table and two office chairs where they study. ;) Good thing lauren married a good student! Derek and his friend Dane stayed with the newlyweds and ESPN was the only channel they watched and David commented how great it was to get to watch so much ESPN (he loves it and apparently with Lauren in the house he doesn't get to watch as much as he use to!) The boys later were talking about how crazy that would be to love someone so much you wouldn't watch ESPN! Hahaha We also got to see all my sisters! I love those girls! They are the best!

At David and Lauren's House Grace has her own plate and cup that no one else can use but her! HA So at midnight the night before we leave she HAS to make Brownies so she can eat on it! HAHAHA  this is her eating a brownie and milk at midnight! what a goof ball!

How Lauren and Grace feel about leaving each other!

Went to a Haunted house and ended up sitting next to the Chainsaw Massacre guy! AHHHHH!

sleep over with cousins!

Jackie and Grace working with the Cricut

Derek, Dane & David playing at jump on it

jump on it

Right before going into the Haunted house!

Taylor Swift concert with the newlyweds!

Washington D.C.

The Vandals football team (University of Idaho) were playing in Virginia this last weekend so I tagged along with Steve and we spent a day in Washington D.C.   We tagged along with an Assistant to Senator Risch's office and toured the Capital building, saw a few monuments and walked through a few of the Smithsonian Museums.  It was a great day.  Sometimes I get so frustrated with politics but it was really inspiring.   Our country has always compromised to get the work the done!  Here's to hoping they can continue to get the work done.

#14 - Bringing the HEAT!

After taking a year or so off Savannah decided to try out for the Freshman Volleyball team. She of course made it. (don't let her sweet little personality fool you....... she is competitive!) She is doing GREAT! She is fun to watch and cheer for! She has a great serve, an awesome hit and is great at playing the net! GO BEARS!!!

Day of Service

Today was our day of service throughout our stake and instead of doing a big project together, we were all asked to find our own service to provide in our communities.  Our family helped out with the Alzheimer's walk to raise money for research and find a cure.   We woke up bright and early and helped put up signs and banners before the walk started and then walked the 3 miles to help support the cause. 

Alzheimer’s is the only cause of death among the top 10 in America without a way to prevent, cure, or even slow its progression.
Deaths from Alzheimer’s increased 66 percent between 2000 and 2008, while deaths from other major diseases, including the number one cause of death (heart disease), decreased.

Grace with one of the signs.

We put signs all along the path that had info on alzheimers

Walking the walk

A little confession........

I have never been a fair/carnival lover. In fact my children can tell you many stories of driving by a carnival or a fair and really wanting to go and me telling them, "We weren't invited".   Okay, Okay, I know that's not very nice.  (This is also not my confession.)  Well my beautiful lie all came to an end one year when Jackie was,  I believe in 4th grade, and found out from a friend, that ANYONE could go you didn't have to be invited.   I just don't like all the spinning around rides, dirt, dirty people, wasting money and gross animals.   So every year my neighbor and I fight over who has to take the little girls.  This year was my year, but lucky for me I have a Fair Lover in my family!!!!  My Son-in-Law Justin!!!! YAH for Justin!  He took the girls to the fair!  So the greatest part about that is, he brought my Grandchildren with him.  So here is the confession........ We met Justin and the girls for dinner at the fair and guess what I found out I have been missing ALL THESE YEARS OF NOT GOING TO THE FAIR???????   SHAVED ICE!  For those of you who don't know this- I LOVE SHAVED ICE!  It is like eating PERFECTION!  Now Shaved ice is not to be confused with Snow cones - Those I don't like.  Okay the real confession is I went to the fair 4 times to get it! HAHAHA  actually I dropped off Savannah & Jackie and made them buy it for me and then picked them up 4 times.  I CAN'T WAIT for the fair to come back! HA

The perfect Son-in Law taking my daughter to the Fair!

Mackenzie and Grace enjoying the wonderful - spinning rides at the fair.

PURE PERFECTION!

Savvy lovin' on Weston

Addison's new favorite toy at Grandma's house.  She pounds and Weston dances to the music she is making!  SOOOOO cute!