Dating, Driving, & Flying

I'm a little late posting a big "HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY TO SEAN"! Sean turned 16 November 20th.

I can't believe it, but yes it's happening. Sean will be driving and dating!?!?!? I have to say, well ok brag about Sean. He is such a wonderful son! Literally from the time he was born, he has been the most easy going, brilliant minded, quick witted personality, and of course adorable child. We are so lucky to have him in our family.

Everything Sean does or shows interest in, he excels at....music, art, school, rubics cubes, computer knowledge, sports, etc, etc, etc. Over the years I have had many of his friends' parents compliment on the kind of boy Sean is and how good of a friend he has been to their son/daughter. It is so fun to watch him grow up and up, now standing at 5'10''!

Sean testing out his new drum sticks that he got for his Birthday.

I made a gift basket with lots of Sean's favorite treats, the staples for any teenager like; peanut butter cups, Mountain Dew, Sunflower seeds, gum. Then I tied balloons to the package and attached a cute stuffed animal. I delivered it to the school and requested them to sing "Happy Birthday". I didn't do it myself because I wasn't trying to induce a heart attack having his mom sing to him, just wanted to embarrass him a little! It worked and he said the whole class joined in on the song! He called me to thank me and said he was very surprised. I think he kinda liked it.

My mom has a fun tradition that she has done with all my kids since they were little. She takes them out to dinner, their choice, then shopping for a Birthday gift. This means that they get exactly what they wanted. Sean and Emma went together, as their Birthdays are days apart and had a delicious Red Lobster dinner and fun shopping at the mall.

Saturday night we decided to go up to Ogden to do the IFLY indoor skydiving experience. Sean was a natural, of course! He thinks he's ready for the next step, like plane jumping!!!! Haili, Emma, and Scot also did it while Alex (was sick and had a headache) and I (had to get pictures) just watched.

Getting all the gear on

Emma & Scot ready for flight

Sean was so excited!

Haili getting her helmet on behind him.


Here he is! The instructor holds onto them for the first little bit to get them familiar.

Oops, she grew a part and is now a boy!!!

I previously posted my sister-in-law's belly with my newest baby girl niece growing inside. The second ultrasound discovered that the baby was certainly not a GIRL, but a BOY. Can you believe it? He was not shy about revealing this to his parents, as they have already purchased cute and frilly dresses!

I have to admit that when we found out Kristen was pregnant, I said that I thought she was having a boy. My instincts are still good:)

I just love pregnant tummies...so cute!

Twilight Geeks

I stole this off of Katie's blog

According to my 16 year old son, I am such a Twilight geek! Never mind that he waited for Pirates for over 10 hours when it came out opening night.

I'm not the sorta girl who rushes out and has to see the latest and greatest movie, but when my friend Katie invited me to go to the midnight showing of Twilight, my giddy inner child came out and decided to go for it! Scot had actually bought us tickets for Saturday, yet I knew he was not super thrilled about seeing it. He opted to stay home with the kids (I'll have to owe him).

We went to Chilli's for desert before the show and when we arrived to the madhouse they call a movie theater, Katie's soon to be sister-in-law had so politely saved us seats...sweet! I even saw quite a few people I knew like Jane and several Ivy Hall moms. I also ran into a couple old neighbors.

The movie was great, but I was bugged cause I was sitting next to an overweight lady (not you Katie) who was breathing so heavy! It kinda drove me nuts and at times I would look over just to see if she was awake or if she was asleep and snoring my ear off....sigh! She was completely awake and breathing like that!!! It distracted me from getting into the whole Edward obsession LOL, but seriously it was annoying.

Support MDA

My friend, Chandra Jewell confessed to having a big heart and will be arrested on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008. She is raising money for her bail for "Jerry's Kids" to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Chandra is such a good sport and is REALLY getting arrested. If you'd like to help kids with MDA, go to this website and place a donation.

https://www.joinmda.org/2008americanfork/cjewell

Good ol' family fun

Sunday was officially Emma's Birthday, but we use any old excuse to get together with Scot's family for a party! It is pretty amazing to have all of his family so close, in fact both his sisters, his brother, and his parents all live within a few miles.....pretty cool!!!

We did the traditional birthday cake and presents, then just hung out laughing and enjoying each other.

Emma ready for church in her new birthday dress (it was also our Primary program today)

Blowing out 8 candles can be pretty rough!

Notice the green thing she is sitting on. This is some strange toy that she saw in funfinity months ago. She has wanted this "sledchair" ever since she saw it and Grandma surprised her by getting it.

Hey, I take what pictures I can get of Alex!

This is my brother Kimball with Tugzi

Preston, Jordan, Hayden, Casey, & Taylor

5 of my 9 nephews and nieces on this side.

Ashli with Grandma (I used to watch this girl when she was a baby while her mom worked)

Aunt Janna (awesome aunt) with Alyssa

My newest niece is growing inside Kristen's belly...Can't wait to hold her!

My baby is 8?

It can't possibly be true, yet I'm afraid it is. Emma turns 8 tomorrow, November 16th. She is truly such a blessing to our family. We are constantly showered with kind words, loving hugs, and sweetness when she is around, yet she has it in her to give us a good laugh every so often.

She loves her friends, her family, and her Tugzi (She treats this dog like the younger sibling she never had.....much to my disgust, she showers him with hugs and kisses-yuck!)

Yesterday, we had a little party with a few of her good friends. My super talented and crafty daughter, Haili organized and led the party with all kinds of games and crafts. I sat back and watched them have a good time. They made jewelery, played pictionary, made individual pizzas, decorated little cakes, and marched around in a cake walk for prizes. Emma loved every minute of it and thanks to Haili, I did too!

Thank you to my friend Cinda, who helped me clean up and keep the party moving along!!!

Haili, Nicole, and Macyn decorating their cake.

Macyn and her masterpiece.


Heavy, Heavy Hangover thy poor head. What do you wish with a bump on the head?


Emma's "TACO PIZZA"

Emma opening her presents

Kailee & Addi eating their delicious pizza that they made themselves.

Triathlon

We made it!

Saturday, my friend Katie and I completed our first triathlon! It was so much harder than I anticipated, yet we both made it within the time we expected. Our friend Carlie trained with us this summer, but she had to be out of town for a wedding...bummer! We prepared ourselves by early morning exercise, rotating between swimming, running, biking (indoor & outdoor), and hiking the Y.

I wasn't feeling the greatest that day, having symptoms of an early cold. That little cold turned into a massive sickness attacking my sinuses and lungs. Today is the first day I am out of bed and doing something productive (blogging ha ha). However, it did take a trip to the doctor yesterday to get some much needed antibiotics (thank heavens for those lovely pink pills).

It was awesome and such a great accomplishment....I didn't think I could do it.

Halloween pics

My rock'n skeleten!

School parties are the best!

PIPPI!!!

Pippi, in school?

Scot took this picture while I was in California. The girls got themselves ready for the ward Halloween party at the church. Didn't they do a great job?

Emma & Haili getting ready to go trick-or-treating!

Halloween day was really crazy around our house this year. I had been in California most of the week and had to pull decorations (which were not up at my house), classroom parties, and a teenage boy costume together quickly. We have a tradition to give out hot dogs and hot chocolate to our trick-or-treaters. We set our porch up with spooky decorations, strobe lights, foggers, etc. It is really fun and our neighbors really enjoy it, but I was scrambling to get everything done before 5:30.

Was it a little slow this year or what? I expected with the warmer weather and a weekend night that we would get swamped with trick-or-treaters, yet we only went through about 150 hot dogs. Last year we were almost double that! By nine, we cleaned off our porch and never had another person come......strange!

Sunny St. George October 25-26

I wish they were always this nice to each other!

Emma, Haili, Uncle Quinn, and Croydon

We really enjoyed our quick trip to sunny St. George! We spent Saturday at Sand Hollow reservoir with my mom and Quinn and his family. We rode the rhino around the sand and the kids loved tubing behind the boat. It was a nice 85 degree day......ahhhh.

"Thriller" was awesome that night, although we all agreed that we like the Salt Lake show better.

Sunday, we hung out with my brother and Croydon. Then we headed home!

Short trip, but worth it:)