November Birthdays & Llewelyn Family Christmas party

We have a tradition of gathering together with our "Llewelyn" family and exchanging all our gifts. This year, since our family would be in St. George over Christmas, we bumped the party up to the week before Christmas.

The cousins all exchange gifts and Grandma and Grandpa pull out all kinds of surprises for our families.

I was in a "sewing kick" and had so much fun making PJs for my nieces.

Taylor modeling her strawberry jamas

The teenagers (Ashli, Ciara, Alissa) modeling their matchy matchy capri/T pajamas

Remember that sewing kick?
My mother-in-law and I made 30 frilly aprons in cute, trendy fabrics.
Grandpa tried one on for modeling purposes:)

Now let's go back to November

(I apologize for my quarterly blogging! I do realize it is February and posting November Birthdays is pretty lame, but oh well.)

Sean turned 18 on the 20th! He celebrated "adult style", hanging out at home watching another Birthday pass by.

The girls were in a decorating mood and I just let them have at it!

They baked the cupcakes and decorated them Christmasy for their big Bro!



Emma turned 10 on November 16th!

She celebrated "Kid style" with cousins, a friend party, and lots of presents!

We took her to Fat Cats with a group of girls for bowling and yummy Costa Vida. Emma is so competitive in every sport and bowled like a pro!

And last, I just had to post a pic of the girls in their homemade Halloween costumes

Haili cut strips of fabric to make this feathery skirt for her Peacock costume. We bought the peacock feathers at Hobby Lobby and she made a little board to attach to her waist.

Emma (Pebbles) is wearing a leopard skin velvet that I made (still that same sewing kick). We ratted her hair out and added bones for the full effect.

I think I posted about the girls taking the no candy for a year challenge (It ends on Valentines Day), so eating trick or treat candy wasn't possible this year.

It's being stored in the freezer:)

BTS & other randoms

The top of Timp was breathtaking, literally BREATHTAKING!

My friend Joy, my son Alex w/ Jessica and I all made it!

There were some tricky places along the way

Twenty miles produced very achy feet and sore muscles that lasted days after the hike.

I seriously couldn't walk down the stairs for two days.

Emma with her very own cabbage plant just before we picked it to eat...

it was delicious

Haili is a seventh grader at CVJH this year!

She was super excited to go to school.

Loves all her classes and is especially excited to begin percussion in band.

Thinks it's funny that most of her teachers remember her brothers.

I guess there's not too many Llewelyns running around her school:)

Our baby, Emma is in the 4th grade this year!

Can't believe it, but it's true.

She was thrilled to have our back door neighbor friend in her class.

Emma's teacher is brand new and eager to get in and do a fabulous job.

I have not posted any news about our chickens!

They are just about full grown.

No eggs yet, but we know they are getting close.

We let the chickens run free in our back yard during the day

and they really do keep all the bugs down.

It's always a race for our kids to go out to the coop in the morning to be the first to check for eggs.

I've discovered chickens are not very smart!

I've been trying to train them by spraying them with water (which they hate) every time they come onto the patio. It's been a month and they still haven't learned.

They better start laying soon or they might end up in the crock pot.

These two are so friendly. They follow us all around the yard.

Funny birds

Let's catch up...

I'm going to have to rewind a few months, in fact can we just go back to the beginning of summer? Please!!!

Here are a few of the fun things we did this summer

1. I love my June Birthday...

My sister, mom and I usually go on a girls trip

We all headed to mom's vacation house in St. George

Lots of fun, lots of laughs, and lots of secrets

This year the girls choreographed a little dance to this song

Mom took them to buy costumes and accessories for this "BIG SURPRISE"

I laughed so hard at these sillies

Love my girls and nieces!!!

2. While in St. George, we hit the lake

Sand Hollow is lots of fun, but beware of swimmers itch!

We get it every year

We still go back for more

Man down or overboard




Wakeboarding is the sport of choice for my kiddos





Sean has to show off

Tanner hanging

Haili stays right in the middle

3. Our annual family reunion/service project at Bear Claw was in July

So much fun

The highlight was definitely the tug of war

YES, children and adults were injured in this family group activity

Glad I was snapping the pics:)

This was in our cabin and just too cute!

Emma had bundled Tugzi up for the night

Kitchen crew getting breakfast ready

Bear Claw would not be the same without playing lots and lots of games

Campfires....awe...the best

Emma's always in the mood for this table hockey

Haili and my niece Ciara had disappeared for quite some time

I went off searching for them (happened to have a camera with me)

Stumbled onto them sitting on the porch at aunt Donna's cabin

with a jar of peanuts

"What are you two doing", I asked

"Shhhhhhh", they replied

The closer I got, the better I saw what was going on

Chipmunk taming!!!

So what's camping without a very, very messy baby

Kyle is just over a year old and loves to make everyone laugh

4. Earlier this year, Emma was asked to be in a play with her cousins

My brother-in-law's mom was directing "Charlie Brown" and needed a Red Head

They performed July 15, 16, 17

It was super cute and the kids did such a good job!

They ended on the 17th with a big cast party with food and swimming

We also celebrated our wedding anniversary

Took a trip to Idaho

Went on a weekend getaway with some family friends

Enjoyed plenty of BBQs

Read lots and lots of books (no TV for summer)

Watched lots of movies (same reason as above)

Went snorkeling and crayfishing

& had a lot of fun, family time

Memorial Day

This is a very uplifting video, celebrating the Mothers who sacrifice their sons and daughters.

Happy Mothers Day!

What a special day to recognize ALL the mothers in our lives. Our Mothers, sisters, and friends give us so much encouragement and advice to raising healthy, happy children.

I had a wonderful Mothers Day!

Saturday night after coming home exhausted from a long Dance competition, a bouquet of beautiful flowers were sitting on the counter. They were from my son's Girlfriend, Jessica. I always knew I liked this girl! What a sweety.

I also opened a card from my mom. It was so touching and I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful, caring mother in my life.

Sunday morning I woke up to breakfast in bed from my hubby! He takes such good care of me and bends over backwards to make me happy.

While I was in the bathroom getting ready for church, I was surprised to find a pile of presents on my bed. Thank you girls and Scot...I loved them!

Dinner at Scot's parents was delicious and I am so grateful for the beautiful card and gift card from my in-laws.

Thank you family for making me feel like one special Mama!

xoxo

New addition

We were so excited to pick out these cuties!

We are entering the world of raising chickens for eggs.

Lots to learn and lots of fun.

The striped one is Alex's that he named Pepe' Nighthawk

Mine is the top left yellow named Henny Penny

Haili named the bottom left Goldilocks

The top middle is Emma's named Black Pearl

The bottom middle is Scot's named Betty Drumstick

Sean named the bottom right Butters

Pearl enjoying her chicken feed


So cute all cuddled together

They love to be held

Tugzi even loves them.

Sean with Butters

PLEASE drop us any hints or suggestions!!!

We have decided on an A-frame tractor coup that can be moved around our yard rather than a stationary coup. We figure we'll let the chickens wander the back yard picking bugs and weeds.

Prom

Sean asked a girl to prom this year

(used to be his girlfriend, but they are just friends now)

They set Sean's friend up with her friend, so they could all go as a group

It was fun to see them dressed up in their suits and dresses

They had a blast!