SANTA PLEASE!

Both Carley and Chloe had cute school Christmas programs where they sang a lot of songs and a surprise visitor came at the end.....SANTA! Chloe asked for a ZHU ZHU pet and Carley asked for a reindeer webkinz. Then on Saturday they got to visit again with Santa at the Ward Christmas Party. Cousin Ryker joined them and they all had a great time. 4 more days till Christmas.....Santa please come!

In Memory of Grandma

Grandma Mitchell Pop passed away peacefully on Sunday November 29th. She had recently suffered a stroke which left her not being able to speak. It was heart breaking to visit her as she got so frustrated with the situation. At the funeral they asked the Grandchildren to tell some of their memories, here is what I came up with

"My memories of Grandma always included Pop. In the later years she was his everything - or should I say he was her everything. Pop was her chauffeur, her personal chef her maid but most of all her sweetheart. It only took us a few years after pop had died to figure out why he never fixed his hearing aid. Grandma loved to chit chat and he would have never had a silent moment or got a word in edgewise.

There were a few things you could always count on when you went to visit Pop and Grandma
**A trip to the cookie jar filled with vanilla creme cookies
** A glass of milk with dinner
**The house being nice and toasty
**Pickles in the fridge and oat bran in the drawer
**The TV on as loud as could be
**A fresh coat of paint.....somewhere
**The swing on the clothesline or a climb up the apple tree
but most of all you could always count on a smile and a hug right when you walked in the door.

The day my dad died, a piece of Grandma died too. Oh how she missed him and Pop. One has to believe that last Sunday was one of the happiest days of Grandmas life. A day filled with many sweet reunions. Though she will be missed she is finally back where she needs to be. Grandma - today a piece of us will go with you until we meet again."

The great grandchildren also sang "Grandmother" from the primary song book.

All of the Grandchildren were there to say goodbye to a wonderful lady. I will miss you Grandma!

Love Toni

Chilly Halloween

The Gang

Trailor Trash Chris

Genie Carley

Ladybug Chlore

Witch Taylor


We decided to head North for the holiday this year. We had a really good time at Grandma Char's house. We went trick or treating with Dani and Trax and it got a little chilly. We took the kids on a haunted hayride in Enoch and they didn't care for it much. Chloe hid under her blanket and Carley was crying. Trax was in awe from all of the tractors. We also had an opportunity to go the the SUU soccer game and football game.

Move over Faith

For my Birthday this year Chris bought me Tim McGraw tickets. There is just something about Tim in his tight pants and cowboy hat that a girl can't resist. The concert was outdoors at the M Resort. We couldn't have asked for better weather.

RUN BABY RUN

So I talked Chris into running the Las Vegas Ragnar with me this time. We had a great time! Jasmine and Cousin Nat also decided to join us this time. The terrain just isn't the same as the Wasatch Back but it was still a good time. The race started in Logandale and went out around Lake Mead thru Henderson and ended at the Red Rock Casino for a wonderful 180 miles! Can't wait for the next one....ha ha.

MILEY CYRUS CONCERT

Can you imagine the Thomas & Mack center full of screaming girls for 2 plus hours? What we do for our children :)

Chris and I took ALL three girls to the Miley Cyrus concert. It was a first for all of them. I actually think Chloe enjoyed it the most. The first band was a little much and the girls didn't really care for them as they wanted to see Miley (aka Hannah Montana). We had great seats just to the side of the stage about 7 rows up. The stage and the dancers were fun to watch. They girls picked out a t-shirt which they had to wear. All in all, we had a great time together.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

School started the last week in August (I KNOW...THAT WAS 6 WEEKS AGO!). Taylor is now in 5th grade aT Bass Elementary. This year is special because her cousin, Payton, is at her school and in her class. I went to school with a couple of my cousins and it is so fun to be together to share those experiences.

Carley in now in Kindergarten at Challenger. I am amazed at how smart she really is. Something has clicked over the past month that I really had not notices before. She is doing her homework with little assistance from me. She is a reading machine.

Chloe also started the Challenger pre-school program. She is learning all of the letters and their sounds. I think she enjoys it for the most part but really struggles some mornings when I have to leave her.

Summer Vacation

What a view - This is off the back deck of Karries home in Park City



We took a week off for a wonderful little vacation this year. We had originally planned on going to California but things came up so we changed our plans and went to Park City, Utah. One of our really good friends offered to let us stay in one of her beautiful homes up on the mountain. It was gorgeous! We went to Hoogle Zoo, Lagoon, Raging Waters and the Park City Alpine Slide. For those of you who have never done the Alpine slide and roller coaster I highly recommend it. It was my favorite part of the trip! The roller coaster was such a rush because you can control how fast you go. I took Carley down once and Chloe down once and both of them wanted to "go faster mom!". We met up with Cole and Annilee at the zoo and really enjoyed seeing all of the animals. The Ballards came up on Tuesday for the rest of the week and went to Lagoon and Raging Waters with us too. It was beautiful weather and we couldn't have had a better time. We stopped in Cedar on the way home to go fishing at Navajo. Good times!

Hoogle Zoo




Alpine Slide and Roller Coaster





Lagoon

TWO BIRTHDAYS ONE WEEKEND

Happy Birthday Chloe - It didn't make sense to do anything other than a dress up party. Dress up is your favorite thing to do every day. We provided all the dress ups, did all of your guests hair, make-up and nails. Each of you got to strut your stuff during a fashion show and then we ended the party with a little tea party luncheon. Whew....what a day!

10 YEARS OLD

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR! I can't believe it has been 10 years since you were born. You are such a great daughter and sister! Mom went a little crazy this year for your party. We decided to do a Fear Factor party. We tie died shirts for all of the guest so they wouldn't ruin their clothes with blood and guts :). For challenges we did

Pull worms out of spaghetti using your teeth......



Eat Dog Food.... Carley didn't mind.

Carry bloody eyeballs across the grass and drop them in a cup tied to your teammates head.

Dig for real earthworms.



Presents and Cake.