Christmas in the Nighttime Sky

At the beginning of December, Pocatello has a bonfire, free chili, and fireworks at the county fairgrounds, called "Christmas in the Nighttime Sky." We went with some friends this year and it was really fun. So, here's some pictures of the fireworks, my kids watching them, and the bonfire. Hope everyone is almost ready for Christmas--it's only 13 days away!

Hooray for Thanksgiving!

I LOVE THANKSGIVING! I've recently decided that it's my favorite holiday. I just love thinking about all the blessings we have and I like that it's a pretty low-stress holiday (compared to Christmas), and it involves lots of food, naps, games, and family.
A couple of weeks ago, I was counting the days until Thanksgiving with the kids when Elora asked what Thanksgiving was. I told her it was a day that we think of all the things that Heavenly Father has given us and everything that we're thankful for. She looked at me with a funny look on her face and said, "We do that every day, Mom!" (Like, "That's silly that we have to have a holiday for something we should do every day!") It was so profoundly cute and sweet! I am so thankful for my children and for the times when they say things like that!

Halloween

Elias was Winnie the Pooh.

Elora was a princess.

(I made the dress. It took me forever. My machine kept messing up. I was ready to give up and just have her wear dress-up clothes, but I finally figured out what was wrong and finished the dress half an hour before we went trick-or-treating.)

Dalan was Luke Skywalker. Well, he switched between Luke and Anakin, but whatever. I made his outfit, too, but you can't see it very well in this picture.

Kydee's costume was the biggest hit of the school and Halloween party. She was originally going to be a princess with a dress just like Elora's, but you know about the troubles with my sewing machine. The night before Halloween I gave up on making something and decided I needed to throw something together that did not require sewing. I looked at the local thrift store, and although I didn't find a costume, I saw this tablecloth. I remembered seeing a costume like this in a magazine, so I decided we could do it.

(She's an ant at a picnic, by the way!)

We went to a straw maze a couple of weeks before Halloween with some friends of ours and had lots of fun getting lost. It was so cold, but we brought some hot chocolate and dressed warm. It was in the 30's that day, but luckily Halloween was really warm. We didn't even need to wear coats, just warm clothes, even at 9pm. It was so great!


Hope everyone had a great Halloween! We're looking forward to Thanksgiving!

Birthdays

Here's some pics of recent birthdays in our family that I'm finally getting around to posting. My birthday is Sept. 28, Dale's and Elias' birthday is Oct. 2.

We always let the kids have their own star-shaped cake on their first birthdays. Elias wasn't too sure about what to do at first. Then he had lots of fun crumbling up the cake and throwing it on the floor. He ended up eating only about two bites, but he did really well at making a mess.

Kydee's play

The Missoula Children's Theatre came to Idaho Falls a couple of months ago. They have kids from the area try out to be in the play on a Monday, practice all week, and do the play on Saturday. Kydee wanted to try out so bad, so we let her.

She got a part as a dust bunny. Isn't she so cute?!

She's the oldest kid in our family, so I always think of her as being more grown up than she really is. It was fun to see her with all the other kids in the play. She was one of the youngest cast members. It reminded me how little she is. (She's on the bottom row, 3rd from right.)

She had a lot of fun and is looking forward to trying out next year. Look out Hollywood!

Camping at Mesa Falls

We went camping with some friends at Mesa Falls. It was really pretty. We drove over to Big Springs (one of the biggest freshwater springs in North America--it puts out 120 million gallons a day!) The fish there are gigantic, but you can't go fishing or wading. The camping trip was so fun and the water was so pretty that we took my parents and brother there last week.

Lower Mesa Falls (isn't this such a pretty picture?! I took it.)

Upper Mesa Falls (yes, I took this one too and I think it's pretty dang good)

Playing in the water at Big Springs with Grandpa

Elora dancing around the fire

Elias helping unload the camping gear

Dalan found plenty of sticks to play with

Kydee on top of Sawtelle Peak

Grandma, Uncle Eli and the kids at upper mesa falls

Family Fair

On Labor Day, we were going to go to the Eastern Idaho State Fair, but it was very cold and rainy, so on the spur of the moment, I decided we could do a family fair instead. I gave everyone an hour to make up to two things to submit to the fair and then we'd all meet to judge the entries. Kydee drew a picture and submitted a coin collection, Elora made cookies and drew a picture, and Dalan did some tricks on the trampoline and drew a picture. I picked some flowers from our garden and arranged them, and Dale had a nap. (He got the Party Pooper Award.) Here's pictures of our awards.

Then we had a watermelon eating contest. Kydee and Dalan had two minutes to see how much they could eat. Dalan won.

More Disneyland and beach pictures

I was going to post more about the beach and Disneyland and never did, so here's some pictures. If I had more time, I'd write about our trip, but I really need to go spend time with my family and get away from the computer.

Here's Dalan pulling the sword from the stone.

Kydee with Cinderella.

Amos, Micah, Eli, Mom, Dalan, Samuel, Elora, Dad, Kydee, Elias, Dale at the beach.

Elora got to go on stage and help with a show.

Here's Samuel, Elora, Dalan, Mom, Kydee, and Ariane riding Heimlich's Train. (It's pretty cool--you drive by bits of food that Heimlich eats and you can smell each one; animal crackers, watermelon, um...I can't remember what else.

I've tried to post this three times and my internet connection keeps quitting, so I better publish it now while I've got the chance. Someday I'll blog about Disneyland with four kids, and about our camping trip that we took a couple of weeks ago.

Wedding pictures

Here's some of Dale's family the day before the wedding:

Jason, Charles' wife Stacey, his mom holding Dawn's baby Rachel, half of Shelly's head
Dale's dad
Jason looking at Jeannie as she is coming down the aisle.And that's when my batteries died, so I didn't get a picture of Jeannie or the actual ceremony. Whoops!

Latest project

We have a balcony above our living room that you can look from the hallway down to the living room. Unfortunately, it was obviously not built to code, because our children can fit their heads through and Elias' whole body could fit through if he turned sideways. Since we didn't want any fatalities and each one of our kids got their heads stuck at least once, we decided to fix the problem. I wasn't sure what to do at first. I wondered about replacing the whole thing, but decided that would be too expensive. My dad suggested putting chicken wire up over the whole thing. (Yes, you read that right--chicken wire!) I looked at Home Depot and Lowes for ballusters, but they were $4-5 each and we needed 22, so that would have been too expensive, also. Finally, I decided I could just use dowels (much more manageable at $1.75 each). I drilled holes in the bottom and then drilled holes in the upper railing about twice as deep as needed. That way I could put the dowel up into the upper hole, then drop it down into the lower hole. I glued them in and then stained them. (Am I good or what?! The stain matches perfect and I was just guessing and hoping for the best!) Anyway, I think it looks pretty dang good and it's nice that I don't have to worry about my babies falling through the railing!

Elias with the railing before. Another picture of Elias, before.

Here's after the dowels were put in, but not stained.

I'll post another picture of the final product soon. I have to charge my batteries for my camera.

Ok...I got the picture. So here's the finished product.

Please excuse the blurry nature of the above photo. Dale took it and he never takes the pictures, so he needs some practice. :)

Jason's wedding

Dale's brother, Jason, got married in Carson City last weekend to a great girl named Jeannie. She and Jason make a great couple and we hope all the best to them. Dale and I decided at the last minute to fly out to Carson City and leave the three oldest kids with my parents. It was the first time since we've been married that we've flown together, so that was fun. Dale loves to look out the window--I thought it was fun to watch how excited he got when we took off and landed. It was good to see all of Dale's family at the wedding. I was going to take pictures, but the batteries on my camera died and I forgot my charger, so I only got a few. (I will be posting those shortly). Um...nothing else too exciting happening around here.

Family Scripture Study

Here's some pictures of a typical family scripture study. We read scriptures together every night before family prayer and bedtime. It was kind of hard to get into the habit, but now that it's part of the bedtime routine, our kids don't let us forget it. Sometimes it feels like the kids don't pay attention, or that they fight over who crossed who's line on the couch, but then they say things like "Why do the Nephites keep going back and forth; good then bad, then good, then bad? Why don't they just stay good?" or "Lehi and Nephi were really powerful missionaries, huh?" That's when it's all worth it!

Dale usually reads while the rest of us listen.

Here's Kydee, Elora, and Dalan sitting next to me on the couch, listening so well.

Elias nursing while we read. (Hope this doesn't offend anyone!)

Elias crying because I made him stop nursing so I could get a picture. (Isn't he so cute?!)

Anyway, for everyone struggling with family scripture and prayer, just keep at it, no matter what happens, even if it's just a few verses. The kids will get better at sitting still and paying attention and they really do learn, even when it feels like they have no idea what is going on. It really makes our home have less fighting and gets the kids in the habit of reading their scriptures and making them part of their lives.