Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love spending time with family & friends.  I also like thinking about gratitude and realizing how blessed I am.  I have so many wonderful blessings in my life, I have so much to be grateful for; the gospel, my family, good health, a good job, etc...

We spent Thanksgiving break in sunny Southern Utah at the Pondersosa Ranch.  G & G Shields rented a big house for all the Shields clan to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It was a fun, busy, crazy calorie filled, exhausting weekend and we all had a blast!

There were 25 people staying at the house including 11 kids.  Here are some pictures from our weekend. 



We spent our time hiking and biking in Zions National Park, playing outside, eating, and preparing tons of food, soaking in the hot tub, playing games, watching movies, having late night discussions and more.

Thursday morning we did a 3 mile hike before our Thanksgiving feast.  The kids all did pretty good hiking and the scenery was gorgeous.  Lizzie did great in her backpack, she loves being outdoors.



After the hike it was back to the house to cook dinner.

Emily and Mary really wanted to eat the drumsticks from the turkey.  They looks like pigs in this picture!

We enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  Everyone helped prep food, cook, and clean up the dishes.  Monica made these adorable name tags, they were so cute.
Dad fell asleep during all the chaos, and I had to get a picture, it's so funny!

On Friday we went into Zions and did some biking, ate a picnic lunch and played a big game of football.  The kids played in the leaves, burying each other.  It was so beautiful in the park, and the weather was perfect. 

These kids did pretty well at getting along and not fighting.  They all play great together and seem to have tons of fun! 

We are so grateful that we could spend the weekend with our family!  It was definately a memorable Thanksgiving.

Family pics.

We had some family pictures taken last month at a nearby park.   Our sister in law, Erin took them and she did a great job. 

Here are a few of our favorites. 

I love this one of Lizzie!  Her little tongue is so cute. 

Everyone was pretty cooperative, thanks to bribery of donuts and chocolate milk! 

Thanks so much Erin!

We had some cold days this week, but the weather didn't stop the kids from going outside to play.  Emily, Isaac and some cousins and friends had fun raking leaves and playing in them.

The worst part about this week was getting used to the daylight savings time change.  Now that it gets dark at 5pm, it makes for some really long evenings before Danny gets home for dinner.  We spent our time playing games, doing Play Doh, reading books, legos, doing art projects with lots of glitter (Thanks Mom & Dad for buying Emily a glitter art book for her bday, I hate glitter!), and taking nice long baths.  Oh how we miss the warm, sunny nights of summer!!!  

Grandma & Grandpa Deppe were in town this weekend, and we had fun spending time with them.  We had dinner at our house Friday night, and then walked to Emigration for some gelato for dessert.  We all love their gelato, even in the cold weather.

Then Grandpa helped us by pulling a tooth out of Taylor's mouth.  He had a tooth that wasn't coming out, and the permanent tooth was ready to come in, so we asked for some help from Grandpa. He numbed him and popped it right out. 
Unfortunately I didn't get any pics.   

Then Saturday afternoon we went bowling at Fat Cats with Grandma Deppe.  All the kids had fun bowling, even Lizzie had seemed to like it. Here are the few pics that we took.



Elizabeth is obsessed with eating.  She freaks out if she sees me chewing and I don't give her a bite.  So she ends up chewing on straws, cup lids, and empty cups when she has eaten all of her
snacks. 



We love weekends, and wish they lasted just a little longer.  Hope yours was great too!

Snowy Saturday

This morning we woke up to several inches of snow!  Taylor's soccer game was canceled and all our plans for the day were gone.  The kids were so excited to see snow, and all wanted to go outside to play. We decided to stay at home and enjoy the first snowfall of the winter.  

We made a big breakfast and then the kids loaded on their snow clothes and went outside to play in the snow.  By 10:30 AM everyone was back inside for hot chocolate with toast, and then they all went back for more snow. 

Taylor and his friends decided to build a snowfort, and this became the project for the entire day.  They gathered shovels, tools and sled to move the snow. The boys worked on the fort all afternoon, and evening until it was dark.  Talyor ate lunch and most of his dinner outside on the patio in the freezing cold snow, and never once came inside! I kept asking if they were cold and wanted to come in the house but no one did. 

 They had tons of fun, and it was a great day.

Here are some pictures of our snowy Saturday.



Lizzie stayed inside and watched from the window.
Isaac took his snow clothes on/off six times throughout the day, he really needs to learn how to put them on by himself.
Emily played with this cute friend for 7 hours.  
Taylor was outside working on his snow for for over 8 hours!!!
We dragged him inside after dinner when it was completely dark.  He was thrilled with what he made, and wants it to snow more tonight. 
Our backyard is completely empty of snow, it's all been moved to the fort.



Here are some cute pics of Elizabeth from bathtime and dinner time this week.  I love how her hair is really starting to grow, it's soft and really blonde.  She loves her food, and gets so angry if she can't eat when everyone else is eating a meal. 

I guess winter has arrived. 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We just celebrated a great Halloween.  The weather was warm, and beautiful and it was a fabulous night. 

This year the kids chose to be; mummy, witch, fireman, and lady bug.  All the kids were happy with their costume choice and excited for Trick Or Treating!

We started celebrating Halloween last Friday with the school parade, and carnival.  It was a lot of fun, but I took no pics.  Saturday we carved pumpkins, and Sunday we had a "Spooky Dinner" at G & G Shields.  It was all so much fun! I am really missing my camera, and wish I still had it!

So for Halloween we had a fun dinner with all our neighbors and friends, followed by trick or treating, and ended with scones & Hot cocoa  at our neighbors house.  It was a fantastic night and everyone was tired and worn out.  Taylor & Emily got plenty of candy and were happy with their goodies. 

Here are some pictures from our Halloween celebration. 

Taylor trying to be scary in his mummy costume.



Lizzie seemed happy in her lady bug costume.  She loved pulling at my black wig, and pulled out tons of hair!  She was great in the stroller while we took the kids trick or treating.



Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Birthday party

Emily celebrated her 6th birthday!  She started her day with her breakfast choice of "Lucky Charms". 

I told Emily she could have a friend party this year and she thought long and hard about what she wanted to do.  She chose to have a "Cooking Party" with her friends, so that is what we did to celebrate!

We passed out recipe cards for the birthday invitations.  Emily invited 11 friends/cousins and all of the girls came for cooking fun! 

We stared by decorating chef hats and aprons for each girl.  Then we made pizzas, played games and decorated cupcakes.  It was a lot of fun and all the girls seemed to really have a good time.

Here are a few pictures from the party.

Aunt Natalie came to be "The Master Chef". She helped coordinate everyone and really saved me!  It got a little crazy cooking, opening presents and playing games, dealing with two brothers etc..  It was also a huge help that Grandma Shields had Lizzie and Isaac during the party,

Thanks for your help Natalie & Mom!

After the party we had dinner with the cousins and family.  We all made more pizzas and then had more cake and ice cream with dad and G & G Shields. 

After we sang "Happy Birthday" and Emily blew out the candles, we told her to make a wish.  She said " I wish for nothing"!!!
I guess that means she liked the party and had a fabulous Birthday.  Whew- I am happy if she was happy!

Overall if was a fun, crazy & exhuasting day, but it was great to see Emily with all of her cute friends.  They were all really nice girls and well behaved. 

After the second round of cupcakes we had FHE. We all talked about Emily and told our favorite things about her and looked at her scrapbook from when she was born. 

We love our six year old girl!  We are so happy you are in our family!
Happy Birthday!