Thanksgiving!

Ok, so I am mostly posting again so soon (shock of all shockers) because my husband reminded me that I mistquoted the name of the song in my last post. The real name of the song is "Thankful" and it is by Josh Groban, and it is amazing!
And I just wanted to say, that I love Thanksgiving, because we always have so much fun with family, and eat too much food and sleep too little and shop too much(the day after, of course)! Thanks to Steve and Jessica for putting on an awesome day... We love you! And thanks to Connie and Brittnie and Steph and Clay and our friends Cam and Jody and their kiddos for an awesome day spent together!

"GRATEFUL"

THANKSGIVING IS ALMOST HERE! This really is the best time of the year! We are all excited for the holidays, and getting antsy. Steve and Jessika (Ryan's brother) already have their Christmas tree up! We've been listening to Christmas music, especially a Josh Groban cd that also has a song called Grateful- just for Thanksgiving! He sings about the many things we have to be grateful for, despite all thats wrong in the world. It's inspiring! I love it! We really are so blessed, and try to acknowledge those blessings more readily. Having a wonderful family and great friends and satisfying job and happy children are just the beginning! We have the gospel knowledge to be all the more grateful for! REALLY! What a blessing to know who we are and where we're going, and that we have help from a loving Heavenly Father who will guide our lives if we but let him! WOW! I think about my life, and realize that I've always had that testimony. But think of those people who don't know these truths! Life could be so much better for them if they could know who they are and how much they are loved, and how truly happy they can be! Thinking about this makes me realize how important my example really is, and why there is such an urgency for missionary work! I mean, don't I want everyone to be as happy as I am? YES!!
Ok, so I said in the previous post that I would have birthday updates and pictures. Here they are!

Ryan made me an AWESOME fresh peach pie for my birthday!

Callie's 5th birthday. What a pretty princess!

Taylor was a jedi for his 7th birthday.

Callie's first day of Kindergarten, and Taylor's first of 2nd grade!

Ryan found a TARANTULA on our screen door one night, so

we made him our pet for a few days. It was the size of Ryan's palm,

and neighbors said that he must have been a baby, because he was small!

Taylor has lost 2 teeth, had one pulled, and has 2 more loose.

This was his first.

Ryan took me on an early anniversary trip to Canyon de Chelly, in Chinle, AZ. It was amazing! It is a "mini Grand Canyon" that several Navajo families still live in and herd sheep there. Thanks to Connie and Brittnie for watching our kids while we were gone!

Can you see the pictographs

in the 2nd picture?

Halloween Festivities:

carving pumpkins!

great costumes, eh?

We conducted an experiment and survey at the school:

Do pumpkins float?

YES! They do!

Just recently, Page's Balloon Regatta was here again! This time, Ryan's hotel sponsored a pilot, so Taylor and I got to go up in Tom's balloon with him!

Taylor and I got "first flight" inductions- drinks on our heads!

Tom and Sue were awesome hosts, and we thoroughly enjoyed our ride!

Had to share the cute kiddos pics!

I dare say our children are stinkin' cute!!!

And that'll be all for now!

Back to school...

School started for us Arizonians on August 10th. Taylor is a big huge 2nd grader, and Callie started Kindergarten! Callie is still getting adjusted; she says "it takes so long til I can come home." (We have full day Kinder in Page) However, she is in the same class as all of her friends, so she likes going, and loves her teacher, Mrs. Robinson. Taylor is just having a blast making new friends and being back in the social setting of school. And he likes his teacher, Mrs. Hall, too. Mom and Janey are still getting adjusted to having just each other to keep company at home, but loving it! What a fun little girl she is! She is now talking like crazy, and running (looks crazy) and starting to finally have a hunger for learning new things. Ryan has been doing real work (physical labor) all week at the hotel, as they've started the renovation process. They finished the first 13 rooms in 5 days! We're really excited! This weekend we've spent in St. George with Steve and Jessica, playing. We went to the community center pool yesterday, and had a blast!!! I would love to share some pictures as soon as we can get our computer to cooperate. Anyway, pics and birthday updates hopefully soon! Love you all!

Catch up

2010 has been a very busy year for us thus far! We all got to go on a business trip with Ryan to Albuquerque, celebrated Ryan and Janey's birthdays, had Aaron and Krista come visit us over Valentine's and have gone to the beach a couple times. We also have prepped our back yard and will have our garden in by this weekend! Here are a bunch of pictures that go all the way back before Christmas. We hope each and every one of you are doing well!
Enjoy!