His 1st Lost Tooth

This little man of mine lost his 1st tooth!

He is the youngest of his siblings thus far to loose a tooth.

He came to me one day and told me how excited he was that his bottom front tooth was loose. When I felt it I was quite surprised how loose it was. I warned if he wasn't careful he'd end up swallowing it at dinner it was so loose.  During breakfast the next morning it popped right out all by itself!

One happy boy!

 He was so excited to discover a tooth fairy dollar under his pillow!

He knows its real because of all the glitter.

Lucky kid lost his 2nd tooth just a few days later. He feels "rich" with all his new money.

A Schultz Visit

Our family was so excited when our good friends from Arizona called and asked if they could stay at our house on their way to Idaho for Thanksgiving. We were lucky to have them the following weekend too on their way back home. We have been friends with the Schultz family since their oldest was just a baby and I was pregnant with Emily. It's been a great 8+ years. We have both moved several times over the past 8 years but our friendship remains. 

We took our families into St. George for a little sight seeing and some fun. Our first stop was the "Crack". My kids and most other kids always love coming here! They can run wild and explore the many alcoves this little rock mountain has to offer. 

 Brayden and the St. George Temple in the background. 

Brystol climbing out of one of the many little caves. 

 Daddy and Kylie

 Kevin helping Emily down the last little part. 

Madelyn and Jenna 

Brayden 

Kylie trying to stay warm. 

The sun was setting and our warm temperatures were dropping fast. 

Leaving the crack we went to the St. George Temple.

We were excited to see the Nativity had already been set up.

Trying to get 10 kids to gather and stand still for one simple photo is not easy. 

(9 out of the 10)

Especially when there's always one refusing to cooperate. 

I won't mention names!  

And then that one decides to cooperate but..... one child has already ran to the car and the babies are cold and don't want to leave their parents arms. We tried! 

Gunnar celebrated his 2nd birthday while visiting us. 

Decided to make a birthday cake in celebrating this mile marker. 

Our kids get along so well and really play well together. There was no fighting & no tattling. They were so willing to share and take turns. It was great and really made for an enjoyable weekend. Our house isn't the largest and I was a little worried having 10 kids and 4 adults but we all survived and had a good time doing it.  

Logan, Brayden and Kylie decided to sleep on our bedroom floor.

Sunday after church we decided to have a barbecue. We had the most tender, juicy and most expensive pork chops that Kory has ever made.  

When the pork chops were done Kory decided to turn up the heat and clean the bbq for the next time. All the adults were in the kitchen setting the table and putting the final touches on dinner. Out of the blue Hunter came running inside yelling at Kory to come outside fast. The house was on fire. Hunter continues to yell at everyone to get out of the house, there was a fire! Kory and Kevin ran outside, I ran out to the garage and grabbed the fire extinguisher which has since found it's permanent spot under the kitchen sink. By the time I got outside the fire was out. The damage could have been much worst. We'll have to replace the siding before our 6 month walk through. But it was a good experience for the kids. Our next family home evening we talked about fire safety and how to react in an emergency setting. So glad the kids were outside when the fire started and for the minimal damages. We can fix this! Very grateful that no one got hurt.

A Monster Broke the Window

The weekend of November 15 was a cold one!

 Our highs were low 40's and we were dropping below freezing temps during the night. We were experiencing gusts of wind up to 40 miles an hour. The wind was howling through the house, the heater had finally been turned on and kids were sleeping in their winter flannel pajamas. Did we really just move to sunny, warmer weather Hurricane or were we still in Alton where these kinds of temps were the norm? We had just had a wonderful night as a family and mom and dad were getting ready to go to bed themselves. With all the howling going on it was no surprise that at 10:30 pm the kiddo's were still awake. As we were getting ready to crawl into bed Brayden came down saying that he and Emily were scared. There was a monster at their window! My kids have NEVER played this game. We have never had monsters under the bed or hiding in the closets! I walked Brayden back up to his room, turned on the light and opened the blinds to show both him and Emily that were no monsters at their window. It was just the wind rattling their window and making a horrendous screeching noise. They felt better after seeing nothing was there. I lowered the blinds, tucked them both back into bed, turned off the light and got half way downstairs when I heard a shatter. Their bedroom window the still one not the one that slides open and close fell out/was sucked out by the wind onto our driveway. Brayden will still tell you that a monster scratched it too hard and broke it. 

I thought for sure that the glass would be scattered by morning. It's awful to admit but I was kind of hoping it would be so that we didn't have to clean it up. It was so cold and windy I really didn't want to have to deal with it. To my amazement it was all still there. I guess glass is heavy enough not to be carried away by the wind. 

We went the rest of the weekend with an open window. The kids slept down stairs and we kept their bedroom door shut with a towel at the base trying to keep the frigid temperatures out of our living quarters. On Monday the repairman came and taped a cardboard box to it. Jones Paint and Glass was called, they showed up the following day to take measurements to replace it. As they were leaving I was told  "we'll be back". Lucky for us the temperatures rose and my kids were back to wearing shorts to school. A week later and still no window I called Jones Paint and Glass. Apparently their  plant had been shut down and with Thanksgiving coming up I could expect a 2-3 week wait. Being it had already been a week I was not happy! Apparently "we'll be back" doesn't mean anytime soon. True to their word 4 days before our one month mark I came home to a new window! Just in time for another winter storm to hit that brought us 3 day's of what felt like constant rain. Grateful for the rain but more grateful for a window that didn't allow all that rain into the kids bedroom. 

Basketball Season

It's basketball season! 

Every single Saturday we are privileged to attend 3 different games, not to mention the different practices held throughout the week! Our Saturday's are no longer clean the house, run errands, kick back and relax day. It's become quite the go, go, go day.

Hunter's team consists of 5th and 6th graders (He's in 6th). We have an awesome coach who plays all players for basically equal amounts of time. This team is so much better than the team he's been on for the past 3 years.  

He is loving it! 

  He was pretty proud of himself during the 1st game when he scored 10 of the 22 points earned. Our first 4 games these boys have won every game by quite a bit. This past Saturday they met their match and were hopefully humbled just a little bit. They lost by 3 points.

Emily has participated in basketball camps the past 2 years. 

This is her 1st real season playing games. She is on a 2nd and 3rd grade team (she's in 2nd). 

These girls are so funny to watch. They don't really run down the court. They seem to do a little hop, skip and a little jumpn' down the court. They don't show quite as much aggression as the older boy teams. 

 She made a basket! Yippee! She's #43

Her wonderful coach reminding them who they are suppose to be guarding. 

This is Brayden's 1st year playing basketball. He's on a Kinder/1st grade team. (He's in Kinder)

 The 1st half of the hour the kids practice dribbling and doing some basic drills with the 2 coaches that are there with their teams.

 During the last 1/2 hour they play against each other. Although it seems that whether it be practicing or game play they spend most of the time chasing after the ball.  

What's important is that he is having fun learning something new.