Grandma Nena's House

One of my favorite childhood memories is going to Grandma Nena's house.  I loved it!!  We were able to spend some time there Friday night.  The girls found some dress ups!

 Tylinn, Kaitlyn, Jordan and Kaylee

 Us with Grandma Nena.  She is 97 years old and getting very feeble.  We aren't sure how much longer she will be with us.  We were thankful for the time we got to spend there this trip and some pictures.  She is just as happy as ever and makes the best out of her situation. I am thankful for her example to me!

 Friday night after we left Grandma Nena's house we went to the temple lights.  Grandpa Flake even came with us this year.  These pictures didn't turn out super great.  I am thankful for families and traditions!

Thanksgiving 2015

We had a great Thanksgiving again this year.  We didn't have a Fall Break at school because we had all week at Thanksgiving off.  It was a very nice break.  With having Fridays off we really ended up with 10 days off.  Wednesday we got some pies made.  The girls were great helpers making pies!

 The boys got wood on the porch to keep us warm!

 Bridget was the main girl with the pies and she did great!  We bought the crusts you roll out and she made the rest from scratch.  Tylinn and Kaylee helped peel the apples.

 Thanksgiving morning everybody had their thing they were in charge of.  Rhett's was the sweet potatoes.  He did great because they were yummy!

 Kaylee did name tags.

 Tylinn set the table.

 We took a few family pictures before we ate.  Here they are....

 And enjoying the food.  Last year our little family had dinner together and we loved it so we decided to do the same this year.  We ate then the kids and I went to Mesa - Bruce had to work Friday and Saturday.

 It was a great day! Much much much to be thankful for!

Dustin Basketball - Sophomore

Basketball season has started.  Dustin is starting on JV and dressing out for Varsity.  Hopefully he will get a little playing time in on Varsity.  They had their first game which was home last week.  It will be fun to watch him.  Bridget decided not to play this year.  This is the first sport she isn't playing since track in 5th grade.  She has loved coming home after school!

Pretty Girl

Last Saturday night Bridget twisted Kaylee and Tylinn's hair before they went to bed.  She fixed Kaylees for church and it was so pretty.  Pretty hair for a pretty girl!

Cutting our Christmas Tree - Too Early??

We have been thinking about the holidays coming and the traditions and one of there is cutting our Christmas Tree.  We have done it for years but as our kids have gotten older it is harder and harder to find a time we can go.  Last year Bruce went by himself and got it, one year him and Twila went so when we had a Saturday coming up with NOTHING going on and a beautiful day we decided we would go get our tree and just not put it up for a while.  So here it is the weekend before Thanksgiving and we have our tree in the back yard.  In past years the tree is always really dead when we take it out so this year won't be any different.  The boys decided to put up a few Christmas lights today too with the nice weather and just wait to turn them on.  This year for school we didn't have a fall break so we get a week of at Thanksgiving so we have all of next week off - I am loving the big break!! But it is easier to have Christmas sneak up on us!  Here are some pictures from the day today.  It was a great day today!  Everybody was happy, it wasn't too cold, Dustin drove and didn't wreck us :), we found a tree pretty fast, and hiked to the bottom of this little draw and there was water running and it was beautiful!

 We took our lunch out to enjoy before we started looking for a tree.

 These 2 girls are something else!  SO CUTE!

 Bridget just wanted to stay in the truck and read her Twilight book.  When we went out walking trying to find a tree she came with us.

 The kids joking picked this tree!

 Got everybody out on this log over the stream for a picture.  They even sat down on it for me in the snow and got their bums all wet.

 And of course Dustin had to tease Kaylee about throwing her in the water.

 A wet bum picture!

 This is up stream from where we were!

 I sure love these kids!  So much fun!

 I even made my way out on the log for a picture.

 What a good brother!

 Me and he love of my life!

 Packing the tree out!

 Had to get a quick picture of the family before we took off.  Glad Tink decided to join us!

 Putting the tag on the tree! It's official!

There is something special about a Christmas Tree.  Today as we took a picture with it and the boys packed it up the hill it made me wonder what it is that is so special.  I decided it's because it will be in our home for a month and be part of our home.  I am thankful for our traditions and that we were able to go cut our Christmas Tree today!