Family Pictures

11 months!

Wilson turned 11 months on the 8th! I can't believe that we're just a few weeks away from his first birthday. Time has passed too quickly. He is such a fun little guy. He is full of smiles and just brightens the day. He has been taking steps here and there for a few weeks now and in the past week has gotten pretty good at walking between furniture in the house. He still prefers crawling because it's faster, but he is getting steadier everyday. He LOVES to eat--not that you can tell from his size. He's still pretty little and wears mostly 6-9 month clothing. He puts everything in his mouth (which is still toothless--Whitney says we need to get him some teeth--maybe for Christmas). He is "talking" quite a bit, not really using specific words yet, but he's starting to use Dad pretty well. We're still not sleeping through the night, but we have had a few longer stretches in the last couple of weeks, but we've had some terrible nights in the last couple of weeks too, so no progress yet. He loves to look at books and be read to; he will crawl over to the book box and sit quietly turning pages all by himself. Maybe he'll be a bookworm...on the other hand, he crawls up into his sister's little chair and stands on one foot on the arm so that he can see out the window...maybe he's daring enough to be a rider. :)

Tiny Dancer

I've been teaching tap classes again this year. When we started the year, I had two three-year-olds in my K-2 class and it just wasn't working, so crazy me...I started a preschool tap class. AND, I decided to put Whitney in the class. I have 6 two & three-year-olds! It's a little crazy, but we had our recital last week and they did amazingly well. Whitney is so shy around new people, and she won't usually dance with me during class (she prefers to just sit in the corner for about half of the class, I think it's because I'm the teacher) and I was just sure that she wouldn't do anything on stage, but she surprised everyone and danced most of the dance. They were so sweet and the audience cheered so loudly for them. One of the other moms and I made their tutus--they were just precious. I also had the opportunity to perform again which was so fun. I am teaching an adult tap class this year and one of the ladies in the class performed with me in the recital and then all of the teachers got together to perform a jazz dance. Apparently Wilson has a future in dance as well, he went crazy when I was on stage staring at me first and then moving his arms all around. Everyone said it was super cute!

SliPpeRy sItuAtiOn

I took the shortest shower and didn't even put full makeup on one day last week and came out to THIS! I came out of the bathroom and couldn't see the kids in the living room...

Me: Where are you?
Whitney: In the kitchen
Me: Where's your brother?
Whitney: Right here eating the butter.

She was standing on the counter with butter on her dress, he was on the floor eating it. I put him in the tub with no water so that he couldn't get it anywhere else. Then scrubbed the floor--twice. Changed his clothes and tried to get the butter out of her dress. This was just the start. They also got into the shredded paper under the shredder and I think got out every toy in the house. Oh what a DAY!

Thanksgiving

Whitney's Thanksgiving dress made by Grandma K.

Wilson's matching tie

I think he ate the most out of EVERYONE--Mike even unbuttoned Wilson's pants--it was so funny!

Beautiful table setting

My mom hosted everyone at her house for Thanksgiving. She had the table decorated beautifully! Geraldine, Shawnee, Erik, Sandy, Bekah, Sariah, Mike, Me, Whitney, Wilson, Mom and Kirk enjoyed a wonderful meal! We had so much food and were all stuffed. After we ate, Sandy and I enjoyed browsing the ads planning our black Friday shopping, while Mike and Erik went out and worked on our house. The girls had lots of fun playing. On Friday, Mom and I left Lovell at 3:30am to make it to Billings when Target opened. We had so much fun shopping with all of the crazies. We got a few good deals, but went mostly for the fun.

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, I was asked to speak in Church on the topic of Thanksgiving. I found some wonderful talks and quotes. There was a wonderful talk from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin about living in Thanksgiving daily. He said we need to do three things: 1) Open our eyes, 2) Open our hearts and 3) Open our arms. He said that if we haven't been particularly grateful, “Don’t wait to start. Open your eyes, open your hearts, and open your arms. I promise that as you do, you will feel greater joy and happiness. Your life will have a new level of meaning. You will forge relationships that will transcend this life and endure through the eternities.”

Another quote that I read that I loved came from President James E. Faust, "

“The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us. President J. Reuben Clark, formerly a counselor in the First Presidency said: Hold fast to the blessings which God has provided for you. Yours is not the task to gain them, they are here; yours is the part of cherishing them. At this season, I hope that we may cultivate grateful hearts so that we may cherish the multitude of blessings that God has so graciously bestowed. May we openly express such gratitude to our Father in Heaven and our fellowmen.”

I am truly thankful for all of my blessings. I am thankful for a loving husband who works so hard for our family. I am thankful for two beautiful children who challenge me and brighten my life. I am thankful for loving parents who put so much effort into helping me become the person I am today. I am thankful for a little brother who loves me even when I get a little too "big sistery". I am especially grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who gave us the gift of our Savior so that we can all return to live with Him again.