Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we thought that we were going to be spending it all by ourselves.  I told David that we should put the word out and see if there was anyone else who didn't have family to spend Thanksgiving with and we should get together.  You know me, I love a good party/get together and I was having a hard time thinking that we would be doing Thanksgiving all alone.

From left to right:  Stephanie, David, Garrett, Page, Beth and Gary

Then about a week before Thanksgiving I got a phone call from Beth Turley saying that they were going to be in Utah for Thanksgiving but didn't have anyone to spend Thanksgiving day with.  We were thrilled!  

Gary Turley and David have been friends since they were little boys.  David met Beth while Gary was on his mission and then when Gary got home David set them up on a blind date.  And the rest was history, so they say!  David let all of Gary and Beth's kids know that they owed their lives to him!

From left to right:  Keri, Reed, Bradon, Kyle, Carsten, Ethan, Heidi, and Reagan.

So on Wednesday night Gary and Beth came with all 7 of their kids to have a sleep over and Thanksgiving feast.  The kids had a blast together!  I love how kids can become buddy old chums within minuets of meeting each other.

Their little baby Lewis and our little baby Talan.

The Turleys are a fabulous family and we are so THANKFUL that they came to spend Thanksgiving with us!  Beth is a great cook and she helped with so much!  It was fun working and learning from her in the kitchen.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The tenderest tough kid that I know.

Our sweet little Carsten is so tough yet so tender. 

Today at school they were having their Thanksgiving feast.  The teacher told the kids that they could dress like pilgrims and indians if they wanted to.  Carsten decided that he was going to wear indian war paint to school.  He told his teacher his plans and she said that it sounded great.  He came home and told me about his plan and I told him that that was just fine.  He woke up this morning and the first thing he said was, "Don't forget about my indian paint today mom!"  I told him that I hadn't forgotten and that I would figure something out.  So I went around the house looking for something I could use as indian paint.  I found washable ink in a variety of colors and used that.  

He was thrilled!

However when it was time to go to the bus stop he didn't want to walk with the boys.  I started to worry that maybe he was worried about being teased and so I gave him a few baby wipes in a zip lock bag that he could put in his backpack just incase he wanted to take the ink off.  I drove him to school and dropped him off.  Then I remembered that Bradon had left the house without grabbing a sweatshirt so I parked the car and went to find Bradon out on the playground.  On my way to the playground I passed Carsten's class and saw Carsten huddled on the ground with his backpack over his face with 3 or 4 boys standing over him teasing him about his indian paint.  I was immediately irritated!  I walked over to the boys and asked them why they didn't have COOL indian paint on their faces.  I mean, it is the day of the Thanksgiving feast and indian paint IS totally cool, why didn't they have it on?  The one little boy looked at me and said, "Are you Carsten's mother?"  I said, "Yes I am and his indian paint is cool!"  I think that this was all just a little more than Carsten could take.  He continued to be huddled in his little ball on the ground covering his face.  I took him into the class mud room and got his teachers attention.  I explained what was going on and she then did her best to make Carsten feel good about the situation.  She then told her AM students about Carsten's really cool paint and the kids all came to the mud room to take a look.  Carsten was doubly embarrassed and I... I was failing as a mother!  His teacher then said that she was pretty sure that all the kids would love to have cool face paint on but she just didn't have any.  I told her that I could go get some if she would like.  She said she thought that that was a good idea.  I ran the idea past Carsten and he thought that it was a good idea too.  So off I went on my quest to find face paint so that my sweet tender boy wouldn't feel so different from all the other kids.  I found some at partyland and then went back to Carsten's class and applied face paint to over half the class including the little mean kids that were making fun of him.

The things a mother will do to try to protect her children from the mean cruelties of the world!  I just wish that kids wouldn't be so mean!  And I wonder, how do you teach your children to have confidence.  To have a high self esteem.  To not let other people bother them.  How?

Talan's first big boy bath.

With all of my kids I have transitioned them into the big bath tub as soon as they could sit up on their own.  All except for Talan.  The tubs in this house are really deep and it's hard to bathe a small child in them.  So I have been bathing Talan in the sink up until yesterday when he had his first big boy bath.  He loved it!  And Reagan loved it too!  

Indian Hair!

I just get the biggest kick out of having a little girl!

I love to dress her up cute and to do her hair.  However now that she is 4 1/2 she is very opinionated!  She knows just what she wants and that ALWAYS includes getting her way!

  Yesterday at preschool they were having their Thanksgiving feast and they were going to be wearing their Indian feathers.  I told Reagan that Indians always braid their hair and that she should go to school with her hair in french braids.  She went for it!

Didn't it turn out so cute!  Her hair is really starting to get long and fun to do!

That's my girl... my indian girl!

A Pink Pirate Party!

Reagan's cousin Elise had a 

Pink Pirate Party on Saturday.

The kids all dressed like pink pirates.  They went on the cutest little treasure hunt, played games, and ate the cutest little pink pirate cake.  

Reagan had a lot of fun!  

She was the youngest girl there and a little intimidated by the 24 eight year old girls she didn't know but Elise made sure that Reagan felt special and welcomed.  Reagan absolutely loves her cousin Elise and looks up to her.

And YES, the party was a success!  Reagan came away wanting her next birthday party to be a Pink Pirate Party!

A couple of Chalk Artists!

In spirit of the BYU/UTAH rivalry game 

Carsten and his friend Tanner 

worked for hours on this masterpiece!  

A Big Huge Y in a rainbow of colors.  

This is an upside down picture of it.  Pretty good huh?

UTAH kicked BYU's trash!

UTAH 48 BYU 24

The game started out pretty good. BYU and UTAH were neck and neck until just before halftime. And then it was all down hill from there. Unfortunately our precious Arizona Mountain View High school graduate Max Hall struggled!

I think we owe it to the Gledhills (well... Tom and Max) to say...

UTAH UTES ROCKED THE HOUSE!

So I whipped up a batch of rice krispy treats in UTE like fashion and we delivered our peace offering!!! They accepted gladly and then gave us a little Cougar treat of our own, Cougar Craze ice cream! Of course Max had to add a Y to the end of Craze to let us know he still thinks we're a little CRAZY!

We'll get em next year!

Rivalry Week!

BYU vs UTAH

It's rivalry week!  

A very important week in the year!  It's the week that BYU takes on UofU!  In Utah this is a big thing!  The first few weeks of going to school in Utah we found out that even all the elementary school students pick a side and stick with it.  My kids were coming home from school chanting B... Y... U!  So this year we are jumping into this with both feet and we are going to rival like champs!

Our neighbors in which our children are nearly inseparable are big UTE fans.  Well the dad and the oldest son are big UTE fans, but the mom and the rest of the kids like BYU.  Tom graduated from UofU and Michele graduated from BYU.  So I guess you can say that they are a house divided!     

 

Tom came over last weekend to watch the UTAH game and we got talking about rivalry.  He was pretty much asking us to rival with him in a round about way.  We can take a hint!  And take a hint we did!

Every night this week we either put a sign on their house or gave them a BYU treat.  Our kids have had a blast helping out with this!  On monday night we went to a neighbors house for dinner and family night games.  When it was over I got all 12 boys together (the Adair's, Gregory's and Harley's) to ding dong ditched the Gledhills house leaving them a treat.  I then gave all the kids the 'importance of rivalry' talk and the 'importance of secrecy' talk and sent them home.  They all had a blast!  

Midway through the week Max came through my front door before school and said, "Stop putting those signs on my house!" I asked him how he was so sure that it was me putting the signs up.  He said, "Because the person who put the signs on our house last year weren't as artistic!"  I thought that was pretty funny!  I told Max that this was nothing to get upset over but that he should probably figure out who's doing it and rival back.  Rival with the big boys!  So they began to rival! 

I'll give them an E for effort but next year they need to step up their game a bit!

So friday night was our GRAND FINALLY!  We hit em hard!  We recruited a few neighbors (thanks Laurie and Dallin) to help us out.  It was pretty cold out there but well worth it!  My favorite part is the BYU yard signs I made.  I love them!

Thanks Gledhills! 

You guys are great sports and it's been a fun week rivaling with you!  

May the best team win!

GO COUGARS!

2008 football season is officially over!

Last Saturday Bradon's team had their end of the season party at Utah Flash.  He recieved a trophy and a certificate for being the INSTIGATOR of the team!  This is a picture of him with his coach Dave.  When we got home from the party Bradon asked us what it meant to be an instigator.  They got online and googled instigator.  Once he understood what it meant he felt pretty proud to be 

THE INSTIGATOR!

David put together a DVD of pictures put to music for all the families.  It turned out being a much bigger project than he was expecting but the video turned out great!  At the party they showed the video up against the wall and then the coach gave each player one with his trophy and certificate.

They had a turf field for the kids to play on.  Bradon and Carsten had a blast!  However Bradon did come home with his very first indoor football rug burn.  Ouch!

I of course decorated another cake!  

What you do for one child you must do for the others....I guess!  

It turned out much like the other football cakes I've done.  I lack creativity to change things up!

Congratulations Bradon 

on a great season!  

We are proud of all your hard work and dedication.  Way to go!

He's cute even when he's crying!

We just love this boy so much!  

Talan has been so much fun to have.  He is a wonderful addition to our family.  He is happy almost always and he has been a really good baby!  

He walks all over the place now.  He is short for his age and so it looks pretty unbelievable.  There is just about nothing cuter!  And along with learning to walk there are lots of little bumps in the road.  Just after snapping this picture he took off walking.  The road was slopped just enough that he couldn't catch his balance and...

Kaboom!  

Down he went doing a face plant on the asphalt!  But even when he's crying he's cute!  Now what kind of awful parents snap pictures of their kids while they're crying?  I'm sorry I just couldn't resist, he's just too cute!

This is the Place!

On Ethan's birthday I packed lunches, checked the kids out of school, drove to Salt Lake to pick up David and then we all went to 'This is the Place' per Ethan's birthday request.  He loves that place!  The weather was wet and cold and I am pretty sure that we were the only guests they had all day!  When we got there the lady told us that during winter hours nothing was open but there was a train ride that we could take around the park and we were more than welcome to just walk around.  Since we brought our own lunches we decided to eat our lunch and then take the train ride.  We were a little disappointed that everything wasn't open but decided that it was okay.  After the train ride we would just go across the street to the zoo instead.

So we met up with Richard the train driver and it turns out that yes, we were the only customers all day.  Who else would be so stupid to go to a pioneer village on a wet and cold day like it was?  He asked us what brought us there and we explained to him that our son Ethan loved 'This is the Place' and it was his birthday and this is what he really wanted to do.  

Richard couldn't have been nicer.  He told Ethan that he was to sit up front with him and wear the engineer hat.  He brought us out blankets to sit on and then we were ready to go.  Over the loud speaker we heard Ethan say, "All aboard!"  David and I thought that that was cute.  Then Ethan proceeded to give us the whole tour!  I couldn't have been cuter!  Then as we approached Brigham Young's house he said "Now lets go inside and check it out!"

It turns out that Richard the train driver had keys to the whole village.  He gave us a private tour of whatever we wanted to see.  Ethan was absolutely beaming and couldn't have been happier!  It was the perfect birthday for Ethan!

This picture above is us coming out of the blacksmith shop, Ethan's #1 favorite spot.

Richard even fired up the little train and gave us a ride around the pond 3 times.  It was a lot of fun!  He told the kids that every time we went through the tunnel we were to all scream like little girls.  The boys thought that was great!

Thanks Richard for an awesome birthday at 'This is the Place'!

Club Penguin Party!

Ethan turned 11 this past week and he loves Club Penguin so we had a Club Penguin birthday party!  Ethan planned the whole thing.  He copied pictures off the computer for his party invitations.  He decided that he wanted Rockhopper on his cake and found a picture that was just right.  We went to Toys R us and he picked out puffles to give as party gifts.  And he planned the activities.  Then he put me to work.  I assembled the invitations, picked up party goods and decorated the cake.  When it was time for the party Ethan ran the show.  Ethan is a good little party planner!

He invited 3 friends and I think that they all had a really good time.  They all happen to love Club Penguin just like Ethan does and they were thrilled with their puffles!  When we were at Toys R us Ethan picked out a birthday present from us.  He got a plush Rockhopper and a Rockhopper T-shirt.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...

We had cake and ice cream, Ethan opened up his presents and we called it a night.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Happy Birthday Mom!

On November 10th my mom celebrated her 62nd  birthday!  

If you ask me, I think she's a pretty young looking chic for 62!  I have very vivid memories of her turning 40.  Lordy Lordy Marolyn is 40!  That's  what was printed on a shirt that someone gave her at the school she taught at.  I remember thinking that 40 was so old!  Now that I myself am getting closer to 40, I now think otherwise.  My mom is anything but old!

 

One day this last week while Bradon was home from school he snapped all sorts of pictures with my camera while I was trying to take a nap.  This is one of them.  

The middle picture within this picture is one of my mom and I in New York City just outside of the Today Show.  The picture in the far left corner is my mom receiving her Doctorate degree from ASU.  These are two pictures of my mom that I treasure and display.  

My mom is the perfect example to me that you can do anything you set your mind to.  You can become anything you want to.  You just have to make up your mind, go for it,  and never give up!  She has accomplished so many things in her short 62 years of life.  She has always gone over and above, giving everything 110%.  Weather it is writing letters to you while you serve a mission, continuing her education, serving in a church calling, whatever it is, she always gives it her all!  If I could turn out to be half the person my mom is, I'll be happy!  Every now and then I do things just like my mom.  And I think, "Oh my gosh I'm turning into my mother!"  This is a good thing!  I love you mom!  I couldn't have asked for a better example, friend and mother. 

Happy Birthday! 

That a boy!

Our fun loving energetic boy is still fun, 

and he is still loving, but not quite as energetic!  

If you ask him he'll tell you that he takes "Good boy pills"! 

 

We absolutely love our little Bradon.  He has struggled in school for a while now and it has really bothered him.  He wants more than anything to become a better reader.  We have known that he is a very active boy but we have always chalked it up to "just being a boy"!  At parent teacher conferences this last month we decided that it was time to see if there was more to his energy than "just being a boy"!  We took him into the pediatrician after filling out a questionnaire and having his teacher at school fill out a separate questionnaire.  The Doctor looked the questionnaires over and then sat with us for an extended length of time asking questions and just talking with us.  Over and over again he reassured Bradon that he was a good kid and that he hasn't done anything wrong.  After the appointment we went to the pharmacy to get his new "good boy pills".  The first few days of taking them was a bit rocky to say the least, but ever since then, Bradon is a different kid.  He can sit still now!  Not only can he sit still, but he can sit still QUIETLY!  He can concentrate on a task long enough to get it done.  At night time he sleeps better and longer.    It's like this amazing transformation has taken place and it has changed the dynamics of our whole family.  Our whole family is calmer now.  I talked with his teacher today and she said that it's like night and day with Bradon.  She couldn't be happier!  I hope that this will help him with school so that he can succeed like he wants to.  Bradon is a good kid and we couldn't be more thrilled with our NEW fun loving more calm Bradon!

Enrichment night

I was asked to teach a class on cake decorating at our last enrichment night.  So I showed them all the steps in putting the picture of your choice on your cake.  We did a cute little turkey since Thanksgiving is on it's way!

So you copy your picture onto paper and blow it up to the appropriate size.  Then cut around the picture and place it on the cake and outline it with a toothpick.  Then continue cutting away at the picture until you have transfered all the lines in the picture onto your cake.  Then using black frosting, outline your picture with a circle tip.  I like to use tip #4.

Then using a star tip (I prefer #14) star the cake with the appropriate colors.  It's a lot like coloring!

And then TaDa, a cute little turkey!

It's the turkey that we stitched at last years enrichment class.  You can see my stitched turkey in the back there.  Cute huh?  

Anyways it turned out pretty cute and it was quite fun teaching everyone how to create their own little master piece.  I think that we all have little hidden talents that we are unaware of until we just give it a try.  I hope that a few of the ladies in my ward discover their hidden talents as cake decorators or at least gain a greater appreciation for the art of cake decoration!

End of the year party!

GREAT YEAR 

AMERICAN FORK CAVEMEN!  

Last week we went to Carsten's football team's end of the year party.  I somehow sorta somewhat became in charge of the party in a weird sort of way.  Apparently when a coach emails everyone asking for suggestions about where the team party should be, what he is really asking is, who wants to be in charge of the team party!  So we had it at the JCW's in Lehi.  All the families ordered themselves dinner and then the coach passed out some little awards for all the players.  One of the moms on the team had these cool mahogany footballs engraved with each one of the boys signature on them as a gift for the two main coaches.  I decorated a cake for the occasion.  So we all had cake and called it a night!  

The kids all had a good time however it turns out that Carsten was pretty disappointed that they didn't pass out trophies.  After the party Carsten started questioning us about trophies and we realized that he really was hoping to receive one.  We told him that he was right, he does deserve a trophy and we would make sure to get him one.  He has reminded us about it everyday since.  " Have you gotten my trophy yet?"  "Did you get me a trophy today?"  "Where do you get trophies anyways?"  Someday son, someday, you WILL become the proud owner of a trophy of your very own!

WAY TO GO CARSTEN!

Rip Roaring Post Halloween Party!

On the night of November 1st we hosted a 

post halloween party just for kids! 

Let me explain... When the kids came home from school on October 30th and saw our basement all decked out ready for a party the kids went goofy!  They were so excited about the transformation of the basement that they just couldn't help but to think that it would be a really good idea to have a party of their own down there.  David and I looked at each other and said, "What the heck, it's all ready decorated, lets do it!"  So the morning of November 1st we whipped up some invitations on the computer and took them around to a few of the neighbors homes.  We raced off to Bradon's football game and then when we came home we had all but an hour to quickly get everything ready for a party!   We had music playing which led to a bit of a dance party, pizza and root beer floats to eat, games to play and fun to be had by all 32 kids in attendance!  Yes you read that right...32 kids!  Are we a bit crazy? Probably!  But the kids all REALLY did have a good time and it REALLY wasn't all that hard.  And now the most important part of the whole thing...

We ARE the cool house on the block!

Here are some wild and crazy pictures 

taken at the party.

At the end of the party we did our best at attempting to get a group picture.  What a bunch of cute kids!