Finally....

I can't believe I haven't posted since February! So sorry all you fans out there :>...

Put on your seatbelts and get ready to be caught up! Here We Go!!!!!

Sadie Hawkins
Britany took her date sledding and then they came to the house for spaghetti and made their awesome t-shirts.









Prom
Making her dress was an adventure! Mom came up and helped, we made a dress and lots of memories. I can't believe my baby Jo is growing up...




Nikki's Dance Solo
Nikki has really worked hard this year to be able to do a solo. She has paid for her own costume and everything! She competed twice and won Queen and 1st attendant. She is my long-legged dancing queen!



Shandi's dancing facials
Shandi has also danced this year and competed with the Jr's, Hip Hop, Lyrical, and Petite's teams. She has been busy and has definately had alot of practice making facials.



Finishing Up
Well, I like both these next two pictures. Both Nikki and Shandi took a hip hop class so it was fun to have them in the same dance, and I think the last one speaks for itself....

Kids

So last Tuesday Trevin called Rick at work and wanted to invite a friend over after school. Rick asked if his room was clean, his answer was quite wise, I think. "No it's not, I'll just ask for a friend another day. Bye Dad."

True to his word, thursday night he asked if he could have a friend the next day. When asked if he had cleaned his room yet he responded, "I thought that was just the rule for tuesday!"

Gotta love 'em!

STATE CHAMPS!!!!!

Well, as most of you have probably heard by now, Britany is now a 7X state champion in drill team :) and Layne took state in wrestling!! Four pins with no points scored against him :) and drill swept the competition, first in all the dances :)

Christmas...

We enjoyed a beautiful white Christmas in Duchesne this year. Rick took the boys coyote hunting Christmas Eve morning and I took a nice long bubble bath while the girls slept in. We then made our neighbor gifts and delivered them, did a little sledding, and made homemade pizzas for dinner. We then enjoyed alittle time in front of the TV watching the Heat Mizer and Cold Mizer ( this is a family favorite). Just before bed we read the gifts that were in Jesus' stocking.

Christmas morning was EARLY (5am) but exciting as usual.

The kids got Band Hero, which has been lots of fun!

Shandi got a sewing machine.

& Trevin got a little nap waiting to go out in the snow...

We then finished of the day with a lot of tubing and some chili and breadsticks to warm us up.

I love my family! ( & now my blog is caught up!)

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we drove to Phoenix and Kingman, Arizona to see Rick's sister Jolene and some of Rick's old stomping grounds. Here are a few pictures...

The second picture is of Rick's childhood home in Kingman.


We spent some time with Rick's uncle Rocky (Dewain's younger brother). We were pleasantly surprised that he had pictures of Dewain we didn't know existed. This is one of my favorites.

**14**

My little Twink has done it, she turned 14, all by herself, I can't believe IT!

14 at our house means you get to wear make-up, a little more freedom with a cell phone, and DANCES!

Here is a picture of Nikki with her friend Shaia goofing around with make-up.

We LOVE U Twink!!!

Catch UP!!

Here are a few quick pictures of Layne wrestling (we've watched alot of that lately). He just beat last year's state champion in a tournament that he was wrestling a bracket 7 lbs heavier than his weight. Good Job!


We have also been following Britany around with drill team. This year she also doing a Solo, here is a picture of her performing in Delta. She is doing a super job, it is always fun to watch your kids set a goal, try something new, and develop their talents further.

EDIT!!!!!!!!

I can tell my wife just doesnt understand what we have here!!!! We just acquired a 1950 ford pick up with a 350 turbo tranny with a speed shifter mounted firmly on the floor, a 9"posi traction rear end, a chevy 350 motor, and will soon be equipped with a z28 front clip. We will be tracking all the details of this hot rod project as it continues. I know all of you are dying for the opportunity to be a part of this endeavor, but I only have one electric sander at the moment. So I will be scheduling appointments so as not to create a family feud since I know everyone will be fighting over who gets to help. Also, Christmas is coming up.........and if anyone has been wondering what they can get a certain someone.......you have just been given a huge clue. If you still have no idea, well call Santa because he will have my list. Just dont let the length of the list scare you.

A new family member...

NO I am not pregnant. Rick and I have adopted, sort of.....

Nikki has put in a nomination for a name...Mater. We are still undecided. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

"Eye Candy"

This last week has been a busy one for Shandi. Tuesday was the school science fair where she took 1st place with her experiment on whether what you saw affected what you thought something tasted like. Then on Thursday she went to Roosevelt for the district fair and took 1st place there too! Then that night she performed 2 songs from Les Miserables (the school musical) with the cast members from the high school... What a week-good job Shandi!

This is nikki and her friend shaniequa being their dorky self while getting ready to steal candy from little kids.........just kidding. They ended up getting on their knees to go trick-or-treating because they got told that they were too old to be trick-or-treating by nikki's young woman's leader from 4th ward.

Here are all of the kids except for britany because she thinks that she is too old for trick-or-treating. So we just adopted shaniequa for the night. shaniequa is AWESOME.

?!? Witch Doctor ?!?!

So I have pondered posting about this for a while but haven't... I have been using different essential oils to treat the hayfever at our house for about 2 years (3 summers) because I just didn't like the way allergy medicine made the kids feel. Well, Shandi has gone from 2 - 3 sinus infections a year to ZERO the last 3 summers! So I started looking for other ways to use essential oils and aromatherapy. The kids tease me (that includes Rick) BUT when they aren't feeling well they ALWAYS ask if I have an oil for whatever ails them. We use very little tylenol and no cold medicine at our house. It has been very rewarding to have a way to treat my family's everyday stuff and I feel better about what I am using.

So the whole point of this post is not to make you think I've lost it, but to spread the word. It's kind of like Amie helping us discover Nutella! When you have something wonderful you want to share. So I have a link on our blog where you can learn more about essential oils if that is something that might float your boat....or email me and I will tell you how I use it!

My birthday tree

So when I was clearing pictures off my card today I found this fun one of Nikki. Rick and the kids bought me this tree for my birthday in August and this is how Nikki came out of the house ready to help plant it...what a goof!

First Day of School Pics

Alittle late BUT here are my budding scholars on the first day of school. You can see that some of them are little more excited to pose for a pic than others....