Luke and his scarecrow!

I went in to Luke's class just before Halloween to help him construct a scarecrow!  We had so much fun together and it was fun to see him interact with his classmates.  We have given all of our children family names as their middle names.  I have seen in each of my children how they have taken on traits of the person they were named after, it's amazing.  Luke took on the traits of being a class clown.  He loves to be silly and make people laugh.  That could explain the picture process I'm about to show here.  It's hilarious how it progresses.  At first, it was just Luke.  Then, as his classmates started to take notice, we had more and more of them wanting to be in the picture.  Luckily we did this at the end and most of them had left by then.  Your scarecrow looks good buddy....good job!!

A Wild Show

Savana participated in a choir program where they put on a Jungle themed show.  She was lucky enough to play the part of a giraffe....how ironic.  I giggled to myself just about the entire time because she was one of the shortest kids there.  Luckily we got a few peeks of her between all the other animals!

She did a fantastic job singing and is so animated.  They were definitely lucky to have her apart of the show!

Thanksgiving 2011

Well, I had very good intentions of taking pictures for Thanksgiving, but only a few made the cut!  We had a very quiet Thanksgiving this year with the six of us at my Mom and Dad's house.  My Mom made it a very relaxing day for me by taking on pretty much all of the cooking herself.  My sister and her husband and their four kids paid us a visit later after dinner.  The kids and their cousins can never get enough of each other! We celebrated Thanksgiving on a different day with Scott's family.  The most important part about all of it is that we are all able to just get together and spend time with one another.  That's what it's really all about!

Truly one of the Happiest Places on Earth

We were somehow able to pull off a trip to Disneyland this year.  We invited Grandma S and it just so happened the first day we paid a visit to the park where you never have to be a grown up was on Lincoln's second birthday!  It was a bit rough since he isn't walking yet and there really aren't many places for babies to crawl around.  He was super patient though and I think he just enjoyed the constant company of all of his family!  The older kids were in heaven.  I don't think we can ever go too many times!

I was the one who pushed for this trip even knowing I wouldn't be able to ride any rides because of our new package on the way.  BUT....I just love the pure joy that comes from every moment of it...riding rides or not.  It worked out great though, Lincoln is too little to go on most of the rides anyway.  Luke even was able to go on most rides with an exception of just a few.   The weather was perfect and the lines were unbelievably short.  The only rides they didn't make it on were the ones either down for repair or remodeling.

 My kids NEVER forget about the Jedi Training, so we usually head over for one of their scheduled shows in hopes that any if not all will be chosen.  This year.....Savana was the chosen one!

On the first day I decided it might be a good idea to snap a picture with my phone really quick with each kid in case they got lost.  That way we had a picture of exactly what they were wearing.  The funny thing is, Scottie wore his BYU Jimmer jersey and you wouldn't believe how many people we saw pointing then whispering to the people they were with and saying "look, that kid is wearing a Jimmer jersey."  We sat down for lunch and these two really cute teenage kids, brother and sister, came over and said "We've been watching you guys and noticed the Jimmer jersey.  We're assuming you guys are mormon and so are we.  We bought these cupcakes, but we're all way too full and my dad asked us to come give them to you."  I think in any normal circumstances it may have been weird, but we got a good vibe from them and watched them for a little while as they sat back down with their family.  We thought it was a sweet gesture for sure!

 

 My mom was so sweet and wanted to make sure we had just a little something extra to make it special.  She arranged for us to have a lunch where we were able to meet all of the Princess'.  Scottie was not happy at first, but he warmed up to the idea when he realized he was going to be surrounded by a bunch of pretty ladies ;)

 Me and my Prince Charming

Savana's favorite Princess Belle

 And the rest is history.....it was a very needed vacation and I'm glad we made it happen.  It sure was handy having three different cameras to help me to remember to take pictures: phone, point and shoot, & the big daddy!