Christmas Break!

I love the spirit that Christmas brings into our lives. I love to remember the Savior and all of the wonderful things that he has taught us. This year our family decided to try a new tradition. We decided that every night during December we would take turns sharing a story of Christ's life. As our family shared their favorite stories of Jesus it truly helped us remember the reason why we celebrate Christmas.
We also got to go and see the lights at the Temple. Shane and Julie went with us and Sharon and Scott were there already, so we met up with them. It was nice to be at the temple with our family.
Christmas Eve we always spend at my mom and dad's house. We have dinner and then do the nativity with all of the kids dressed up. Then the kids get to exchange their gifts and open one present.
Christmas day was fun! After we opened presents we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for breakfast. (Thank You it was great!) Then went to the other Grandparent's house and spent time with my family. It was fun because Jay and Brooke came in from out of town and their kids are adorable! Then we went and visited Great Grandma. It was nice to spend time with her. Then we went back over the Scott's parents house to celebrate Christmas night. We always have a Christmas Dinner and the exchange gifts. Then we headed home for bed.
I think that the funnest thing we did over our Christmas Break was going sledding with our friends Chuck and Aleah and their kids. We went to a park close by with a hill. We had a blast sledding! Don't worry the kids had fun too!
I hope that everyone had a great Christmas also, and that we can remember all of the things that we have been blessed with.

Best Job!

The kids made me remember how much I love teaching again today. A little girl came into school and told everyone that her mom has a baby in her tummy. Everyone got very excited and another girl told me that her mom is pregnant and having her baby brother. Then a little boy came up and felt my tummy and asked me if I had a baby in my tummy also. I told him that I didn't, that I couldn't have a baby in my tummy because my tummy won't let me. I told him that I was adopting a baby. A sweet little girl in class ran up to me and gave me a hug and said, "That's great!" She was adopted and it made me feel so happy that she knew what I was talking about. What a smart little girl. Thank You! You made my day!

PARTY

It was our turn to plan Scott's family Christmas party this year. I had so much fun getting everything ready. We had great food. (We always do, that is one of the best parts about this party.) I made pulled pork and Shauna brought her famous cheesy potatoes. Sharon made home made mac and cheese. Mom made pasta shrimp salad. Shane and Julie brought chips and drinks, Kaye also brought drinks. The food is always amazing! Scott and Tyler decided that they wanted to make a version of Family Feud to play. We came up with silly family themes like Songs that dad made you listen to over and over and over again, Family Traditions, Family pets, Nick Names, and of coarse Favorite family foods. We divided up the family to play the game. The kids and the adults both had fun coming up with the answers. Then we played our traditional game of funny white elephant exchange. We always have fun playing that game. Everyone always wants to get "Woody". "Woody" is and owl that Scott and I got as a joke for a wedding gift. It keeps getting passed around that family. It was funny because our niece Alicia's fiance Skyler got "Woody". But then "Woody" went missing. I'm sure that he will show up sometime again. Hopefully at their wedding. Then we gathered gifts that we brought for a service project, for a family that Dad found in need this year. I always look forward to this Christmas party every year.

Sweet Gifts

Last week at school it was the 5th Grade Christmas Store. So all of the different grades get to go shopping in the store. It has been interesting to see the things that Tyler has brought home from the store every year. In Kindergarten he didn't buy himself anything. He gave his money to kids who didn't bring any to school. He said it was service. (He loves to do service.) In 1rst grade he bought Scott and I Christmas presents. Scott got a book that Tyler and him could read together and I got a pencil and stickers for my pre-school. This year I told him that he could get whatever he wanted for himself because he was using his own money. Before he left to school Tyler and Azlynn (Tyler's best friend) were talking about the store and Azlynn's mom reminded her that she couldn't get any stuffed animals. Tyler bought himself a bear and saw that Azlynn wanted a stuffed animal. He bought one for Azlynn and when it was lunch time he asked his teacher for the key to the class room. He went to the class room and left the bear on Azlynn's desk for her and left her a letter with it. He said that she was so happy that she jumped up and down. I told Tyler that it was romantic that he did that for her. I thought that it was sooo cute! Tyler was so proud of himself for being nice to Azlynn. I am truly glad that Tyler has such a great friend.

15 Year Anniversary

We just had our 15 year anniversary. We decided that this year we would go do some temple sessions. We both took off a couple days of work. We went to a temple that we haven't been to before and then the temple close to our home. We made the mistake of telling Tyler before school that if he got sick to call grandma and grandpa because we wouldn't be home. He decided to test it out. He got "sick" and called them. Grandma and Grandpa were not at home so he ended up calling us right as we were getting ready to sit down and eat at the Cheesecake Factory. (I love cheesecake)
We were about 40 minutes from home so I called my friend who always helps me out, Aleah. She went to the school to get him and Scott and I left Cheesecake Factory. When we got to Aleah's we started to laugh because Ty was trying his hardest to be sick. He was magically better the next day and the rest of our days together went great.
It seems so crazy that it has already been 15 years. I am so happy that I have such a great husband. I feel blessed to be able to have a temple marriage with Scott. I'm so glad that we can live with each other for eternity.

Halloween

Halloween is a fun time of year. The kids love to dress up and pretend to be anything that they want. Halloween started for me on Thursday with my pre-school kids. I had my usual Halloween Parties. The kids came to school dressed in their costumes. We played Halloween games like ghost bowling and witch's cake walk, then ended with our class parade around the cul-de-sac. The parade is always a huge success. All the parents and neighbors love to watch the kids and come to take pictures. Then I repeat the whole thing again on Friday for my other classes. While I was teaching my classes on Friday Scott went to Tyler's Halloween parade at his school. Tyler decided that he would be a gangster this year. His costume was so cool. Then the fun for our family began. This year we started the fun at our church with trunk-or-treat. It was fun to go to because you got to see everyone in the ward and talk to all of them. I loved seeing all of our primary kids dressed up. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Laycock's for dinner. Grandma always makes us soup and it is sooo good. After that we went to Zachary's and went trick or treating with him. Then we made our way over to Grandma and Grandpa Jolley's house. Then we finally made it back home. It was a good thing that Halloween was on a Friday. It would have been to hard to get up for work the next day. Even Tyler slept in on Saturday, which almost never happens.

Baby Benjamin

Yesterday we had so much fun. We went to visit our friends Josh and Terra. Tyler always loves to go and visit them. Josh loves to play with Tyler and Terra is always so nice to him. We were extra excited to go and visit them because they just had their little baby Benjamin. It was so nice to sit and hold a new baby. Scott and I both loved it. I forgot how nice it is to have a little one snuggled up against you. It seemed like Scott never wanted to put him down, but I did get some baby time for myself. Tyler got some baby time also. Tyler is going to be a great friend to Benjamin. He is adorable. He looks like both of them. I have to say that his bed room was AWESOME, all done in baseball. Tyler loved that. Josh and Terra are already great parents. Being a mom and dad seems to only get better with time!

I Love Teaching!

I really love teaching my pre-school kids. This week reminded me again of how fun it is. Every once in a while a kid in class does something so funny, and it reminds me how much fun I have with all of them. In my older classes this week I was teaching the kids about health and we were talking about germs. During circle time my student Brielle raised her hand and told me that her dad had taught her about a new kind of germ. She said that it was called a cootie, and you get it when you kiss a boy! I could totally picture, in my mind, Brielle's dad giving her and her older sister the "cootie" talk. I laughed so hard it took a few minutes before I could get on with the lesson. Then we were talking about killing germs by washing your hands and Brielle said, "You would have to take a really long shower to get the cootie germ off of you!" I just about died from laughing so hard. Thank You Brielle for making my week at school so much fun! I love you and all of my kids!

Fall Field Trip

This year at school Tyler's class got to go on a fall field trip. Tyler looks forward to the fall field trip every year. They get to go and see all of the farm animals, go through the corn maze, play on the BIG GIANT hay slide, and go on a hay ride. This year was extra special for him because his dad got to go and help with the class. When they got home from school they had traded name tags. Scott had Tyler's name tag on and had modified it to say Tyler's dad and Tyler had on the name tag that said Mr. Tyler's Dad. Tyler had a extra fun time with his dad. Scott had fun too. They both came home tired from all of the fun, with a GREEN pumpkin that they picked from the pumpkin patch. (They told them that it would turn orange by Halloween. We'll have to wait and see!)

Apple Picking

We Love it when Grandpa's apples are ready to be picked. This year there were so many apples on the tree that we had to keep picking them to thin them out. Tyler loves to go to Grandpa's to pick apples. Dad & Ty love the big red apples. Mom loves the green ones. Thank you Grandpa for all of the great apples!

Family Time

This month has been a little crazy. We have been so busy. We went to my nephew Steve's football game. He played really good even though they lost. We had a family BBQ at Grandma's and Grandpa's for Jacob's 12th birthday. (We are so excited for him to be able to recieve the priestood). We also went to the Heratige Festival were we got to cut logs, sculpt with clay and watch artists work. The hardest thing that we did this month was move Scott's bother to his new home. We are missing them already and they have only been at their new house for a week. I miss them and their kids sooo much. I miss Kaitlyn sitting on my lap, teaching Austin in school, (all of his class mates miss him also), talking with Kenz and Maddi, and hanging out with Shane and Julie. They are an important part of our lives and I love and miss them!

School Dayz!

Tyler's first day of second grade was fun for him. He was so excited to go and be with his teacher and his friends again. Tyler and his best friend Azlynn are in the same class again this year. Tyler's teacher is so cute and fun. We are excited for him!

Declaration of Indepenence and day in SLC

We were so excited to go and see the Declaration of Independence come to the Utah State Capital. We decided to go up and see it. It was really cool to be able to see that history of our nation. Tyler loved being there. We waited in line for 2 hours, but they had activities for the kids to do so it made it fun. Because we were in SLC we decided to stay and make a day of it. We took Tyler to the Bee Hive house (Brigham Young's House), he had never been there before. We went and ate at the top of the Joesph Smith Memorial building and went and watched the movie about Joseph Smith. Then we went to the temple grounds. It was nice to be able to get away for a day and just play together as a family. It felt like a mini vacation.

CAMPING

We took Tyler camping and had so much fun. We only went for one night but Tyler loved it anyway. It was fun having him help set up the tent and get everything ready. When it got dark we went in our tent and played board games. We woke up early the next morning and went fishing. We didn't have any luck bait fishing but we did fly fishing. Tyler had fun bringing in the fish. Then Janae taught him how to clean it and fillet it. It was a nice little break and we look forward to doing it again sometime.

Girls Night Out

I had so much fun on my night out. I went to Kim's for a Twilight party. We talked about the book and played games. Then we went to Wal-Mart to get the new book. The line was sooo long but we had a great time just hanging out. The new book was fun to read.

KARATE BOY

Tyler had his purple belt test and did great! We are so proud of him!

July 24th Fun!

We got to go to the owls game on the 24th of July. Scott and Shane's baseball team got to be the "Field of Dreams Team." It was cool; they got to go on the field with the Owls players and be introduced. The boys had a blast.
Grandma Jolley got passes for the kids to go to the city days. Tyler took his cousin Dylan. They had fun together. They both loved watching the BMX bikers. Then we watched fire works at Grandma and Grandpa Jolley's. It was a fun weekend.

Art Show Winner

Tyler had so much fun with the art show this year. He decided to enter two art projects. He entered a sculpture called "Wire Wolf" and entered a picture called"bears". He took the pictures that he entered at Bear World when we were there. He made his sculpture out of wire. It took him a whole week to put it together. His sculpture took 1rst place and his pictures took 2nd place. He was very proud of his sculpture and loved all the people asking him about it. Everywhere we went people would ask him about his sculpture. How did he make it? How did he come up with the idea? He had a blast with it.

Ty and Janae also had a day of fun with Aunt Janell and Cori. They started at the carnival. Ty and Cori loved the rides. Then they went to the art show. (It was Ty's 4th time going. He couldn't get enough ) Then they went and ate lunch and then went to a city play of Beauty and the Beast. Then they went shopping for school clothes. It was a fun day, and they came home tired.

This Is The Place

Tyler and Janae went to This Is The Place with the rest of the primary presidency and their kids. We had a day of fun. We have a primary activity coming up that we are all excited about "a day in Nauvoo" and decided to go to This Is The Place to get some great ideas. The kids had so much fun and learned a lot. As soon as we got there all of the kids wanted to go to the petting zoo. They all loved riding the horses. Tyler rode a horse named Mistee. We got to see pioneer homes and the kids even got to do pioneer chores. They loved that part. All of them loved washing laundry! Tyler had fun in the barber shop where Brigham Young gave him a shave. He also loved hanging out with his friends. We had a great time. Tyler didn't want to leave when they were closing. I think that we could have stayed there all night!

Fun in Idaho

We went to Idaho because Scott and his Brother Shane were coaches of the All Start Team. We decided to make it a little family vacation. Scott's mom and dad came. So did his sister Shauna's family (Jake was on the team) & Shane's family. We spent most of our time at the ball parks watching baseball. The boys had fun playing and learned a lot. Scott and I and his mom made time to go to the Rexburg temple. It was beautiful and it was nice to get away from all of the noise and have it be peaceful. Tyler's favorite part of the trip was Bear World. He loved the petting zoo, the rides, but most of all he loved feeding the bears. Almost as much as Grandpa did. I'm so glad that Tyler brought his camera with him. He took some great pictures of the bears. Tyler had also been saving up his money to by a souvenir, and of coarse he bought a wolf. It's his favorite animal. He even spotted the gray wolf at Bear World. We all had blast, but I'm always glad to get back home. There is no place like home.