Christmas School Events/2013

December is always such a busy month with Christmas events at school.  Such an exciting time of year!  Laurel participated in a Christmas program with the school choir she is involved with.  They actually had speaking parts this year.  They had to audition for the parts.  I was very proud of Laurel for stepping out of her comfort zone and auditioning.  She was given three parts and did a really good job!

I got to attend their class Christmas parties as well.

My friend Lisa is the room mom for Laurel and Savannah's class.  She has let me be her little assistant and it has been fun helping her out.  She covets the role of room mom!  I love that she does, because she is so awesome at it!  Each team had to dress one person up like a Christmas tree with the supplies provided.  Laurel was chosen to be the Christmas tree!  She makes a pretty cute one, I think! :)

Savannah and her good friend, Paige

I promise I did not coordinate the chevron prints!  I did, however, think it was pretty awesome when I saw this picture! :)
What is even more awesome, Savannah noticed it before I did!  That girl is so much like me, when it comes to clothes!

Christmas time is just such a happy time of year!  I think Savannah's face says it all!

War Eagle!

Before I leave November, let's talk some football!!!  I loved having mom and dad here to watch the Auburn vs. Alabama game.  Why did I love it so much, you ask?  Let's just say I can thank my mom and dad both for the love of football.  I LOVE it!  That is one of the reasons I love fall so much.  People start coming out in their college attire.  You go to buy groceries on a Saturday and there is just a different feeling in the store.  Complete strangers talk to you, depending on the color of clothing you are wearing.  Some talk to you to let you know you are wearing the wrong color.  Of course, all in good humor!
I grew up with a dad who was his high school quarterback.  I hear he was really good, too!  And I believe it, because that dad of mine, could put together some pretty awesome plays in our front yard.  I have such good memories of all the cousins, aunts and uncles playing football together.  Then, of course, you had my dad, the Alabama fan and his brother, the Auburn fan. Then you throw us crazy cousins in the mix, siding with our fathers.  Oh my, we would torment each other, depending on who won that year.
Then I went off to Auburn!  My uncle Tommy was so proud!

So, with all that being said, it was fun and loud up in this house watching the football game!  You have to admit, it was pretty exciting watching Auburn this year.  I mean, they could only go up, right?  They had a new coach and new life was in them!  It came down to the last second, literally!!!  Oh my goodness, Seth and I were jumping up and down, hugging and screaming!  Dad was yelling, "NO!!!!!" "What? Just? Happened?"
And Mom, I'm pretty sure was out of the room, hiding her face, because that's what she does in football games!  She has done this my whole life.  Poor thing, she loves football as much as a man.  Can quote you statistics and plays, but can not stay in the room when the going gets tough!  Too much stress for her!  She was mad.  She wanted to go home, to more neutral territory.  Did not like being in the Tiger's home!
Dad was a good sport.  He has settled down in his older age.  My parents have lived out in Utah since 1999 now, so he is a pretty good Cougar and Utes fan, as well.  Anyway, good times!  I do have fun dressing the kids in orange and blue but we aren't crazy, fanatic Auburn fans.  We have always told them that they can choose who they want to be for.  I mean, last year Laurel was an Alabama fan!  Aww... fun times!

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving was great!  Mom and dad were still here and that right there pretty much sums it up!  We all got to enjoy mom's cooking!  Of course, Seth's side of the family came and brought delicious food, but there is nothing better to me than my mom's cooking.  I was absolutely pathetic when it came to taking pictures that day.  I guess I was too busy being hostess.  Here are a few that were taken through out the day.

 Savannah and Aunt Jennifer
I think this was actually taken the Sunday of Savannah's baptism.

Just had to share this awesome vegetable platter that my dad put together.  You can tell a lot about a man from a vegetable platter!  (also from the day of Savannah's baptism)

Oh yeah, the dirt bike came out!  Landon had to show everyone his skills!

My sweet sister-in-laws!

Snuggling with Grandma!

Savannah and Luke

Love Sawyer's face!

Love my sweet nephew, Luke!

I'm so grateful for a great family, on both sides.  Always sad when I didn't take time to capture everyone.

Celebrating Eight on the Ice!

Savannah wanted an ice skating party to celebrate her 8th Birthday.  Her and her friends had so much fun!  I'm not use to having Birthday parties away from our home.  I usually spend forever planning birthday parties and decorating and worrying about every detail.  I will have to say, it was nice showing up at the Civic Center, going into a party room and having pretty much every thing done for you.

As soon as Savannah decided on an ice skating party, I immediately knew that I wanted to make scarves, from my stash of fabric, for their "thank you for coming!"  Savannah loved this idea and stayed on top of me for weeks until I had sewn them.  I was so happy my mom was here, because she cut them all out and worked miracles with the lay out to get 10 scarves.  I did not have to buy any fabric!

Gabby's little brother wanted to sit right beside Savannah.  Too cute!

Gabby

Alisa

Paige

Lily and Ava

Jeana

Natalie

Halley Claire

The next day at church, all three of these sweet friends showed up in their scarves.  They were so adorable!

It makes me happy that Savannah has sweet friends at church and at school!  Sure makes life easier for a sweet, Eight year old!

Savannah turns Eight and is Baptized!

Savannah had the neat experience of being baptized on her actual birthday, November 17th!  We are so proud of her for following our Savior's example by being baptized.  She was so excited and talked about it for weeks leading up to the day.

I pretty much let Savannah put her baptism program together.  She picked out some of her favorite songs.
The opening hymn was: I'm Trying to be Like Jesus.  Maybe she picked this one because she hears me singing the chorus around our house when I hear fighting going on.  "Love one another as Jesus loves you.  Try to show kindness in all that you do.  Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, For these are the things Jesus taught."  The fighting stops every time.

These are some highlights from her program:
Opening prayer was given by her Aunt Melanie.

Our sweet friend, Miss Annie gave a talk on baptism.She is like a second mom to my children.
It was very special for Savannah to have her sister, Laurel, her cousin, Jeana and her friend, Mckinley, sing. They sang the beautiful song, When I Am Baptized.

Then Savannah was baptized by her dad.
 
When Savannah and I were talking about her baptism program, I was asking her who she wanted to speak and sing.  She immediately said that she wanted Miss Shelby, her teacher to sing.  Shelby has the most beautiful voice.  She sings like an angel.  Savannah asked her to sing, If the Savior Stood Beside Me.

Savannah and Miss Shelby

Shelby and her friend, Darby sang a beautiful arrangement of this song.  We also sing the words of this song around our home when things are going crazy.  Here are the lyrics:

If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do?
Would I think of his commandments and try harder to be true?
Would I follow his example? Would I live more righteously
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

If the Savior stood beside me, would I say the things I say?
Would my words be true and kind, if he were never far away?
Would I try to share the gospel? Would I speak more reverently, 
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

He is always near me though I do not see Him there,
And because He loves me dearly, I am in his watchful care.
So I'll be the kind of person that I know I'd like to be
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me. 

My mom and dad were very sweet to drive all the way from Utah to be a part of Savannah's special day.
Mom gave a talk about the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Then she was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, by her dad.

She picked another beautiful song for the closing hymn: I Feel My Savior's Love.
"I feel my Savior's love In all the world around me.  His Spirit warms my soul
Through everything I see. He knows I will follow him, Give all my life to him.
I feel my Savior's love, the love he freely gives me."
Closing Prayer was given by my good friend, Sariah Homan.

So many of our friends and extended family came to Savannah's baptism.  We are truly blessed to have such great friends, who have embraced my children as their own, and want to share these special events with us.

I snapped a quick picture, before the program started, of Savannah and Laurel with their good friend's, Taylor, Morgan, Peyton, and Logan.

  Funny faces!

Friends and family that were there:
Debbie Bethers and two of her children, Brooke and Lizzie
Logan, Peyton, Taylor, with their mom, Lisa
Morgan with her mom, Wendy
Dana with Ava and Lily
Aunt Jennifer and cousin Spencer
Aunt Melanie, Uncle Bubba with cousins Jeana and Jeremy
Honey, Grandma and Grandpa
Miss Annie
(Aunt Jamie wanted to be there so bad, but had just had her wisdom teeth out)

We are so proud of our sweet Savannah.  She has such a sweet spirit and I love how she wants to learn more about Jesus Christ.

Warrior Dash 2013

Seth and I had so much fun doing the Warrior Dash together this year!  We dressed up ninja style and ran the race with a really large group of our friends!  It was so hilarious to watch and laugh at everyone and ourselves.  Seth and I had not laughed that hard together in a really long time.  He was so funny to me!  He would analyze every obstacle really quickly and tell me which line we should take.  I, on the other hand would just start full force ahead, not analyzing anything!  This is so typical of both our personalities.  I guess that is why we balance each other and make a great team.

Of course, our friend Sariah came up with the ninja costume ideas!  She made everyone red felt head ties and waste ties.  We were in charge of coming up with some kind of ninja saying to put on our shirts.  My friend Lisa, loves designing iron on prints and came up with the cutest idea for mine and Seth's shirts.

 The front of our shirts.

The back of the shirts.  I loves how she incorporated Seth's dirt bike into the whole ninja theme!

Crazy Ninja's after the race!
It was such a fun day! We all want to do it as couples again next year too!

Maybe a little OCD?

So I can be a little OCD when it comes to this blog.  I would like for everything to go in chronological order on this blog of mine.  I'm so OCD that I almost made our children dress up in their Halloween costumes so that I could recreate Halloween pictures.  I'm so OCD, that I almost took down the Christmas Wreath from the front door and rehung the burlap Candy Corn, for the"recreated picture backdrop."  Then I came to my senses, and decided to just accept the fact that I forgot my camera on Trunk-or-Treat night and that Halloween did not even happen, because it rained.

So use your imagination and picture this:
Savannah:  The prettiest Cleopatra, with a black wig, that you have ever seen!
Laurel:  The cutest Candy Corn on earth!  And would have looked, a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.  posing in front of that burlap candy corn!
Landon and Sawyer:  The most adorable Spider men, ever!!!

They may just be these exact same characters next Halloween, since there are no pictures from this one!