Missionary Jesse RWH !!

My brother Jesse has returned home from his Pittsburgh, PA mission!
This kids are waiting anxiously for everyone else as well as information on Jesse's flight, which we soon found out that was arriving EARLY!

Our first glimpses of him coming down the escalator.

We only had a few moments for hugs, chatting and pictures before he needed to rush off to the high council to be released.

Here is the whole group (me of course behind the camera) that came to the Sacramento Airport!
Back row: Emily, Joseph, Justin, Christina, Jonathan, Jesse, Mom, Dad, Julie, Keira, John
front row: Eden, Logan, Jonah, Grace, Max, Katie John, Mason, (in front of KJ and Mason) Paul and Sariah.

New Baby Cow!

On a visit out to Grandma Myrick's house we were able to see the new calf. Rosie, the cow had recently given birth right before our visit.
Keira and I have a fun time posing for a picture in the hay!
Sariah, Keira and Katie John were all able to pet the new calf and spend time learning about taking care of a momma and baby cow.

Daddy Daughter Dance

John took the girls to the "Daughter of my Heart" dance, a fun event our school hosted for Valentines Day. Katie John and Sariah have been looking forward to this "date night" with their dad for about two weeks. There was a chocolate fountain, pictures and tons of dancing. They really had a great time.

In 3D!

Jonah is checking out a comic book in 3D! The glasses looked so good on him I just had to take a picture!

Adventure Base 100

As a den leader for cub scouts I get to attend all the super cool activities that they do. This year the Boys Scouts are celebrating 100 years of scouting. The adventure base 100 is an event that we attended at Cal Expo. I escorted my little wolves around to each station, but occasionally was able to snap a picture of Jonah doing fun things like the ropes course (above). We saw a digital pinewood derby, tons of scouting memorabilia, did a ropes course, saw a short movie and took pictures in front of green screens.

This is Jonah and his friend Mitchell "white water rafting" for their picture.
I was able to have my picture take with the other attending den leaders, Joanne and Dara. What a good time we had, despite the long walk, downpour of rain and the gigantic puddles!

Katie John has reading glasses! She is super happy to wear her new glasses anytime she can. She has a pair for school and a pair for home. Her reading improved on the first day she took them to school!

Christmas Rings!

When I was growing up we always made Christmas chains. This year will be our first Christmas at home so we are continuing all the fun traditions that we can!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. It's fun to visit family and to let the kids run free with cousins while John and I are able to rest a little and chat. The family dinner tradition has always been on Thanksgiving @ 1:00pm. Those of us that make it bring side dishes or veggies to help round out the meal. My mom always makes a giant 25 lb. turkey, a big bowl of pink jello and of course an extra tray of stuffing! Grandma Betty always brings the pies for dessert. A fun tradition that started several years ago (I think my sister Angela started this) we began a "Thankful List" on which we write down all the things we are thankful for. The butcher paper is always filled by the end of the day. I am thankful for my family, friends, our house, John's job, being able to be and like being a stay-at-home mom, being healthy and of course my super helpful, caring, huggable other half, John.

Missionary James

My brother James is going on a Mission to Sophia Bulgaria! As he opened his mission call my sister Christina said "he's probably going to Bulgaria or someplace." She totally called it!

He is the most excited person I've ever seen going on a mission. He is truly happy to finally be a missionary! At his farewell party we got a taste of the Bulgarian language. In his excitement he's already started learning the alphabet and some words. It's definitely not a Latin based language!

Finally a Missionary

James was set apart last night with a lot of family showing up for support. He is now a real missionary and will leave for the MTC Tuesday. Thank you James for being a good example to Jonah!

Ladies Craft Weekend

Our very first craft weekend! We stayed in a rented Condo in Angel's Camp, CA. The six of us gathered our crafts and set out for a fun weekend. Friday night after dinner we camped out in the hot tub for a while chatting and probably having more fun than most of us had had in a long time. The crafting started late Friday night and ended early Saturday morning. I worked on a quilt top for one of the girls. My plan was to make Sariah and Katie John each a quilt for their beds. For sure this was the year of the quilt! I have 4 quilt projects in the works right now. I have a quilt that I made to donate to our Relief Society, the 2 for the girls and a Christmas quilt. I gave up on the 5th project (a quilt for Jonah) because of sanity constraints.

We chatted for a long while after the crafting paused. I think some of us didn't go to sleep until past 5:00am! Crafting resumed after a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, orange juice and fruit. I think we watched several chick flicks as we crafted and chatted. As planned we went out for dinner, but didn't have a specific restaurant in mind. We ended up at this snooty place in Murphy's, CA that didn't have very good food, but high prices. I think Holly and Tiffany were the only ones satisfied with their food. We left with plenty to talk about, especially the dog that was wandering around the restaurant!

We had to leave our adventure early because of a late scheduled primary program. So about 10:oopm Saturday night we packed our things and headed back to our lives. I am greatful that I have a husband that was supportive and handled the kids and the house while I was gone. What a fun time we had!

back row: Holly, Tina, Molly, Shavon.
front: Tiffany, Sherry (me)

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin carving time! Try as we might, our efforts to grow our own pumpkins were thwarted by the elements. Our pumpkins came from Aunt Christina's house and a pumpkin farm. Halloween really snuck up on us this year. All the kids and I were struck down with the swine flu in the weeks before Halloween. Jonah had it the worst and missed 7 days of school, whereas Sariah and Keira were sick for only about 4 days. Katie John was barely sick and was home only two days. Sadly some of those days corresponded with the week of halloween. Sariah missed her pumpkin patch field trip and the kindergarten costume parade. Her teacher brought her back a pumpkin from the patch so she could have one.
Luckily we were recuperated enough to do a little pumpkin carving and trick or treating. John spear headed the carving this year and helped each kid design and then cut their pumpkins.
We had last minute costume ideas because we didn't know until the day before if everyone would be well enough for Halloween activities. Jonah went as a soccer player, Katie John as a princess, Sariah as a fairy and Keira went as a 50's girl.
Keira and I stayed home to pass out candy while John took the kids around the neighborhood and to the stake Trunk or Treat. All in all I think Halloween went well. We will have lots of candy to eat for sure!

Anniversary # 11

John and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary today! At the last minute I was able to secure babysitting with my friend Gina so that we could run off to dinner. Outback is John's favorite restaurant because of the bloomin' onion and the yummy steak. I almost always get chicken on the barbie. He makes fun of me for this because you're supposed to go there for the steak! Happy Anniversary to us!

This picture also documents my new haircut!

50's Day at School

This year is the 50th anniversary of our school. Today is 50's day. I made these skirts for the girls to wear. They picked matching records as their skirt decoration.
Keira and her best friend Porter looked adorable in their outfits!

Something to think about

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The grass is greener on the other side only because it's astro-turf. ~ Sherry Matthews