Pictures by the Lake

We had a great time Thanksgiving Day taking pictures at the lake. The weather was perfect and it was so beautiful out there. The kids had fun playing on the playground till dark...a great way to burn off all that pie!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. He is one of the best men I know. He is faithful, kind, always serving, and does everything to make my mom happy. He works so hard. He loves playing with his grandkids and tells what we always called "corny" jokes, but I love them. The kids all call him "panca" (Ian's first attempt at saying his name) and they all love him so much. Its hard to sum up what an amazing person my dad is and how much I love him.

Happy Birthday, DAD! I Love You!!!

A STAR IS BORN!!!

Ethan was the star of the show in his drama club presentation of Rapunzel. He was Prince Xavier who attempted to rescue Rapunzel from the wicked witch. He was AMAZING! He remembered every line and made everyone laugh. We had such a good time as a family and went out for ice cream (on a school night!) to celebrate!

Unfortunately, my video and pictures aren't very good.

Petting a baby lemur.




Zorse and Zedonk.




Princess.

The class with a baby camel.

Baby kangaroo named Kirby. So cute!

Wallaby and albino kangaroos.

Petting the baby kangaroo.

Genevieve and I had a great time on her field trip to the Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch in Pilot Point, TX. We pet kangaroo, horses, and a baby lemur and saw a two-toed sloth and a copibara named Princess (largest rodent in the world). We both choose not to pet the camels--they spit! We saw a zorse (horse and zebra mix) and a zedonk (you guessed it, donkey and zebra). I love field trips!

Can I Buy a Vowel?

Ian had to make this stuffed mole for Chemistry class in honor of "Mole Day." Which meant MOM had to make this mole and Ian helped. Can I just vent for a moment about school projects. Even now that a I have a sophomore in high school I have yet to see a project that did not involve mom. And I can't for anything see how making a stuffed mole serves his education. You'll have to google it to find out what a mole really is in Chemistry. I don't remember them when I was in high school. Maybe if I had made a stuffed mole and listened to my mom gripe about it, I would have memory of it!

Oh, the theme was Wheel of Fortune, so this is "Vanna Mole". Haven't heard what grade I received, yet. (I mean Ian.) Check out the hand-sewn eyelashes.

More Halloween

Gigi did not care for her hairdo...I guess it was uncomfortable. Who knew?

Halloween Party

We have a tradition in our family of making costumes ourselves, the crazier the better. This year was no exception. Ian was a kissing booth, Ellen a snow princess, Ethan a secret service agent (his friend Braeden was the president elect), Abigail a Wii remote, and Genevieve a Rubiks cube. It was crazy to get them all done in time, but some of it was fun. Ellen won "prettiest" at the football game. The band members did their marching show in their costumes. And Ethan and Braeden won best group at the ward party.

Fabulous!

We caught the girls singing in the shower the other day. If you know High School Musical, you'll know why it was "Fabulous"!

Family Weekend

I went to Utah a couple of weekends ago to help my parents get ready to move from one town to another. We had all nine of us siblings together for the first time in years! It is incredibly to difficult to organize this many people into one photo, but we tried. Hopefully, brother-in-law Steve got better shots than I did.







Cute cousins...

We had a Girls' Night Saturday with Mom and all my sisters, plus niece, Anna. We had so much fun eating and laughing together, and of course, shopping!