Breakfast with Santa

Every year in Blackfoot they have a "Christmas Tree Fantasy" and part of that is that you can buy tickets for a breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Clause. We went with Misti, Summer, and their kids and brought McKinley's friend Marin along with us. The girls LOVED it!

Sending back Elder Wahlen

The night before my mom died, Garrett came home from his mission in Tempe, AZ to say goodbye to her. I think she was waiting for him and she was always very insistent that Garrett would have the chance to mourn his mom with this brothers and sisters and I think she was right. After the funeral my dad and Tanner drove him back to Arizona. The night before he left we went to eat at Red Lobster to say goodbye to Garrett for 14 more months. I am so proud of Garrett and the courage he has shown to serve the Lord during a hard time when it would have been easy to quit, love that Elder Wahlen.

My sisters and I went shopping on Black Friday morning and this is the haul we made in the back of my van! It was great to be together and do something fun and get our minds of of things.

'Til we meet again....

On July 17, 2009 my life changed forever when my mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. I was devastated and heart broken of course and the next year and a half was a roller coaster of highs and lows, dread of what was coming, test results, and tears. On November 15, I went to the doctor with my mom and dad and my mom told the doctor she was done and he agreed there was nothing left to do and gave her 2-4 weeks to live. My mom fought a good fight and tried so hard to be around for her family but the Lord needed her more with him and my mom passed away on November 23, 2010 at 9:25 in the morning and I was by her side when she went. I will miss my mom more than words can say and I am still grieving for the lost time together, she was my best friend and THE most Christ-like person I have ever and will ever have the privilege of knowing. Her love for the Savior showed in everything she did. She loved me for who I am and understood me so well and I am really missing that and probably always will. Most of all, I grieve for my children who miss their Nana so much and have lost out an opportunity to be grandmothered by my mom, and I know that would have enriched their lives greatly.

I am grateful for my testimony of the Gospel, a loving Heavenly Father, a great husband and kids and the chance I will have to be with my mom again. I love you mom, can't wait until we meet again.

1st Grade Thanksgiving

So during a very crazy time in our lives, came the 1st Grade Thanksgiving Program. It was a much needed break and so fun to see my little girl up there singing and doing her part. What a great little girl!

Halloween

This year for Halloween McKinley was Pippi Longstocking, Halle was Little Bo Peep, and Quincy was her sheep. It was a fun night, the ward carnival and trunk or treat, a stop at Grandpa and Grandma Daw's and a trip around the neighborhood.

Down on Grandpa's Farm

In October we made our ritual Spud Harvest Visit to Kim Wahlen Farms, you know, educational benefits, etc., etc. The girls loved picking potatoes and getting to see their Grandpa's operation. They took turns riding the tractor with Uncle Tanner and we had a great time!

Easton's Birthday and Cohen's Blessing

The second weekend of October my sister was blessing her new darling son Cohen and her son Easton was having a birthday party and of course who can forget the BYU game so we decided to make a little weekend out of it. We stayed downtown and the first night we got there we went and explored Temple Square which was mostly shut down because there was a gay rights protest of President Packers talk, so we tried to steer clear of the weirdos but still ran into a few. We ended up taking the girls to see the Joseph Smith movie, which they loved.The girls slept all together on the pull-out bed, quite the adventure.

Friday morning we met Jill and her boys and took the kids to the Discovery Childrens Museum in the Gateway Mall. It was amazing, we had to drag my kids away.
Halle and Quincy loved sitting in the helicopter...

McKin and Halle pretended to give the weather forecast

Halle loves this boy, he's still trying to decide how he feels about her. The enthusiasm is a little one sided, even though we know Easton loves us, the amount of attention he gets from Halle would make anyone a little weary.

McKinley loved playing grocery store,

Quincy loved the cars and animals of course,

and everytime we tried to tear this girl away from the playhouse, we would find her right back here 2 minutes later. A future homemaker in training.

Me and my darling new nephew Cohen Kimball Lucas.

Afterward we met up with the Bruderers and took our first trip to Gardner Village which was darling and McKinley and Saddie talked us into getting their eyes painted.

Sadly that is where the pictures end. What was I thinking? That night we went to eat at Benihana with the Bradshaws where we met Jon Peter Lewis (the mormon Ricks student who was a finalist on American Idol a few seasons back)! I recognized him and asked if he was JPL and totally made his decade.

The next day we went to Chuck E. Cheese for Easton's birthday and then hung out while the boys went to the BYU game and then Sunday we got to see Cohen get blessed and eat a great dinner prepared by the Lucases. It was a great weekend!