Ava Thanksgiving Song

Here is Ava singing a Thanksgiving song she learned for a program at school. Make sure to pause the other music on our blog, and then turn the volume up for this song!

Happy Thanksgiving

by Ava

by Dillon

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year! Besides the wonderful food, the great weather (in AZ anyway), and the beginning of the holiday season, it gives me reason to actually stop and think of all the things I am thankful for!

I get busy with life and I begin to take things for granted, even complain about things. Thanksgiving helps me refocus, and realize how truly blessed I am!

I am so blessed to have a healthy family who makes me so happy. We are blessed that Brian has a job, and I am so grateful that he works so hard so that I can be home with our kids. I am grateful for all our family and friends in Arizona, in Utah, in Canada, and many other places. Ava was reciting a list the other day of all the people in different places that love her - there were a lot and I am so thankful!!! I am grateful we live in a warm house, in a wonderful city, in a wonderful, free country.

My New Year's Resolution in November is to try to always remember how blessed I am, and to express my gratitude and love!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Flag Football Part 2

Last weekend we played flag football with Tash's family and loved it. This weekend, not so much. Ten minutes into the game, while he was trying to grab Jake's flag, Brian jammed his pinky finger. It turns out that he had broken it. It is totally swollen, black & blue and really crooked! (this picture makes it look good). Poor Bri Bri!!!!

Shelly's Birthday

Today is Brian's older sister Shelly's Birthday. Shelly is so sweet and has the greatest family. She is very smart - she should have been a doctor. We call her if we have a medical question and she always knows the answer. She is extremely funny, she and Brian share the same sense of humor and usually get laughing so hard that they both end up crying! It is fun to hear them talk about all their childhood memories.

She has the most beautiful naturally curly hair (that always looks good no matter what) and big beautiful blue eyes. She is so sweet to my kids and they love her. We have been so lucky the last few years to have her close to us in AZ (they were in England for quite a few years).

We love you Shelly - Happy Birthday!

Flag Football

This weekend, for my nephew Jake's 18th birthday, he decided he wanted to play flag football. His family (Tash, Jake, Sam & Maddie) and my family went to the junior high football field to play. It was sooo fun! I am out of shape and don't know anything about football - but I loved it! I was only slightly bruised and sore for about 3 days after!

The athletes getting ready to play...

Tash & Maddie warm up... (Maddie is so fast!)

Brian warms up... (I accidentally tackled him to the ground instead of pulling his flag, that is how I got my first bruise)
Sam warms up...(Sam was the quarterback on my team most of the time, he would set up a great play and I could never execute it! Sorry Sambo!)
Jake didn't really need to warm up...(when he would run with the ball, it was two of our strides for every one of his, we just gave up after a while!)

This is the winning team...

This is my team... Ava played soccer & ran around while we played... So did Dillon...

Canada Trip

About a week ago, we took a trip to visit my family up North in Alberta, Canada. We had such a great time visiting my Dad, LuAnne & Claire, and also my two Grandmas.

Here are some pictures from our trip...

Ava on the plane ride there - she is a seasoned little traveler now! She loves flying and she is so good. She talks like a pilot's daughter: "Are we still on the taxi-way? Is this an airbus or a CRJ? Was that the landing gear coming up? Is it turbulent?"

Dillon, on the other hand, made both Brian and I swear that we would never fly with him again! These pictures show him in the only two calm moments of the whole flight! On the flight home, he thankfully fell asleep as soon as we took off and slept the whole flight! (No, there was no benadryl involved)

It was a little colder than we are used to, but actually really beautiful. My kids just love to be outside, so we spent a lot of time in the backyard, going for walks and at the playground.

Ava & Dillon with Grandpa & Grandma

My Dad & LuAnne




LuAnne, Claire, Ava & my Dad

Dillon found this spot behind this plant and just hung out there! He would quietly play with the rocks in the pot. All week long, everytime it was quiet, or if we couldn't see where Dillon was, he would be behind the plant! I need to get one of those plants at my house!

It was Ava's fifth birthday while we there. Ava helped her Grandma & Claire make a fancy unicorn birthday cake that Ava loved!!! The sprinkle covered horn was her favorite part!

We got to see my Grandma Wolsey. She gave Ava a very special snowflake necklace for her birthday to remind her of Canada. She had wrapped it in a little box, inside a bigger box, inside another box, etc. and Ava got the biggest kick out of that! We played a card game called 'Spit in the Ditch' with her and it was so fun!

We also got to see my Grandma Blumell. She is so funny, she has the best sense of humor. I know she was totally overwhelmed when Dillon was kind enough to throw the fit of all fits for her!

We had a great time, it was so nice to see everyone. Thanks so much Dad, LuAnne & Claire for everything you did to make our stay so nice! We are excited to come again - next time it will be in your new house!

Happy Birthday Madison

Today is our niece Madison's birthday. Maddy is such a sweetie and she is so loving - she gives us the greatest hugs when we see her. I remember visiting her in the hospital when she was born - she was the cutest tiny four pound baby with the fuzziest dark head of hair!
When we visit Maddy in Utah, Ava loves to play with her and Maddy shares all her toys. She lets Ava sleep in her room with her, which Ava loves, and she patiently reads Ava lots of books before bed - she is a great reader! She is also a really great student - she works hard, diligently does her homework and usually aces her spelling tests. She has a really pretty singing voice and she loves to sing & dance along to High School Musical - she knows every word!
Ava thinks it is the greatest thing ever that her hair is almost the same color as Maddy's, and that they both have blue eyes and cute little freckles across their noses.

Happy Birthday Maddy - We Love You!