Finally!

Finally! It's only taken Bryan five years of asking him to put up some lights on our house. This year he actually did it! He's the one that took pictures. He wanted proof that he did it. It's nothing fancy, but I love feeling like we're in the Christmas spirit when I pull up to my house and see our lights. Thanks Bryan.

Winter Concert

We invited Grammy and Poppy to come to the concert. Poppy had another commitment, but Grammy made it.





Braxton had his school winter concert last Thursday. They sang cute songs about Winter, and some odd ones about different holidays. It's annoying that they can't just sing normal Christmas songs. Braxton's class sang a fun song though. He said he didn't want to do his concert. I was surprised because he enjoys singing. Jenn pointed out to me that he got the singing from me but the attitude from Bryan. Bryan was always a stinker when it came to doing anything for an audience. So it all makes sense. He was smiling up there as he sang. I know he enjoyed it!

Family Pictures at Knight's Ferry

This couple from the other Oakdale ward whose friends of the Whitemyer clan are really good with photography, and I feel so lucky that they were able to squeeze us into their schedule and take some pictures for us. They got some really good ones. I'll have to add more later. They take a super long time to download because the file's so big I suppose. Thank you, thank you Rognon's!

Thanksgiving at a cabin

We went to Pinecrest a couple times so the kids could explore and climb rocks. They drain most of the lake. So there's lots of places to walk around.





We took short walks near the cabin too.


We set up lots of small tables in a row and then a little table for the kids, so we all ate in one room. The kitchen was super small, but we managed, or I should say, Kim managed to cook the turkey and all the other fixins in the teeny little space.


Mindi was so fun because she had brought some Thanksgiving crafts for the kids to make. One of them was a turkey placemat.


Parker just loves being outside.


Brooke danced and sang to a Hannah Montana song, hence the wig. She was such a crackup.


Chloe was very entertaining as our MC for the evening.


Jenn, Mindi, Sarah and I did a routine to the Mission Impossible theme with fighting and everything. It was the bomb!


Mark and Kim did a little routine too. Kim did some lipsynching to a cute song. It was fun.

For Thanksgiving this year, all the Whitemyers decided to do something different and rent a cabin in the mountains about an hour from Oakdale. Everyone came except Kristin and Coby who are coming for Christmas and couldn't do both. Instead our good friends Deana and Alan came with their three children. It was such a great time. The cabin was older but worked out really well for us. It had a fooz (sp?) ball table the kids and men loved. We took walks, played games, watched movies. It was awesome to relax but also be with people you loved for a few days. Thanksgiving meal was awesome. And Friday night we did a talent show which was so fun. The kids were great. Braxton sang a song about a pet turkey and Carly sang a little song about eating turkey. Then Jenn, Mindi and Sarah were gracious enough to let me dance with them to the Mission Impossible theme. We were quite fabulous, I must say!! And then Deana and Alan had brought pipe chimes, so at the end, they passed them out and everyone got to play some Christmas songs. The kids really enjoyed that. All in all it was a wonderful holiday. Hope yours was too!

Birthday Celebration for Princess Carly

Jenn helped me hang tule and balloons from the ceiling and Bryan and I constructed and painted the castle entrance. Then Jen painted the stones on. It really added to the party.


Carly and a couple of her princess friends, McKinley Marler and Molly Powell.


I asked Sarah to make an appearance at the party as a surprise to the kids. So Princess Sarah came and painted the girl's nails.

I didn't have a lot of pictures because I was busy entertaining and Bryan was videoing. But these are a few of Carly's fabulous princess gala! At first she was a little grumpy because she just wanted to eat the castle cake (which I will put a picture of later--Jenn took pics with her camera. I just need to get them from her). But after we started playing games, she was happy again, thankfully. It's no fun to have a grumpy princess! Oh-we had princes there too. We invited her Kerr cousins and a couple of other boys from nursery. Lots of fun! Our little princess is three now!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Parker with his mouth full of pizza, and Carly with pizza on her face!

Braxton had his end of the soccer season pizza party last Thursday. Yea, no more soccer for the year. It was fun, but it just makes life very busy, so we were ready for a break. It was fun to watch games that were more competetive this year, and Braxton got a little better by the end, but we'll have to wait and see if he will do it again next year.

A Child's Prayer

The week of Halloween I realized I hadn't seen the machete I had bought Braxton as part of his Halloween costume, so I started looking for it in all the obvious places. When I asked him about it, he had no idea where it would be and didn't seem that concerned about not having it for Halloween. Well then Halloween night came and I'm getting everyone ready to go when Braxton starts searching for his machete. I told him I hadn't been able to find it and we probably wouldn't be able to before we had to go. A few minutes later, I walked into his room to find him kneeling by his bed with his head bowed. He looked up at me surprised, and I could tell he was embarrassed, so I quickly left. I was so touched that Braxton would think to pray about finding his sword. However I decided I needed to pray too and ask Heavenly Father to answer Braxton's prayer. Though this was a trivial thing, it meant a lot to Braxton and it would mean a lot to his little budding seeds of faith. After I said the prayer I went immediately into my room and looked under my bed--the one place I hadn't checked for it, and there it was. I called for Braxton and I told him that we needed to kneel and thank Heavenly Father for answering his prayer. It was a really neat experience for me because I was so proud of Braxton. He actually has been listening in Family Home Evening and in Primary. It was a great moment as a parent. I'm sure many of you have had these moments with your kids, but this was my first and I'm sure it was a testimony builder for Braxton, as it certainly was for me.

Halloween Night

Brayden Kerr as Shaggy

This year I was attempting to do a safari theme. Braxton was the safari guy and Carly a lion, Parker a giraffe. But the week before Halloween, Braxton saw the movie Indiana Jones, so then he became Indiana Jones, and our theme didn't work as well, but oh well. I think they all looked cute. Halloween night we went to the church for the carnival and trunk or treat. We really only stayed for the chilli and hot dogs. It was supposed to rain, so the activities committee moved everything inside. There were a ton of people there, wall-to-wall. It was crazy. Everyone was sweating. It was too bad the forecast called for rain because it didn't even rain. Anyhow during the dinner, they had all the kids parade around the gym and had judges who gave different prizes. Braxton won "Best Character Costume." So that was kind of fun. Jenn had her kids dressed up as the Scooby-Doo gang. It was so cute. Corbin was Freddy and he had his own Mystery Machine he drove around. He won the prize for best boy costume. Brayden was Shaggy as you can see from the picture, but he doesn't have his big sub sandwich that Jenn made for him. That was so fun too! Anyhow we then decided to go trick-or-treating. We met up with Jenn and Jason and Jason's brothers and went around in a neighborhood with very nice homes. Carly loved it. She was more than happy to go up to each house and hold her bag open for them to put candy in it. She never did say trick-or-treat; she was too shy. We also had another family in our group who had a lark the dad (Bill) was riding around on just for fun, so Braxton invited himself to sit on Bill's lap and take a ride too to each house. Eventually there were about six kids clinging to Bill and taking turns maneuvering the lark. Braxton said that was the best part of the evening. We had a great time.

Halloween at Braxton's School

Braxton and Carly coloring together at his school.

Braxton's class in their costumes with their books.

Braxton in the character parade.

Braxton and his buddy Blake.

On Halloween Braxton had his celebrations at school, so Carly, Parker and I went to be there. They're allowed to dress up as their favorite character in a book, so we just found an Indiana Jones book for Braxton at the library. We watched the character parade first. All the kids paraded around the school property. Then they went in and had a pizza party. We left shortly after that.

Trip to Tahoe

Bryan had a conference in Tahoe last weekend. He rode a train to Truckee on Wednesday and then took a bus to Squaw Peak Resort where the conference was being held. (This is actually the fourth year he's gone to this conference. Braxton, Carly and I went with him two years ago.) Anyhow, I got to go stay with him the following Friday. Jenn watched our kids, and I drove up and arrived in the afternoon. We took a drive and checked out all the nice cabins people own there. Then we went to dinner at this awesome restaurant. The food was fantastic. I love good food! Then we went to the Olympic Village where they had a Ben and Jerry's. We grabbed our ice cream and took it back to our hotel. By the way, Bryan ended up with an upgrade because they didn't have his room ready for him when he arrived, so our room was fabulous. It had a kitchen, living room with fireplace, the nicest bathroom I've ever seen in a hotel room and of course our bedroom. We put our ice cream on ice and stuck it in the fridge. Then we went hot tubbing! The hotel has two outdoor pools and three outdoor hot tubs. It was very chilly outside, but the hot tubs were so hot, we eventually jumped in the pool! After swimming, we went back to our room and ate our ice cream while watching Iron Man-good flick! The next day we took the scenic route back home and stopped at lots of cool trails and look out points. The scenery was amazing. Bryan and I like doing those kinds of things, taking drives walking trails, and learning some of the history of the area. Very interesting! It was a great time and so nice to spend time together without kids for a little bit. Thanks Jenn!