HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE

My main squeeze turned 33 on Saturday!! I love you Tom!

His favorite type of cake is Angel food cake with confetti frosting!!YUMMY

ConGrats Bro!!!!

So proud of you DAN!! Last Saturday my brother Dan graduated from USU in business.

Christmas Count Down

Does anyone else remember making these when they were younger? This was one of my favorite things to make around Christmas when I was younger. Everyday cut off a link and the days til Christmas get less and less. Now I get to make them with my children. This is the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving in Montana

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Here is a recap from our wonderful Thanksgiving. I love our Montana holidays whether Thanksgiving or Christmas. Here are some pictures that captures only part of the fun. In the evenings we would put the kids to bed and play games until 2 am.

Photo shoot at Grandma's. All 8 grandbabies
Cousin gift exchange

Our Cute family
Rock Band. Kelcy, LeAnn and Tom made an awesome trio. Cade, Chip and Clay would jump in every now and then to mix things up.

Kid Rock Band. Daylin and Seth.

Grandma & Grandpa with Grandkids

The Kids Table for our Thanksgiving feast
The main event on Thanksgiving Day, Cade deep frying the turkey. Exceptional job Cade!

Seth wrestling with Grandpa

Peanut Butter & Jelly

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I think of this every time I make Seth a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When Seth was 18 months he was allergic to peanut butter. This allergy lasted about a year. We knew he was allergic because he would cry and his face turned red, he acted irritated when he ate peanut butter, peanuts or candy bars with peanuts. As he got better at speaking he explained that peanuts make his mouth and ears hurt. When he was 2 1/2 years old he asked for peanut butter on his waffles, the way Tom likes it, we were concerned but gave him a tad of PB on his waffles. He ate them just fine. And since then he can eat PB just fine. I think it is remarkable that his body overcame the allergy. I don't know how it did it or what changed but I'm happy that a peanut allergy is no longer a problem for him. So if anyones kiddo has an allergy it is possible that they may grow out of it. That is my point in sharing this tidbit of info. Smiles

We are off to Montana on Tuesday. We are looking forward to all the activities up there. Tom's parents have a lovely home that can accommodate everyone so we always have the best time. I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving. I'll post pictures of our holiday when we get back.

Nickname

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Samantha informed me that I can call her Sam. This evening she said, "Mom you can call me Sam if you want." My little girl is growing up. (I say wiping a tear away)

Happy 3rd Birthday

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Happy Birthday Seth!!

Three things I love about Seth

• He is helpful. He helps me fold clothes, do dishes and sweep
• He tries new foods like sushi, spicey things and artichokes
• He loves playing games. His favorites are Hiss, Elefun and Candyland. That's MY boy!
  

For his birthday Seth chose to go bowling. Seth wore his new clothes from Grandma Galloway. Thanks Grandma.


The kids bowled 157 with a little help from Daddy and this ramp.

The bowling team

Obama & First Snow

First off, I must admit that I'm oddly curious about Barack Obama. I was drawn in last night as I watched him speak. It will be interesting to see what the next 4 years will bring. I sort of felt a breath of fresh air as we watched the celebration of President Elect Omaba. I love the beautiful family that the Obama's have. I definitely do NOT agree with his stand on moral issues of adortion and such. The best news of the night was that Prop 8 passed in California banning gay marriage. THANK YOU California!

Now on to the first BIg snow.....

I tried Jodi's picture challenge to take pictures of my kids when they are not looking at the camera. It was fun. Not nearly as professional as Jodi's pictures turn out!

Halloween Week

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By the time Halloween day comes the kids have already worn their costumes several times. It's all coming back to me, getting three children in and out of their costumes, it's exhausting. As you can see in the picture below my boys don't even have their costumes on. But Ashlin (Minnie Mouse) Ella (flower) Samantha (pirate) Madison (good witch) Everett (train engineer) do and they are soooo adorable!

The gang at Gardner Village

Samantha performing with her preschool class. They all sang some spooky Halloween songs.

Don't we look like a rowdy bunch. Tom and I dressed up as lumber jacks, in case you couldn't tell. The last time we dressed up was before we had kids and we were batman and cat woman.

Samantha was mesmerized by Glinda the good witch. Glinda showed up to our ward Halloween party. She granted some wishes then gave Samantha her magic wand. WOW!

Pirate pose. Watch out, she's gonna get you

For Seth I resorted to Superman PJs for his costume and sewed a cape for him.

Trey is our adorable skeleton

Our Family en Vogue

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Our family photo shoot. My wonderful and extremely talented friend Jodi (http://www.ayummylifephotography.com/) took these pictures. It was so much fun to have family pictures taken. I love Jodi's style and she's got a great eye for a fantastic end result. Tom said this was the best family picture taking experience he's ever had.

An Ode to Our Apartment

Two years ago this month Tom and I made a big decision one that we have been grateful for several times over. We chose to move into a dingy, 70's style apartment. As we have weathered the storms of starting a new business, the financial struggles that come along with that, we are so happy we chose to live simple for the past two years. We have cursed this apartment at one time or another, but it's provided our family shelter. It was kind of embarrassing moving into such a ghetto place but by making that decision we have been surrounded by wonderful friends and ward members that have taken us in and loved us. People who have loved and taught our children, friends that Tom and I have enjoyed. So thank you apartment #6. We don't know how long we will live here but while it lasts we are delighted. Here are a few pictures of our life over the past two years while we have lived in our apartment.

Our apartment #6
These are our babies when we first move in. Samantha was 2 and Seth was 11 mos. Now she is 4 and he's almost 3. OH HOW THEY GROW.

Seth's first birthday! We all have had 2 birthdays while living here except Trey

The parking lot makes a great sledding area and the view awesome

Trey was born while living here. 4/20/07

The wonderful field next to us was great for kite flying, we had a beautiful view of the mountains until.....

They started this lovely construction. It's been going on since March of this year. It's loud and blocks our view.

This apartment came with this lovely push button, avocado colored built-in stove. Unfortunately we have no dish washer or A/C but the apartment does have spiders and a permanent ring around the toilet bowl. I sure love the chef in this pic whipping up some omelets with the kids.

We have spent 2 Christmases in this cozy apartment

Our family