EMMA'S FIRST THANKSGIVING MEAL!

Emma is working on getting her Young Women Recognition Award - our goal is to have it done before she starts high school but we aren't holding our breath. Today she completed her Divine Nature project. Her and I sat down and we planned out what we were going to eat and then went shopping for it. Then she made Taryn's peanutbutter fudge one night and then today she made the turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans with almonds, homemade cranberry sauce, (we cheated and bought rolls from Kneaders because we didn't have time to make them), smores pie, stuffing for the turkey and then had sparkling cider. The turkey totally grossed Emma out and it does me...and it doesnt help when her dad is made turkey gobble noises while making her clean it out! She wouldn't touch the neck so she compromised and held on to Jared's wrist while he threw it away although she did have to reach in and pull out the bag of innards! She did help butter the outside of the turkey and season it and even put butter underneath the skin and she put the stuffing inside the turkey. Don't tell her but she has techincally done more than me - last time I did it - I had Jared "help me" :) She did a great job setting the table, cooking everything and doing the dishes. My parents wanted to come and try this food out so they came over and my mom came just in time to help Emma make homemade gravy - it was DELICIOUS! Emma was very proud of herself and so were we! Great job girl!

JARED TURNS 40!

Jared turned 40 today. I would have liked to have done another fun surprise trip like when he turned 30, but sadly no time or money for that right now. We looked at a few houses with my parents in between going out to breakfast and lunch and then Jared had his glorious nap. That night I had his friends come over and they hung out and played games and then I ordered a ton of food from Morenos so that was fun! I gave him a few things from his new obsession - Lulu Lemon. Then the next day Jared and I went to dinner and a movie. Pretty uneventful, but any time with Jared is a good time! 

TYSON!

Tyson came home from school yesterday and was so proud - he was chosen to be Student of the Month. He has been wearing his medal around and proudly showing it to everyone, he hung his certificate up on the fridge and he is really looking forward to having root beer floats with the principal in a couple of weeks!

Tyson and Cody on the way to the cafeteria for their rootbeer floats! Thank heavens we are friends with the teacher and she will send us pictures of the kids sometimes!




A few days before that he came home from school - as fast as he could - grabbed some paper and a pencil and got straight to work. Bless his soul - he was making coupons for everyone. I got one that said "free scratch back", Jared got one that said something about helping him with work out side and I just found this little gem in Emma's room  - he is a sweet kid!

Tyson at his first running club race this year. He is the only Jensen participating and he is running faster this year - so proud of him! 

NEW YEARS EVE/DAY!

Love some of our family traditions - one of them is going to the Parrys for New Years Eve! We went over at 7pm and had Chick-Fil-A and Cheesecake Factory. The kids ran around and played while Maddie and Emma did their cool hangout thing. We did bust out a few rounds of Pie Face. About 11:45pm we went outside and did sparklers and took pictures. It took so long to do that, that by the time we came inside it was already 12:10am but the kids would have been crushed if we didn't count down, so I just randomly started counting down from 10 and everyone joined in and then we celebrated! It was time for some fireworks and more craziness and then we went home!

After getting to bed about 1:30am the kiddos all slept in so when we finally all got up around 10am we got some breakfast and got ready for the day. The boys were taking off to the desert to go shooting and us girls were going to the Oronas for game day. We partied there until about 10pm. The boys LOVED shooting guns and cowboy guns as they called Jon's gun. It was a great day had by all.