Christmas is Coming

So fun. You can tell Christmas is in the air when your kids start bringing home school projects like this cute gingerbread house.

And the gingerbread family to go along with it!

Isaac wanted to be involved in every aspect of Christmas decorating this year. Jeremy had his hands full with putting up lights and keeping Isaac "up," too!

Jacob and Isaac placed all the ornaments on the tree by themselves. They did a great job! Our tree is beautiful.



After a "Polar Express" school day in his jammies, Isaac brought home a neat candy train. Ms. Cheri does it again!

Jacob and Isaac were my best helpers setting up all the nativities all over the house (we're past 30 this year!). As I put them to bed that night Isaac said, "I just LOVE Jesus. He was so special when he was a baby!"

And finally, the Elementary School Winter Sing! Jacob joined the rest of the third grade in singing "Winter Sleighride," "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful," and "Happy Winter."

Allen Family Thanksgiving

We drove to St. George for Thanksgiving weekend with the Allen side of the family this year. The kids' favorite activity is always raking and playing in the leaves (more so the playing than the raking).

And what would Thanksgiving be without some turkeys playing football?

I can't ever tell if we do Grandpa Tom a favor by raking the leaves or if we just make a bigger mess for him later?

Everyone helped get the big Thanksgiving dinner ready. Thanks, Noah!

The morning was filled with chopping, mixing, cooking, baking, and in my case, revising a chocolate-pecan pie I goofed on.

My beautiful mom getting out the good dishes. She is so brave! We had 9 boys and 1 girl cousin and they didn't break anything!

This year we had a Thankful Tree on the wall. Everyone wrote down what they were thankful for and stuck their leaf to the tree. Ethan is so cute!

Joe and Kelli's boys are so sweet. This is Grant...

...and his baby brother Luke, who is never without a smile.

Spencer and Noah represented the teenage crowd by polishing off their piled-high plates of food!

Jacob ponders the fact that he is sitting at the kid table.

The best spread ever: turkey, homemade stuffing, egg noodles, sweet potatoes (2 kinds: marshmallow, and pecan/feta cheese. Yum!), potatoes, gravy, Lion House rolls, peas, and Pie (apple, mincemeat, chocolate pecan, pumpkin, chocolate silk). I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

It was so freezing cold in St. George that weekend but we braved the weather to walk off some of the calories while we walked to the park.

Isaac and Eliza.

And more fun in the leaves. Isn't this a great shot? Austin is a doll.

Check out the cool forts and boundary walls. An impromptu game of War.

After cramming in all of the cooking and baking, Black Friday shopping, swimming at the Rec center, and several trips to the park, Jeremy took this photo at the St. George temple. It reminds us that as we celebrate all of our blessings at Thanksgiving, we should remember that spirit of gratitude as we look forward to the coming of Christmas, the celebration of our greatest blessing, the gift of the Son of God.

Fall Festival

We only have one child at Franklin Elementary this year, but we all wanted to go play at the Fall Festival anyway. The kids love the wristbands for unlimited bouncing and rock wall, as well as spending their tickets on the carnival games. Not to mention the cotton candy, nachos, and all the other junk food they get to choose from. And it all goes to a good cause.

Slayers

Jacob had a great season as a member of the Slayers flag football team. He lives and breathes football and this was a time that he could shine! He was a star quarterback and receiver and made quite a few touchdowns for his team. He was also great on defense; his team was grateful for his skills! He is so focused and absolutely loves the game. He wants to try tackle football soon. We'll see.

A Winning Season

The Taylor Trojans finished up a winning season at the end of October. It was such fun for me to go to all of Spencer's games, especially when I had Jacob by my side to explain all the plays and the calls and the rules to me. Their next-to-last game was the very BEST GAME EVER!! They pulled together and won a very scarily close game. I was screaming my guts out and had a sore throat for days, but look at Spencer's smile! It was so worth it. They were all so proud of themselves. Taylor will not have a football team after this year; this season was their "One Last Hit" before 9th Grade goes to high school. Way to go, guys!