Lukes Eagle Project

As I think most of you know, Luke has been working on his Eagle Scout Service Project, and I am happy and proud to announce that it is done! Here are a few pictures of some of the events that took place to help this all come together. I think we were able to get some cute things for the stockings: Webkinz, coloring book and crayons, book, gloves, and other goodies for the kids. Socks, lotion, nail kit and polish, journal and pen, large candy bar, gum, and lipgloss for the women. After we had collected everything to go in the stockings, Luke had a few friends over to help put the stockings together. After we delivered the stockings, we even had some money left over thanks for the generous donations from so many people! We were able to head to Wal Mart and get several $20 gift cards to donate to the women in the shelter. We were never able to see any of the women and children that were to receive the gifts.. . . they are quite protective of the residents there. But this has been such a fun and rewarding experience! now Luke just needs to finish his paperwork and soon we will be holding a court of honor!!

Let the parties begin. . .

I loaded all these pictures in reverse. . . sigh. So you will hear about everything in reverse order I guess.

Maybe I am trying to make up for six months of anti-social, stressed out self. . .. I have been hosting a few get togethers!

Tonight, the girls had a little Christmas party with some of their friends. I think total it was 14 girls ranging from 6-11 over. I think I planned it just right, because right when they were starting to get a little "crazy", parents were showing up to pick up their kids!

Here are some pictures of the whole crew. . notice our new "love sac" that David showed up with right at the end of the party. .. this created quite a bit of excitement with the girls. We had all the girls bring a small gift and do a white elephant gift exchange. . . always a favorite! Here is Mia with her crew. . .Abigail, Brighten, Mia, Eden, and Kate. They are all BFFs in the same class at school and all in our ward as well. Kennedy with some of her friends, Janette, Kennedy, Amberly, (part of Josie), and then Haley. We also played some Santa bingo with a small prize for everyone. . . a book and a candy cane full of candy. Elizabeth with some of her friends. . . Bethany, Elizabeth, Hailey, and Emily. I realized a week or so ago that the semester for BYU was almost over and we had barely had Bronte over at all. . . so I quickly texted her to invite her for a Sunday dinner before she went home for the holidays. Her and her cute roommates are such good sports with my girls. . . dancing, singing, and keeping them entertained. Windsor (my girls cousin) was getting a little too snuggly to Bronte. . . . Last Friday, David invited a small group of friends over from work for a little get together. It was laid back. . .we ate, visited, and of course did white elephant! Lori and her husband, Tony. Cory, Cassie, Ryan, and Bethany.

I didn't get a photo of everyone, but just had to show that we have a couple friends :) Ryan and Bethany's little boy was quite the entertainer! Kept us entertained. . . . .

Well, three down, two to go.. Tomorrow night Luke is having some friends over to help finish his eagle project. and then sunday I am having David's family over for our Christmas dinner. I should be able to breathe then!! It's fun though, right??

Tis the Season

Hooray! It's Blog updating time! :)

I guess we will start with Thanksgiving. We hosted David's family at our house. I wasn't feeling great, so I felt that my preparations weren't up to par. . . but I think everyone still had a good time. I KNOW the kids did! This kids love playing and dancing in our new room. The steps you see are some built in seating that David wanted to put in. I will eventually make some cushions to go on them. Maybe after Christmas. . . . Jenn was nice enough to bring her paper so we could check out the adds. There ended out not really being anything good enough to entice me to stay out all night and then work the next day! I went to bed and tried to get some sleep instead :) I did buy a couple of things online.. ..I couldn't skip shopping altogether! Here is an update for Luke's eagle project. First, let me say THANK YOU to everyone who is making this possible! The donations are going to a great cause, and we are having a blast getting everything together. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we were able to go set up a Christmas Tree in the common room of the shelter. Let me tell you, they have high tech security at the facility. Electric fences, Stone walls. . .. they really try to protect these women and children from the situations they are fleeing from.

I think the tree turned out cute!

Now that we have seen the room, I will probably go get a few more decorations to make it even more festive! well, on the Monday after thanksgiving, we decided it was time to decorate our tree as well. we still have our old tree with a bunch of mis-matched ornaments. . . maybe someday I will get a new tree and buy everything matching, but I couldn't get rid of our sentimental tree! it may not be the most beautifully decorated. ... but we love it anyway! Just a couple of random out of order pics here. After we decorated the tree for the shelter, we drove over to the malt shop for some shakes and hamburgers. elizabeth had to show off her new TOMS that she bought with the last of her birthday money. . . she waited and planned to buy these, and yes, she saved her money from September to buy them when we had employee shop day at Nordstrom. On sunday Kennedy and I were able to get a couple tickets from Dan and Jen to go to the Christmas devotional at the conference center in Salt Lake. It was both of ours first time being able to see the Conference center. It's a pretty amazing facility. we stopped at the Tabernacle afterwards and it seems to SMALL compared to the conference center! I remember going to see conference there once while I was in college. . . We were a lot closer to the prophet then! Kennedy was dissapointed she didn't get to shake the prophets hand, but besides that it was fun visiting temple square and seeing everything all lit up and decorated. and just a reminder as we all head into the hustle and bustle of the season:

Christmas is what we make of it. Despite all the distractions, we can see to it that Christ is at the center of our celebration. If we have not already done so, we can establish Christmas traditions for ourselves and for our families which will help us capture and keep the spirit of Christ.

President Monson