Thanksgiving 2017

Before posting school events for each girl, I've decided to do our Thanksgiving post. We had a lot of last minute plans this Thanksgiving. Tyler had a work conference the weekend before Thanksgiving in San Antonio and in the past, we've taken all the girls with us and stayed with Scott and Nevla and then drove home only to drive the next day up to Utah for the weekend of Thanksgiving. We originally planned to do that again this year, however Abby's volleyball schedule meant she had to be in town the Friday that we normally would have left for San Antonio. So we started making plans for just Tyler to go to his conference and I'd stay home with the girls, but the day before leaving town, I had a genius idea. I asked my parents to watch our girls so that I could go with Tyler and have a weekend with just the two of us. I'd get to hang out with Scott and Nevla and all their kids while Tyler went to his conference and our girls wouldn't have to sit for hours in the car when we were planning on driving up to Utah that same week. So that's what we did. Chloe and I had fun taking lots of pictures. Here's our selfie with me, Chloe, and baby Danny.

Chloe took a lot of pictures with my phone the weekend we were there, but most of them were of blurry little girls who wouldn't stand still to have their picture taken. Here are the best pictures of Nadia and Alexa. We had quite a few more pictures, but they included Haylee so I'll have to wait and add those before I print out my blog books. It was so much fun to just be a mother's helper and not worry about my own kids. Chloe and Nevla both missed my girls though and they really would have had fun too had they come with us.

After Tyler's work conference, we took a long trip back home. Instead of driving straight back to El Paso, we drove up to Canton, Texas first which is outside of Dallas to look at a horse trailer that we wanted to buy. Tyler had decided for a Christmas present, he wanted to buy his dad a pony. His dad had been looking at Welsh ponies for the last couple of years, wanting to buy one to have for the grandkids. Tyler was worried that he'd never find that perfect one and then not ever get one. So Tyler started doing his own research and found a Welsh pony name Dutchess in Cortez, Colorado which is right on our way to Utah. So we found a small, used, one-horse trailer in Dallas and drove it back to El Paso. Tyler worked a couple days, and then we loaded up and headed to Utah and stopped to pick up Dutchess on the way. The girls were immediately in love with the 6 month old pony.  And when we drove up to Tyler's parent's house that night, it was the biggest surprise to everyone. They were all shocked, but were also immediately in love with her. It was dark by the time we got there, but first thing the next morning, we took Dutchess out of the trailer to walk her around and set her up in their backyard. The grandkids couldn't get enough of her.

We tried feeding her carrots, but she didn't really care for those, but she would eat hay right out of your hands.

She's only 6 months old, but since she's a Welsh pony her full size will still be pretty small for a horse. The boys spent the day making a temporary pen for her until Lee was able to get the equipment he needed to build her a bigger pen. Dutchess loved rolling around in the dirt and the kids thought that was the funniest thing ever.

Here's our big family picture that we took while we were together. We had to have Dutchess in the picture as well. This is the picture that Grandpa and Grandma Gibbons used as their Christmas card picture too.

Grandma and Grandpa still have chickens and the kids love going in the chicken coop to see if there are any eggs. Here's Taryn inside the coop.

The cousins enjoyed the outside. The weather was nice for November in Utah! They played and visited and watched the animals in the backyard.

The loved being goofy for the pictures. They even took turns riding Grandpa's riding lawn mower. Here's Abby taking her turn as she came around the back of the house. 

The day after Thanksgiving, we always drive up the mountain so that the kids can find their Christmas tree and cut it down. The grandkids love to play in the snow. I took some pictures of my girls as we wandered the mountain. Tessa decided to make a snow angel. And Aubrey was always at the front of the group leading the way as they decided which path to follow.

There were many snowball fights and Taryn wanted an action picture. You can see her snowball that she's ready to throw. While waiting for the parents to pick out their trees, Aubrey, Jacob, and Parker found some random animal bones by where we had parked the cars. They were gathering them all into a pile and showing everyone who came by. Aubrey always had fun with whoever she was playing with.

Since we wouldn't be spending Christmas together, Grandma and Grandpa had put up a small tree and we had our gift exchange that night. There were still plenty of presents just from what Grandma and Grandpa had gotten everyone and the grandkids gift exchange.

Taryn got a Lego set from her cousins and Aubrey got a purse.

Tessa got a chess set which was on her Christmas wish list and she was super excited when she opened it.

Finally, another picture of some of the girls playing. Lucy and Taryn are always like two peas in a pod. They do everything together. They were watching a movie on the ipad before bed this night. Aubrey hung out with them whenever she wasn't with the boys or the older girls. The teenager girls stayed down in their room the entire time and we hardly ever even saw them. I love how close all the cousins are; and how with even only seeing each other two or three times a year, they are like best of friends when they get together. We love our family. Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall 2017 Including Taryn's 6th Birthday

We always talk about how Taryn is just like Abby's mini-me. They have the same dark brown eyes, the same shade of hair, and Taryn looks just like how Abby did when she was younger. Abby was resting next to the sleeping Taryn on the couch one night, and I saw how similar they really look, so I took this picture. My babies!

In September, the girls and I went to the Women's broadcast session of General Conference. Ladies in our ward always go out to dinner afterwards and this time we chose Independent Burger. Their patio area has games and activities for the kids while the moms got to relax and visit. Here's Tessa with her friends Olivia, Rianne, and Mileah. Abby sat with the older girls at their own table. Here she is with Jess, Kate, and Braelinn.

We had a waitress take a picture of the mom table. I love my friends. We always have such a good time together. Aubrey and her friend, Lexi, made this huge tower out of blocks and Lexi's mom took a picture and sent it to me. Taryn loves these nights too because she gets a daddy-daughter date since she's the only one too young to attend the meeting.

On September 11, 2017, on my dad's birthday, Scott and Nevla's baby boy was born. They named him Daniel. After all the granddaughters, it's been so fun to finally have another grandson. He's so cute! Scott and Nevla, after adopting Nadia, were also placed with Nadia's biological sister, Haylee. They hope to be able to adopt her too, but until that is final, I can't post any pictures of her online. However, we love to go visit them and see all the babies. Nadia turned two in October and Haylee turned one. And then they have Alexa who had turned one in July and then Daniel born in September. So they have four babies basically under two. Their hands are full and their house is like a daycare, but those babies are loved and they have their schedule down to a science. We love visiting them and holding babies. I love my nieces and nephew!

We still have deer visitors in our backyard. One day I came home to find this deer napping in my yard. It scared me at first because I had been sitting watching tv for awhile before I noticed him move. He hung out for awhile and I took some pictures because his antlers were so weird - one pointing up and one down. After showing the girls the pictures, we tried to come up with a name for him, but I don't think we ever did. Maybe crooky or something. We'll definitely be able to recognize him if he ever stops to visit again.

Taryn turned 6 on October 14th. Since it was an even-number birthday, she had her first official birthday party with friends. She decided on Chuck E. Cheese and she invited some of the girls from her kindergarten class, plus some friends from her church primary class. Here are pictures from that fun day.

Taryn has two sets of twins in her kindergarten class this year. One set of boys and one set of girls. The girls, Isabella and Alyssa, are some of her closest friends. She also always likes to have dad help her on the games to win lots of tickets.

We did the whole party with hostess thing. The kids had a blast. They got pizza, cupcakes, dippin dots ice cream, all you can play games, and the chance to meet Chuck E. Cheese.

Taryn was not scared of Chuck E. and was more than willing to give him a high five and have her picture taken with him. We sang happy birthday to her and she blew out the candle on her cupcake. Chocolate with pink frosting, just like she had requested.

Here are all the kids from Taryn's party having their picture taken with Chuck E. Cheese. She had Cassidy, Presley, Aubrey, Sam, Tessa, Teagan, Gabby, Alyssa, and Isabella. They even got to pull a pinata. They took turns pulling strings until someone pulled the right one which ripped open the pinata. Taryn was the lucky one who opened the pinata on like her 3rd time around pulling strings. That was awesome.

The coolest part of her party package was when she got to take a turn in the ticket blaster. The wind turns on and blows tickets all around and you have to try and collect as many as you can by catching them out of the air. The first picture was when the hostess was telling her what to do as she got ready. The second picture was during her time and you can see that she got the big ticket which was worth 500 tickets! Watching the video, it's like that ticket just flew right in to her hand and she luckily didn't let go. She said it was a lot of fun, and we all loved watching her in there. She had the best birthday ever and we loved being able to enjoy it with friends. Happy birthday Taryn!

Abby decided on our Halloween costumes this year. She planned out the whole thing and helped me cut and paint them all. She decided on Pac Man characters, so Tyler and I were Mr. and Mrs. Pac Man while the girls were the ghosts. They even have names, did you know? Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde. The girls loved painting them, and although they were a little cumbersome as you walked around, we got a lot of compliments at our ward party and when we went trick-or-treating.

We made an extra ghost for Braelinn so that they could have matching costumes for their band concert. Braelinn's sister, Presley, loved to be in the picture too. Tyler and the young men were in charge of a candy walk where they walked around tombstones and were chosen by number based on the death year on each tombstone. The kids thought it was the best, especially because they used glow in the dark glue, a fog machine, and scary music.

Tyler's only wish for Halloween was to host a murder mystery dinner. He found one online that was kid friendly and we put it together with the Kasallis family. There were goblins, werewolves, scarecrows, witches, vampires, mummies, and zombies. The kids had fun dressing up and we all worked together to find clues to find out who the bad guy was. It turned out to be Tony the werewolf, which most people guessed correctly. It was a lot of fun.

Tyler's Birthday and Starting School

Taryn started Kindergarten this year! I can't believe it! A couple days before school started, they had a meet the teacher night. Taryn was very excited to meet her teacher, although with always being with me when I'd volunteer at the school, she already knew Mrs. Hardwick. But she was excited to see the classroom and her desk. She was looking forward to starting school.

Tyler's 40th birthday was the first day of school. We decided to celebrate the night before with my parents and the Kasallis's.

We sang and cheered him on as he blew out all those candles on his 3-layer chocolate and pudding cake.

Here are the first day of school pictures. I'll have posts for each girl's first half of school, but at least we had to get things started. Abby started 7th grade and Taryn's in Kindergarten.

Tessa started 5th grade, her last year of elementary school. And Aubrey started 3rd grade.

I grabbed a picture as we walked into the school, so we'll have a picture of the girls' elementary school. The last year that I'll have three girls at the same school.