Hosting Thanksgiving at our house!

This was our first time hosting Thanksgiving at our house. We have had numerous baby blessings and baptism luncheons at our house...I figured it would be similar. Guess what...it was :)

Here are a few pictures of the festivities.

 

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Father-in-law

Brother-in-law and nephew

Austin...messing around. He did a lot of that :)

The dishes half way through clean up...thought you'd enjoy this picture, haha

There was a lot of "playing on Grandpas Kindle fire"

 

We had an old fashioned sing along around the piano...all Christmas songs.

We also added a new tradition this year...

we had a paper airplane flying contest. Everyone received a piece of paper and wrote what they were thankful for and then we flew them. The wind was kind of blowing...but it was way fun. And I think we should do it again every year. The winner got a pack of gum :)

(random photos of the flying of paper airplanes)

Check out Austins great leap...in the background. Man he can jump, who knew.

My mom and Grandpa Mike, my father-in-law and half of my mother-in-law.

After the airplanes we played on the tree rope swing...

Austin was king of the swing.

Shawn even did it.

And then he dared me to do it...my foot got stuck in the rope.

Then I actually caught some air...and a slight rope burn.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving...and I vote I don't have to host for at least 8 more years :)

The future of my blog?

This is the longest I have ever gone without posting something on my blog. It is strange for me, life is still going forward, things are happening that I could and should be blogging about. But I find myself posting on Facebook and taking pictures on Istagram instead. The other day my 13 year old said "mom, you know no one looks at blogs anymore." Is that true? Why do I blog? For the comments? For others to stay connected to my family? A little of all of that I guess. But I also do it because I think it is an easy way to keep our family history. It is really for me...and no one else :) I do love reading your comments, but I think even if there were no more comments from any of my friends and family I would still post just for my benefit :)

Provo Halloween Half marathon

I was able to run in the Provo Halloween Half Marathon this last Saturday. Shawn ran in the 5k. I love having him there, whether it is to run a race with me, or to just cheer me on. He is a fantastic cheerleader:)  They encouraged all the runners to dress up. I was Cookie Monster.

Shawn Dressed up as a Life Guard...he had on his life guard shorts, and life guard sweat shirt.

At the place where you picked up your running packet they had the Provo Halloween Hersh...it is pretty awesome.

Race day was cold but thankfully it wasn't raining. Shawn got 2nd place in his age group.

And I beat my last race time by 2 minutes:)

Their food at the end of the race was a little lacking....no chocolate milk...are you kidding me. Hence the look in this last  picture :)

It was a fun race, but I don't know that I will do that one again...it was just TOOOOO cold!

Running playlist #2

My 2nd half marathon is coming up on Saturday :) I am just as excited for this one as I was for my first, but not as nervous. So, here is the long awaited new playlist of songs I will be singing along to as I run. Feel free to give me any other song ideas you might have or comment on the ones I chose.

(once again they are all the non-explicit version)

Live While We're Young	One Direction
Hello	Karmin
Love Drunk	Boys Like Girls
Die Young	Ke$sha
Want You Back	Cher Lloyd
Home	J.Wride (cover)
All In	Lifehouse
Glad you came	The wanted
All the Right moves (remix)	One Republic (Danger remix)
Jai Ho (You are my destiny)	Pussy Cat dolls
Finally Found you	Enrigue Iglesias
Dog days are over	Florence + The Machine
This is war	Thirty seconds to mars
Run the World	Beyonce
One More Night	Maroon 5
Kiss You Inside out	Hedley
Go ape	Far East Movement
Don't Wake Me Up	Chris Brown
Barbie Girl	Aqua
The Good Ol' Days	The Script
Great Escape	Boys Like Girls
Promises	Skrillex
It Ends tonight	The All-American Rejects
Lucky Strike	Maroon 5
One Step at a time	Four Year Strong
Sexy Chick	David Guetta
Remember When	Chris Wallace
Ships in the Night	Mat Kearney
Young Forever	The Ready Set
In my Head	Jason Derulo
Club Can't Handle me	Flo Rida
Break Your Heart	Taio Cruz
Commander	Kelly Rowland
Secrets	One Republic
I don't Wanna Dance	Hey Monday
Shake It	Metro Station
Locked out of Heaven	Bruno Mars

2 days worth of hard labor...

We have lived in our home for 6 years and never once trimmed our huge tree in the front yard. We have had numerous companies ask us if they could trim it...for way too much $$$$. We figured we could do it ourselves. It was an adventure, and unfortunately I forgot to take "before and after" pictures. Let me just say it sure looks a lot better. 

Shawn took a day off of work, the missionaries also came and helped us. We started at 9:30 a.m. and finished about 5:30 p.m. We had a huge pile on the side of our house. The next day the "Green waste bin" came. It took us and our neighbor a good 3 hours just to put all the limbs in it.

I did learn a valuable lesson...that night I figured I deserved a hot bubble bath, I used the sea salt scrub I had, it smells wonderful...that is when I learned the literal meaning of "pouring salt in your wounds". I had no idea that I had so many scratches on my arms. It killed!!!

So, if you need a big tree trimmed...do not call us :)

It might have been worth all the $$$ to have someone else do it.

Halloween Movie Marathon

Our really good friends do a fun Halloween Movie Marathon every year. They are secretly known as "The mulk" "She mulk" "Snorr" "Ray-Ray" and "Kitty". Every weekend in October they have a movie night. They usually start about 5:00 pm and go till 11:00. They show great movies, ones I have never seen before. They are always entertaining and treat filled nights. Love these guys and hope they keep the tradition going for at least 50 more years :)

So here is the list of top 10 things I learned from this Saturdays round of movies:

10. I learned what the word Bushwa means = rubbishy nonsense; baloney; bull.

9. Never run in high heels. 

8. When you think the gun is out of bullets, just take a chance and run.

7. If you bury your lottery ticket in the casket with your father...just leave it there.

6. When being held at gun point, just spray gas in the bad guys eyes.

5.If a Dr. starts to admire your tattoo...be scared.

4. I learned what the word Egregious means = conspicuous; especially : conspicuously bad : flagrant.

3.Snake venom will kill bad guys.

2. Guys with uni brows are always evil.

1.This is the best one......There is NO point in locking your door if you leave the window open! 

Hope you have a great Halloween...go watch a few scary movies.

This is the list of movies they have planned for the month.

Fear the Night!
We’re watching scary movies every weekend
in October. Check out the schedule and come whenever you
like and stay as long as you want. We’ll provide popcorn and
drinks, but bring any other goodies you want to share. Kids’ movies
will be on in Josh’s room if you’re too scared for the real deal.
*Friday, Oct 5 – Dead Reckoning
6:00 p.m. The Twilight Zone: “Twenty Two” (1961)
A woman recovering in the hospital keeps having nightmares about room number twenty-two. - 25 min
6:30 p.m. The Mummy's Curse (1944)
A construction project unearths a mummy buried in quicksand 25 years earlier. - 62 min
7:45 p.m. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966) – Michelle Pick!
An aspiring reporter is assigned to stay in a haunted house on the anniversary of a murder. - 90 min
9:30 p.m. Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)
A town is terrorized by a scarecrow enacting revenge on the killers of a wrongfully accused man. - 96 min
Saturday, Oct 13 – Of Madmen and Maniacs
5:00 p.m. Thriller: “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” (1961)
70 years after the Ripper killings in London, police believe Jack may still be alive and in New York. - 50 min
6:00 p.m. Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
A surgeon is summoned to treat Baron Sardonicus, who hides a strange affliction behind a mask. - 89 min
7:30 p.m. The Sadist (1963)
Car trouble leads travelers to an old wrecking yard with terrifying results. Incredibly suspenseful! - 92 min
9:15 p.m. Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
Baron Frankenstein escapes the guillotine and resumes his experiments to create life. - 89 min
Saturday, Oct 20 – Children of the Night
5:00 p.m. Kolchak: “The Vampire” (1974)
Carl Kolchak faces off with a vampire unknowingly unearthed by a road construction crew. - 52 min
6:00 p.m. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
A young couple inherits an old mansion with a terrible secret. Why was the fireplace bricked up? - 74 min
7:30 p.m. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) – Michelle Pick!
A diabolical carnival and its proprietor prey on the folk of a small American town. - 95 min
9:15 p.m. Troll Hunter (2010)
Student filmmakers investigate a bear poacher only to learn he is actually hunting trolls. - 103 min
Saturday, Oct 27 – The Unspeakable Horrors of H.P. Lovecraft
5:00 p.m. The Call of Cthulhu (2005)
A man’s search for the secret history of the Cthulhu Cult risks both his sanity and his life. - 47 min
6:00 p.m. The Haunted Palace (1963)
Vincent Price stars as a man who inherits the house of his warlock ancestor. - 87 min
7:30 p.m. The Whisperer in Darkness (2011)
A folklore professor investigates legends of creatures rumored to dwell in remote Vermont - 104 min
9:30 p.m. Die, Monster, Die! (1965)
A man visiting his girlfriend discovers a dreadful secret involving a meteorite. Stars Boris Karloff! - 80 min
*Note the first week’s movie night will be on Friday. All other movie nights will be Saturdays.

I claim her as MINE!!!

So I am going to brag about ONE of my amazing siblings (just so you know...they are all amazing!!!)

Shelley has been an instructor of a number of workout classes, Pilates, kick boxing, the reformer, water aerobics, step...you name it she probably has taught it. She is a great teacher. In fact I do believe she just got employee of the month...again :)

Anyways, she got the opportunity to go to Chicago a few months ago and film a workout video. She had done a few photo shoots for this company called "Icon". They asked her if she wanted to help with 2 DVDs . Of course she said yes...and here they are :)

 This is what the display looks like when you go to Walmart.

In this "Remix" DVD she gets to lead one of the sections...pretty cool :)

This is the back of that box...look really hard, she is in the orange.

Then she got to be on the cover of this DIY workout video...look how cute she is :)

And she is also on the back of that box too.

There is so much I could tell you about my sister, she is kind, understanding, a wonderful mom, forgiving, strong, dependable, loving, super amazing testimony of the Gospel, I could go on forever...but the most important thing she is...she is one of my best friends,and we both share a love for all baked goods :) I love her to pieces!!! Congrats my little sis...love ya!

p.s. go buy her DVD at Walmart :)