Grandma Swapp's 85th Birthday in Midway...

Grandma Swapp's 85th birthday was the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Midway, UT.  We piled in the Tahoe for a day trip.  We just decided to get up early and head up and back. Mikayla, who is doing pretty good with potty training, still needed us to stop quite a few times on the side of the road.

At the party, and with some food in him, Jack promptly fell asleep.

By mid-afternoon, the littles needed naps.  I drove them around to fall asleep so Merril could keep visiting with relatives.  

Merril called and said the party had wrapped up and the girls wanted to ice skate on the rink next door.  I decided to join them.

 Jack wasn't with us anymore because he had gone with Grandpa Campbell, Beau, Uncle Justin, and Uncle Matt to a Jazz game.  After the little woke up from their naps, we went to see a natural hot spring and then drove home.

Time to get a Christmas tree!

I love going into the mountains to cut down a tree for Christmas.  We usually go out to the Kaibab by Jacob Lake, AZ.  Dinner at the Jacob Lake Inn usually follows and it's delicious! Riding in the car is the hardest part.

It was unseasonably warm this year, around 50 degrees and sunshiney with little to no snow on the ground.  

We've had years with snow up to waist but this year's tree was easy to find and drag out.

We usually get a white fir but Merril has always wanted a blue spruce.  Blue spruce it is.

At some point, the tradition of bringing hot chocolate and soft ginger spice cookies found it's way into our family.

Even though it was a little early for tree cutting, certain scheduling conflicts made the Wednesday before Thanksgiving the day to go.  Don't worry, I most certainly will NOT put up that tree before turkey day.  I feel like it's important to be grateful first.

Basket Brigade 2014...

Last year, Merril and the older kids put together Thanksgiving dinner baskets for needy families. Brent and Andrea P. are part of the committee for the Basket Brigade of Southern Utah.  Donations are gathered and needy families are nominated and selected.  We show up the Saturday before Thanksgiving and put together baskets and deliver them.

The kids are amazing helpers and I think it's a great service opportunity for them.  The baskets were heavy so it took at least 2 to carry it. 

Odds and Ends...

These pictures don't really have a cohesive theme or follow a life event but I still feel they are noteworthy.  I was at Merril's storage unit with my camera and Mikayla wanted me to take pictures of her running.  I think she's adorbs.

Mark is being a stinker, completely dumping out a container of pretzels all over the floor.  He knows he's been caught too.  Check out his face.  Ok, he's adorbs too.

And here are my girls, making pretty dresses out of blankets.

Other than that, I've been trying to get some Christmas shopping done to get a jump on the season.  Having 5 kids means buying 10 cousin gifts.  Suddenly that seems like a lot!

Literacy Night...

Literacy Night this year entailed dressing up like a word.  Juliet was 'Sparkly' and she is covered in spray glitter.  Jack had an old crocodile hat so he was set as a crocodile.  I threw together a last minute sign that said 'stroller' and pushed Mark around.  I couldn't believe how many people thought it was funny.  The two signs I spent the most time on rarely got a chuckle.

To be honest, coming up with costumes right after Halloween was a little annoying.  But it was fun and I'm glad we pulled something together and went.

Jack had a birthday, shout hooray...

Merril was able to use a rock climbing wall from the Search and Rescue facility and so we had a rock climbing birthday for Jack!  He turned 9.

They played on that wall almost the whole time, just stopping to have some pizza and cake.  We had neighbor kids and birthday kids on that wall until it was too dark to climb!

Merril and I spent the better part of a day harnessing up kids and attaching them to the pulleys.  The whole automatic belay system was super amazeballs!  

I didn't even get a picture of Jack on the wall, just Mikayla.

Mark just ate cake and had a nap.  Gross!

Jack is horrible about saving money, loves Legos, taking apart cars and is Mark's best friend.  Mark and Jack are so cute together.  Jack can make him laugh more than any other person, including me.  I love my boys!

Wow, Maxine is 12...

Maxine turned 12 and I can't believe it.  She's so grown up, she only wanted clothes and make up for her birthday.  *sigh*  It was bound to happen I guess and she's growing up to be a great person.  I just hope I can make it.  12-18 is such a monumental period is a person's life.  So much personality is shaped and I want to protect her from all the garbage out there.  She already makes good decisions, I hope the trend continues.

She wanted to be able to do baptisms for the dead as soon as possible and our ward was going a few days after her birthday.  Luckily, I was able to go with her because the YW were short on leaders.

Maxine is a huge help to me by babysitting a lot and helping out.  I'm sure she can't wait to go on real babysitting jobs and make real money.  Not that I blame her.  Just can't believe how fast she's growing up.  :)