Happy Thanksgiving!

 Thanksgiving is not just the day before Black Friday. It is the day to be together. To express our thanks to those we love, those who have helped us and most especially to the Lord who gave us everything.  We live in such a magnificant world. Let us remeber to stop and look around at the beauty and bounty.

Gratitude lifts the heart, replenishes the soul and reminds us of those around us. We think less of ourselves and more of others. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!

I just sent my oldest child off to college. I know I am not old enough to do this (actually I am) but here we are. He is having a great time and doesn't seem to miss us much. But that is how it is supposed to be, right?  

Great Couple of Weeks

Friday night, we attended the St Balderick's Childhood Cancer Fundraiser at the high school. All three boys got there heads shaved for a great cause. Don't they look great with those bald heads.

We are very excited. We have been waiting and waiting to hear if Mitch got into his school. Last week he found out he is going to BYU next Fall. We are so excited for him. I think he will have a great experience.

Keith's Destination Imagination Team took first place out of 11 teams and will now head to the State competition.

Taking January off - Kinda!

I took the entire month of January off. That is I took time off of my busy, crazy life of raising a family and did something I have been wanting to do for a long time. I went to Real Estate School to get my real estate license.

I have been working in real estate for over a decade but I also have five children so getting my license has not been a priority.

I left the house every morning at 8am right after my kids left for school and drove 45 minutes to Kaplan in South Denver. I was in class Monday through Friday 9am to 4pm for the entire month.

It was a little crazy but my kids relly stepped up to help. My oldest son drives so he made sure that everyone got to their after school activities. The kids helped with dinner and kept the house cleaned up. The only hitch was laundry, especially when my washing machine died and we went a week without doing laundry. Fortunately, I now have the super large washing machine that can wash ten loads of laundry at once (okay not 10 but a lot) so we quickly caught up.

After 4 weeks of studying and test taking, I passed the class with flying colors and more importantly I passed the state exam so I will offically have my license as soon as it comes in the mail.

October 2010

Keith and Alex heading out the door for school.

Carving pumpkins on the back patio. Mitch and Kevin


Keith

Mitch

The whole gang. It was very warm in late October. The rule is, it has to be over 60 degrees outside to wear shorts.

Hoping that the great pumpkin will help Mitch get into BYU!!

Alex as cute as ever.

Christmas 2010 in February 2011

Whitney, Kevin, Mitch Keith and Alex at the Northpole.

I have been meaning to post our 2010 Christmas Letter but my computer was down. So know taht it is working here it is.

We can’t believe how quickly this 2010 has passed. This decade we have watched our family grow considerably. We started it with a very small family and we are ending it with almost grown young men.
Mitch is in his senior year and has been busy applying for colleges and scholarships. He made it to state in cross country and has finally finished his eagle. The official ceremony will be sometime next month.
Kevin is well over 6 feet tall, received his driver’s permit and made honor roll at school. He also did drum line for marching band and ran cross country at the same time.
Whitney entered middle school this year. She is also a beehive and a star soccer player. She has a very active social life.
Keith is in 4th grade. He is a Bear scout, loves all sports. He played soccer and basketball this year. He is very funny and keeps us thinking with his many philosophical questions.
Alexandria is in 1st grade and is our outgoing fashonista. She dances and plays soccer. She loves shopping and wearing lots of accessories. She is very, very cute, which has saved her life on several occasions.
Lisa is constantly crying over stupid commercials as she contemplates her first child leaving home this next year. She has been busy working, raising five kids, being the Bear Den leader, being a girl’s camp leader and trying to keep up with Phillip.
Phillip has been able to keep busy with his law firm in spite of the economy. The economy has been a little stressful but overall we have been very fortunate. He is also busy working in the bishopric for our church. Phillip rode the triple bypass this summer with Mitch and Kevin and his brother Craig and nephew Brad. He also rode Lotoja while Lisa drove as his pit crew along the way.
We had a lot of fun as a family. We went skiing for a week at Copper Mountain and a trip to Washington D.C. We had a lot of fun seeing the sights and visiting with family.
We hope this beautiful Christmas season finds each of you well. We are very grateful for our Savior, His Atonement, for our membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and for the many blessings we receive on a daily basis.