Finally--"Miss Laura" is baptized!

Laura in her baptismal dress

Laura playing basketball after her baptism. Enough of being lady-like.

More basketball for that "Laura-girl!"
Laura and one of her dear friends--our bishop, Bishop Ryan Page.

Laura and her Dad. Always a "Daddy's girl!"
Laura and two of her brothers! She is so lucky to have two brothers who think she is pretty darn cool!
And again, "Miss Laura" on her baptism day! She was so excited to be baptized and to have so many wonderful people be apart of that special experience! Laura wanted to be baptized on a Saturday morning so she could have "breakfast" food after. There were about 60 people there! That is pretty amazing! What a special and sweet girl.

"Elmo on Ice--Or ?"

Laura, our little friend, Grant and Cameron!

Elmo on Ice, January 2008

A few days ago a friend in the ward--this sweet friend who just happens to be a newscaster at the local TV station--asked if I would like to have four tickets to "Elmo on Ice." She claims she is too old for ELMO! Well, I took the tickets! Cameron has his fifth birthday coming up next week and I so I thought it would be fun to take him and a little friend from the ward. Laura, who I thought would be too old, also wanted to go! FUN TIMES AHEAD!



So, we paid $5.00 to park in VIP parking. There's no walking too far for this woman--especially with three small children in tow and with being 15 degrees out. We entered the arena--that's where it all started. COTTON CANDY--$4.00; ELMO BALLOONS--$8.00; LIGHT SPINNER-THINGS--$12.00. I just shake my head and think: "I don't think I would really pay $22.00 a ticket for this show and then pay this outlandish amount for some simple snacks." The whole evening had I paid for the tickets and all would have been about $150.00. That is just amazing.


--So, I am so grateful for a sweet friend who wanted my children to enjoy a wonderful evening just being kids. Thank you!

So for those of you who missed a fun-filled evening--here are some of fun we enjoyed!

King Herrod's Soldier and Ward Christmas Party!

Don't you think "he" makes the perfect soldier for King Herod? "He" thought so...
A front view on our modern day "Soldier."
And this is "Miss Laura" and our dear friend, Melody Pettit. She is a newscaster here, and more importantly Laura's CTR 8 teacher in Primary. And if there are any way cool LDS Young Men--single of course, our dear friend is 6' 2" and also very single. I don't think I would challenge her to any "one-on-one" B-ball....

A Little Thanksgiving Fun!

"Gretchen," our family watchdog! This is her favorite spot to "watch" all those rabbits and squirrels and make sure that nothing attacks us!

One of our little "Indian's" waiting patiently for the thanksgiving feast.

Little Missie thinks she is a football "girl." She is always borrowing her older brother's football jersey and playing a little catch.

I'm pretty proud of our Thanksgiving Table. I made everyone color a thanksgiving tree and write five things they are thankful for. This is my place setting. Pretty cute! This is my grandmother's china. It's the china I ate on growing up. FUN for my family. We even had little menu's for each person.

And we even had everyone put on some nicer clothes. Christopher volunteered to be the "model" for our table. NICE!

We even had a little entertainment!

The "Family" marching band. It was so fun.

Little Missie and her "who-me" pose.

It was a very quiet Thanksgiving day feast. It was so wonderful. Loved the rest and quiet of the day! We should try this a little more often.

Colin won the "Turkey Leg" at the first annual Turkey Bowl. It is a frozen turkey leg that will be frozen and kept each year and then passed on to the winner. Aren't we lucky!

And of course a few of us got up and went shopping at 4:15 AM on Friday morning! It was crazy! Colin almost lost his life at Radio Shack getting one of the six "Zune's" for $100.00 Poor kid has to fight every year for his Birthday and Christmas giflts. Two years ago he had to push his way through the crowd for a "Gamecube." Last year he spent the night at Wal-Mart to get a WII, and this year he had to start waiting at 4:30 AM for a 6:00 AM sale for his ZUNE! Holiday Memories!

The Start of the Halloween Season!

If you noticed in the title, I use the term "Halloween Season," because Halloween seems to last for a very long time around here. We start by getting our costumes early. We have the farmers harvesting all around us and there seems to be endless parties and activities for the kids.

Last Friday night was no exception. Colin was at the high school state play-off game for football, Christopher was in Lincoln seeing the Broadway touring company of "Hairspray," and Daren and I were taking Cameron and Laura to the LDS Ward "Harvest" party. The Primary was in charge of the "Cake Walk." I re-named it "Candy Walk." I just couldn't bring myself to having to clean up ground-in cake and cupcakes out of the carpet. ~I know, what a selfish mom! We had a great time. We have a new activities chair and that helped so much!

We also had Stake Conference this week-end. It was a great two days! I love the Saturday evening Adult meeting. I have learned that some of the most priceless and deep bits of wisdom are shared at that meeting. --OK, maybe it's really the fact that I am not wrestling with anyone and I can actually concentrate on each and every word being spoken. There were many talks about being prepared. I was really inspired to work on my organizational skills. I really have let some of that go and I know I could being so much more if I was just a bit on top of the game instead of underneath it all!

I have grand plans...I'll have to keep everyone posted on how it is going.

I developed out one of my "pay-it forward" packages last night. Bought "moon-cakes." FUN! I love them. I'm sure I stayed way too long in my visiting but it was fun.

Daren was sick this week-end but we had a few people over for soup on Saturday night. We made Beef Stew, Taco Soup and Marie Calendar's--cheesy potato soup. YUM! I then invited the four missionaries over on Sunday to help eat the left-overs. NICE!