Hims

Tonight after we were done reading scriptures, the following converstaion took place:

C: Mom, what hymn do you think they sang?

M: I don't know, what do you think?

C: Is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star a Hymn?

M: No, its not.

C: Oh, I mean, I am like a star shining brightly.

M: No, thats in the Primary book. Hymns are in the green book that we sing out of in Sacrament Meeting.

K: If the hims are in the green book, where are the hers?

Praise To The Man

This is such a beautiful piece. I can't stop watching it. I just love good music.

I like to Move it, Move it...

This song has become a favorite at our house since visiting with Cousin Reese and Cousin Ryan and watching Madagascar.

On a related note, E is moving all over now. He doesn't quite crawl yet, but can get anywhere he wants by rolling and doing a little 'army' crawl.

Guess its time to put up the baby gates again.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas....

We decorated the house including the tree.

I did some sewing for Christmas gifts. These are towels for Owen and Layne. I didn't get any pictures of the Pajamas I made for the 5 kids for Christmas Eve.

I also did all of our Christmas shopping.

We drove to Texas (a 2 day adventure) with K having a fever and diarrhea the second day (not a good time when you are stuck in a car in the middle of Arkansas.

We planned and had a Primary Activity. It was Christmas related and the kids had a wonderful time.

We had a Teacher Appreciateion breakfast for all of the Primary workers.

I got all of the schedules, classes, etc ready for the new year.

Oh, and somewhere in the mess of all of that, we still managed to have a lot of fun, listening to Christmas music, enjoying the cold weather, and savoring the Spirit of the Christmas season.

In non-vacation related news....

E started eating real food. He doesn't like it one bit. Its a fight to try to get him to eat much. I think he will definitely be my picky eater.

This is him sitting in his high chair sometime the first week. I think he ate 1/2 a bite this time.

Thanksgiving in the Smokies

WARNING: This post is for the sole purpose of me being self-indulgent. I will not be offended if you choose not to read, or rather look, because it does contain A LOT of pictures!

Because I am so far behind, I want to start at the beginning. Here are a few pictures from our fabulous trip to Tennessee.


We rented a cabin between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. It was on the side of the mountain. The only complaint was the ride up and down (it could easily make someone car sick).


This was the inside of the cabin. When you first walk in the door, on the first level is the living room, kitchen, dining room, master bedroom and master bedroom.

Downstairs was the basement. There was a deck off of the back of this part. Here was the game room (Foosball, Pool, Air hockey) an entertainment area with couch and mini bar, laundry room and bathroom.

Upstairs was a loft with another bed, TV and bathroom. This is where the kids slept.

We shard our cabin with many woodland creatures. Yes, those are real animals (dead and stuffed) on the rafters of the cabin.

This was the view from the deck off the main level of the house.

There was a hot tub off of the main level on the deck. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Just a bit chilly, enough to really enjoy the hot tub! This picture was taken on Thanksgiving day. It was a wonderful day. We didn't leave the cabin all day. We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with all of the fixings. We even had ice cream (Blue Bell) for dessert!

On Friday we went to Gatlinburg. We went to the aquarium. It was one of the best I have been to. The kids loved it. There was even a walk through shark tank!

We also went throught the streets and did a few other fun things.

Here is the mirror maze.


On Saturday morning we got up and went to the National Park to do some hiking. I think it was a little more cold and rainy that day than I would have preferred, but it was still a lot of fun.


K and I had a hard time keeping up with the boys. They were so fast on those steep climbs and she has such short legs.


After hiking, since we were already cold and wet, we decided to play mini golf in the rain. Some people gave up some strange looks but we had a great time.

We ended that night with dinner at IHOP and a movie back at the cabin. C really wanted to see Kung Fu Panda, and it lived up to all of their expectations.

We had a wonderful time in Tennessee and can't wait to go back. Next time, we might remember not to try to drive home on the busiest travel day of the year, and we might make it home in less than twice the time it takes us to get there.

Busy. Busy. Busy.

Can it be that it has been over a month since I last wrote? I have been extremly busy. We have had Primary Activities (yes, 2 to plan, only one that actually happened due to weather), a last-minute change in plans with our trip to Texas, so we stayed extra long (we were gone for 2 weeks), sickness, moving furniture (Kallie has her own room!), sickness, cleaning up Christmas decorations, and more sickness. And, on top of it all, I just got back from the ER, after spending all day trying to find a doctor who would just see me....I have pink eye. Nice, huh? I promise to catch up on all the details. And Drew reminded me that I didn't post pictures from our trip to Tennessee at Thanksgiving. So, I will try to get all of that done soon. You might be hearing a lot from me in the near future... (You have been warned)