Cousins

The girls.

The boys.

All 10.

Early this fall we decided that we needed a cousin picture, before all these kids go different ways. These are my parents 10 grandchildren- 5 girls and 5 boys !! 5 of them are mine, 2 are my sister Karen's, 1 my brother Aaron's, and 2 are my brother Colin's. (We're still waiting on Pat :) ) I'm so glad that they all get along so well and have made lots of memories together. It wont be long and some of them will be spread all over the world (possibly). Keiler will be leaving on a mission soon and Alex wont be far behind him. I'm so excited for both of them and the adventures awaiting them. Jordan is getting married in January and Ashley is only 1 1/2 years younger so who knows when the time will come for her :)

Thankful Thursday

For this month of Thanksgiving, I thought I would list 10 things I'm thankful for. They will be in no particular order :)
1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ
2. My wonderful parents who taught me so much and continue to teach me.
3. My awesome husband Greg who puts up with me.
4. Jordan, Keiler, Max, Dallin and Lauren- the best kids in the whole world!!
5. My Grandparents who are such an influence in my life.
6. Karen, Aaron, Patrick, and Colin- the best siblings anyone could ask for.
7. Rick, Melissa and Katrina- thanks for becoming part of our family :)
8. My house (and especially my craft room)
9. Greg's job !!
10. The best neighbors and friends I could ask for.

My Cousin David

Yesterday, my cousin David A. passed away from injuries suffered in a car accident. This is his beautiful family from last year (their youngest was not in the picture she turned 1 this summer). I don't have very many cousins, but spent my childhood living close to most of them. I have so many fun and silly memories of David. My favorite thing about him has always been his smile. It seems like everytime I ever saw him as a child or as an adult he had this big smile on his face. He will truly be missed.

Why Am I Doing This?

Last Saturday at Weight Watchers our leader challenged us to come up with 10 reasons why joined WW. She said to post our list somewhere where we would not forget so I decided to make it a blog post :)
These are in no particular order and it was way harder that I thought to come up with 10 reasons!!!

1. Jordan is getting married.
2. I want to coach Lauren's soccer team next fall.
3. I want to buy cute clothes.
4. I want to feel healthy.
5. I want my family to be healthy.
6. I want to feel better about myself.
7. I want to prove to myself that I CAN accomplish a goal.
8. I want to avoid health problems.
9. I want to go to Hawaii.
10. ??????

Simply Monday- Today

I'm not sure if my Monday was exactly SIMPLE and I know I didn't do any organizing or much cleaning but I did have lots of fun. Thanks Cassie and Tim for letting me be a part of your girls lives. They are so precious and I truly enjoy spending time with them.

Simply Monday- Homework Box

Having kids in Elementary school means lots of creative homework!! I've tried different things over the years to help my kids have an easier time getting their homework done. This year I have set up a homework area at our dining room table that never gets used for anything else. I also started the Homework Box that stores all the needed supplies for a variety of homework projects. I've added a few things already and have thought of a few more we need but overall it has made doing homework and cleaning up afterwards EASY!! On the dining room table is also a basket for each of them to put their reading books and paperwork on upcoming projects in. That way there is no missing assignments and no searching for books. I'm so hopeful that this will be a Simple way to keep my kids organized (at least for school!!)

Simply Monday (?????)

So earlier in the year I started Simple Monday as part of my simplifying strategy, has it worked? I've fallen behind in all my plans to organize my home and my life. Do I have an excuse? Not really, I just start to many projects before finishing the last one :) I'm hoping to use the next few weeks to finish some of the things I started this summer and I'm going to do them one at a time!!! Today though I will be doing- Carpool, t-shirt dyeing at Cub Scouts, Orthodontist Appt for Dallin, Sewing a quilt together for Relief Society (it was supposed to be done last Wednesday), Cleaning the kitchen, catch up on laundry, planning camping trip for next weekend, soccer practice, and FHE. So I guess I will start the other projects tomorrow......