December 2018

We celebrated Maden's 9th birthday on December 1st! He was thrilled that he got the candles all blown out in one breath! Such a cute boy. 

On December 5th, the actual birthday, he got to go to Pizza Pie Cafe and a movie with his family and two of his good friends. I still can't believe he's 9! Love you Maden.

These littles were so fun with the Christmas trees this year.  Clark was so excited that he made some ornaments for their tree, and Molly loved decorating her tree. She made some ornaments too, but I didn't get a picture. Such exciting things for 3 year olds.

Ryder got to make some ornaments too. Whenever we go to A&W, Ryder has to take a picture with the bear.  Annie got to go to an ISU Women's basketball game with her mom. She loved it, and even got a shirt.

We took a little drive over to Rupert to see my brother, Randy and sister-in-law Julie.  They are living in Nikelle's childhood home overseeing some repairs and projects to the house.  Jared was doing some work in the garage, or as we like to say, he was "lighting the world".  Molly was the only little one there, and she loved having Grandpa Chin Chopper read her some stories.

We celebrated Jared's 28th birthday on the 9th. (His real day is the 11th.) I can't believe my baby is 28! Annie and Molly love to be together, and always have a great time.

One day when I was tending Ryder, I had a dentist appointment, so Grandpa Chin Chopper (or my Dad, Paul Chambers) got to take care of Ryder for about an hour.  They both seemed to enjoy eating lunch and playing air hockey together.

This is what happened on Jared's real day, the first snowstorm of the year that Blake had to plow.

Jared and Nikelle were Mary and Joseph for their ward party.  Molly was a cute little shepherd girl.  So cute, all of them.

I added some snowflakes to my tree this year.  They are actually temples! I got one for each temple we have been inside! I love them!

And then there's this! My friend from High School, Renae Cramer Hill is an amazing artist, and had a drawing for a print of this amazing painting! And, I won!!!!! She was kind enough to bring it to me in person!!! I just feel bad that I didn't get a picture of her. I absolutely love it! It goes perfectly in this space with my other decorations.

Molly had her first real dance recital. She looked so darling and danced so well for a 3 year old.  It was so fun to go watch her. She had a lot of supporters there, she's very loved.

I love these pictures of Molly and Ryder with Santa.  Nikelle loved seeing Santa's reaction when Molly told him that she wanted a light switch and a ding dong (meaning doorbell) for her playhouse. Ryder was really brave and almost kind of liked sitting on his lap.

I love this picture of Annie reading a story to Molly.  Maden was very intrigued with the game Jared was playing.

I also love this picture! Such a sweet forever family.

Jared is pretty happy with his early Christmas present! Brian's family came down to stay for Christmas Eve. We had dinner, made a gingerbread house, and played games. 

One tradition we started a few years ago was having Monkey Bread on Christmas morning. I put the dough in the pans the night before and let it rise all night, then cook it on Christmas morning.  Ken heard about this and they decided to make their own.  So I call this Monkey Bread Wars.  Ours are on the left, Cindy and Ken's on the right.  I think we are all winners of this war!

I only got pictures of Randy and Maden eating the monkey bread, this is Maden's second helping, he loves it! Randy loves it too, Ken and Cindy loved it too, it's good stuff!

Molly is thrilled with her light switch! The kids love opening the presents they've been so curious about.

More present opening fun.  Maden, Annie and Clark made me some ceramic snowmen. I love them! And I love that they were so excited to give them to me, and that they worked so hard to make them beautiful. I'm just not very good about making sure to get good pictures.

Blake got everyone some cool, non glare sunglasses. Now everyone is cool!

Clark loves his truck and trailer, that's one of his favorite things to do, play with trucks that have trailers.  Christmas can tucker everyone out.  Ryder got a turn at playing the Hungry Hippo game, pretty fun.

I'm happy that Ryder likes the writing board thing we gave him. Grandma Purcell really liked the book that Cindy put together for her. It has pictures of everyone that visited her during the year.  It was a lot of work getting all the pictures from everyone and getting them sent in to be printed in the book.  Everyone really likes it and has look to see if they made the book.

There was plenty of rabbit hunting in December.  The new guns work really good. They went so much, that they didn't take pictures every time.  Sure has been a fun pastime this year.

November 2018

On a cold Saturday, November 3rd, Brian, Celia, Maden and Annie participated in the Tater Tot Run in Blackfoot at Jensen's Grove.  Maden and Annie could have waited and run with the kids, but they decided to run with their parents.  Annie got a little tired some of the time, so Celia carried her on her back.  Brian and Maden got a little confused at the turn around spot and ended going 6 K instead of 5.  Brian and Maden came across the finish line just a little ahead of the kid runners, so they thought Maden was the 1st kid, and he got the 1st place prize.

After the race, they came and played for awhile.  They had a great time with the fast track and cars.  Maden and the kids liked playing with his Mr. Potato Head prize.

Annie lost her a tooth on top, just enough space for her tongue to poke through.  Maden lost another one on top, so he has three missing on top!

Molly got to come stay with us for three nights! Her Koala Crate was all about rainbows, she loved making a rainbow/cloud pillow.  She got to go visit Grandma Great.  Annie loves to get her face painted at Texas Roadhouse.

It snowed a little during the night, so Molly is posing in front of the window, so we can see the snow.  When she saw the Mrs. Butterworth syrup, she just hugged it and said "I love Princess Syrup!"  I had fun doing her hair, she's so good to sit still and let me do it.

Ryder came to play, then we went to Red Lobster, of course Ryder and Molly had to sit together.  Ryder used to like looking at the lobsters, but was scared this time.  Molly liked them though.  Meanwhile, at Brian's house, Clark was helping decorate their Christmas Tree. 

Molly got to go to church with us, she loved the nursery.  She wanted to wear Grandpa's glasses, she said they made things look funny.  She got to be here when Cindy and Ken arrived! They came for a Thanksgiving visit.  It was a horrible drive through Nebraska for them, we sure were glad when they arrived safely.

We had our Thanksgiving Dinner on Tuesday, due to Randy's work schedule.  We also had a mini Christmas, too.  Cindy and Ken brought presents for all the kids and Blake and I.  

My talented sister, Tricia made these digital watercolor portraits for me to give to my kids and parents.  She surprised me with one of Blake and I, and a 4x6 of each of the kids portraits.  They are so awesome!

Ken and Cindy also bought a basketball game for our house, it's so huge it has to stay in the garage.  Randy and Jared had to test it out.  So did Molly and Ryder.  Ryder loves it and wants to play almost every time he comes.

On Wednesday, we went to see Grandma Purcell.  She seems to be doing well.  In the first picture with Cindy, she told her to "act happy". 

Cindy and Ken left early in the morning on Thanksgiving to try to get ahead of some stormy weather.  So, Blake and I and Brian's family crashed Thanksgiving Dinner at my parents house.  My sister Lynne and some of her family were there, so we played a lot of games besides eating another great Thanksgiving Dinner.  Ryan and Samuel entertained Maden and Annie all afternoon, by making forts, and playing air hockey.

Brian and Celia played singles and doubles at the Turkey Tennis Tournament at Apple, in Idaho Falls.  Celia ended up winning the singles! We only made it up to one match.  It was fun to watch tennis again.  The kids were very good and quiet.

Annie was a brave girl and got her ears pierced! She looks so grown up! She took this close up selfie when se was playing with my phone at the tennis match.

Ryder got to help his mom decorate their tree, then he and Molly helped decorate my tree.  Molly liked playing with Ryder's ball game he got from Cindy and Ken.

We got all decorated for Christmas on Friday.  The top picture is 2017, the bottom one is this year with all updated pictures.

Ryder loves the basketball game, he knows which buttons to push and what music it will play and what it will say.  He had to play Quixx like Randy and I.  When he goes to A&W, he always wants to get a picture with the bear.

My niece, Michelle brought her two cute little boys, Michael and James over to play with Ryder one afternoon.  Michael and Ryder played really cute.  They are really nice boys, it was fun to have them come play.

Rabbit Hunting

Saturday, November 17. Blake and Randy went out west of Blackfoot on the desert to see if there were any rabbits this year.  Looks like there were! They had a great time.

Monday, November 19.  Ken came prepared to go out rabbit hunting too.  They were successful again!  Ken loved it too!

Wednesday, November 21.  Blake and Ken went back out for another time.  Each time they got more rabbits.

Thursday, November 22.  This time, Brian and my nephew Joseph got to go find the rabbits. They always seem to be able to find plenty.

Friday, November 23.  Finally, Jared got to go! They still found some!

The kids got Blake a new 12 gauge semi-automatic gun and gave it to him as an early Christmas present.  Courtney gave Randy one too!

Monday, November 26.  Blake and Randy went out again to try out their new guns. They love them! There must be an over abundance of rabbits this year.  They sure have had fun!

October 2018

I love it when Jared and Nikelle send pictures of visiting Brody's grave.  Such a calm peaceful place to be.

Blake and Jared had to replace the water heater at Grandma Purcell's house. It was not a fun job, but they got it done.

We celebrated my 60th birthday on the 6th, because everyone could be here. (My birthday is on the 15th)  I love having my kids and grandkids here.  I had a lot of help blowing out the candles.

We had some fun with play dough.

Blake and Maden played some pool, and the other kids had fun playing house and school.

Ryder brought us a pumpkin for our porch.  He was a little worried about the dragon at Walmart, this is as close as he would get on this day.  Clark loves to play with the pickups and trailers, he hooks them all up and then lines them up and then plays with them in the chair for hours.

We got to have Molly overnight on the 12th.  When she woke up that morning she told her parents that she wanted to play hopscotch, they told her maybe I would play with her and boy she didn't forget, it was the first thing we did when we got here.  We did her kiwi crate and she loved the little cake we made.

On my birthday, Blake and I took a little drive to the Star Valley area, we stayed overnight, then went to the temple the next morning.  Jared was working over there, so we stopped in to see him in on the job.  Molly got to go to a pumpkin patch for a field trip with preschool, she loved seeing Mickey and Minnie there.  Annie is so good to play with the little kids, she and Ryder were playing school together.

Oct. 20th - Brian and Celia were out of town, so the kids were staying with us for the weekend.  Nikelle, Courtney and I went to a baby shower in Ogden and left Blake, Randy and Jared in charge of the 5 kids.  They took them to IJump in Pocatello.  It was kind of fun, Annie, Maden and Molly loved it.  (for some reason, I didn't have a picture of Molly) Clark only liked the ball pit, Ryder liked it until he hurt his ankle.  After the jump place they took them to Pizza Pie Cafe.  They all survived!

In the evening, Jared (the hunter), Molly (the fox) and Nikelle (the deer) went to their ward party.  Such cute costumes!  Randy, Courtney, Ryder, Maden, Annie, Clark, Blake and I went to the Snake River High School to a play all about Dr. Suess.  It was a great performance with a lot of singing, the kids all loved it. Afterward, Annie got to try on the cat's hat.

Annie and Maden got to attend our ward's Primary, they were having a missionary day, and we got these cute pictures of them.  I love the one where Maden is photo bombing! Annie's hair turned out really cute that day. Ryder came over for a movie and popcorn, everyone loves to sit on grandpa's lap.

Look, Ryder got closer to the dragon.  Molly fell and hit her head at preschool, the Kleenex was to wipe her eyes and nose, but apparently it helped her head too.  Ryder got to stay overnight one night, and he and grandpa had some fun in the hot tub with the colored lights.

Ryder and Randy came to help sweep up the leaves.  Ryder loved getting in the trailer with all the leaves.  They almost covered him up! They swept up the red leaves from Anderson's yard too.

We had a family party to celebrate this cutie's 6th birthday.  I really don't know where time goes.  Annie is such a cute, bubbly, cheerful, happy girl.  She was so excited about every aspect of her party.

After the party, we all got ready to go to Boo at the Zoo.  Clark wore his Lightning McQueen jacket, Ryder was Blaze (I didn't get a picture with his eyes open) Molly was in Utah with her parents, but she went to a pumpkin patch in her cute fox costume, Annie was rainbow dash, and I can't remember the name of what Maden was.  They all looked so cute.

There were some super people at Boo at the Zoo, named Brian and Celia. There was a monster waiting to scare Blake after this picture.  Ryder spent most of the time sitting on his dads or moms shoulders, which was nice for him, but hard on them.  

Halloween turned out to be a really chilly night.  Molly told me that it was freezing. But she sure is a cute fox!  When we took Ryder to Trick or Treat at my parents, he said Trick OR Treat when she opened the door, with a huge emphasis on the OR.  We all got a good laugh at that.  Poor Annie had little accident involving the corner of a chair when she was running to answer the door for Trick or Treaters.  Thankfully, she was able to recover enough to go out and do her own trick or treating.