Tyler's a Missionary!

Lately I've had a lot of experiences that are waking up my brain to the fact that I'm old! It seems like yesterday that I'd come home from my college classes, snuggle Tyler on the couch and watch Beauty and the Beast. When the wolves scared him, I protected him. When the Belle and the Beast danced, we did too. My little brother...the one I went roller blading with and washed the cars with.....is a missionary now.

One week ago he entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo Utah and will be heading off to Guatemala in April!

I've always been impressed with the kind of kid Tyler was. He's a leader and has conviction. He's such a good uncle and always takes time to out to play with the kids. Our last memory together was going ice skating. He'd speed up behind Annika, sweep her off her feet and twirl her around. My kids think he's great!

I'm so proud of my brother for taking 2 years of his life to teach people the gospel of Jesus Christ. In our eyes it's a sacrifice, but he knows it's the least he can do for all our Heavenly Father has done for us. And where much is given, much is expected and he has a lot to offer the people of Guatemala!

Thanksgiving Festivities

-We had 24 people here on Thanksgiving Day!!

-Dad helped the kids make leather bracelets.

-We went to the Fort Worth Zoo

-The men played flag football while the girls made apple-cranberry pie...mmm

-We shopped on Mainstreet in Grapevine

-My cousin and her new husband came in from Oklahoma

-My 3 neices flew in from Utah.

-We ate lots of Bluebell and played Settlers of Catan

-Brian took the girls to Six Flags (you're a great uncle and dad!)

-Brittney made turky crafts with the kids

-We sang obnoxious wake up songs to the neices to help them rise and shine after staying up all night!

-the kids soaked up time with Uncle Tyler before he leave for his mission to Guatemala in February.

-I loved the times I stopped everything to hold my new nephew Clayton!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!

Talk about a prayer answered quickly! Wesley went to bed Tuesday night asking me if he could pray for snow....which wasn't in the forcast until Friday.

He woke Wednesday morning to his dream come true....huge snowflakes falling from the Texas sky!!
So... there was noooo way I was sending my kids to school when we had a chance to play in the snow. We caught the flakes on our tongue, made snowballs, and the highlight...made a snowman! After all the fun we could handle, I took the kids to school. As Wesley walked indoors, I rolled down my window and said, "Hey bud....thanks for praying the snow here." He got back in the car and kissed me goodbye! It was so sweet!

Trick or Treat

It's always fun to see what the kids want to be for Halloween.....or should I say how many times they change their minds before the big night! This year Micaela was a beautiful southern belle. She loved every bit of the make-up and ringlets! Wesley wanted to protect us all while we were trick-or-treating. And of course we all felt safe knowing he'd use his white belt level karate on any stranger who passed our way! Annika was our little princess-brute. She'd scream "trick-or-treat" from deep in her gut and then sweetly tell every family that she was Sleeping Beauty. Then she'd switch back to her deep voice and say thank you as she ran off to the next house.



And... what could be more fun than getting Daddy decked out for Halloween. Annika helped paint Dad's face for the costume contest at his work. He got third place...not bad for amateur camo painters!















Halloween wouldn't be the same without good friends and neighbors! We spent the first part of the evening in our neighborhood and then went to trick-or-treating with some family friends.

Last night before we went to bed, we hid the kid's candy buckets. Little did we know that while we were happily dreaming in our beds early this morning, Annika and Wesley were frantically searching for their loot! When they couldn't find the candy, Wesley persuaded Annika to go to the neighbors to get more candy....and she did. I'm sure our neighbors love us...since they were probably hoping to get and extra hour of sleep last night, yet awakened by another child asking for candy!

Karate Kid

Meet our new "watch dog" for robbers. Wesley signed up for karate with an agenda in mind:

-to be able to beat up robbers!

-to beat up his sisters if they are mean to him!

Doesn't he look scary???

He's so proud of his white belt and can't wait to earn his yellow belt!

Whether he ever gets to beat up robbers or not....I'm just glad he's learing self disciple, respect, focus, confidence and is having fun!

He's such a cute little guy and he's grown up a lot this last year! It's good to see him so excited about this class!

Top 10 HIGHLIGHTS of Trip to Utah

(in no particular order!)

1. Meeting, holding, feeding, and snuggling with my new nephew, Clayton!
2. Visiting my granparents again. Picking apples with Grandpa Cooper!

3.We went to a real pumkin patch! Ty, Kyle, Mom and I picked a pumkin from the patch in the dark of night, just so no one would take Ty's special pumpkin....the biggest one in the patch!

4. I love seeing the leaves change colors in the fall!


5. I spent more time with my neices and nephews than I have before. Tawni actually admitted that I can be a fun person without kids!

6. We picked tomatoes from Jenn's garden and ate wonderful tomato sandwhiches!

7. Jacqui made me Pico de Gallo from the fresh veggies Reese and I picked from the garden!

8. I got to see Riekers adorable smile and he gave me a kiss good-bye! I met his new little sister, Reagan!

9. I went shopping without kids!!!

10. Dinner at Grandma Coopers and time to visit with family!

Lake Powell

After a LONG and MISERABLE summer last year it was time to get out and have some fun together! Thanks to Stephanie and Paul, we had a great trip to Lake Powell on the Arizona- Utah border.

We swam back into narrow canyons and explored caves..hoping there were no creatures from the dinosaur period that would swim up and have us for lunch! The kids loved tubing, and exploring the caves, rock climbing and playing on the huge sand dune hill. The landscape was so beautiful with the contrast of the blue sky (at moments) with the red rock. We took a small hike up to Rainbow Bridge which I think, is one of the 7 Wonders of the World. This is a place everyone needs to see! Thank you Merrill Family for all the fun memores!