Can I say that word?

We are reading the D&C for scripture study this year and tonight it's Kaitlin's turn to read her set of scriptures. She gets to a part in the scripture and stops on the word, hell, and asks us if it's o.k for her to say hell or if she should say heck? We tell her that if it's in the scriptures it is o.k. to say.

We have enjoyed studying the Doctrine & Covenants this year as a family. I have such a testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and I'm so grateful for him and for the strength he had during the restoration of the gospel. It has also been great studying about him in Relief Society.

Aunt Terri's Picture Challenge

This is the 6th picture in the 6th folder of my computer. This is a picture that we took in May 2007. Such a cute picture of all of the Grandkids at the time (minus Jaron now). It was taken at a business park in Springville, Utah.

Kaitlin's 9

This year for Kaitlin's Birthday I decided to take her out of school and we went to St George for the day. She wanted to go to the mall and go shopping. She said that the first thing that she wanted to do when she got there was to ride the escalator. Too bad St George isn't big enough for and escalator. First thing we did when we got there was to have our pictures taken in one of those photo booths. Then we went to Dillards to look around. She put some lip gloss on at the makeup counter and some perfume. We looked at some clothes and she had to buy a Hannah Montana makeup set. She tried on some fancy Jewelry and decided that people who wear the underwear that goes up you bum (thongs) are just disgusting. We did a little more walking around the mall before she decided that she had had her fill of the whole mall thing.

We then decided that we needed to eat so we went to the Olive Garden for lunch. It was delicious and we both filled up on the yummy breadsticks.

Our final destination was to Target, thank goodness for Target, because that is where we did pretty much all of our shopping. Kaitlin picked out several different outfits. She modeled all the cute little hats for a photo shoot.

After we got home from shopping we got ready for her party. We decorated the basement with balloons a homemade disco ball, black lights and Tyler's lava lamp. She had four of the best come to "party" with her. They all had fun dancing, singing kareoke, telling jokes and eating munchies.

We are so glad to have Kaitlin in our family, she is such a delightful little girl. Happy Birthday Kaitlin!

Feeding the Horses

One of the kids favorite things to do while in Leamington is to feed the horses behind Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids have named each of the horses I can't remember all of the names but I know that two of them are Harry and Ron from "Harry Potter".

A day in the life of being in Leamington

Thing to do while visiting Grandma and Grandpa Evers in Leamington.

• Got to the mines
• Touch a Mormon Cricket
• Throw rocks in the river
• Feed the horses
• Climb on the roof
• See a rainbow
• Drive Grandpa's Truck
• Go up the mountain
• Sew something
• .....and see the old trains
  

Playing Catch-up

I haven't taken any new pictures so I thought that I would try playing a little catch-up with my old pictures that I haven't scrapbooked.

These are pictures of a time when we were visiting Leamington and Sister Ballard (she is a southern belle) called and wanted to know if we wanted to go throw eggs at the bridge. We thought that it was kind of naughty, and she said not to worry that the birds would come and clean everything up, so we said what the heck, let's go have some fun. So we got a bunch of eggs and met her at the bridge. We started with egg and spoon races, toss the egg, and then we just had a blast splattering them on the wall of the bridge. What a fun memory that we will never forget.

Off to the MTC

This last Sunday was my parents mission farewell. What a beautiful meeting it was. My mom talked about the importance of keeping a history and doing genealogy and a little bit about what they would be doing on their mission. Derick and Shaylin along with my parents neighbor Nathan did a piano/violin duet to "Oh My Father" it was absolutely beautiful. I wish I could have brought a recorder into church to record it. Hopefully they will play it again soon so that I can record it then so that you can all hear it. My dad then concluded by talking about faith and the power of the priesthood.

They went into the MTC on Monday and are having a great time learing everything they need to know before they go out into the Mission Field. I am so glad that I still am able to hear from them by phone and not just two times a year like the young missionaries get to.

Color Country Cloggers

Kaitlin started clogging this fall, and has had a great time. She is in a group with about 12 including one boy. She caught on really quick. One day while I was in my craft room and she was in the bathroom taking a shower, I could hear her stomping, I asked her what she was doing and she said she was doing her clogging performance. She had a couple performances over the Christmas Holiday. One of these days I'll get a better camera so that I can capture her dancing better.

Red Noses

Thanks to my wonderful Sister-in-Law, Kollen, my kids went sledding. Kollen was here for the Christmas holiday and since I still had to work she took my kids to have some fun. Thanks Kollen!

A visit from the Prophet Joseph Smith

This year in Sunday School we are studying the Doctrine & Covenants. A friend of mine refers to them as "Love Letters from Christ" because they are direct revelations from Jesus to Joseph Smith. So today we talked about the first vision and my Mother in law, Jacque was giving the lesson. She asked Derick to roll play as if he were Joseph. Joseph was 14 when he went into the Sacred Grove to pray and ask Heavenly Father which church he should join.

Jacque asked Derick, or Joseph Smith, questions leading up to the first vision.

• Who are you?
• Tell us about the time you had that severe infection in your leg.
• Tell us what happened when Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to you in the Sacred Grove.

Derick then answered each question as though he were Joseph Smith. What a neat spirit he brought into the class. I see alot of similarities between Derick and Joseph Smith.

I am so greatful for Joseph Smith and for having the faith to ask the question, "Which church should I join?" I know that he was instrumental in restoring the true chruch to the earth. I am so thankful for his perserverance with all of the persecution that he went through so that we could have the gospel. I know that I am blessed beyond words because my Mom was a member of the church but more importantly that my Dad joined the church after they were married. We were all raised by such wonderful parents who instilled in us to love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

One More Week

One more week until my Mom & Dad have their mission farewell. They were set apart today as Missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. I am so proud of them for their decision to serve a mission, what a wonderful example they are to us kids but also to their grandkids.

Christmas Continued...

Off we went to Leamington to enjoy Christmas with my side of the family. This was a special Christmas because of my parents getting ready to leave for their mission. This next year it will be just us kids, I don't know how will do without Mom's good cooking but it will be for just one Christmas and I'm sure we'll survive. I know that Mom and Dad's wishes while they are gone is that all of us kids stay in contact with each other. I think that this will be a year of getting closer to each other. I am excited for my parents and I want them to not worry about us.

Anyways back to Christmas in Leamington. All of the family came and we had a big dinner and then Mom & Dad told us how greatful they are to serve a mission, Travis and Sean played the guitar. Travis is learning to be a great guitarist, he got a new guitar for Christmas. Tyler and Kaitlin sang their "Hot cup of Cocoa" song. Mom and I made T-shirts for everyone with "Git-R-Done" on all of them. That is becoming a family theme since Dad had his brain surgery.

Christmas is always fun when you have Family.

Christmas Morning

I know it's January and I'm still stuck on Christmas. My computer is as slow as molasses so you'll just have to be patient with me because if I don't get these pages done now, who knows when I'll get back to them.

I absolutely love Christmas Morning and all of the fun feelings involved with it. We always check on NORAD to see where Santa is and then the kids are all anxious to get to bed. After the kids go to bed we put all of the presents out. I think it's fun this way because when the kids get up in the morning they are used to seeing the tree without anything but maybe a few neighbor gifts and then they see all of the presents on Christmas Morning.

So when the kids woke up they came into our room and we had family prayer. We skipped breakfast this year because it was a failure. Usually we have juice and cinnamon rolls but the rolls didn't rise so we ended up just with juice and cereal later.

Tyler was "Santa" this year an passed out the presents to everyone. We had a great Christmas and as always were very blessed.

To Shave or not To Shave? Part II

This is the continuing saga of whether Derick is ready to shave or not. For Christmas this year, Kaitlin had Derick, so she decided that he would like a shaver. So we found a little kit with a REAL razor that is battery operated and vibrates, it also contained shaving cream. Kaitlin added a package of balloons so that Derick could practice on before he attempted shaving his own flesh. We also found an old picture of him and Kirk "Shaving", that Kaitlin gave him to show him that Dad trained him years ago for this task. Derick thought it was a great gift.

Christmas Eve at Steph & Dave's

We celebrated Christmas Eve at Steph and Dave's this year. What an enjoyable evening it was. We started with a wonderful dinner of ham, potatoes, salad, veggies and Hot homemade rolls. In the first picture you will notice a picture of the boys eating dinner in the LAUNDRY room they still haven't graduated to the big people table, some day! We had a little program where the kids sang us Christmas songs . We did the nativity which is always such fun. Derick was the donkey which Morgan got to ride on his back. We even got a visit from Santa, Uncle Adam, who delivered handmade p.j's from Grandma.
One of our favorite memories is having GGpa Marchant read the Christmas story. We sure miss him and GGma.

Tis the Season to be Jolly!

This is one of our traditions that we do every year for Christmas. We put out our shoes the night before St Nicholas Eve for a treat if we a doing good or a lump of coal for a warning to be better before Christmas.
For an Elders Quorum party we went caroling to the widows in our ward. What a fun time we had. They always appreciate being remembered this time of year. We then went back to our house and had hot chocolate and cookies and watched Mr. Krugers Christmas.
The CBS Christmas Buffet is always a highlight every year. This year was the 30th year they have done it.

Sock Monkey

Tyler made Jaron a Sock Monkey for Christmas this year. I helped him cut the socks into the right pieces and sewed them with the sewing machine. Tyler helped stuff everything and then sew the pieces onto the Monkey. It turned out great!

Ashdon Marchant

I know this is late, but better late than never. This is the newest addition to the Marchant Family. We were able to go down to Las Vegas for Ashdon's baby blessing and meet this little one. It is so fun to have a new baby to hold and love. We were able to see Adam, Kollen and their family over the Christmas Holiday and spend a little more time with them.

Shepherd's Pie

One of our traditions we do in our family every year before Christmas is we have Shepherd's pie for dinner and we think of the Shepherd's that went and saw Baby Jesus. This recipe is one of our favorites. I'm not very good at writing recipes because I do this one so often I just kind of dump everything together and it always works, but I'll try my best.

2lbs Ground beef
2 cans Tomato soup
2 cans Green beans
1 T. Dried onions
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cups instant potatoes (We think potato pearls are the best)
Grated cheddar cheese

• Brown and drain your groundbeef
• add tomatoe soup, beans and onion and stir together
• Pour in a 9x13 pan
• Prepare your potatoes as per instructions and smooth over the hamburger mixture.
• Sprinkle with grated cheese
• Bake or put in microwave until the cheese is melted
• ENJOY!
  

Gingerbread houses

This year for one of our Family Home Evenings in December we made gingerbread houses. What a fun time we had. When I grew up we always made them for our school teacher for Christmas. After I married Kirk we did it several times with his family also. We haven't done it for quite a while until this year, and what a great time we had. We invited Grandma & Grandpa Marchant over to join in our fun.