Turkey Day!

Well, it was a quick trip up to Lehi on Tuesday night to try to beat the blizzard of 2010 that was supposed to happen and didn't. We had a lot of fun like we do every Thanksgiving. Wednesday afternoon My Dad, Andy, Brad Joel and I and JoEllen and Kyle went to see "Unstoppable" the movie about a runway train. Then that night I went up to SLC with Shannon Bursach to meet up with Corina Putvin and Lori Ferrer to eat dinner at Corina's new resturant, Santa Monica Pizza and Pasta. It was really good food and we had a blast catching up on old times. Thursday started off with the traditional 9am 1 1/2 hour Zubma/kickboxing class at the Lehi Rec Center that Paula, Joellen and I go to. This year Shayne and Katie came along with us while Joel and Charles ran 10 miles around the track. Shayne practically lead the Kickboxing class. She's not so good with the swinging of the hips like I am at Zumba but she is an excellent kickboxer. Then we came back and watched the end of the Macy's parade and got ready for LUNCH! A feast fit for a King. Wow! Everyone did a great job of cooking up a monster turkey and ham with all the fixin's. Later that night we do our other tradition, BOWLING! We always go to Jack & Jill Bowling Alley that our friends own and take the whole family. We have done this since I was a little girl. I remember doing it with my cousins just like my kids are now doing with there cousins. We of course all sucked but when you only go once a year you can't expect a strike every time. What's funny is that my Grandma Smith was an excellent bowler and had won a lot of trophies. I guess we got the Shelton gene.




Later Andy sang some of his new Christmas arrangements for us and made up a new "Maria" song called "Santa Claus." Ask him to sing it to you next time you see him. Well at 3o'clock Black Friday morning Joel and I got up to go get the 2 things we wanted to get. It was super fun! I never stand in huge lines when I can find an alternate route to anything especially a checkout stand. Sears was our 1st stop and we were standing in line that wrapped around by the employee door. Well after some friendly conversation with 2 employees getting in there last smoke break before the chaos, they let us in through there door instead of waiting to get in the main door. We found exactly what we needed and then went down to the basement floor to check on something else and there was a checkout counter with only 1 person in line. So, we checked out and went to the car. When we got in and ready to go we looked at the clock and it was 4:20. 20 minutes total! We drove across the street to the K-Mart to get our next thing and as we sat in our warm car watching the people standing in the freezing cold line we decided to go to the Shopko in Orem that was close to the other Kmart. At Shopko we sat in our car until they started letting the HUGE line in and then we went up and went through a door that no one was even going in. People tend to have blinders on when it comes to things so they just follow the person in front of them. I like to look around at my options. So, we went in and found the thing we needed there and went to check out. This time we went directly to the jewelry counter, checked out and left to go to K-Mart. At K-Mart we walked in and down the hall towards electronics and on the way we found the last thing we needed. But we continued to see if they had a thing that Kyle was looking for for George for Christmas that he hadn't been able to get yet. I asked a guy at the checkout and he said they were out but after a minute of looking I found the same thing just a little bit better and bigger. So I grabbed it and called Kyle. He was in the same store just a couple isles down. So, we found him and headed out. On the way we saw this GINORMOUS line that wrapped itself up and down and around isles. It was the check out line! You were supposed to get in that line and wait your turn, well, I don't like to do that so I went back to the layaway counter and asked the girl if we could check out there and she said yes. Kyle was amazed that we were getting out of there so fast. It was at least an hour long wait in that line. So, off to American Fork where we went to Big 5 just for fun and then went to Denny's for breakfast. It was awesome! We had everything we needed, ate breakfast and still got home before the kids woke up. Friday afternoon we took the kids to see Disney's new movie "Tangled". It was cute, what I saw of it. I was so tired since I had been up since 3am that I slept through most of it. Around 8 that night we drove back home. The weather was great. We all had an amazing time and are excited for Christmas and for all the fun it brings. Thanks, Mom and Dad for always letting us stay with you and for making us feel welcome. We love you!

Alex's Baptism!!!

Josh's friend Alex Rodriquez was baptized on Saturday by Joel. It was AWESOME! The 11 & 12 year old boys in our neighborhood are amazing. There are about 10 of them. They have no apprehension when it comes to talking to someone about the gospel. They want to know why their friends aren't LDS and then take them over to the missionaries to change it. Our neighbors the Meacham's sent their daughter off on a mission 6 months ago and then the missionaries moved in. They where a threesome because 2 were from the Salt Lake area and were called to Mexico but are here until they receive their visa's and Elder Hernandez is from Spain called to serve here. So they are part of the Spanish branch here in southern Utah but the boys in our neighborhood jumped on them and got them starting to teach Alex who's parents speak both English and Spanish. So everyday after school they would gather in front of the Meacham's to give Alex a discussion and to help the boys fix a flat tire or play football. It was so much fun to watch how they supported each other and how the boys look up to the Elder's. These boys are going to be great missionaries when they get older because they are great missionaries now!

In the first picture, the boy 2 to the left of Josh was just baptized last month and the one on the end next to him was taking the discussions but stopped. And then in the 3rd picture down, the kid in the middle with Alex is the next to be baptized. We are working on him and his little brother right now. Joel taught his Mom in High School and she was raised in the church but became inactive so her boys weren't baptized but we'll change that.

We love living in this house and know it's where we are supposed to be. We have always lived in places where there were very few children so our kids have never really had other kids to play with. But the other day I was outside with the new Primary President introducing her to Alex and I counted how many boys were in our yard and there were 16! Sophie said that the day before there were 18. I love it. I'm glad they feel comfortable enough to hang out here.

Joel just got called to be the 1st Counselor in the Young Men. Which he LOVES! And he is in charge of the boys that are 14-16 yrs old. Joel immediately found out who wasn't coming and who lived in the ward boundaries that wasn't baptized and went to their houses to introduce himself. We have a boy who is 14 and his older brother is a member but he is not. Joel played basketball with him one night and now they are best friends. Yesterday he came to the fireside with us and Joel asked him if he wanted to start taking the discussions and he said Yes. So they are setting that up right now. I am so thankful for the youth of our church and the huge testimonies they have and the courage they have to share them. They are a great example to all of us adults and especially their parents who are inactive, non-members or like us and just a little afraid of starting up the conversation without a missionary standing right next to us.

Well, the Spanish speaking missionaries were moved down a mile or two closer to the branch and we were given 2 English speaking missionaries who were actually called to serve here in our stake. The boys of course were the first ones to welcome them into the neighborhood and to start them off right. I saw the boys all gathered outside our house so I went to introduce myself. Elder Duffin is from Florida and Elder Penfold is from California. Both very nice boys. The next day I got a message from my good friend Corina asking if I could look up her nephew who was just transferred to Washington. Well, it was Elder Penfold. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him the next day that 3 of his aunts and his Mom all said Hi. I told him how his grandparents where like second parents to me growing up and that I was going up to Lehi for Thanksgiving and would see all of his family. Then I called my Mom and asked if she could get a hold of his grandma and see if she wanted me to bring back anything for him for Christmas or whatever. It's really been fun. I think he is extra careful around me so that I don't have a reason to call his mom. Which I'm sure I won't because he is a really neat kid and is a little older that the other missionaries. The last picture is of me and Elder Penfold which I emailed to his family and his Mom said she couldn't stop smiling.

I love the missionaries and the missionary program. I especially love that I can help out here in little old Washington Utah. I am thankful that my kids have these great examples right here in our neighborhood. It's been an amazing experience and testimony builder for all of us.

Veterans Day!

We love Veterans day!





We start out the night before going to see the flags that were set up in Veterans Park. (The extra kid in the picture is our neighbor Josh Hailey) Then the next morning we go to the St. George p-raid to watch Shayne play in the PVHS band.






Right after, we run back to Washington to watch her play again in our p-raid and watch Ben and Josh walk in it with there classes. Burke Staheli once again is an amazing man to make sure that his students know about and honor all those who serve our country. All of the classes walk in it and they are so excited to be a part of it. David can hardly wait until he can next year.

Swim Meet

This weekend Sand Hollow had their Greg Fernley Invitational meet where Pine View competed against:
Dixie, Snow Canyon, Desert Hills, Hurricane, Layton, Davis, Lehi, Westlake, Bingham, Brighton, Kearns, Pleasant Grove, American Fork, West Jordan, Wasatch, Springville, Hunter, Riverton and Mountain Crest. 20 teams with 3A, 4A and 5A all together. There were a total of 175 girls competing against Shayne in the 100 yard Freestyle. She added a second to her time and still came in 7th! She was in 2 relays which both beat out Snow Canyon who is our Region Competition. Shayne was also Pine View High Student Athlete of the month for September! She has this weekend off and then she will be in Palm Springs for their Invitational on the 19th & 20th.

V-ball Champion!

Sophie's team won the entire championship! They went undefeated and the last game was so close. They won in a tie-breaker game with Sophie making the winning serve. It was pretty intense. The funnest part was to see how much all of them had learned over the season. Watching the championship game was like watching a High School game. Their coach is the lady who coaches at Snow Canyon High School and has won the State 4A Title 5 out of the 10 years she been there. I think Sophie has found her sport. She had a great time and is looking forward to the next clinic, season or pick-up game she can find. If you ever need another player you know who to call.

Starting off the swim season right.

Shayne once again amazed me as she broke her own person record in the 100 Butterfly (1:07.15) and 100 Breaststroke (1:19.50) in her first High School meet of the year. She also had a personal best time of 28.4 seconds in her 50 butterfly in the medley relay and she went a 58.02 in the 400 yard freestyle relay but I'm not sure if that's a record for her or not. This will be a great year because as a Junior Shayne is the team captain and Joel and I are the team parents. We love all of the swimmers from Pine View, Desert Hills and Hurricane and know them all by name. They are truly amazing kids who support each other and are kind to everyone. Here are some pictures that Brianne Gentry, another swimmer, took for us. They are way better than my little camera can take. We so excited for this season and are grateful to be a part of it.

SPUDNUTS!!!!

It is a Halloween tradition that Jan make homemade spudnuts. Not doughnuts, Spudnuts. They have potatoes in them and are much lighter and fluffier. We have chocolate, glazed and cinnamon & sugar ones. They are DELICIOUS! We all ate too many and rang in the holidays the correct way, overeating.

Halloween!

Happy Halloween! This year I wasn't feeling to hot so we went with super simple. Joel and I taped smarties to our pants and went as a pair of smarty pants. Sophie was a bumble bee that we've had forever. Josh was a quarterback and for his Joel enlarged a quarter as big as his copy machine could go and we taped it to cardboard and slapped it on his back. Get it? Quarter Back. Ben was a ninja that we borrowed from JoEllen and David was a tiger that again we've had forever. Thank goodness!
JoEllen went all out and was Nanny McFee with a bird on her shoulder and a magic cane. Mason made her a snaggle tooth and Jan did the rest. Emily was a tiger and Mattie was the CUTEST panda bear ever! I made that costume 16 years ago for Shayne and every kid has worn it. Talk about getting your money's worth!
We went over to Jan and Andy's after trick or treating and the boys had fun dressing up Gus and Lily. It was another successful holiday.