Now is the time

I suppose it's been too long since I last posted anything worth posting, and I apologize for that. I will now bombard you with pics and good fun stories!

We spent over a week in Utah during Thanksgiving time, and we had such a great time we didn't want to leave. We left on the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving, and got there around 5, I think. Monday we just kind of hung around and had fun. We visited with Kendra and Joseph for a little bit on Monday evening, then went back to the Baker house.

Tuesday we went to visit Nikki and Jeremy at the car lot, and went to get my ring fixed, only to find out that the place we bought it from went out of business and so now to get it fixed, we have to pay a bunch of money for it... so I will probably be wearing fake rings again for a while. I made Jaran go to Twilight with me on Tuesday night, and it was better the second time. I still don't think that people who haven't read the book really gets how great the books are. It doesn't do it justice, and I'm crossing my fingers that whoever they get to direct the "New Moon" film does a better job. He thought it was an okay movie, so that is all I could really ask for. Wednesday we went to Zak's wrestling tournament, and it was so much fun! Jaran and I took our kids, and Kendra brought 7 of hers, and Amanda was there to help us out. When we got there I went up to talk to Zak and his friends thought I was their age, and asked Zak- who is that? It was funny to think that I can still pass as 18... and really weird at the same time. So after Zak's first match, we decided that all the kids needed to go back to the Baker house and get their energy out, cause 10 kids with only 4 adults(or close enough) didn't quite work out. So Kendra, Amanda and I went to walmart to get some stuff to make shirts and posters to go back and cheer Zak on. This is what we came up with!


It was so much fun! That night we went out with some of Jaran's friends to dinner... you know what? I might be getting nights mixed up, but who cares? Justin and his girlfriend Amy, and Billy and his wife Nikki and Jaran and I went to a place called Iggy's for dinner. It was really good food, and they had this great dipping stuff for your bread they called "chili water." It was sweet, but spicy, and so dang good. Then we went back to Justin's and played TABOO, which I found out later was a mistake. We did boys against girls, and the boys were being crazy and did everything they could do(cheating) not to lose. So we conceded so they wouldn't cry. Thursday morning I woke up and started doing stuff for our Thanksgiving meal. I made Crandberry relish, made a homemade pie crust for my pumpkin pie, and did the relish trays. I ran up to get in the shower while my pie was in the oven, and due to the craziness you always have before dinner on Thanksgiving, the pie got burned. You see, you have to change the temperature 15 minutes into baking it, and everyone forgoet while I was showering! But it's okay, cause Kendra made a bunch of delicious pies to share! Almost everyone was there for Thanksgiving dinner... all but Karina and her family, Jonny and his, Vyedka and hers(sorry I forgot to mention that before Vye, you just usually are, so it was weird that you weren't in the first place! I feel like a loser for not saying so before) and Buddy, who is on his mission. We got to spend time with Krystal, Justin's daughter, whom we had never met before. She lived in Georgia with her mom, and just moved to Utah during Thanksgiving time. It was great!
That night we decided to get crazy, make some funky shirts and go to Twilight, again. It was great fun! We also talked Zak into being extra crazy and doing his hair like Edwards(which took tons of hairspray and a straight iron) and put a little extra saying on his shirt. Jaran ditched out on the movie until the movie he and Justin went to was over. Then we went back and realized we were only going to get a couple hours before we had to wake up for "Black Friday" shopping. We woke up around 3 and Jaran went with his sisters to Walmart in Layton, while I went to the JoAnn's in Riverdale. I thought they opened at 5... but they didn't until 6... so I could have been first in line, but I went to check out the stuff at Walmart there in Riverdale, and then went and got some snacks for the long stand in line. I met a lady that was born in Lovell, and we had a good talk about home. When I realized that I could get trampled at this store, I called Jaran for reinforcement. You see, you have to get a number in order to get your fabric cut, and if you do that first, you miss out on the great flannel... so being the great husband that he is, he came to help. We ran in and got the stuff we needed(or all that I was able to get anyway) and our number was A20. I only had to wait a couple minutes to get mine cut. When we were leaving they were only on A38 and people were picking numbers clear into B80's and I am sure they were there clear into the afternoon waiting to get their fabric cut. It was crazy! I'd only been to the JoAnn's in Bozeman, and there were only a handful of people there. This place had people clear around the corner of the store outside waiting when they opened, and I was 5th in line! So we went home and tried to catch a few Z's after that(which didn't really happen cause the kids were just waking up when we got there. Then Jaran went to Tooele to help his mom and her family move stuff out from his Grandma's house. I took Nikki and Zak to Walmart, where she bought rock band for her Wii. Needless to say, that's about all we did for the rest of the day.

Saturday we all went back to Tooele to move more stuff out of the house. We were there until around 5 and then had to go help Jaran's uncle unload his stuff... and got home around 6:30. Then around 7 we went out with Andy and Ashley(Jaran's friend and his wife) to dinner and then the new Bond movie, which was good, but a little confusing cause we hadn't seen the one prior to the new one. Sunday, Amanda spoke in church, so we went to listen. She did a great job, but the boys were extra naughty and hard to control. So we left them at class and nursery and went back to clean up the house. We actually got some stuff done without them there! Then we went over to Joseph and Kendra to help them un-pack the rest of their stuff from Montana, and while there, I stepped into a hole and twisted my ankle so bad! I had already stepped into the hole 2 times, and had just finished telling Joseph he should fill it in before someone hurt themself... and then I did! So I was of no help after that. Then we went home and played some cards that night. Monday we took the kids to a park down the road that is shaped like a castle, and the kids loved it! Then we decided to take them to The Mayan, which is a restaurant that has these people who dive off of cliffs into a big pool below. When we got there, we found out that they didn't open until 4... so we went and got a pizza at Little Caesars for 5 bucks and went home to the Baker's house. We put the kids down for a nap, and just vegged out.

That night, we went into Salt Lake and walked around the temple, which was AWESOME cause they had the Christmas lights up and on.

I have never seen them in person before, and it was so great. Even the kids loved it.

We met up with Jeremy and his girlfriend for a few minutes, then walked back to the car, went home and went to bed.

Tuesday, we got up and drove home. It was a great trip, and it was sad to leave everyone.
As soon as we got home from there, I went and helped my Mom and Bob with a catering job they got talked into doing. I got there at 5:30 and was on my feet serving food until 10:30... my ankle was swollen and hurting, and I was exhausted by the time I got home.
Wednesday I had dance, so Jaran stayed with the kids during the afternoon. The girls are great, but sometimes they have these moods where all they want to do is talk and giggle and not get anything done! Tomorrow will be better, I am sure, but last week wasn't very productive! The shoes we ordered should be here by the end of this week, and the uniforms by the end of next week, so that is exciting!
Jaran has been building some log furniture for Christmas, and just cause we need some. He's building another bunk bed, just a double twin, so we can put it downstairs for Ans and one of the boys... cause the one we have doesn't fit down the stairs. He is also building a chest-of -drawers for our room, so we don't have to live out of bins anymore! He is going to do a Toy chest for the boys from you-know-who and some end-tables for us. I am going to make him a big quilt that he has been asking me to for years, but since I found the perfect fabric at Black Friday, I now have the stuff to do it!
As I said before, Calli did our Christmas card pics last night, and they turned out as well as you can expect with our kids.





They just don't like to sit still for long periods of time... as you can see in the one of Ansleigh with the boys giving kisses. It's pretty dang funny! Well, that is all for now! Take Care!