Thanksgiving Tuesday

Adam and I spend every other Thanksgiving with the Gurrs, or Quists. Since this is an "odd" year, we were scheduled to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Gurrs this year. A list of things came up in the Gurr family, (work schedules, knee surgery, out of state visit scheduling conflicts etc..) that made it impossible for all of us to get together for Thanksgiving. We realized that we could all get together on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and since we seem to have the most available carpeted floor space for sleeping on, everyone decided to come up here to Taylor for our "Thanksgiving reunion".

Family members started arriving on Monday and by Monday night we had 27 Gurrs settled in. We spent Monday night visiting and Reminicing. We had a blast laughing at hilarious Gurr memories. Adam's sister Stacey presented Mom and Dad with a beautiful book of memories and testimonies written by all of their children. It was so fun to laugh together as the stories were told.

Tuesday was filled with buggy rides, Rook games, a Tresure hunt, and "Gurr Games".
Aunt Celeste organized the Gurr games. We had fun running three legged races, having sack races and tossing eggs. I didn't win any of the events ( I know, shocker right!?) but every one was kind enough to let me get the coveted Almond Roca prize. Thanks guys.

We had a wonderful feast, thanks to all of the talented Gurr women and their amazing cooking skills. Also thanks to the guys, who got the kids out of the way by taking them on a buggy ride.

We were sad when it was time to say goodbye to everyone. I'm already looking foreword to another Gurr reunion.

I'm now ready to decorate for Christmas! Yipee! LET THE CHRISTMAS SEASON BEGIN!!!!

Nothin' New

We haven't had any grand adventures lately, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to catch up on the every day stuff. Plus, Adam lost our camera on his last Scout outing so were gonna be picture-less for awhile.

Adam's been in the young men's presidency for several months now and he is enjoying it a lot. He's been able to keep doing tractor work, but there just hasn't been enough work to keep him busy full time. He was able to get a part time job delivering auto parts to garages in some of the other small towns in north-eastern AZ. It's not his favorite job, but it's proven to be a blessing financially and we're grateful for it.

I am currently serving in the Primary presidency. Primary is definitely my favorite place to be. I love working with those sweet kids. Now that it's fall, and the garden isn't taking up all of my time, I've been able to spend more time sewing and baking. It's been good for our quilt supply...bad for my waistline. I have also gotten to substitute teach a couple of times. I had a blast both days and hope to get to do it more often. The Trio continue to keep me busy, and happy. They never cease to surprise me with some of the crazy things they say and do.

The kids love school, primary, riding their bikes, making friends and doing their chores...Well maybe they don't love doing their chores, but they are getting good at doing them, and they are becoming so responsible.
They were recently asked to sing at the community "Evening of Sacred Music". They did a wonderful job singing "My Heavenly Father Loves Me". They enjoyed being in the spotlight, and they especially loved seeing their names printed in the program.

I guess that about covers things for now. Happy Thanksgiving!

"Maybe Jesus is having a treasure hunt."
Sarah 11-10-09

Birthday, Baptism, and Baby Blessing in Baghdad. ~Say that five times fast !

This past weekend we went to Baghdad, AZ so see Lydia's daughter, my niece Carolyn Hulse get baptized. Lydia's son Eric was also blessed on Sunday morning. Yay! A two-for-one visit. We were able to stay with my Brother Paul. He and his wife Beth were great hosts. The kids had a fun time with their cousins and I had a great time with my siblings. I love family get togethers. We enjoyed Carolyn's Birthday party at the park. The Baptism and the baby blessing were beautiful. We miss our extended family already, and we are looking foreword to our next get together at Thanksgiving! We Can't wait.

Sweet Sarah

I just want to take a minute to brag about my sweet Sarah. Sarah Earned the "prestigious" Outstanding Citizenship Award at her school this week. The award is given to students who have great behavior, are kind to others, and complete all their assignments neatly and on time at school. We are all so proud of her for earning this award. Great job Sarah, we love you!

Taylor Elementary Halloween Parade and Party

I just wanted to share some pics of the kids at their school party. I had a great time helping out in their classroom, and the kids had a blast at the party. I love that the school throws political correctness out the window and still has a "Halloween" party and not a "Fall festival". They are going to have a Christmas party too. The kids are practicing "Away in a Manger" in their classroom. They'll be singing it at the school Christmas program. SWEET!
Both girls wanted to be Fairy Princess ballerinas. Easy... wings, crowns, and tutus.
Caleb wanted to be a super hero ...again. He'll always be my little heroThe kids spent the morning making bat puppets, paper ghosts, mummy pizza's,spider suckers, they also sang songs, and had story time and colored pictures. WOW what a party!.

Halloween Buggy Ride

We were so happy to have Adam's brother Richard and his wife Calli here for a visit this weekend. We love having company (hint,hint) and we decided to do something fun while they were here.
We took a drive up to the snow covered mountains and went on a buggy ride. We had so much fun. The weather was so perfect. It was sunny and warm. But not to warm, we obviously had to bundle up a little. We found some fun trails, and made a snowman,
Richard and Calli are so much fun to be with. We can't wait to do it again. We honestly didn't think there would be much snow left, so we didn't take any tubes or sleds for the kids to slide on. Caleb tried to slide down the hill on his bum, he didn't get very far. Next time we'll be prepared.

Harvest Valley Halloween Bash!

About a week ago I was talking to a couple of friends from our neighborhood, and I asked why no one around here goes Trick-or-Treating. They all gather somewhere for "Trunk-or-Treating" but for me and my kids, it's just not the same thing. There are a lot of good families in our neighborhood with kids but each year no one ever gets more than a hand full of kids that come by for candy, so a lot of families have just stopped turning on that porch light. It's just sad if you ask me. Well, as we were talking we figured that the reason why no one Trick-or-treats around here is because the houses out here are so far apart that it would take a couple hours just get around the "block".
That's when I came up with the idea of a "Trick-or-Treat Hayride". Adam could pull a trailer with the Ranger, and the kids could ride it around the neighborhood. They could all hop off when we got to a welcoming home, then hop back on and ride to the next house.
My friends loved the Idea. One of them donated some straw bales, another one offered to make a few fliers to spread the word that this year there would be Trick or treating in Harvest Valley. (Harvest Valley is the name of our sub division.) We decided that we'd meet at my house for a chili and corn bread pot luck, then we'd have the hay ride.
I was really looking foreword to our "little gathering". Having a Few families over for Halloween would be fun. By midweek however, Adam and I realized that there might be more people coming than we originally thought. In fact, it seemed that everywhere we went ( post office, grocery shopping, the kids school, church, etc...) people were stopping us to tell us how excited they were for the party, and asking what they could bring. In fact there were so many people planning on coming that we had to recruit more hay ride drivers. We started telling people to bring extra candy to give to home owners who normally see a "handful of Trick-or-treaters'".
What started out as a little gathering with a few families, turned out to be a huge gathering with over 80 people and 14 families ! And you know what? It was a blast! One family brought enough hot chocolate for everyone, another made homemade root beer.("witches brew") Every one brought candy, corn bread, chili, bowls, or cups. It was like the "loaves and the fishes" the way we were able to feed every one.
We had THREE hayride trailers FULL of Kids and there were more porch lights on in the neighborhood than there's ever been.
The party was such a success that everyone is already talking about next years party.
I was so busy hosting the party that I really wasn't able to get many good pictures but I did manage to take a few. ( I really need to take some lessons on photography) It was too dark on the hayride to get any good pictures. You'll just have to believe me when I say there were lots of smiles, and a good time had by all.