My book list

So I wanted to start making a list of books that I read this year on my blog. I guess I just wanted to see how many books I read this year. I just finished my first book "The Undaunted". It was really enjoyable to read. It was about the pioneers who made the treck from Cedar City through Hole in the Rock to Arizona. This was an amazing story that I never knew the details about. And what makes it even better for me is that my Great Grandfather was born on the trail. It actually mentions his name in the book (page 716) Oh, did I mention it was 800 pages! I still would recommend it to all.
I think I'm writing this because I'm having Book club withdrawals. Oh, how I miss my TN book club! Well, if any of you have any great books that you recommend, please let me know.

Samantha turned 8!

Samantha turned eight this month! Am I that old!? On her actual birthday she had strep so we postponed the party. This year was just a family party and she wanted an ice skating theme. We were going to go ice skating, but because of the sickness we have to find a time this month to fulfill that want (we are a busy crew). So we just had a nice at home party. She wanted her favorite meal, chicken pillows, then we played games, opened presents and had cake and ice cream.
Then yesterday she was baptized. It was a special time for her and our family. There were a lot of church friends that came to support her and we were very happy about that. Our family was most of the program besides her primary teacher that gave one of the talks. She asked me to speak and, of course, I cried some. I guess that is just what comes with the whole experience. Ryan gave a great prayer even though he was very nervous about that.
Apparently that font water was not that warm, but Samantha didn't complain, she was just so excited to be baptized. We wished we could have had family there, but other than that, it was perfect!

The new year

My goal this year is to actually keep my New Years Resolutions. Have you made any this year??

Christmas Fun

We had a fun Christmas this year. We had no where to go on Christmas day, so we just hung around the house in our jammies all day! Ryan had Strep and thankfully Christmas morning was when the antibiotics finally kicked in. Nothing overly exciting happened that day so I'll just post a few pictures. We hope all of you enjoyed your Christmases and were able to spend time with your families.

Let it Snow!!

We had our first snowfall of the season and possibly our only. We got about a foot of snow (don't laugh you Utah folks, that's a lot for us). I wasn't planning on it snowing this much in Virginia, but I was wrong. I was at the store the other day and it was PACKED with people. Because I don't watch the news, I couldn't figure out why it was that way. So I asked someone and they said that it was going to snow (that was news to me). I remembered it was the same in every state we've lived in-North Carolina, Tennessee and now Virginia. Everyone runs out for milk, bread, and for some-beer (can't live without it!)

We had a great time in the snow even though none of my kids own snow pants. Aaron went to Walmart the day of the storm and said it was the best shopping experience at Walmart that he's ever had. Nobody was there! Although he thought he was an expert in driving in the snow, he got stuck trying to get up the hill in our neighborhood so some guys pushed him out and he had to park the car at the bottom of the hill. It's still there, but I just saw a snowplow drive by so maybe we can bring it back to the house. They have cancelled church for the day so we are just hanging out at home and the kids want to plan their own primary so they will be doing a sharing time for us (we shall see how that goes).

Here are some pictures of the kids in the snow. I have to say that the snow here is very icy and not the good powdery stuff you get in Utah, so it is harder to drive in (thus the panic of the locals) Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas week!

Carter's Birthday

Carter turned 2 yesterday and we had a great time for his birthday. I let him pick his "theme" for the party by having him pick a pack of character plates at walmart. He picked Mickey mouse and was soooo excited about it. We had a little party that Samantha planned; she even made tickets for everyone. We had dinner then opened presents and played duck duck goose and pin the tail on the donkey. Duck duck goose just turned into the kids all running around in circles every time goose was said. After that we had cake and ice cream. The cake turned out really good this year. I can't take total credit because I gave Aaron a picture of Mickey and he drew it with a tooth pick on the cake then I frosted it. It's a good thing Aaron has artistic talent because I don't have any!

We just love Carter and we're glad he's in the family.

Ryan made a "birthday cake castle" for Carter and it actually stayed up for quite a while. Usually it is knocked down by Carter much to Ryan's dismay.

Samantha also had her first piano recital. She did a wonderful job. Here she is playing a duet with her teacher (up on the housetop)

Halloween

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had a great halloween and got tons of candy! We had a great time trick or treating and it was almost too hot for it. It was muggy and in the 70's, but I guess that's better than freezing cold. Carter was so sick of wearing the bee costume so I found this superman outfit in Ryan's old box of clothes and Carter was thrilled.

Here are the kids right before going out to trick or treat. I got crafty this year and made the trick or treat bags for Samantha and Ryan. I can do bags and pillows and that's about as far as I can go :)