My thankful heart!

I am thankful that I was born into a family who loves me and accepts me for who I am.

I am thankful for my husband and the support that he is.

I am thankful that he comes from such a wonderful family.

I am thankful for all of my children and that they are such good kids.

I am thankful for my house and the shelter that it provides.

I am thankful for electricity and running water.

I am thankful for a heater when it's cold and air conditioning when it is hot.

I am thankful for wonderful friends and neighbors who are so generous and giving.

I am thankful for a car to drive.

I am thankful for a car with a/c, heat, and soft seats.

I am thankful that Richie is able to have a car to get him to and from work.

I am thankful for a car big enough to hold all of my children.

I am thankful to live in the US.

I am thankful that I am free to choose what is best for me and my family.

I am thankful for the freedom of religion.

I am thankful that I can have a say in who will run our country.

I am thankful that I have an equal opportunity.

I am thankful to have an education and that my children have the opportunity to get one.

I am thankful for my husbands job and that it can provide for our family.

The last few years of traveling outside of the US and seeing all of the different living circumstance and economies has made me very thankful and appreciative for what I am blessed with. This year I am especially thankful for all of these things and many more! It has been one heck of a year and I want to thank everyone who has had a hand in helping me and my family through 2 different moves, adopting from a foreign country, and having a baby (almost all at the same time). I have the best family and friends that anyone could ask for!

BYU letdown!

Every year Richie makes his "Y" in our yard for the BIG GAME! This year was no exception. It turned out exceptionally well this year - unlike the game! What's up Hall? Way to put my husband in a bad mood!

Jordan's 1st SNOW!

When we woke up the other day and we had our first snow, we were all so excited to show it to Jordan! --- And he wanted NOTHING to do with it! Granted he had just gotten up and dressed and then we ran him outside, so needless to say he was a little irritable, but he refused to go out side and backed back into the house. During breakfast, I had Mackenzie open the back door and grab some off of the step to show him and he almost threw a tantrum when she showed it to him. After about 20 minutes of her getting snow and letting it melt in front of him, he finally decided it wasn't that bad! We also tried calling it "ice" because we know that he likes to eat ice from the ice maker- but then when we went outside later to take the Kenzie to school- every time I turned around I found him trying to eat the snow! I know every kid does it, I even remember eating it a couple times as a kid , but now it grosses me out- so we don't eat snow at my house :o) He better get used to snow or he has a long couple months coming soon!

Look at the puzzled look on his face

Who knew snow could be so scary?

Macie's Blessing Pictures

We got Macie's pictures back from her blessing day and they turned out so pretty! I had posted a few pictures right after about the day, but these show you Macie on her special day! My sister Kim took them too! (thanks again Kim!) I love them!

Macie's Blessing Day

We love you Macie!

Macie is 8 weeks old!

This is our beautiful Macie! I can't believe 2 months has already passed! She still feels so small to me, but I had her next to my little 2 week old nephew, and she looked SO big!!! She is already holding her head up really good and smiling at us. She is also trying to talk to us when we talk to her.

Her Aunt Kim came and took pictures of her and I couldn't wait to post them. Kim will probably make them look even cuter, but I couldn't resist posting a few right now. Thank you Kimmy! They turned out adorable!

Trick or Treat!

We had fun trick or treating this year! We went to our last ward's "trunk" or treat. This is my girls and a friend, Haiden, from the ward. They looked so cute together and got a lot of comments about all the beautiful princesses!

Jordan's 1st Halloween! It didn't take him long to get the hang of it!!! By about the 3rd car, he had his own cute version of "trick or treat" & "thank you" down and was so excited to get their candy! He just wanted to eat it all right then! We kept having to remind him to put it in his bag. He would cry a little till he realized we were getting more at the next car! He was so excited and full of energy! It is fun to have a kid like that for a change, my others are to shy to even say "trick or treat"!

This is 1 of Jordan's "other mom's". Jodi is so cute with him and loves him to pieces- and he knows it! This is also the infamous Jodi that I owe everything to! She has helped me so much since we got back from Morocco! You're awesome Jodi!!! We love you!

This is trick or treating our new neighborhood after the trunk or treat. My sister joined us with her son, Gabe. He was a giraffe and she was a Safari Guide. If it weren't for her, my kids wouldn't have been able to trick or treat door to door. It was hard enough with her let alone if I would have been by myself!

After trick or treating, we split up, and the little kids and me went to my dad's house and Richie and the older kids went to his brothers house. These are our Moroccan outfits. We have on for everybody, but the older kids didn't want to wear them this year.

Halloween Parade

This is the kids school Halloween Parade. I almost talked myself out of going to watch with all of the little kids, but I decided I would be sad if I missed it - so we went! This is our beautiful Jasmine!

And our beautiful Princess Belle!

And our handsome Jack Sparrow!

This is Kenzie's "shy face"

This is Micailey and her friend Bailey.

Our "Happy Halloween" ... finally!

This year our Halloween was a little bit on the back burner with moving and all that was going on! It is actually the 2nd year in a row that we have moved on top of it, so we haven't decorated or really celebrated fall for quite a while! Maybe next year! We went to Richie's Mom's house for "Dinner in a Pumpkin" and to carve our pumpkins. We actually didn't even get them all carved, but oh well! I think for the little kids, they enjoy cleaning them out the most anyway.

Yeah for Cohen on his 1st Halloween. He was a Moroccan ( those pic's will be posted next).

The older kids getting ready to carve.

Brinley with her pumpkin (it was one of the 2 that actually got finished cause it was simple) :o)

Jordan and Kenzie by Jordan's 1st pumpkin (the other one that got carved - thank you daddy!)

We close tomorrow!

We are finally going to close on our new home tomorrow. Wish us luck! We are kind of getting settled now. We have all of the basics in place so that we can live. We bought carpet on Saturday and it will go in after we get done painting. Then I can decorate and then I might post a few pictures :o)

Micailey's pumpkin head

Micailey had to decorate a pumpkin that she got from school. It wouldn't stand up on it's end very well, so after debating it for a while and trying to think of anything we had on hand, we decided to paint it like a old doctor and use the lines of the pumpkin like wrinkles.

She had a lot of fun and was really proud of her pumpkin! We put it on a tray and scattered cotton balls and band aids around. You can't tell in this picture very well, but he has band aids on his wounds and he has a "comb over". Her "award" said for the most painful.