Thanksgiving Dinner

We had Thanksgiving dinner today at Bobby and Stephanies with Greg's side of the family. It was a really laid back affair and pretty calm. I am not sure why...ususally the Williamson clan is out of control. We had it later in the day this year and that may have been the difference. In the picture above Josh is not too thrilled to have me take his picture. Since I have started my blog, the kids freak out when they see me pull out the camera...oh well.
This is Tara and my niece, Eliza Bleu. I think she missed the mark with the stethoscope. Nice try though.
Tara, Eliza, Jenni and Emma making fools of themselves...or everyone with the exception of Tara. I don't think she got the memo.
Jenni striking a pose. She was giving thanks in her own unique way.
Some of the nieces and nephews downstairs in the family room. It was a fun day and my tummy is full of turkey.

Pain? What Pain? ??

A couple of months ago, Christopher had to have an ingrown toenail removed. He sent this picture home about a week ago and I thought it was kind of funny. Some people never change :)

Long Weekend

I have not been very good the past week at keeping my blog updated. We have been hit with the nasty flu bug that has been lurking around Utah County. Hopefully everyone will be 100% in the next few days and life will be back to normal.

Greg has not been feeling well for about a week and the bug finally hit hard a couple of days ago. Luckily he was off from work so he did not have to call in sick. Today he went back and was still a little under the weather, but pushed himself to go.

Josh and Emma both came down with it in the early hours Sunday morning. That was a rough night. Emma woke up about 3:30 am and came into our room and spent the remainder of the night beside my bed. Josh woke up and took care of himself downstairs. Sunday was a rough day with all three of them (Greg, Josh and Emma) laying around watching Disney movies, digesting large quantities of Ny-Quil , and looking like corpses draped all over the furniture. I had been sick the previous week and luckily I was better just in time to take care of everyone. Tara has come out of this unscathed so far and I hope that it stays that way.

I am now spending my time disinfecting and cleaning everything down to the toothbrushes. I am determined to be triumphant over the nasty little bugs that have taken over our home for the weekend. So...when you walk into my home and smell that lemon fresh scent, it will not be because I am a clean freak...it will be because a battle has been waged and I will not be denied my victory :)

Raking Leaves

This afternoon Greg and I wrangled up all the kids and headed outside to get the yard ready for winter. With all the trees on our property, we certainly had our share of leaves to rake up. Emma had a friend over and they actually accomplished a lot together. I was kind of concerned that if she had a friend that they would just goof off. However, I was pleasantly surprised :)
This is Emma dumping the leaves in the garden to be tilled into the dirt for next planting. She came up with the idea of putting the leaves in the wheelbarrow. Whatever works! I just wanted them in the garden.
More pictures of Emma and Maddie.
Josh was not too excited to be helping with the yard. He has a grumpy face and after a while he decided it was not too bad. He had the easy part...sucking up the leftover leaves with the lawnmower.
We ran out of rakes to get the leaves up, so Greg got innovative and used the snow shovel. It actually worked really well.
More pictures of the family working. Tara helped too, but I somehow did not get her in any of the pictures. The tree in this pictures definitely needs to be pruned in the spring. A little out of control... It always feels good to get the yard ready for the first snow.

Great New Website For Missionary Moms

I stumbled across the neatest website for missionary Moms the other day. It is located at:

ourldsfamily.com

Since I have joined this group, I have connected with a few Mom's of missionaries that Christopher knows! It is so neat to talk with these Mothers and share pictures and stories. At this site they have many forums to join. Some are:

Mothers of Missionaries (both Sisters and Elders)
Mothers of Soon To Be Missionaries
Mothers of Returned Missionaries
Mothers of Missionaries That Had To Leave Early

If you have a missionary about to leave to the field or one already out, I highly suggest getting with this group. It has made my day!

In Josh's Own Words

Josh wrote this poem because he was bored in English one day. I thought it was pretty amazing. He certainly has the gift of writing. I am sure that someday he will be a famous author. He told me I could post it...so enjoy!


Of Me and Of Him

Nature is of me,
It swells within the very depths of my soul.

Truth is of me,
It blossoms in my mind.

Knowledge is of me,
It grows within my heart.

Self-fulfillment is of me,
It lies within my 'morrow.

The unnatural is of Him,
He crafts it with His delicate fingers.

The Truth is of Him,
Because He told it to me.

The Knowledge is of Him,
For it was He who developed it.

My self-fulfillment is of Him,
For He is always watching,
Helping me on the path,
He is always blessing me.

And you.

Picture Tag

I was just tagged by Teri Sue. Not sure what that means exactly, but I will follow the instructions that she gave me.

1. Go to the fourth file of your pictures
2. Find the fourth picture
3. Upload it to your blog and tag someone else to do the same.
4. I tag Amanda and Krissy :)

My picture was taken last winter. This was actually a Sunday and we woke up to so much snow that at church we were sent home after Sacrament Meeting to help our neighbors dig out. This is Jenni and Tara trying their best to shovel the snow. I had to capture this on film because I wanted to prove to Christopher that his sisters actually know how to work-JK!!!

Growing Up Fast

A couple of weeks ago our ward had it's annual Primary Program. Emma was so excited that she got up earlier than usual and was ready very quickly. I am glad that I thought to take a picture of her all "done up" for church. She did an great job with her part and even had it memorized two weeks before the actual day! She is certainly growing up fast. Only three more Primary Programs until Young Women's...WOW.

Utah Temple Tour

In January of this past year our Laurel class made a goal of attending all of the temples in Utah to do baptisms. As of just a week ago, the girls completed their goal by attending their last temple. These girls have been to Jordan River, Mount Timpanogas, St George, Vernal, Ogden, Salt Lake, Monticello, Manti, Logan, Bountiful and Provo. During these temple trips, these amazing young women have completed baptisms for more than 850 names. These are truly incredible girls and I have loved every minute working with them and seeing their testimonies grow. They have learned to love the temple like never before and implement the habit of regular temple attendance. Love ya girls! (the picture above is at the St George Temple)
This is at the Bountiful Temple. That temple looks a lot like the Mount Timpanogas temple from the outside, but the inside was totally different. The picture below is the Manti Temple...one of my favorites. Simply beautiful inside and out.

I Got To Get Me One Of These!

Christopher sent this photo home not too long ago. Only he would be able to find the only Nebraska Hunsker football mailbox in all of San Bernardino, California. I bet anything he was thinking that when he gets home he has GOT to have one of these! Only his would be with a BYU logo.

Boo!

Halloween this year was really relaxed and fun. Emma is our only "legal" trick or treater. Josh is too old, but I suspect that he has a stash of candy down in his room from going house to house last night with his buddies. I used to really enforce the "No Trick or Treating if you are over 12" rule, but I am getting old and tired and figure there are bigger battles to fight.

Emma was a cute little ladybug this year. I was really happy that Jenni found this costume last summer for a deal. I think that it looks really cute and I am happy that she decided to be something adorable and not disgusting-ha!

Emma's school has a parade every year of all the Halloween costumes. Halloween has certainly changed from when I was a kid. We just threw something on the night of the event and went out in search of candy. It is now a major holiday. What ever happened to the simple things? At any rate, Mr. Bezzant (Emma's teacher) made a great Shrek and was a good sport dressing up with all the kids.
This is after the parade with Tara outside her classroom.
Jenni dropped by for lunch and walked in the door with this all over her face. I told her she looked like a clown that escaped the asylum. Freaky. She told me that she did not wear it to work, but her and the guy next to her got bored and he had some face paint in his car. So...they retrieved it and went to work on each other's faces.
This is from the night of Halloween. This is Curtis, Marja and their boys, Braige and Brogan. Curtis looked so stunning in his yellow tights that I had to grab my camera. I told him that I was going to email it straight to Christopher. I am surprised that this picture was not blurry because I was cracking up when I took it. Marja was looking pretty stunning too.
These are our neighbors, the Flicks. Holli braved trick or treating with the kids while John was away at work. Ella was so cute as a lion and I love how Eli is totally snoozing through the whole thing. I wonder who ate his candy...HMMMMMMM.