Turkey Day with the Scullins

 Yummy!

 Everybody loves Hunter!

 Hanna really gets into Thanksgiving food.  She has the most mature taste buds of all our kids so far.  She loves candied yams and the Broccoli Casserole!  As well as the pumpkin pie and apple pies. 

 Carter and Harrison are such good buddies and can't wait to see each other every few months

 Jared's plate just before he dug in.  The food was tremendous this year.  We are really getting it right.  I did the pies, yams, and broccoli casserole the night before.  It really made the preparation a lot easier day of. 

Apple pie, Chocolate Cream pie (with nuts), Chocolate Cream pie (without nuts), and Pumpkin Pies the staples of every Thanksgiving meal at our house!

While the Scullins were here, we played board games and did puzzles.  We also went to see Harry Potter 7 part 1 together.  It was soooooo Good!!  Carter and Harrison made a stop animation movie together with Legos.  They were very proud of it!  The guys enjoyed some shopping together and the girls went out for Cheesecake Factory lunch.  It was great, but always not long enough!!

Broadway Girl

 Hanna's Fall performance at Hollywood Kids was "A Night On Broadway"

 We were so proud of her and the confidence she exuded on stage

 Singing her solo "Maybe" from the musical Annie.  It was flawless!  (And were only a little biased)

 Her whole class taking their bows

Bria, Hanna, and Katelyn.  Bria lives right across the street.  These girls carpooled together all Fall.  What cuties!

November fun times

Aunt Rachel ran a half marathon in St. George so they came over for a visit afterwards.  Hanna loves to play with cutie cousin Sabrina!

We had the cute Taylor boys over for Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies

 The finished product

 We LOVE The TAYLOR boys.  Jake and Josh have so much fun with them!

Who said cleaning isn't fun? 

Cole tries on Mommy's new boots that are as tall a his legs and looks like some weird baby satyr

The Tri-Triplets

Amber, Jen and I did the St. George Tri again in November.  It was incredible how many people showed up this time.  Close to 400 people!  It was crazy that out of all the competitors, we three came in with finish times within 1 and a half minutes of each other.  It was a personal best finish for me with a time of 1 hour and 18 minutes.  I was really proud of myself especially of the running portion.  I love these gals...they are a source of perserverance, dedication, strength, and example to me.  My word for this year was DISCIPLINE.  This was a nice way to top of the year that I have really tried to regain my physical discipline in!

Br. Llewelyn

This is a picture of Carter in 2007 on his baptism day.  Br. Llewellyn and his wife adore him!  When we lived in California, Carter was instrumental in reactivating Br. Llewellyn into our church.  Jared was his home teacher and Carter had gone with him a couple of times.  The primary presidency gave each child a Christmas DVD of Mr. Krueger's Christmas and asked them to think of someone that they would like to give it to.  Carter immediately thought of Br. Llewellyn.  When they dropped it off to him Carter said to Jared, "Do you think he will come to church now?"  Jared said, well, maybe, but it usually takes a lot more than that.  Well, thanks to a little boys faith and prayers the very next Sunday, in walked Br. Llewellyn.  Over the next few months before we moved, Carter developed a special relationship with this couple.  They enjoyed many visits together.  Br. Llewellyn gave Carter some model trains and two "Bolo" ties that he has continued to wear to church every other week (rotating with silk ties per my request).  Br. Llewellyn eventually was able to get the priesthood and bless the sacrament.  And then recently he went through the temple and enjoy those blessings in his life.   I have always been proud of Carter and his involvement in his activation.  And I have thought several times how special it is that Heavenly Father trusted Carter with the task of bringing one of his children back to the fold and to help Br. Llewellyn reconnect with his Savior.   
        Br. Llewellyn passed away yesterday after many months of suffering from health problems.  There were quite a few tears shed in our house last night.....especially because Carter is flying to Vacaville tomorrow night and barely missed saying one last goodbye.  In honor of Br. Llewellyn, Carter wore a bolo tie to school today.  Jared and I are so blessed to have such a special boy in our family.
      As I contimplated all of these things this morning....the thought kept coming to me that maybe life isn't as much about what we do as it is about what we become.  I know I've heard this before....but its making a lot of sense to me today.  We all are imperfect and make mistakes along the way.  Some bigger than others.  But at the end of our life....... Can we look back and be proud of who we are and who we have become?  Have we learned from our trials the things our Heavenly Father wants us to learn?  Have we chosen to fill our time with worthwhile pursuits?  Have we learned what we needed to learn from the examples around us? Has our ability to love, accept, and understand others increased?  Have we become sufficiently humble to have our hearts become  like our Saviors?  More willing to serve others,  more unselfish, and less quick to anger?  Thinking about my own life in this way has definitely made me want to re-evaluate a few things.... but isn't that the first step to change.... recognizing the need?  Through the example and love of our Savior we can all BECOME who we ultimately want to be.  Afterall, there is hope for us all.       

Disney Days

Its been awhile since our family ventured to Disneyland all by ourselves without friends or family with us. So we decided it was time!! On the drive to Disneyland in early November, I asked everyone what they were most excited about doing, this is what they said:
Carter- Seeing Mickey and riding Space Mountain
Hanna- Visiting Belle and riding; Peter Pan ride, California Screamin', Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, and Madderhorn
Jake- Seeing Goofy, and riding Its a Small World and Madderhorn
Josh- Seeing Goofy and Donald, and then riding Pooh Bear Ride, Pirates of the Carribean, and seeing a parade
Cole- We decided we were most excited about meeting Mickey Mouse and Lightening McQueen, and riding Pooh Bear Ride, and Buzz and Woody rides with him!
Mommy- Meeting Mickey and Minnie and riding Soarin' Over California and Space Mountain.
Daddy- Meeting Woody and Buzz and riding Tower of Terror

When we got to our hotel, we were so thrilled. It was located right across the street from the entrance to Disneyland. We stayed at the recently remodeled Park Vue Inn. They were so accomidating and the rooms were perfect for our family. The best part of the next morning was waking up to continental breakfast and then walking right across the street to the park!!! No more shuttle, long walks or anything. I don't think I can go back to that. I think I will always stay that close from here on out.

We were so excited for Cole to meet all the characters.....but he was scared to death when it came right down to it

It was the very beginning of November when we got there so throughout the three days we  were there, the park kept converting from Halloween to Christmas right before our eyes.  This pumpkin was gone by the third day!

These two cuties and I rode the caresoul.  Aren't they so cute??

I'm so grateful that Hanna still wants to meet the princess characters

The kids woke up to new Disney T-shirts the first morning!

When we went over to California Adventure, we were happy to meet Mater and Lightening who now reside permanantly right across from The Soaring Over California ride.  Since Cole is too short to ride that one, he met his favorite characters with mom or dad over and over throughout the three days while the rest of the family rode that ride together

"C" kids day two!

We met up with our Las Vegas friends the Hathaways for a lot of this day.  They have cute girls that were a lot of fun to ride with.  Little Evan their youngest was a hoot too! 

Hanna is riding with the Hathaways here

Pluto doing what he does best!

Sully was hilarious covering Hanna's face at the last second when I took the picture!  (side note:  Hanna wanted one of the pin collecting lanyards for a souvenier this time.  She picked a really cute one and got here first pin which was a Tower of Terror one)

Josh took his turn at Jedi training.  We brought the Yoda costume and ears and had him wear it to ensure he would get up on stage.  Worked like a charm!  The Master who Narates said: Wow this one is so fast you couldn't even see him do his moves!  We were so proud of Joshy 

Cole always has at least one character car from the Cars movie to entertain himself....he can name them all!

Ridding Madderhorn with Audrey, Kirsten, Ava, and Evan!

We started the Third day at the Tikki room which none of us had ever done before.  Wow.  I don't think we'll go back.....that was weird. 

The man with the vision. 

We had three perfect weather days while there

We were standing in Tomorrow Land when I turned to Jared and said " I really wanted Cole to meet Buzz and we haven't seen him yet"....Right then literally Buzz walked out and we were one of the first groups to meet him. 

I really wanted to get a picture of Hanna with Belle this trip since she played Belle in June in Beauty and the Beast Jr. at Hollywood Kids Academy

The trip was a success!  The military was running a special so we decided to stay the third day and let the kids miss one day of school.  It was worth it so we could take it easier and ride some of our favorites one more time. 

Trip summary:

Josh and Cole had a great time this trip playing at Toon Town Running from thing to thing

Cole was scared of every ride because they were dark until the third day when he finally started getting used to them and realizing they were a lot of fun! 

The kids got soaking wet on the Grizzly River Rapids at California Adventure and on Splash Mountain

Carter road Space Mountain over and over

Madderhorn really whips you around (what a neck ache)

The New World of Color show at California Adventure was super cool, but they need to figure out a better seating arrangement!

The parades sure are amazing

Joshy wanted to ride Pirates of the Caribbean just so he could buy a sword at the shop at the end!

We saw a cute western show in Frontierland that we had never seen before

Jared is the master of the fast pass and has us here and there and everywhere to make the best use of our time

We love this Happiest Place on Earth together!!