Preparing for her big night!

Luke and Ash are part of the East Valley Mormon Choral Organization (EVMCO) and have been practicing for their Christmas concert since October. I have been impressed with the quality of instruction given to them by the Stewart Brothers and can see improvement in their voices and most of all their singing confidence which is wonderful! We are looking forward to the big night next Thursday, December 10th and invited any and all of our friends to purchase tickets, if interested, on their website: www.evmco.org. It is going to be a festive night of Christmas music at the Mesa Arts Center, Ikeda Theater! You can also see a video there of previous concerts done by this organization or join the program for January (they will be preparing for an Easter concert in March). Watch the video, I think it is so moving and awesome to see the little children along with the adults and orchestra members performing, I am looking forward to seeing it for myself!

Plus, I love to hear Ashley sing, she sounds like an angel. She is so precious.

Thanksgiving 2009

Everyone helped out with meal preparations; the little girls broke up the bread for the stuffing the night before and all the little kids helped me make rolls. They used cookie cutters to make their rolls more festive and yummy!





We had a great meal!



After enjoying a delicious dinner (our first made without any of our mothers in the house!) and a discussion about the things each of us are most thankful for this year, we invited the kids out front for a pie eating contest. It was the grand finale to a fabulous week, as Brett and the boys had to pull out that evening to head home, and the kids had a ball with it! The boys were completely white by the time we hosed them off.

Cousins have come to town!

We are so thankful to be spending this Thanksgiving week with our fabulous Finklea cousins who drove and flew down from Utah. My kids are elated to have them here! And we, the moms and dads are having a great time, too!

Jake(3), Carter(9), Luke(7), Blake(7), Ashley (6), Brooklyn (4)


Baby Julia (7 mths) and Heidi
And can it be?... the Men are watching Twilight?... and with no women in the room?! (they liked it).


They've been here just over 24 hours and we've been having a very good time! This will be a memorable week for all of us.
Phase 10 and whipped cream late and night.







Other fun from Makutus Island, Golfland, Organstop Pizza, and being at home.

All he wants for Christmas is some new front teeth!

Two were missing this morning

Three were missing tonight!

Poor Lukey. His teeth are falling out like crazy lately! Thankfully all the loose ones are gone now so he will be able to eat up on Thanksgiving! The toothfairy has been good to him; normally she pays a dollar but last time (three nights ago) she gave him a $2 bonus and I think tonight she may hike the prize up to $5! He definitely deserves it trying to eat and talk like this! It is cute though. His look is forever changed - so sad - he is a real boy now.

USC at ASU

First Solar treated us to a game at ASU Saturday night. It was so much fun and we were glad that we went as a family (we thought about getting a sitter for Jake, but decided to have him come along). We parked at the office and they had a trolley take us over to the staduim. There, they had a beautiful set-up on the practice field with a delicious dinner and cookies catered in. It was a hit. The game was fun, very loud, and exciting. Don't ask me who won because I was running up and down the ramps with Jake by the end... I was exhausted when we got home. Glad we went though!