It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas.....

I love the preparations for Christmas.  The gift buying and making, the music, the parties and the time to reflect on the Savior and what a blessing to know that He did come to this Earth as a baby and live to give   us the opportunity to repent and live as families with Him again.  

Our Ward Christmas program was so good this year.  They did the Christmas story and involved all of the  young women as Angels.  Erin told me a few days before the program that she needed a horn so that she could be an Angel for the program. She said, "Cause I am already an Angel."  Is that not the truth....we are so blessed to have our very own "Erin Angel."  

We got a beautiful 5 inch snow storm 4 days before Christmas so we had a white one.  It was so pretty.  Nothing gets you in the spirit more than those big white fluffy flakes.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

 There is our "Erin Angel".

 I love our ward girls....they are the cutest!

FAMILY IS EVERYTHING!

It's the season of miracles.....and we just witnessed one.  We finally got everyone together for an official family photo!  We are so blessed with the best family ever.  I am so grateful for each one of them.  Josh said it perfectly the other, "the best part of Christmas is having all our family together."  That is the best part for me.....I am so excited to be together for Christmas!  FAMILY IS EVERYTHING!

 Everyone together and smiling....a true miracle.

 The best kids in the world....I love them so much!

 And here comes the icing on the cake....Kira and Kalli....beautiful granddaughters.

 Like mother, like daughter....Kira and Kirstin....beauitful!

 Cutest couple ever....Whitney and Griffin.

 Where's the mistletoe?????

Love this cute family.....Caitlin, Ryan and Kalli.....

 This picture shows Austin's personality perfectly!

 Beautiful girl.....Erin.

 The cabooses....the two amigos.....the best saved for last......Jordan and Josh.

All because two people fell in love.....we love each one so so much....and are so so blessed!

Christmas Spirit

Christmas always brings a feeling of love.  It is a wonderful thing when your children internalizes the importance of serving and loving others.  It would be nice as parents to be able to take the credit for teaching our children to be that way......but sometimes, and I think most times, they just come programed that way.  Let me explain....

Last night Brother Bell, a high councilor in our stake and assigned to our ward, called and said that he just wanted to share an experience with us.  He said that on Sunday as he was in our Sacrament meeting on the stand, Jordan passed the Sacrament to him.   He said that he had a pretty bad cut on his hand.  When Sacrament Meeting was over, Jordan came up to him and without saying a word, gave him a band aid and pointed to Brother Bell's cut.  Brother Bell expressed the love and compassion he felt as Jordan offered the band aid to him.  He also said, "How many 12-13 year old boys would see that and take the initiative to go get a band aid and give it to someone who needed it."

That's our Jordan.....in fact, we are blessed with 7 children that are kind hearted.....we are so grateful.

Our Little Georgia Peach....Miss Kalli

Miss Kalli has become a Georgia Peach and we are sad! Ryan, Caitlin and Kalli moved to Atlanta, Georgia this week.  Ryan got a job with AT&T.  He will be in Atlanta training for 5 months and then they will move to a more permanent location for his job.  We are praying that it is closer to Idaho.

It was hard telling them goodbye.  We have been blessed to have them in Pocatello the past 2 1/2 years.  They come over to do their laundry, have Sunday dinner and just to hang out with us.  Caitlin has been my errand buddy.  We are excited for the opportunity for Ryan and that he has such a good job opportunity when it is so hard to get a job right now.  And how we will miss Miss Kalli!  We are so grateful for Skyp and local cell phones!

Caitlin left on Friday and I flew out Saturday to help them move in.  It has been fun to be here and see where they are living.  It is a beautiful city.  They have a nice apartment and their ward was really welcoming yesterday.  There were quite a few young couples in it. 

Nikki Bybee lives about 45 minutes from here.  Vicki, her mom, and her aunt, Tammy, were here visiting Nikki this weekend.  So they invited us to dinner on Sunday.  It was fun to be with them.  We have been blessed with such wonderful friends.

Ryan's first day of work was today.  He came home so happy.  He loves it! And he came home with the best news.....they get to come home for Christmas!  He gets from the 23rd to the 2nd off.  I was worried that there wouldn't be any flights on our miles this late.  But a tender mercy from Heavenly Father happened....there was one flight out and one flight back that fit perfectly!  All our family will be together for Christmas.....the best present I could ever ask for!

 I love my Kalli girl...

 It is so hard to say goodbye.....

 The girls....Kira, Kirstin, Caitlin, Me and Kalli.

 One of the first things they put up....the Christmas Tree.

 This is how happy Ryan was when he came home from work.

 Kalli is teething...the cold plate felt so good!

 Kalli's first ride on her bike.....she is as happy as her daddy.

So fun to be with the Bybee's......Vicki, Caitlin, Kalli, Dana, Nikki, Tammy and Ryan.

RAM POWER 2011

Who said, "All good things must come to an end"? That's how I feel right now.  We have had a lot of fun watching Griff and Aust play high school football. Austin is our last high school player.  The football banquet

is always reality that it has come to an end.  Austin had so many good friends on the team.  We enjoyed everyone of them.  Chess Carbol came to quite a few Utah games with us and he is such a good friend to Aust. 

The coaches each talked about the players that they were responsible for. Travis Bell was Austin's position coach.  He is such a good man.  He is a member of the church will great values and such a kind heart....just like Austin.  He said, when he was introducing Austin, "Austin if your parents wouldn't have adopted you, I would have."  "I love you!"  He said that Austin was a lot of fun.  Chris Frost, the defensive coordinator said that Austin reminded them everyday in practice that football was suppose to be fun.  What a great kid! We are so grateful for his kind heart, his happy nature and his obedient spirit.

 Austin's buddies.....Taison Manu, Chess Carbol, and Vinny Gwinn....the DB brothers....

 I think Austin is going to cry!

Austin loved Coach Bell and Coach Bell loved Austin!

The agony of defeat.....

Our last regular season game was against Colorado.  All we had to do was win this game, have Cal beat ASU and USC beat UCLA and we would be the southern division champs and play Oregon for the PAC 12 title.  Colorado has only one conference win and had not won on the road in 25 games.  That all came to an end....we lost 17-14.  We had a chance with three field goal attempts, one being with 14 seconds left in the game and we missed everyone of them.  What made it even harder was Cal beat ASU and

USC beat UCLA.....I feel so bad for the players and coaches. 

The positives in the game was that Griff had a 29 yard punt return and a 7 yard return.  And we do get to go to a bowl game......so glad we didn't have to end on this note.  Still love those "UTES".

It was so fun to have Jessica, Jennifer, Michael, Mike and Natalie at the game.

We are ThaNkFul....

       "Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."

I love this quote and we have so much joy!  We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  We have a wonderful family, two beautiful grandchildren, and the Gospel which makes sense out of everything we do. 

We went to Griff and Whit's again this year.  Utah played on Friday so Griff had to go to film at 2:30 pm on Thanksgiving and then to the Hotel.  So we had Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night.  Whitney is so kind to invite us and do the majority of the cooking.  It was so so good!  We just ate, hung out together and watched a movie and just relaxed.  It was wonderful!

 This is our Thanksgiving feast....doesn't it look good?

 Erin, Whit, Bill, Austin, Josh, Jordan and Griff.....

 Jordan showing us his gangster moves...

 The after dinner nap...Roxy was lying by Austin and moved when I went to take the picture.

 Luke, Erin, Kenneth and Dexter.

On Thursday, the boys went to grandma Cindy's to spend the night.  The team had a dinner at 5:30 and they invited the families to it.  It was fun to be there with Griff and his friends.  Erin was so excited to see all the receivers that came to our home this summer.  They are all so kind to her and take time to talk to her and give her a little squeeze.  We are so blessed and so very, very Thankful!

GAme 11....Utah vs Washington St.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....this is the 2nd game with snow.  We are getting to be pros at dressing for it though so no worries!  Since Austin's team lost last week and weren't in the State Championship game, we left Friday morning for Spokane.  We had to leave Poky at 2:30 am to catch our flight in Boise.  We hit a hugh snow storm right outside of Poky and it lasted until Jerome.  At times we were going 30 miles an hour.  We left home with only 4 hours until our plane left.  I didn't think there was any way we were going to make our flight.  We drove into the airport with 45 minutes until our plane left and we made it.  Whew....I'm sure glad we did because we had a wonderful time.

Friday we did a little shopping....I know hard to believe!  We also got to go see Nathan in his high school play "Oliver".  He did such a good job.  He was a natural on stage. 

Saturday, Brian came with us to the game.  We knew it was going to be snowy.  At the start of the game, they had plowed all of the snow off of the field.  We didn't get much snow the first half.  The team went into the looker room for half time and boy did it start to snow.  By the time they returned to the field, we had 1 1/2 to 2 inches of snow.  It was crazy.  It was good for us.....we won by 3 points in overtime.  Whew...we dodged that bullet.  And the funny thing.....after losing our first 4 conference games, we actually could go to the PAC 12 championship game.  We need to win this weekend, Cal needs to beat ASU and USC needs to beat UCLA.  Don't have to guess who I will be cheering for....GO UTES, CAL and USC!

Kathleen, Nate (the Artful Dodger) and Brian.

Grandma Seppi is staying with Brian....it was so good to see her.

Yes,  we do look like it was cold, don't we!

Go Griff!

This picture was in the Salt Lake Tribune...so grateful that Sister in the red hat was in front of me!

The half time snow storm....

Happy and warm....

Hey grandpa....where's Mindy????

After we won, some of the pkayers were making snow angels in the snow.

Another great win for the UTES!