Thanksgiving Wrap-up

Okay, I know I am way behind here but,
we had a great Thanksgiving holiday and I wanted to share...
First, we were thrilled and excited to be invited to Hillary and Alex's house in Arkansas for thanksgiving! They just moved into their new house and we haven't been out for a visit yet so this was exciting! (By the way, they just added a new member to their family!!! A new baby boy...Jackson Alexander Sperry! Welcome to the world baby Jack...I can hardly wait to meet you!)

Gas Prices were super low...$1.45! I filled my car for $34.00. I couldn't believe it! Anyhow, we loaded on up and headed on out!!! We arrived a bit tired, four hours later....It was Premiere night for Twilight so...of course, we went to the show. (I felt a bit old and out of place among the throngs of teens and tweens who were quoting the movie...and making all kinds of other noises...they were really quite entertaining!) Overall I liked the show, I do think it would be hard to understand if you hadn't read the book. I liked all of the characters except for Rosalie (did you want some fries with that shake?) oops! I also think they did the house wrong...It was supposed to be a big restored farmhouse...that was Esmes passion right?! other than that I think the movie was well done and visually as accurate as it could be...and I can't wait to see the next one. I would also love to see Host done into a movie....maybe with a bigger budget. :) That would be great!


We had a great visit with the Sperry's and the rest of the family that was there. (Alex, Hillary, Allyson, Olivia, Alayna, and Phoebe Sperry. Doe and Nathan Sperry. Jenny and Ron Doan. Jake, Misty, Gideon, and Ashelyn Doan. Seth, Sarah, Annie, Jared, Katelyn, Ella, and Jason Galbraith, and us! It was nice to be together again. The food was fabulous, the kids were entertaining, our hosts were perfect. We really had a great time. Thanks Hillary and Alex for having us!!!


Well we went back to school and normal life for a few days...(I painted a couple of signs...) then for Thanksgiving day we drove down to see Erinns dad and brothers. John couldn't make it because his mom is sick, so we had Dan, Sherman, and Steven Earnheart. Sara T. (Dan's girlfriend). Steven's girlfriend and her kids Selena and Santana. Steven brought his new baby boy Kamryn Lewis Earnheart, so that was fun. The boys enjoyed playing old school Nintendo in the basement. Dans girlfriend Sara made the food. It was wonderful. It's nice for me to just show up and enjoy a relaxing afternoon. We went for a nice long drive afterward and Erinn told stories of growing up in Kansas City. It was really great.

Friday, we decided against going shopping...too many people and not enough $ saved = not worth it!!! So, we got out our Christmas decorations and had everything up before dinner! I was amazed at how quickly we got the job done! The house looks beautiful! I think I am finally starting to feel it...Christmas spirit??? is that you??? If nothing else, I feel the urgency of the very quickly approaching date on the calendar...I am excited about all the fun gifts to buy, make and wrap...the parties, the snow, Hannahs Christmas concert, Santa Lucia Day, quilt shop classes, birthdays, vacation days, and last but not least....the upcoming new year. Cause we all need a fresh start (at least once a year!:)

Speaking of fresh starts...we were thrilled to attend Jared's baptism on Sunday!! Yay Jared! We were happy to get to share one more day of family fun and food. Sunday afternoon we enjoyed dinner and dessert for Jared, Spenser, and Grandpa Fish(although he and grandma stayed home due to the snow that fell Saturday) We missed you both! It was a lovely day. at the end of which I enjoyed a little Americas Funniest Videos and The Amazing Race!! I finally signed up for the DTV box so maybe we'll be able to see the fuzzy things on TV soon! :) (Thanks Misty for suggesting that!)

Anyway, that's about it...I have to teach sharing time tomorrow, and attend ward council mtg at 7am so I better go get something else done!

Love you all, Natalie

More AOA and Hannah!

Isn't she a pretty girl. I don't know what I would do without her!

and Adam-Ondi-Ahman is beautiful too. It was a good day.

Adam-Ondi-Ahman

After our Stake Conference we took a drive out to AOA. We love this peaceful place. It was such beautiful weather. The kids enjoyed hiking around and I LOVED hearing Erinn teach the children the history and significance of the area. I can almost see the valley filled with people and feel the spirit of the prophets that have walked that holy ground. I love it here.

Palo Duro Canyon! Tarantula!!!!

Here is a pic of the tarantula the kids found at Palo Duro Canyon!!! They were all so amazed!!! I've never seen kids so unafraid of a spider in my life! They just thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Here are a few pics of the kids hiking at the canyon! We loved the canyon...it is sooo beautiful! We all loved the hike...the kids ran way ahead, and I tried to stifle my urge to over protect and keep them with me at all times! They had such a great time!

Isn't he the cutest thing? (That would embarrass him so much!!!:)

Palo Duro Canyon, Amarillo, Texas

Texas hugs

We had so much fun in Texas with our cousins! The kids played and played...we talked and sang and had fun! The kids set up a tent in the backyard, they climbed trees, and just had a blast together! Alex cooked his famous burgers and salmon dinners....(on different nights:) soooo good!!! Hillary and I scrapbooked a few pages...who doesn't love that?! Mom found this enormous horse....its true...everything is bigger in Texas! ha ha ha

Smithville Lake

Sam was able to bring his very best friend Joseph along for the campout so that was a lot of fun! These boys have been buddies for a couple of years now and they have a lot of fun together. Unfortunately Josephs family moved on Labor day, so this was their last bit of fun together for a while, hopefully they will get to see each other again someday.










Here are a few pics of the kids swimming at Smithville Lake! It may look like a lovely beach and a nice little lake....but looks can be deceiving...the sand ends at the waters edge and you walk right into mud! It is super yucky sticky mud too! At one point Jenna got stuck and started freaking out, so I went out to save her and got myself stuck, my flip flops came off in the water and when I reached down to pull them out of the mud they broke! At least they were cheap ones! The kids all had so much fun and slept the rest of the day! It was a lovely little trip...one we should definitely do again!!

Its a birthday Campout!!!

Sam is eleven! I can hardly believe that he is sooo old! I can remember the day he was born...time flies, it really does!!!! Well, he really wanted a sleepover party and I really wanted to take the kids camping before summer was really over, sooo.....it turned into a plan...Sarah and I had a blast trying to find a space to camp...Everything was booked...everywhere....we drove all over the place and finally ended up at Smithville Lake's Camp Branch. It was really peaceful and beautiful. The kids had so much fun! Sam had a great party and loved all of his gifts...Thank you all so much!!!! Jenna loved the soda, the kids loved the noodles, we had a bunch of fun playing games, and roasting ;marshmallows!! Erinn, Seth and Dad had some man time figuring out how to use our camp stove!!! and I had the special privilege of sleeping next to the tent full of boys where some scary stories were being told ;) they couldn't figure out why I kept bursting out laughing!!!:) The stories were too funny something about a witch and boba fet! I just couldn't help myself they are too cute!

Camp Dubois

Camp Dubois is a replica of the fort that Lewis and Clark used to winter over before they set out on their exploration of America with the corps of discovery. We were invited to participate in a reenactment over the weekend so, we went! It was amazing. We had a great time. The fort is located on the Illinois side of the Mississippi river (across from St. Louis). When we first pullled up and got out of the van there were tornado sirens going so that was a little scary. It was eerily calm. It had rained the whole week before we got there so mud was everywhere. Hannah said she loved it because I let her "get all muddied up"! I thought that was cute. Jenna would walk until she came to the mud and then say "eeew, its yucky mud" then she would raise her arms so I would carry her. (My arms, back, and feet were killing me by the end of each day!) Erinn got to become a 1st Royal grenadier. They are an elite group that fights for the King of England during the 1760's. He loved it. They got to reenact a battle, (They won!) Then they went down the hill and shot some live rounds in a target practice. I think that was his favorite. The kids got to go fishing in Lake James, where Sam caught a fish with just a stick, a worm, some string, and a small hook. Crazy!! The hook went in through its mouth and came out right under its eye...eeewww! I had to borrow wire cutters from the bead lady and cut the hook to get it out! It was so gross! Noah spent most of his time stoking a fire out in the common area of the fort. He is a major firebug! Isaac spent his time playing games with some of the other children that were there. He and Hannah played a great game of monkey in the middle, and a lot of tag! They all spent some time watching the blacksmith work. He was really good with the kids and showed them how to turn hooks, make hatchets, and other types of tools. Hannah and Isaac were enthralled with the indians and begged me to go inside a teepee. So, we did and it was interesting. They are bigger than they look and filled with smoke(big surprise!). The kids also enjoyed shopping the vendors that were there. We gave them each five dollars to spend and boy were they creative. Sam got a rabbit skin and some arrow heads, Noah got a fox tail and a snake necklace, Isaac got a rabbits foot, a flute, a sword and a piece of rock candy, Hannah got a flute, a snake and a piece of rock candy, and Jenna got a flute (she was sleeping when we shopped!) So everybody enjoyed that part! We slept in bunks and cooked over a fire. We got up early and stayed up late. We got extremely dirty and tired but, we all had a good time. We are looking forward to going again in October to Fort Massack. So, we'll see.