Thanksgiving 2009

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone.  I wish the holiday season would slow down a little! Our Thanksgiving morning began with the "Cheshire Chase" (a neighborhood 1 mile or 5k run) hosted by my brother in law Matt and sister Melody.  Stan took the kids and ran the 1 mile with them.  Unfortunately it ended badly when Stan and my nephew Grant tripped over each other.  In an effort to keep Grant from being hurt too badly, Stan took the brunt of the fall and landed hard on his ribs.  We don't know if he cracked a rib or just bruised them badly, but he's still in a lot of pain.  Poor guy. 

Once the kids and Stan got back from the run, we watched the Thanksgiving parade on television as we made pies and mashed potatoes.  Then it was off to Thanksgiving Dinner (lunch) at my parents house.  Stan and I are lucky enough to have both of our families living in town, so we alternate years.  Either way, it's always a big gathering. :) 

Here are some pictures of the fun day (Tara and Wendy…I stole some of your pictures.) :)

The Yummy Feast

 

 

 

 

We always enjoy spending Thanksgiving with some of the Ferrin cousins.

 

Uncle Larry and my Dad

 

My mom and my Aunt Diana

 

My dad helping grandson Tanner eat his Thanksgiving dinner

 

My Aunt Diana and my mom sneaking some pie. :)

 

Ya...I caught you!

 

Parker going down the slide. Grammy and Papa’s swingset is the best!!

 

Dallin

 

Cassie

 

We stayed until about 5:00 and then headed home.  After a little nap we enjoyed a relaxing evening at home eating turkey leftovers while watching “Miracle on 34th Street”.  Christmas…here we come!

Gratitude

Gratitude is a Spirit‑filled principle. It opens our minds to a universe permeated with the richness of a living God. Through it, we become spiritually aware of the wonder of the smallest things, which gladden our hearts with their messages of God's love. This grateful awareness heightens our sensitivity to divine direction. When we communicate gratitude, we can be filled with the Spirit and connected to those around us and the Lord. Gratitude inspires happiness and carries divine influence." (Bonnie D. Parkin)


Having a grateful heart isn't always easy.  Don't we sometimes get bogged down with all of the negativity that surrounds us? I know that I do.  I have SO much to be thankful for, and I know that Gratitude really does inspire happiness! I think that if we take time to look back on each day, we will find God's hand in our lives.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!





What are YOU thankful for?
http://crissieroberts.blogspot.com/2009/11/what-are-you-thankful-for.html

Cassie is 14!!

 

 

Cassie turned 14 on November 8th.  It doesn’t even seem possible that I could have a 14 yr old daughter!!  We were watching a video of when I was 14…It doesn’t seem that long ago! :) It has been so much fun watching Cassie grow up into the beautiful young lady that she is.  I am so proud to be her mother.  I remember how excited I was when I was pregnant with her and the ultrasound showed that I was going to have a girl.  I couldn’t have been happier!  She was the cutest little baby and little girl.  She said the funniest things when she was little, and always had us laughing!  Cassie has always had the strong desire to make righteous decisions in her life.  She is such a great example to me.  She is a very talented young lady and I’m so proud of her.

For her birthday she got some new boots, an I-tunes gift card, a new shirt, and a DVD.  I’m grateful that my kids are always happy and thrilled with what they get, even if it’s not much. 

Cassie decided that on her birthday she wanted to go shopping at the mall with her friend.  I wish I had pictures, but I know they had a great time!

 

I love all of Cassie’s sweet expressions in these pictures.  I don’t know if you can tell in the pictures, but she got her braces on a few days before her birthday.  She looks so cute in them!

 

 

Her cousin Amber worked really hard in making Cassie a nice Scrapbook for her Birthday.  So sweet!! They are the best of friends.

 

I love you with all of my heart sweet Cassie girl!! Happy 14th Birthday!

Ballet Arizona-Swan Lake

Stan and I had the opportunity to attend the Ballet Arizona performance of Swan Lake. A friend of mine had tickets but wasn't able to go. She was generous enough to let us have them. We've never been to a Ballet before, so we were thrilled. We had such a great time! We had GREAT seats and the performance was amazing. Wow! Talk about talent! It was a high class performance. However, I think I like the "Barbie Swan Lake" ending better!! :) Thanks for the tickets Erica!

Mormon Myths

http://crissieroberts.blogspot.com/2009/11/mormon-myths.html

Halloween Fun

Saturday, October 17th was the annual Phelps Halloween party.  The fun begins Friday night when the older grandkids get to spend the night at Grammy and Papa’s house to help prepare for the big party.  They help decorate, set up game booths, decorate cupcakes etc.  The kids get so excited about this fun weekend! I wish that I had pictures of the spend the night, but here are some pictures of the actual party.

 

Dallin was a Brave Knight.

 

Cassie was a beautiful Renaissance Princess.

 

Cassie’s Knight in Shining Armor!

 

 

Some of the grandkids eating their “Halloweeners”.

 

 

Grammy serving up the Witches Brew.

 

Amber & Cassie…inseparable cousins!

 

 

Rinsley did face painting for her booth.

 

 

Stan always does balloon creations for the kids

 

After the older kids manned the booths for the parents and younger kids, the parents took over the booths so the older kids could go through the booths. 

My niece Tristan had a nail polishing booth.  Her Dad was lucky enough to take her place.  :)

Corey asked my mom if she would like him to paint her fingernails.  She said, “No, but you can paint my toenails.”  I thought she was joking, but without hesitation she sat down, lifted her leg on the table, and Corey had no choice but to paint her toenails.  We couldn’t stop laughing.  It was so funny.

 

Uncle Corey doing a fabulous job at painting Cassie’s fingernails.

 

Uncle Matt assisting Cassie & Amber in a rap.

 

Amber, Haley, and Cassie-cool rapper girls!

 

Parker and a few of his cousins decided to do a Haunted House.  They actually did a really good job.  The little kids were scared to death!

The Dead Guy…Landon.

 

Parker and “the dead guy” in their haunted house. 

 

Trick or Treating at the doors.

 

 

I just thought this was a funny picture-Bridger wearing Uncle Stan’s mask. 

 

 

For my kids, it’s the Phelps Halloween party that really defines Halloween.  Halloween was fun, but nothing too eventful.  We procrastinated getting a pumpkin this year and didn’t buy one until the night before Halloween.  We finally carved it on Halloween afternoon and made yummy caramel apples.

 

Cleaning out the pumpkin is the best part!!

 

Trick or Treating time. Cassie went trick or treating with some friends this year.  This was her first time not trick or treating with us.  She had a real fun time.  Stan took the boys and a friend of Parker’s while I stayed home to pass out candy.  We got about 150 or more trick or treaters this year.

 

Cassie

 

Parker

 

Dallin pulled the same exact trick that he did last year…He decided that he didn’t want to wear the costume that we bought him.  Last year on Halloween all he wanted to wear was the Batman cape that my mom made for him even though we had a penguin outfit that he was supposed to wear.  This year, he decided that he didn’t want to wear the knight costume.  Once again, he wanted to wear the Batman cape again along with the mask he made at preschool.  At first I tried to convince him to wear the knight costume, but he wanted so badly to wear the cape and mask.  So what the heck…Halloween is for the kids.  So I let him do it.  But he insisted that he wasn’t Batman…he was “Super Duper”. 

 

Parker, David and Dallin.  You can get around a lot faster in a wagon!!

 

And the trading begins!!

 

Another Halloween come and gone.  Now what the heck do we do with all this candy?? I was telling my kids how when I was young, it was a rarity to get the fun size candy bars.  Most the candy we got were the smaller things…sweet tarts, tootsie rolls, suckers etc.  Now days, not only do they get a ton of fun size candy bars, they come home with full size candy bars too!! So spoiled!!

 

Happy Halloween!!