The Hoard

So glad I have these kids in my life. Some days are hard, but I wouldn't have it any other way. We are lucky to get to figure things out with this crew.

 

Aiden and Andrew are getting so big. They will be 8 next month. Seriously!? Can't believe it has been 8 years since I became a mom. They love soccer, video games, and playing with friends. They are good at doing their homework and work hard on their reading.

Paige and Morgan are in Kindergarten and loving being "grown up." They have play dates each week with their friend from school where they get to do things like make cookies, color, and ride horses. They are still a little dramatic, but work and love hard.

Oakley is in 1st grade and loving it. She does all her work on time and then asks for extra chores to help mom and dad. She was even on a kick of giving me massages. She is so sweet and loves gymnastics, playing with friends, singing, and playing Just Dance.

Really can't get enough of this Hoard. Although breaks every now and then are quite needed. :0

Grandparents

So thankful for out parents. My kids are lucky enough to have some of the best grandparents around. You can just see the love they have for each other.

 

Grandma Teri is always up for any play date and gets right in there with the kids. She doesn't miss a chance to cuddle, rub, and love on her grand kids. She has them over for sleep overs and even vacations with her grand kids. We all love Grandma Teri!

Grandma Holly takes the kids every Wednesday night for Grandma Holly night. The kids look forward to the night with cousins, pizza, and crafts. Wherever we go Grandma Holly brings her basket of fun with her. She always has energy (that us parents lack) to do fun creative things with the kids. Everyone loves Grandma Holly!

 And of course the Grandpas are included in this. I just didn't have time to find pictures of them. They are both always willing to help with kids, go on trips with us, play and even babysit out kids. Love all the time my kids get to spend with both grandpas!

Craft Day

#24

 

I am thankful for great in laws and craft day.

 

I am one of the lucky ones that has great in laws. Every year they have a craft day and we get to be creative and decorate something for Christmas. Now my girls get to join in the fun, which I don't know how I feel about that. It was hard enough getting my own project done, let along 3 more.

 

Afterwards we headed up to Dodee's and ate a delicious lunch, complete with 3 desserts for yours truly.

The girls just HAD to have a candle lit breakfast the next morning.

 

 

Thanks to Dodee and Lori for a great craft and great food!

Black Friday

#23

 

I am thankful for Black Friday.

 

I didn't really need anything so I was just going for the experience. I met up with Kim and we waiting to snag her a printer.

When someone yelled go we grabbed some printers and right next door people were going crazy for some TV's so I looked at Kim and yelled "I'm going in!" I came out with a TV I didn't want and a swollen eye I didn't want. Makes for a funny story though eh?

All the fighting made us hungry so we grabbed some fries, nuggets, and a coke at Micky D's.

 

We headed over to Target for a bit, went home to wait for Kohl's to open and chatted with Brooke for a while, then went over and ran into Bob and Camila. It made the long wait in line much faster having multiple people to talk to.

In the end my Black Friday resulted in some good deals, a bunch of stuff I need to return, and my very own black eye.

 

Until we meet again crazy Black Friday.

Thanksgiving

#21-22

 

Thankful to get to spend Thanksgiving with my family in good old Star Valley.

 

We headed up to SV Wednesday afternoon, but only after we could get out car started. Not a good way to start a road trip.

 

We made it to Grandma Wiggles and watched hours of "Buying Alaska" which Trent was totally into.

We headed out to participate in the Biannual Gobble Gallop. Much warmer than last time. If you don't remember check it out here. It was freezing.

 

While we were waiting for other finishers we took a pic of the top 3 women finishers.

 

All the finishers.

Not a very big group, but we have fun. Thanks to all who joined in the race/walk!

 

We thought Kim's pants blended in perfectly with the gravel. I mean really, you can barely see her right?

On the way back we tired to get pics of us heel clicking. Kim had a had time pushing the button at the right time.

I was slightly better and taking the pic.

 

 

Then we tried to get one of us both jumping.  We are so pretty.

 

 

My mom gets the most points for watching the kids during the gallop. She is amazing. Not only does she watch them, but does activities which she brought with her from home.

 

 

Afterwards we made some food, drove down main street, headed to the church, ate some delicious food, visited with family, and headed home.

 

Love getting to spend some time in Star Valley. So many good memories from Thanksgivings past.

Tuesdays

#20

 

I am thankful for Tuesdays.

 

Every Tuesday I get the entire day to myself. I have this great kid swap worked out with my friend, so every Tuesday I get to drop Paige and Morgan off and she watches them, feeds them, and takes them to school. Then I return the favor on Wednesday. Best arrangement ever.

 

So that means once I am kidless I can do whatever I want like take a nap, go shopping, read a good book, and pretty much anything that is unproductive because I am lazy like that.

And another reason I love Tuesdays is for the Spanky Special. Its Veggie with Avocado on this blessed day, so most the time I treat myself to this delicious sandwich, with a bag of salt and vinegar Lay's, and a coke.

 

Mmm. Mmm. Good.

Beauty

#19

 

I am thankful for where we live.

 

I love our house, our yard, and our neighborhood. We are so lucky to see sunsets like this from our house every night.

And we have many visitors through out the day. Sometimes an entire heard like this one.

 

And you can't see any of our neighbors houses from our backyard. It really is perfect.

 

We are so lucky to have found the perfect house to raise The Hoard in.

Lazy Sunday

#18

 

So thankful for lazy Sundays

 

I started the day off right with dessert for breakfast. Delicious.

 

After a little church and some naps, we had leftovers for dinner. Easy Peasy.

 

Played a little Walking Dead.

 

And watched a movie. It was probably Madagascar 3, hence the afro wig.

 

Love when we get to chill at home all day long.

Random Thankfuls

#17

 

Thankful for a clean house.

 

We are lucky enough to have an excellent cleaning lady. Kim does a fabulous job.

We had the extra bonus of having the girls fall asleep for a while and the same day of the house cleaning. Awesome.

 

 

 And I just had to take a quick shot of Oakley in her outfit of choice scaring the deer. Really nothing else to say about this pic. 

 

Kind of random, but I like random in my book of life.

HS Friends

 #16

 

Thankful for good friendships that last 15 years.

 

Some of my high school friends got together for lunch. We hit up Robintinoes just like old times. It is amazing that after so long and maybe only seeing eachother 1 or 2 times a year we can still get together and chat it up like we were still in HS. Oh and another side thankfulness-I am so thankful my kids are a little older and I can have kidless lunches every once in a while. ;) But it was fun to old Paige's cute little girl and feed her so Paige could eat her cenetta in peace.

 

Love this group of girls and love the fact that I had such good friends to get me through high school. The best thing about all these girls is I still feel they would do anything for me if I ever needed them now.

Missed all of you that couldn't make if or that live too far away!!! Maybe for our annual Christmas lunch we can get more of you there!

GNO

#15

 

I am thankful for my ward friends and a spontaneous girls night out.

 

 

We have a cute girl in our neighborhood that is a decorator and part owner of Liv Showroom on Main Street. I hadn't ever been there and they were holding a Holiday Decorating workshop. So a few of us decided last minute to make a night out of it. We learned some great tips and some of us even went shopping afterwards to put to use our new found knowledge. Loved the night out and love these girls.

An Evening of Thanksgiving

#14

 

I am so Thankful the Relief Society Activity is over.

 

I am the Chairman (?) of the Relief Society activities, which means I am in charge of any extracurricular meetings during the week for RS. And in our ward that means one activity a month. A lot right? I agree, but what do you do. This month The Pres wanted to have a fancy dinner centered around love and gratitude. Great idea, but a lot of work. First off you have to have posters hung up everywhere to remind the ladies AND flyer's delivered for a second reminder. So when it was time to deliver flyer's I took to the streets with my running shoes, fanny pack, and a bag of flyer's. Perfect way to get my run in and fulfill my churchly duties.

For the dinner we did a mashed potato bar, so not my idea, but it turned out really good. I assigned everything else out and kept the mashed potatoes for myself. Dumb idea. It took so long to wash, cut, boil, and mash 20 lbs of potatoes. I even ended up with a nice blister from all the cutting. But for the record, they were delicious. ;) And I wish I would have taken pictures of the acutal dinner, but our lettuce froze for the salad and I had to make  a last minute trip to Smith's and got back just in time to serve the meal.

I know I should be thankful for my calling, but today I am just thankful this event is over. It is a lot of work preparing, decorating, set up, advertising, and cleaning up. Now on to the Ward Christmas Party, which for some reason the committee is in charge of as well. And that's in 2 weeks. Ugh.

Nurse Work

#13

 

Thankful for my Nursing License.

 

I am so thankful that I went to school, earned a degree, passed my boards, and have great jobs to help take care of The Hoard. I am lucky enough to have 2 jobs that allow me to work and stay home with my kids. My nursing degree has been such a blessing in our lives. So glad I stuck with school.

Man Date

#12

 

Thankful that Trent went on a Man Date AND came home safely.

 

 

Trent had Veterans Day off from work, so he decided he would get a couple things done at the cabin. Luckily his friend Ryan was able to join him. They had a lovely man date filled with lunch, shopping (for a sled to pull behind the snowmobiles), and snowmobiling. Glad he was able to escape real life for a bit and enjoy some fun.

And I don't know if I am abnormal, but I am such a worrier. I actually think it is a gene passed down in the Veigels. But I worry anytime Trent goes snowmobiling. I am so afraid he won't come back. That would be bad for The Hoard. We couldn't survive without this guy. So, when he returned home I was so thankful he was kept safe during his day of fun.

More Snow Fun

#11

 

Once again thankful for Trent and the many times he shoveled the driveway this snowy weekend. AND after all the shoveling he built a snow cave for the kids. All in in Sunday clothes.

 

The kids in the finished project. It was even big enough for the entire Hoard.

 

 

Trent's a good one.

The First Snow

#10

 

Thankful for Snow AND that my kids actually play well in it.

 

I know some of you won't believe that we are actually thankful for snow here at The Hoard, but its true. We love winter and now that our kids are getting older they can get themselves halfway dressed and they play in the snow for hours. It is lovely. So yes, we are thankful for the first snow. And even more thankful that it dumped snow all weekend.

 

With all the snow the kids had to go sledding down the hill in our neighbors yard.

 

I joined for a little while and then went back in to watch a movie with sick Trent.

 

Oh and another thing I am thankful for. My awesome yard. It is beautiful with a fresh coat of snow on it.