Pre-Fair Week

There's no "real" order to these pictures....it's just a conglomeration of a lot of fun and laughter. The kids have started rolling into Logandale for Fair Week, which is the week they ALWAYS come home. Michaela was the first to arrive. She came on Thursday right after she finished up her semester at BYU-I, and was ready to get out of there and leave her grades behind. After a strenuous semester, she is more than happy to be home where she can just relax (except for the work dad has her doing at the fairgrounds, which is all day - every day:) Tibi and her have had some good times just hanging around though...
Easter Sunday, after church, we attemped to take some family pictures of at least some of us. Here's whose left at home - Boring dad, boring mom, and Tibi and Landon.

Tibi and one of her favorites - Levi

Connie and Peter's cute family. They will be adding another little girl to their family this August!

One of the reasons, and it's a HUGE one, why our family is all gathering home for Fair Week is that we are performing this year. Yep, you heard me - our whole family is attempting to play at the fair. I make no guarantees...but we ARE on the schedule. So I guess that we'd better at least get together to run through what Kira has decided we will play. Lexie has been working the hardest to learn and memorize her bass parts. Kudos to her...

This good looking guy just happened to find his way to our house too. He isn't even family, but he might as well be. He just got done serving his mission here in the LV mission, came back to visit with his parents, put them on a plane back to Indiana, and will leave from here to head up to BYU-I for his upcoming schooling. We have snatched him for a few days here and there to give him a home-cooked meal and a couple rounds of card games. Here's Marce, Eden, and Adam Gibson playing games on his phone.

Levi is obsessed with superheroes. Not that I blame him....they are pretty cool. His favorite this week has been Superman. He got a new suit for Easter, which he says makes him look like the "guy that turns into Superman." I immediately pulled up Christopher Reeves as Superman on You Tube to show Levi how it looked in the movies, gave him an old pair of "no glass" glasses to keep, and let's just say that he has been Clark Kent ever since they got here :) I think he looks pretty authentic...

I'm thinking that after all the late nights, Easter candy, still teaching Seminary, and laughing, we are all going to need another "vacation" after this vacation! Connie and Peter were smart to plan a little getaway to Vegas without the kids. They will be back on Wednesday night, just about the time that I head off to the funny farm...

And this little guy just keeps on smiling, getting into EVERYTHING, and being the cutest little thing around!

Giveaway

My sister is having a giveaway. She has started her own creative blog and is giving this cute purse away to some lucky gal! To enter click HERE. Good luck everyone! (...and good luck to my sister)

Christmas 2011

I'm thinking that I kind of liked that Christmas was on a Sunday this year. For one...I was ready for pictures, with makeup and all, instead of just getting out of bed. Also, I loved going to church and looking around and realizing how much I really loved the wonderful people in our ward. Our ward meets at 9:00 so we were blessed to have the whole day ahead of us. Connie and Peter attended their Sacrament Meeting that morning also, and was on their way to Nevada by noon. We got home from church, changed into our PJs, had our traditional breakfast (at 11 a.m.), and then went into the family room for the opening of presents, all that is, except for our exchange presents for each other. The kids were adament about not even looking at their stockings until we got home from church. Stockings are Michaela's favorite part of Christmas morning...
Connie and Peter showed up around dinner time and Levi had to show me what he got for Christmas... This kid is the "dress up King!" (LOVE the boots...)

Connie made Tibi and Landon pillowcases this year.

Landon's new wallet from Tibi.

Kira surprised all of her siblings with their own "jewelry tree." For those of you who don't know about these...I'm sorry. They have been in the family since church "bazaars" were around. Any of you remember those days? In a nutshell, the children have all called "dibs" on our family one when I die, but I told them I wasn't planning on dying, so Kira got smart and made one for everyone instead.... Smart girl. Jewelry tree = wood, fabric, Christmas lights, lots of costume jewelry, BEAUTIFUL!! (The kids are in charge of their own jewelry)

I got the only thing I wanted....a blender. Life stinks without one, I've decided.

Kira is always so cute with the nieces and nephews. They love her to death...

The next night we attempted to take family pictures. These two got a little giddy...

A cute one of the Hill family...

All the kids in order...from youngest to oldest. (Landon is happy to finally be the tallest!)

How did I end up with such cute kids?!

Kevin couldn't quit laughing....!

We needed the sun to hurry and go down for a better shot...but have you ever tried to do this with tired kids? No time for the sun to go down...

Another of the kids...

Much better lighting...Kira, Connie, and Lexie

That's better...

Love this one...

I'm the luckiest girl in the world...

Willard Thanksgiving 2011

Hold on to your hats because this is going to be a long one. Thanksgiving time is Willard Reunion time at our house (along with all the other Willards), which means we head off to St. George on Wednesday afternoon for a fun-filled weekend of playing, eating, picnic-ing, and staying up WAY too late laughing and playing games. Every year we stay at Randy and Penny's house in Santa Clara (Kevin's just older brother) and frankly, we wouldn't have it any other way. Our kids have grown up together, although most of them are married now with little families of their own. Penny is so good to keep our family, all of us which makes about 16 of us, plus a few other families too. We owe her BIG TIME after every Thanksgiving weekend. We usually pay her back in either cereal or treats and goodies that only stay at her house :)

Here are the kids playing a mean game of popcorn on her tramp. They used to do this at our house when they were all younger (and before our trampoline broke.)

The little ones were happy to just play in the green sand...

Next day...forgot to take pictures at our annual breakfast at the church, which includes a yummy, warm breakfast, and a wild game of "Bump Out" on the basketball court. Here is Connie and two of her kids waiting for Thanksgiving dinner.

Mmmm boy!! (The best part of the dinner are the paper plates...)

...because every year it's the teenagers that do the dishes after dinner.

After dinner, we snuck off and went to see our dear friend Carla, who we miss terribly at our festivities. It was SO good to see her and get a long-awaited hug from her.

Next day... the crowd gathered to go on a hike before heading to the park for lunch.

The kids LOVE going to the park because they finally get to do something that they LOVE to do (and they can be as noisy as they want to be.)

Look at those lovely colors on that nasty punch :)

The annual "Tibi and Tibi" picture. I think we forgot to get one of these last year...

That afternoon we headed over to "Uncle Bob's" for a fun carnival set up in their backyard. Marce was pretty excited about the marshmallow shooters!

They even had a fishing booth... (I guess you didn't have to be a "kid" to enjoy this carnival:)

All of Connie's kids wanted their face painted. Of course, Eden wanted a pink heart...

Levi gets an artist's version of the "Joker" on his cheek. Kira made good with what he wanted it to look like. Jonah had a cute sun on his...

Saying goodbye on Saturday morning. Now it's back to school, teaching Seminary, and work till we get to do it again next year. Thanks Penny! (...and Randy)

Halloween 2011

Some of these pictures are a little scary...not that the costumes are scary, but it's a shame these kids still think they need to go trick-or-treating! My kids will always be kids at heart, so that means that they will probably ALWAYS dress up for Halloween. It's kind of like Michaela said tonight..."at least we're not out partying!" Point taken...
Here's Colton, Tibi (really), Landon, and Michaela
In character...

Nana brought her kids over too. I love it when all the "family" kids come over. They asked what I was dressed up as...I told them I was a grandmother tonight. They just kind of looked at me...

Every year after trick-or-treating, Tibi and Michaela insist on unloading their stash of candy and sorting it out for the annual picture. Then Tibi turns into a monster and becomes the "ruthless trader" - oh my goodness, you'd better hold onto your candy or you might notice some of it gone!

Even Amar'e got into the spirit of the night. He made the cutest mummy...(see, there I am dressed up as a grandmother!)

Kick Off Your Sunday Shoes...

It's official...I've been released from my stake calling. As much as I needed this to happen in my life, I will miss it terribly. We have had such wonderful opportunities to not only work with the women of the stake, but to also feed missionaries at Zone Conferences, do humanitarian work, and have a successful Day of Service this last year - among many other things. I have been blessed with two sets of wonderful counselors throughout my nearly four years there. But now I can pass the torch on to an incredible woman who will love the sisters as much as I did - and do, and will help keep the fire burning within our stake. So, thank you, my sisters. You have touched my life. I will miss you. Now it's back to studying for Seminary, and wearing a different pair of shoes. It's not that easy wearing two different pairs at one time...

Homecoming 2011

Okay...yes, I'm still alive, although my life has been a little crazy lately. They called me to teach early morning Seminary this year, and let's just say that I have to schedule all other things in my day around it. I LOVE Seminary, and I have great kids, it just takes a lot of time. With that said, here are some of the pictures that Kevin and Michaela took for Homecoming Week. This, of course, was "Nerd Day" (my kids have to TRY to look nerdy, thank heavens :) They actually look pretty good! I think Landon looks a lot like his cousin, Kurtis, in these pictures. (Not in a nerdy way, of course!)
Classic...

Saturday night was the dance with their dates, after a day of frolicking outside on four-wheelers and dutch-ovening. I was in California visiting my parents and sister for the weekend, after being kidnapped by my two Utah sisters. It was nice to have a getaway, but I ended up missing yet another Homecoming/Prom of one of my kids. They just have them without me...
Here's Dirk Frehner and Rachel Dalley and Landon and Mady Messer, Tibi's best friend!

Colton and Tibi looking good...

Our valley is blessed with talented women that can take a strapless dress and turn it into a fairly modest gown. Thank you Debbie!!

The braces come off in weeks...too bad the dance wasn't scheduled later. At least they will be off for senior pictures.