O Christmas tree!

Cole and I decided that you can never TRULY feel christmas spirit without a christmas tree to light up the house, and fill it with the amazing scent of pine! Can you tell I am excited?

Gingerbread night!

Our wonderful family tradition of gingerbread houses with a couple of other families in our ward. My dear mother put a lot of time into making all the gingerbread. It was super fun! And i think i gained a couple pounds. : (

Here we are workin pretty dang hard if i do say so myself.
Me, Cortney, and Kimee Quent and the beautiful house we made!

Family time!

So i got to spend a day with almost all 26 members of my family! The only people gone were my brother Jason, and my brothers-in-law Justin and Jay. It was so much fun! i love spending time with my family! And i love my nieces and nephews! They always make me so happy!

Shauna brought back this hideous guniea pig from her in-laws. It's supposed to be really rare. It's albino... Her name was sqeakers but is now either Jenny, Amber, or Clover. Who really knows?

We have good times on the tramp.
And picture time with my nieces! This one is Emma.
Here is me and Abbey.
Brooke and I
And our whole family! I am surprised my dad actually smiled! And all of Tami's kids! I love my family!

My little Drew

Drew decided he likes my back back. If only i could actually take him to school!

CAN-CAN

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!Haha, i love this! sorry i copied you Calli!

October break in Mexico

Check out that beautiful sunset. Oh and that girl playing in that water alone which happens to be me. Everyone thought the water was to cold but i liked it!

Family pictures

Us at the market eating some ice cream right before Max peed in a cup because they don't have public bathrooms and he really had to go.

Us after church. They had a projecter thing in the front with a guy typing the translated testimonies during the meeting.
In the sand

Cole and Briant really enjoyed being buried

My sexy mermaid
Mom's crazy big sand castle that Cole kinda helped with.
Crazy bugs

Try to see the colorful stick bug on my hands

And there was blue-green-yellowish little grasshoppers that were so cool!
However, these mating, GIANT grasshoppers were pretty disgusting
My nephews and me

That's me trying to hide under the blanket and they are "painting" me with feathers they found on the beach

Drew and me taking a little stroll on the beach

Family night

So for family night we planted a garden! Owen was a good helper and plated the peas with me.

Than i took a little joy ride on the "grandpa train". It's super fun going 5 miles an hour. haha.

numb toe

K so it didn't look anything like this oneat all but i got stung by a scorpion. It's crazy, i never thought i would but yesterday i was walking around the dark house and i felt a sting, so i turned on the light and saw a puny scorpion running away. Surprisingly it didn't hurt that bad. Maybe because it was just so funny to me that i actually got stung. I just laughed and laughed for like 15 minutes and couldn't stop. It stayed numb all night and is still numb this morning but i don't really care cause now i have a story to tell.

Shauna is here!!

I am so happy! On Tuesday my sister Shauna and her two darling boys Owen and Drew came to visit usfrom North Carolina and are staying until the beginning of January! Her husband is in Iraq right now for the marines and won't be back until February. I just love having a full house again!

The brown hair ones are her boys Owen and Drew. The blondes are my other nephews Briant and Max!

Owen and Drew swinging on our tire swing!

Happy Birthday Leah!

So on September 28th, it was my dear cousin Leah's birthday! Happy birthday leah! She turned 12 and now is a little beehive in young women's! I have grown up with her my whole life and who knows what i would do without her?

This was forever but a cute picture i had to put on! She is ice skating on my birthday six years ago.

And her on the left is more recent. Ice skating on my birthday again, haha, i didn't even know i did that alot. But this was just last year!
And here is her carrying me and our other cousin Mckenna a day before she turned 12. She is pretty strong for a 12 year old!

bored...

So this is what happens when Skyler and I are put together in one room with a bag of make-up and a camera.



Yeah, we are pretty retarded haha.

Graveside pictures

So ya, here are a few pictures from the little funeral thing this morning for Alice. It was spiritual and lots of people were there to support Karen's family. It was cute.

Mow mow mow

I learned how to mow the lawn on Saturday, and if i do it every week, it will pay for my phone bill unless i go over. But i was just so proud of myself i had to make Derek take a pciture!

Bitter-sweet day

Last Tuesday was a very bitter-sweet day. The sweet thing is that Tami had her baby! He is a beautiful baby boy named James Reed Curtis. Tami is crazy and is already back to working and going to church and she brought James here to Mesa!



The bitter thing is that the Karen went in for an ultra-sound and found that baby Alice Jane was dead. She had to give birth to a still born and it was so so sad. I went and saw her and coudn't help crying. The little graveside was today. It was good and i definetly cried a lot more. But her family is doing great now and i know Alice is in heaven.

Here is a really cute poem that was on the program but don't read it if you don't feel like shedding a tear.

Silent Footprints

We never had the chance to play,
To laugh, to rock, to wiggle.
We long to hold you,
touch you now
And listen to you giggle.

I’ll always be your mother.
He’ll always be your dad.
You will always be our child,
For that we are so glad.

But now you’re gone..
But yet you’re here.
We’ll sense you everywhere.
You are our sorrow and our joy.
There’s love in every tear.

Just know our love
goes deep and strong.
We will forget you never.
The child we had,
but never had,
And yet will have forever.

Elder Martindale

So my brother Jason has been on a mission since January and i need to do a little tibute to him. His original location is Tennesse but he is in Kentucky right now. He is doing great, i am so proud of him and i know i am getting blessings. I bet he is the friendliest and funniest missionary out there!

Can you tell how beautiful he thinks he is?

This may look scary...but his camera can adjust to make him look like his. he lied to us at first and told us he wiped his face with poison ivy. good one huh? NOT. actually kind of.
He says the people think they are in a drought when this is one of the many lakes there. They should try living here for a week, they would probably die.

Pictures with friends!

I just love taking pictures with my friends! We hung out Saturday. It was with Skyler, Kimee, Ashlie, Lindsay, and me! It was so fun! I love my friends!

Can you tell it's a star?

Freshman baby!

First day of school! I am a freshman! The first day was pretty good and i am not complaining to much...yet. I have to say, it is exciting but i am gonna miss the summer big time! I was so sad thinking about it last night. Here are some things i will really miss:

• Staying up late and sleeping in
• Not having to get ready every day
• No thinking to hard about anything
• Seeing my brother, Derek, almost every morning when he visits from work
• And shopping all the time for school clothes!

Cole, all ready and in uniform, for his special advanced school and me in the morning!

Aw... Cole and me