Our little Elf

The other night Dan was playing with Drake and put the hood from Drake's outfit on his head but made is ears stick out. Drake started smiling and we decided that he looked like an elf. So we placed him in front of the tree and took this super cute picture.

Toys for Tots

My Dad, Sami, and Drake
Uncle Jeff, Me, Miah, Dan, Eric, Angie, Heidi, Midge, Sarah, Brock, and Alyssa


This past weekend we put together the family softball team and played in the Toys for Tots tourney in St George. It was so much fun and we played pretty well even. We went 4 and 2. The team consisted of Dan & I, Sarah & Miah, Eric & Heidi, Angie, My Dad, my friend Emily(midge), my dad's brother Jeff, and a couple of fill-ins along the way. My mom had all the kids and I think she had a good time. During the night games my parents sat in the trunk with their nine grandkids. It looked and sounded like a party. I look forward to next year when we get to do it again.

Thanksgiving

Here are a few pictures of our family gathering for thanksgiving. This year we once again met up at my Grandma Beatty's house in Woodland Hills. My parents were there along with Angie & Nate and their 4 kids, Eric & Heidi, My uncle Mark & Shannan and their 3 kids, and Dan & Drake and myself. Naturally, Thanksgiving morning Dan played football and then we headed to off for the weekend. We got to Grandma's in time to help set the table and eat. Just like always it was great food and even better company. For the traditional family movie we went and saw Madagascar 2, very very funny!!!

I have never really been a black friday doorbuster person but this year my sister-in-law and I decided to go to Walmart at 6am an hour after the doors opened. It was amazing! The lines were all the way back to the back of the store. I couldn't believe it. We got what we needed and checked out at the electronics which was much faster for our 5 items. After seeing this I am sure I will never be a doorbuster.

A little late

We just got a CD with Drake's six month pictures. He is now 7 1/2 months old but the pictures were so cute that we need to get some on here for all to see.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT

Well Drake has been scooting around for about 2 months, and now he is starting to crawl. If he can take his time he crawls. If there is a need for speed he drops to his belly and is gone. We have had a toy that is to encourage standing and walking so we got it out and he decided it was a great toy to climb. The day before Halloween I noticed him sitting himself up too. The other night Dan went in to get Drake and he was sitting up looking over the edge of the crib, so we decided we needed to move the mattress down. The next morning we moved fixed mattress and took out the bumper pads and then put Drake down for his nap. He just keep crying so naturally Dan went in to make sure he hadn't gotten himself stuck. Next thing I hear is Dan yelling for me to hurry and come up with the camara. There Drake was standing up crying. That was the day he turned 7 months.

Trick or Treat

Here are a few picture from Halloween in Springville

Our little Lion
The little Lion with the Star Wars Cousins, Darth Vader(Kade), Yoda(Mason), Anakin(Jake), and Lastly Princess Leia(Sami)

Catch up

I realized that I haven't update for awhile. So before I take all the cute pictures for Halloween I decided I need to post some cute pictures since the last post.

We went to Gardner village a couple of weeks ago with my visiting teaching partner and one of the woman we visit teach. We all have small children and they have the place decorated with witches it was so much fun! At one of the first little shops we stepped into they were giving away balloons with a cute spider(made from tootise rolls and pipe cleaner) attached to the bottom. Drake would not let go even when he fell asleep he was not going to let go of that balloon, and of course when I was taking pictures I didn't get the balloon in there but you can see the string.

Drake(eating the spider)

Will Evershed, Eliza Harden, John Evershed, and Drake(eating the string)


The next fun thing we did was carving pumpkins with friends Ben and Vanessa Mangum. Every year since we have been married we get together with Ben and Vanessa and have dinner and fun. Drake even got in on the carving.

Dan allowing Drake to touch the knife

Ben and Vanessa deciding on what to Carve


Dan's sisters boys have birthdays in Oct so they have a big party for both. They rent out gymnastic gyms and everybody has fun. Here are some fun pictures of the family finding out how difficult gymnastics can be.

Dan's brother Jon and his girlfriend Somilia with Drake
Drake with Grandma Neville
Dan's brother Jim, Dan, a friend, twin Dave, and brother-in-law Mario

Dan and Dave have a contest to see who has the better balance
Dan Trying to Vault


And finally pumpkin carving for FHE at Sarah's house.

Sami and Drake Hangin out
Mason Stickering his pumpkin
Heidi and Eric
Sarah and Jake
Kade, Mason, Miah and Grandma BeattyDrake and his baby Jack-O-Lantern

Leaves are falling all around

Mom and Dad
Drake and I
Mom and Dad
Drake and Grandpa Drake

I love the fall, when the leaves start changing color, the air cools, and the holidays truly begin. My true love of fall I believe comes from my mom. Growing up almost every fall we would load up the horses and head to Pine Valley. We would head up the mountain and check out the fall colors. It was so wonderful and I have really started to miss those horseback rides. Hopefully someday I can do the same thing with my kids. Anyway my dad had meetings in Midway awhile back and my mom came with him. Drake and I drove out to hang out and take in the sights of Heber. Before my dad's first meeting we went to Cascade Springs and took in the fall colors and also took some pictures. It was fun and beautiful too bad the pictures don't do it justice. After my dad headed to meetings mom, Drake and I headed out to try to locate all the old family homes in Heber. My mom struggled a bit finding the homes because they don't quite look the same as they once did. But we had a great time walking around and just enjoying the time. Thanks for inviting us mom.

Tagged

Weird and interesting....

1. For those of you that don't know Dan loves to shop more than I do. He has a really hard time passing up a sale even if he would never wear the ugly shirt. I have a hard time spending money. Dan likes to beg friends that I go shopping with to make me spend money on me, not on anyone else.

2. Drake is now 6 months old and I must confess I have never felt a contraction. Yes it's true. I have never had braxton hicks, I never had even a slight pain that I would think could have been a contraction. The day I went to be induced, Drake's heart beat was out of control so we had a c-section.

3. Most people do not know that I was a rodeo star. Okay, so maybe not a star but I did participate in a rodeo once. My events were goose chase and bull riding. They called it calf riding but as a 12 year old those were no calves. They had horns with tennis balls on the end to make us feel better cuz now looking back they would not have done any good had the "calf" felt like ruffing someone up.

4. When I was in kindergarten a kid in my class got sick and threw up in class. I'm one of those people that when I hear and/or smell the barf I can't hold it, so I threw up all over the toys. Mrs Liddle tried to send me home but I explained to her that I was not sick. She let me sit in the quiet chair for the rest of the day.

5. I have always been a big kid but in fourth grade I realized just how huge I really was. Mr Lytle has us all weighed and measured our height. I'm not sure why but we had to write it on the board. I was 5'1" 108 lbs, the biggest kid in the class. Good thing my two best friends were 5'0" 101 lbs or I may have developed a complex. And get this my teacher was my Dad's uncle.

6. In college my softball coach tried to nickname me double D. He thought it was funny until he really thought about what he would be yelling onto a softball field full of women. Needless to say he never used it.

7. I come from a family of hunters. Dan is now getting in to the spirit of it, so we decided to take hunters safety together. The weird part about this was we took the shooting portion of the test when I was 7 months pregnant. Talk about awkard.

I guess I now have to tag 7 people.

Chanell

Jana

Megan

Trisha

Mandy

Nichole


Shayla

St. George

Drake waiting for the start

Everyone waiting for the start

Eric, McKenna, and Drake watching the Parade

Mom and Hailey in the parade

After the race

These past couple of weekends we have been down in St George. Swiss days was Sept 27 and of course everyone participated in the 5k. Well everyone that is except Dan. He had to stay in Salt Lake, he had planned a UPS golf tournament and felt like he needed to stay since he put it together. So everyone minus Dan. We had a great time.


Dan two miles from the end

At the end of race, family photo

Dan wants Drake to get a taste for running so he can have a running partner cuz heaven knows I'm no partner


Dan finishing the race

For conference weekend we were in St George for the Marathon. This was Dan's third time running the marathon. He spent Friday night at my Grandparents home which is a few hundred feet from the starting line. That way he doesn't have to get up super early to catch a bus. The last couple of marathons I have stayed there with him, but with Drake this time I decided to just stay with my parents and see him at the 24 mile mark and then the finish. About the time Dan got to the starting line it started to rain, and that rain continued through out the length of the race. He said that the rain probably helped him from cramping and such. He does enjoy Running it for some reason so I believe he will continue to do it. We love to go to St George and wished we could live closer so we could make it there to visit more often.

Already?!

MMMMMGood
Ready for another bite?
It's so good it's all over my face




We have started Drake on Cereal last Friday. I was so fun to be able to watch him using his tongue to try to figure things out. He is still deciding if he likes it but we try a little everyday. Saturday Dan played in a UPS United Way softball tournament, while watching one of his games I noticed Drake's two bottom teeth were cutting. He hasn't been very fussy so we were very surprised. Another thing when Drake has been left to play on the floor he has been moving quite a bit, but today I had left him across the hall in the office playing on the floor. I was in his room packing up the 0-6 month clothes and getting out the 6-12. I could hear him playing with this rattle and every time I looked up he was closer to the door. As I watched he would almost throw the rattle and then do the one armed scoot to get it. I can't believe that he has already started all of this, he is only 5 1/2 months.

Enjoying a Good Laugh

Last year Dan took me to the State fair because I had never been. He won me this huge Scooby Doo stuffed animal. We decided that we would make it a family tradition to go to the fair. We went with our friends the Burnetts and their little boy Jacob wanted to see all the animals. We first went to the Hogs. They were so huge but there was one hog that was the biggest pig I have ever seen in my life(no pun intended). You would never believe the size unless you saw it your self. Unfortunately I didn't get out my camera until later so no picture. We also looked in on the sheep, goats and of course the tigers. Not long after we arrived at the fair Dan saw someone caring around this huge Phoenix Suns ball. He ran the guy down and found got the location of the booth that had the ball. When we located the booth it just so happened that it was the same basketball game that Dan won Scooby on. Last year it cost us about $10 this year it cost us $30, but hey it's Phoenix Suns so it was worth it, right. Drake really wanted to play with the ball even though it was twice his size. He has also discovered his toes and enjoys eating them and anyone elses he can get into his mouth. By the way Drake is really starting to laugh now! It is so much fun to do whatever it takes to hear it. We tried to get him on camera before he realized the camera was there because as soon as he notices the camera he has a hard time focusing on anything else. Check out the video