Bailee's Preschool Trip to Museum

Bailee called and asked me to take her on her field trip to the Idaho Falls Museum. It was fun but Crystal felt bad that she didn't get to go. I'm sorry Crystal but thanks for sharing!

Stockings were hung---

It is snowing in Southern Idaho and Rich has spend all day plowing snow. When we went home for lunch I looked in the family room and there where his socks. I started laughing and he goes, "It's Christmas, aren't I'm suppose to hang my stockings?"

We Have Puppies!

Foxy had puppies on December 12, 2008. Two of them-one black and the other white. She is such a good little Mother. She takes the blanket and covers them and then uncovers them. If any of the other dogs get close she will take them on! She has turned into a Mother Bear! Well anyway--I'm going to post them weekly so we can see the changes.

Bailee named this one Libby.

And this is Tibby. Of course that is just their temporary names.

Going Private

No, I don't do much blogging but do to the way of the world today I'm going private. If you would like to have access to view my blog--I know it is not very exciting--please let me know. I'm going to change it Jan. 1 2009. Thanks to all--I love to view your blogs and watch your children grow and see what your families are doing!

McKynna goes to BYU-I church

Sunday McKynna asked to go to Rexburg to church with us. She was so good and everyone loved her. Rich & Bishop had a meeting afterwards and we waited in the car for two hours. She watched a movie and then was bored. She found my camera and took about 50 pictures. Most of them were blurred but a few turned out pretty good. I decided to post them plus her self portrait.

She loved the lit wreath on the side of the Taylor building.

I love the clouds with the temple.

This is her self portrait. Cute huh?

This is one of the 1st pictures of the Hinkley Building waiting for Grandpa to come out the doors.

This is what caught her eye, in the spring, summer and fall this is the most beautiful flower garden!

Happy 25th Birthday Crystal!

Happy Birthday Crystal! We love you. Next year you are getting a Barbie Doll Cake!

Anger Management

Husband: When I get mad at you, you never fight back.

How do you control your anger?

Wife: I clean the toilet...

Husband: How does that help?



Wife: I use your toothbrush....

Girl's Weekend

Last weekend was our 2nd annual girl's weekend get away. This year, Jessica, Crystal, Liz and I (Tiff didn't come cause of Kade and it would have been hard on him cause it is really cold in Park City) left around 10:30 AM on Friday and got to Park City around 2:30 PM. After driving right by our hotel and not finding the street we were looking for Liz tells us that it was back right after we turned off the interstate. Sure enough there it was and we drove right by it again. But we were excited and after a "legal" U-Turn and through McDonald's parking lot were were there! We checked in and took our "small" bags into our room and were ready to shop the outlet mall.

We had a blast and shopped hard for 4 hours. But we didn't stop for lunch and by 7 pm we were very hungry. We found out that the stores didn't close until 9 PM so we decided to find something to eat at Robin Tuesday's. Took us a little while as Crystal drove and had a stand off with another car trying to get out of the parking lot as we were coming in. Of course we were tired and things were getting really funny by then. After freezing while we ate we soon return to finish our great shopping on the upper level that we didn't even know existed. Can you imagine our excitement when we found a whole other set of stores? Well when the stores shut their doors on us we decided that we need a squishy dessert and want to drive up the hill to see if we could find one. Jessica was elected to drive and was very skillful in missing the two raccoons that were trying to cross the road. Well we didn't find anything except the back lot of a bunch of business, post office and lots of garbage dumpsters--we really didn't know where we were going and it was very dark so we went back to yes, Robin Tuesday's. None of us ate much dessert but at least we felt we were doing the things you were suppose to do on "girls weekend."

We got back to our hotel--carried in all of our "great buys" to see if there was anything that we needed to return in the morning before we left. It was kind of fun as everyone dumped out their sacks and we looked everything over. Great Christmas gifts, Hagin's birthday and even Cole finally got some shoes that would fit. We put the stuff separate that we were returning and went to bed to get some much needed energy for the next day. Of course it was 11 PM by that time.

Well Jessica and her new found "friends" started texting at 6:15 AM so we were awake in our room. We both got up showered and then I wondered if Crystal & Liz were awake. Nope but they got right up and after breakfast at the hotel we were on our way back to return those items when the stores opened at 10. By 10:30 we were on our way to IKEA.

Well it really isn't very far from Park City to IKEA unless you take a detour (again--our whole trip was detours) downtown SLC. It just gave us more to laugh about. We set our timers and said that we only had 3 hours to shop IKEA and we did it. Now we were to load up our truck with those treasures plus a very large mirror Jessica bought for her house. We loaded so carefully and went to shut the tailgate, yep you guess it, it wouldn't shut. The whole idea of the truck was because it had a Tonto cover and would protect things. Luckily Rich left a tie down strap in the back and so we made it work. Took us longest to figure out how the tie down strap worked. Off to Layton to Tai Pan.

We had fun here! We each had a shopping cart full! Now to pack the truck--the back had every inch full and the inside did also. Poor Crystal had the least amount of room put she didn't complain (much). With our truck packed we had to figure out where to eat cause we were starving again! We decided to go to Out Back Steak House cause it was really close. After about a 30 minute wait to get seated we knew what we wanted and didn't want to wait. We ordered immediately and order a "Blooming Onion" for a appetizer.

What seemed forever they bought out our much anticipated snack and just as the guy got to our table, another waitress ran right into him and shoved the onion into him. He picks this plate away from himself, bits of onion falling to the floor, and he goes I'm so sorry, I'll get you another one. He took a step and Liz goes, "no, we will eat that one." It was so funny but we were so hungry and we ate it in less than 5 minutes I'm sure. Well the manager came out--said how sorry they were and that our "Blooming onion" that looked like flat mushroom would be complimentary. We were happy! Well--we got the rest of our dinner and soon were on our way home arriving home around 11 pm Saturday night. What a fun weekend except we did miss Tiffany and excited that she will be with us next year!

October Highlights

The girls are so good about updating the kid's pictures so I feel I'm just repeating. So here are a few highlights from our 2008 Halloween adventures.

Isaac's family voting on which one they should do--oh yea--Isaac won.

Bailee watching her Dad and enjoying a cupcake.

Everyone hard at work trying to figure out what their pumpkin is going to look like!

Of course Shawn can't stand to get his hands dirty so he volunteers to take care of Kade.

Cole wanted a Halloween cupcake with a spider on it. Well he put the spider in his mouth cause he loved the frosting and he wasn't going to let go if it for anything.

For Halloween dinner it has been a tradition for Sloppy Joes and

Cole would just wait outside for the Jack-o-lantern's to come out. He thought it was great fun.

Kade having fun in the play room. Next year he get to have fun.

Now we are down to serious business!

After the 1st few were finished the kids were excited!

The steps looked so neat after we were finished.

Kaidance & Mckynna

Hagin's ready to go trick-or-treating.

Katelyn's Halloween Program

Katelyn had her 1st of many school programs. This was her Halloween program and I think she said she was the "Good Witch from the North!" because she really wanted to be Dorothy for the Wizard of OZ. Her program was so cute and but she was even cutier! Good job Katie Bear! Thanks for asking me to go!

It's Pumkin Patch Time

We had a fun time at the Pumpkin Patch. It was a last minute idea and we sure wished that Katelyn, Kade & Hagin could have been there.

Elder CJ Eaton Hospital Stay

As all of you know C.J. had surgery on September 26 to remove a very large cyst from his tailbone. C.J. was to spent the night in the hospital and ended up spending 3 days. The following are pictures that Elder Tanner, C.J.'s 1st companion and trainer, took and then after the pictures is a copy of the letter he sent to us. The captions under the pictures are just the same as what Elder Tanner put on the back of the pictures.

Elder Eaton on his mission to spread world peace.

Elder Eaton and Elder Tanner

Elder Eaton's wonderful smile.

September 29, 2008

Brother and Sister Eaton,

I wanted to write you and give you an update on how your son is doing. He had surgery this past weekend and the surgery went well. He had a little bit of complications coming out of the anesthesia, but now he is doing wonderful. He was having troubles standing up without getting dizzy and he was a bit nauseous, so they kept him in the hospital a few extra days just to make sure that everything was okay. He was able to leave the hospital today to return back to his missionary apartment. I visited him last night with my companions and some of the office staff and he looked strong and healthy.

The mission president gave him a blessing before he went into surgery, and when I visited on Sunday, I was asked to give him another blessing. It was a spiritual experience and was a wonderful blessing. The blessing assured him that he would be okay and that there were people praying for his behalf throughout the mission and also back at home. The blessing said that there are members and investigators here in the Eugene and Springfield area that he has been sent to influence and bless. I know that all will be well with Elder Eaton. He is a strong missionary and we are just as anxious as you are to get him back healthy. We need him to help us do this great and marvelous work here in the Oregon Eugene Mission. The Lord is watching over and protecting him.

Thank you so much for raising such a wonderful son. It was such a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to serve around him for the first 3 months of his mission. It was so easy to train him, because he was so well qualified and prepared before he came out here. He is a great missionary and has blessed the lives and strengthened the testimonies of many members, non-members, and missionaries. He was a great blessing and benefit to me as we served together in Florence. I have never met a missionary that bears such a pure testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Elder Eaton was meant to come here to Oregon to help with this great and marvelous work. Thank you for your sacrifices so that we could have him out here. He is one of our finest missionaries.

I know that Jesus is the Christ. He is the chosen Messiah and the Savior of the World. He bled for my behalf in the Garden of Gethsemane and also on the Cross at Calvary. He is my advocate with my Father in Heaven. Jesus Christ brought a pure and perfect gospel. The gospel was taken and changed by men and the priesthood was lost, but because of God's love for us, He Prepared and called another prophet. The gospel has been restored. It is perfect and pure.

Your son has changed my life and has been a constant example to me. You may not have seen the miracles that Elder Eaton has performed, but I have and I am so thankful for his courage and strength.

Elder Tanner