Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving this year was spent with the Wyatts' we rotate

every year. Pandy is a great cook. Everything homemade and

from scratch. Ofcourse the eating is sooo much faster than all

the preperation that goes into it. The missionaries came to eat

with us. Poor guys had 3 dinners within 3 hours of eachother.

I think they got real full that day. I told them just eat dessert

with us because Pandy always makes a ton of pies. She made

several Pumpkin (from her canned banana squash), choc. cream,

coconut cream, Pecan praline cheesecake, and two pumpkin rolls.

I am not a pie person but I sure enjoyed the pumpkin roll.

Here is a group shot of those who sat down first.

Paul (Vinnies dad) carving the turkey

Kamrielle & Caden

Me & Carder. I think he enjoyed his first Thanksgiving.

Carder followed tradition. Sleeping after eating.

Vinnie also followed his tradition~making faces.

Me & the kids.

Don't we look full? Well we sure felt that way. Full and tired.

I was hoping to get a picture of the whole fam together, but

as usual we did not. Caden was taking the picture. It was a

nice day. We came home and watched a movie that got over

around midnight and then by the time I was going to sleep

I got around 3 1/2 hours of sleep. I got up at 4 a.m. to hit

the 5 a.m. opening of WalMart. So...I'm totally dragging today.

I love saving money!!

If you know me well enough you know I love to shop!

But even better I love to bargain shop! I love to find

great deals! Well I have been shopping with Coupon Sense

now for about 4 years and I still absolutely love it!

I will admit that I get a "natural high" from shopping

at the grocery store. Most people dread it. I on the other

hand love it! Why? because I save so much money!

Tonight I went to Safeway. Pretty much just for the deals

and as you can see on my receipt below left I only spent

$19.18 but saved $58.77 so I got $78 dollars worth of

groceries for under $20 bucks. That's 76% savings. Plus I

got a $5 off my next shopping order for the next time I go.

Yep, that's why I love it! and I also run over to Bashas

every now and then and this was my last trip down there.

(See bottom left) Paid $25.34 and saved $38.20. Not my

best for them but it was the last time I went and still had

the receipt in my purse. I have really been able to build up

our year supply. Sure the basics you could live off of, but

what about the fun and yummy stuff? Well that is what I

get at the store. Right now the economy is so bad and who

knows what is to come and so I'm glad I have this "hobby"

right now and my husband likes it too!

Pictures with a story

I was busy upstairs for a little bit and came down and found

this scene. Vinnie and Kamrielle asleep. Kamrielle with a

sucker in her mouth and Vinnie with a toothepick in his.

Well I did pull the sucker out of Kamrielles mouth and they

both continued to sleep for awhile.

Caden was watching Carder for me and this is what they were

doing this same night too! I thought they both looked so cute!

This is usually how you find Caden, with his face in a book.

Carder has recently been trying some different Gerber juices

out in a bottle. He likes them and so does mom! It usually only

once every day or two. He does not have any teeth yet so it

can't hurt him too bad. It does help when I need to be away from

him for a little longer. He does love to eat! Just like the rest of the

kids sweet potatoes are his favorite. He has now reached the

point that he wants what ever we are having.

And this is the cutest of all. Kamrielle was watching Spy kids

the other night and when it got over she headed to her room.

Well this is how she came out. All on her own. She has some

boots on but you can't really tell. Her spy goggles, a rope tied

up around her waist with scissors, and a hand clapper, and

a bag full of goodies. She came out with this attitude to go with

it too! Not a bad one just a spy girl tuff attitude. I was impressed

that she did it all on her own. She is a crack-up.

Here is a close up to see her "goodies" closer.

Happy Birthday Todd!

November 10th is Todd's Birthday. ~37~ Wow. I can't believe it!

What can I say about Todd~ A Lot!

I followed Todd in the order of kids. and that was'nt always

a good thing but it was even better most the time!

Todd always succeeded. In everything. Academicaly,

Sports, Friends, Hunting, Babe magnet, and keeping his

room clean! (He made us girls look bad). I looked up to Todd

a lot! I loved going to High School with him. He looked out for me.

I also got lots of lunch rides from the girls who liked him.

He has always had a great smile! (see below)

Todd is now very successful at being a Chiropractor,

something he always wanted to be when he grew up.

He is a great example of having a goal and then following

through with it!

This is Todd with my oldest Caden
He also always wanted a family! He is a wonderful husband
and father! Here he is with Laura his wife and Paige and
Savanah. Luke was not born yet.

Todd is known for his goofy side too. He is great at impressions
and making jokes and my kids think he is sooo funny!

Todd~ I hope you have a great Birthday! I think you will
if I remember correctly you will be golfing. Something he enjoys.
I wish your family was closer. Lots closer. Sorry I'm so bad at
keeping in touch! I love you very much!!

Why do I do this to myself??

I don't know why I have not learned yet, but I have'nt.

Maybe if I put it in writing I might remember more.

Everytime I go to bed late (which is usually pretty often)

but on a really late night especially...my kids all have a

bad night. Carder wakes up a million times to eat or

whatever, Kamrielle gets a leg ache and needs a corn

bag or she needs a drink. Twice this week Vinnie and I

have stayed up to watch a movie and they were the worst

nights this week. It never fails. BUT the one night this

week we went to bed like at Ten (which is early for us)

it was a great night of sleep and Carder only woke up

once. Kamrielle slept all night. So I need to get to bed

at a decent time and then maybe I won't be dragging

by the weekend. I'm not complaining about

my darling kids just so you know.

Just that I'm lacking sleep!

And who could not love this cute thing??

When I need to get something accomplished like

cooking dinner or something then I can put Carder

in his bumbo with a Gerber biter buiscut and he will

be so good for 45 minutes or so. Yes, it does make a

huge mess, but I'm willing to clean up another mess.

He is concentrating so hard on getting it in the mouth.

He loves them a lot! and the zwieback toast too! They

make him happy, therefore they make me happy!
I promise most of it does go in the mouth. It just looks
like it does'nt. and when he's all done...


he opens his mouth and is looking to get another one.
One is enough though. One mess that is.

Grandma and Grandpa Whipple come for a visit

My parents came up this past weekend for Kamrielle's

Primary Program. She is a Sunbeam this year so it

was her first one. She was absolutely adorable!

She sang all the songs so well. You could even hear her

among all the others. She said her part very loudly into

the microphone. She said "I love to be at home with my

family." I was so proud of her. Thanks Mom and Dad

for coming. It was a busy weekend. It seems like we are

never home or have something going on and we had

planned to inventory our food storage on Sat. so we

got it done thanks to my mom and dad! Dad helped

us unload all the boxes and group and count what we

had and my mom well she did what Grandmas do best!

Love on the babies! She was a great help in that too!

Heres a group shot of Gpa & Gma with the kids before

leaving for church.

Caden had fun videoing Kamrielle while waiting to leave

for church. She was entertaining us all. I'll have to figure

out getting that on here next from the video camera.

Here is the "Star" herself.

And another group shot. I took two because well you have
too! You hope that one will turn out. Well I thought they
both turned out so I had to put them both on here!
Thanks again for coming and supporting your
grandchildren. You always do it so well!

Carder in the jumper

Carder showing his stuff. Thanks to Marcy for getting this

video. I'm embaressed to say that I have had my camera

for several years and did not know I had this feature.

Carder

Carder is usually a happy guy. I thought this

video shows that. He is also very loud. Marcy

took this video while here visiting. Let's hope

it works. This is my first time posting video.

Turleys were here for a visit

Somehow these pictures posted in the opposite order

but it takes too long to fix it so you will get the story

backwards, sort of. The Turley boys were here for a

hunt and of course I did not get any pictures of them.

But Marcy and Camdon came on Sunday Oct. 19th and

joined the rest of us. They left Tues. morning.

While Marcy was here she painted Kamrielles fingernails

and toenails. We were trying to get a picture of her

hands and feet together but she was not liking how she

had to hold her body. Hence the pout...

Here is the shot I got.

Marcy took this one. He looks like a bigger boy
in a bigger hat! Almost 7 months in these pics.

I love Carder's smile! He sure likes to smile a lot!

And heres the picture I wanted first. I was going to say...

Heres what Marcy did while she was here. She loves

my kids and they love her. I wish she were closer.

I could have definately used her today!

Thanks for coming. Your welcome anytime.

Family Reunion~Mexico~October 2008

We had an awesome vacation in Mexico. It was so much

fun! My kids still talk about it. I think we decided we

want to go back every other year now and camp on the

off year like we have been. This is the whole gang that

went below (Vinnie is taking the picture) when we got

back from Church.

My sweet little family!
This is how the family started so that we

could have a reunion...With a Dad and Mom

Here is the front of our villa we stayed in. It was nice.

Marcy and I getting ready to take Carder for a walk

Kamrielle joining the rest of the kids with the "markering"

of the face. See Marcy's blog for a cute video and pics.

Big Brother with little brother.
We loved the sunsets.

This is as beachy as he got. Did not like the water. I guess

he takes after his mom on that one and would rather

just soak up some sun! Of course I kept him in the shade!

Camdon and Kamrielle heading to the beach.

My nerdy face!Playing in the waves!
All the boys playing in the water.

Caden caught a crab.
Trevon holding Carder "the beach bum"
Grandma and Kamrielle
Gang on the beach as the sun was going down.

This was the back patio of the villa. We had a beautiful

view of the beach and perfect weather to go with it!

Kamrielle posing.

We did lots of game playing. Here are Caden and Trevon

playing a game of Chess. We also played lots of Password.

My Moms favorite. We did not get a picture of that.

Vinnie and my Dad playing Speed. I was bragging that no

one could beat me yet. And no one did!

I was thrilled to get to play a game of Beach Volleyball!

Vinnie and Carder in the background watching.

I was sooo glad Savanah came with us! She was so fun
for Kamrielle! They were inseperable. She is such a
sweet girl and a good example for my Kamrielle.


This was just off the patio. Kids playing together.
Looking for seashells
rough housing eachother.
We had access to a pool as well and it made it fun too!

The sunsets were georgeous there! We could not get
enough pictures at sunset time. But you had to be quick.

Mom and Dad
Marcy, Mom & Me
My sweet husband still makes my feet kick up.
Kamrielle played from sun-up till sun-down.
The nice part of this vacation was all the R & R. Sometimes

you just have to get away to get some! Vinnie and Carder.

Vinnie sleeping
Me sleeping
Carder sleeping again. Thanks Grandpa.

We did lots of eating too!
The Chicken Hut. We all liked that place.
The girls loved butter tortillas. We went through lots
of butter and lots of homemade tortillas!

and everyone could not get enough popscicles either!

Vinnie loved the mangos they cut up on the beach and

sprinkle with chille powder.

We did some shopping one day and went to the fish market.

All in all it was a great time and enjoyable! I'm looking

forward to going back!