Merry Christmas!!!

Here's our Christmas Card...If you didn't get on in the mail, accept my apology. I'm no good with addresses, but we love you just the same!

ps if anyone knows how to make your pictures really big in blogger...I would appreciate the help!
Thanks!

WOW what a weekend!

I had a BLAST this last weekend. Last Thursday night we had our ward party where Braden & I performed a silly Christmas song ( no good pictures except this one with Joss and Santa!), then I hopped in the car with Cam and Joss and headed up to my mom's!
My BEST friend from college just happened to be in Lehi and I just had to see her so I made the trip. See, she has lived in Spain for the last 6 years and I haven't seen her since she moved there. It was fun to reconnect. It was like we have seen each other everyday. No awkward pauses. I wish that she lived closer (ie...the United States) but in the mean time I am definitely planning a trip to Spain to visit SOON! Love ya Cin! If you are wondering, neither of these babies are mine or Cindi's, we just love to snuggle babies.


Then on Friday night I was blessed to receive tickets to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. They were fabulous seats, and I got to go with another best friend of mine...My brother Kimball. He was available last minute and It was just him and I. That rarely happens and I have to say that I LOVE him. We laughed, cried, sang along with the choir, and ate good food! I loved the concert. It was a huge production and it was just the thing I needed to get me in the Christmas spirit. I'm grateful for my good family(including you Stuey) who watched my two little people while I did so many fun things. Here is the lame picture that I was trying to take when the announcer was telling us that there was to be NO picture taking. OOPS!
Saturday Morning, my grandparents, mom and dad, and all my bro's and sisters in the area came over to my mom's for breakfast. We got to visit and I got more snuggle time with my cute neices and nephews, I also spent some time with Stu's mom who just had knee surgery...poor thing. I wish there was more I could do to help her heal.
Then it snowed and snowed and snowed and I didn't dare make the trip back to S.G. on Saturday night so I slept over and left early Sunday morning in the snow, since I had to sing in my ward's sacrament meeting. I barely made it in time, and I was feeling really grateful to get home safely since I saw some accidents where people weren't going home. Scary! My song went well and I had a great Sunday. I felt such a sense of peace the whole weekend, I'm not sure I can really put it into words. I'm just so grateful for all the undeserved blessings that I continue to receive.

Christmas Party with the Bartons

Fun Christmas Activities! We had my cute cousins come over for a Christmasy Dinner and to make gingerbread houses and open presents. It was really fun...We don't get to see them very often even thought they live close. We are going to try harder to be better cousins.

Christmas Spirit...Where is it?

I am on a quest to really have the Christmas spirit this year. It seems the last couple of years have been sort of rough and since there has been a lot of change it was hard to do the "traditional" things that used to get me in the Christmasy mood. Soooo I started by getting all my shopping and cards done so that I don't have to stress about them this month, but now I'm stuck...What are some things you all do that helps you feel the "true" Christmas spirit?

Thanksgiving & Black Friday

This post is overdue, and again I don't have the pictures to do it justice. We had a fun Thanksgiving over at Stu's mom's. Great food and Great family. The highlight of the weekend for me was the silly try at Black Friday shopping. During Thanksgiving Sara talked us into going to the ModBe store at 11pm to try our hand at some cheap shirts. We were really excited...It was a joke. When we got there, there was a loooonnngg line already. We waited out in the cold with our garbage bags, and laughed at ourselves the whole time. The store was really cute, but that wasn't where the deals were. They were in the back and the back was a MAD HOUSE, people throwing shirts and trying on clothes out in the open. We just kept laughing. My neice Jenni was elbowing people and pulling me through to my size. I'm not sure I want to try that again. Stu however, wins the prize for the bravest. He braved Walmart @ 4am to try to get some deals. He did get some things, but I was surprised by people and the lengths they will go to save a couple of bucks. If you want the full story you'll have to ask Stu, but lets just say he pushed an old ladies cart away because she kept hitting him with it...on purpose. Ha Ha Good Times!

There isn't a problem that fruit snacks can't fix!

My solution to the worlds problems...Fruit Snacks!

(It works at my house at least.)

They blew it!!!

The BYU cougars LOST their big rivalry game to the UTES...I like watching the games and I usually wouldn't care too much about the outcome except for that it makes all the men in my life all weird and cranky (even my 5 year old). I'm sure I won't stop hearing about the cruddy calls and crappy plays until well after Thanksgiving.

Welcome's and Goodbye's

Last Thursday I made a quick trip up north to welcome my new niece and to watch my only sis open her mission call. I'm the only one out of my sisters and brothers now who hasn't gone on a mission. My brother Justin's baby, Taylor Ann, was born at the exact same time that my sister opened her mission call...lots of fun! I am loving that new baby's keep coming to our family, I've been the only one with kids for long enough. She is a cute little thing and it's fun and a bit weird to watch my brothers turn into Dad's. It kinda makes me feel old.

Kara is going to the Cleveland OH mission with a special emphasis on the church historical sites (Kirtland, OH). I am so proud of her and her willingness to serve. She will be an awesome missionary. She has always been such a great example to me even though she is my younger sister. My kids are going to miss their "Aunt Kara"!

Gripes or Gratitude

Okay so funny thing is that I started this post to gripe about how much I HATE LAUNDRY... then instead I was washed over with extreme gratitude. I have been caught many times complaining about the piles of laundry that I have to wash, dry, fold, iron, hang, and put away. I seriously have piles of laundry all over my house that even if it's clean, I never seem to put away. So instead I am going to make a list of the things about laundry that I'm grateful for...

1. I love the smell of clean laundry.

2. Warm socks, or sweatshirts right out of the dryer.

3. The fact that we are so blessed to have a variety of nice clothes. More than one pair of pants, socks, underwear etc... others ain't that lucky.

4. I am extra lucky to have 2 washers and dryers. One set upstairs one down. This is super nice and I know that I am blessed to have great appliances. I'm just grateful that I'm not outin some river rubbing my clothes up against a rock.

5. The fact that I have so many clothes proves that each one of my little people are here. I wouldn't sacrafice anybody in my ever growing family to have less laundry. They are worth every minute of work.

I'm not sure why I am so blessed, but I was grateful today to take one minute to thank my heavenly father for turning my gripes into gratitude.

I think I would like to turn this into a tag. November is a good month to remember what we are grateful for soooo....find one thing that you gripe about and turn it into something you're grateful for. I tag Kendra, Amy M., Natalie J., Shannon C., Jobi, Lisa F., and Jenni with an I!

Three busy weeks One long post!

I am trying to sum up the last three weeks in one post so be warned that this may be LONG!

We have had some fun events;

1.Stu's big hunt! (This didn't happen in the last three weeks, but he would be mad if I didn't make some sort of reference to his MAN trip, plus I do get those fun girly butterflies in my stomach when I think that Stu is tough enough to kill me some dinner!) You'll have to ask Stu for the whole story, but what I do know is that he had a blast with his nephew Nate, and Shad (Nate's cousin). I don't really understand hunting, and I guess I never will, but it's a great stress release for Stu and so he is welcome to go...as long as it is only once or twice a year. Watch the video below to hear it from Stu's mouth!

2.Wirig Family Annual Halloween Bash. This years family halloween party was soooo fun. We couldn't get up there until after Stu's work so we drove north while I got each child and myself dressed in their costumes. Let me remind you that I am doing this in the car. When we finally got there we were surprised by the AWESOME decorations, and super fun costumes. Justin and Sarah were in charge of games and they had some fun ones. Hit the bat with the eyeball, bobbing for apples, and a fun prize auction. We also did a dessert competition and a costume competition. Here's some pics from the fun!Camden the NINJA

Tooth Fairy and Tooth! Ha ha

My kids favorite treat!
Bobbin' for apples! Dead Bride and Groom! Mom and Dad!
Meet the Flintstones...Check out baby pebbles bone bow!
Papa Smurf aka Kimball He won the costume contest!
Paige and Mike in their 70's threads!

Tooth fairy Kara, Mini witch Joss, and dead bride Betty(mom)

That's my mom's real wedding dress...She still fits in it!

This is the only picture I have of my three boys...Jack the Pumpkin king, Pirate Mitch, and Ninja Ahoy it's pirate Danielle and the giant tooth Adam(Kara's friend)!
White Trash Stu...he took this picture himself!
St. Louis Cardinal player or fans???Aunt Lois and Uncle Scott!
Grandma and Grandpa in their "this is what we will look like if Obama wins the presidency" outfits! ha ha! The Sound of Music family! Steve Natalie and baby Grant!

We are only missing a picture of Cute Cowboy couple Justin and Sarah, but they were tooo busy running the party to get pictures sooooo.... Thanks guys for the good time!

Soooo when I opened my camera today I realized that somehow the SD card wasn't all the way in the slot and so my pictures from Michaels Farewell, Camdens 4th birthday, Trunk or treat, Braden and Mitchells school parade and Halloween are NOT THERE! I'm just sick about it.

3.My brother Michaels talk in church before his mission and Blessing baby Emmy!

So Mike is off to the MTC and we enjoyed listening to him speak in sacrament meeting about "lost sheep"! He is such a great kid and the sad thing is he won't come home a kid! I'm so proud of his strong testimony, personal sacrafice and all the efforts he has made to go on a mission. I know that his Heavenly Father is proud of his decision. I'm super grateful for his example to my boys. 8 weeks in the MTC then he is off to Denmark!

Also we were present for the blessing of Katie and BJ's cute baby Emma Lin Wirig. She is so cute and BJ did a great job with his first of many baby blessings!

4.Camdens 4th birthday!

Yep he's 4 folks...I just wanted to spend a few lines dedicated to my funny little stubborn 4 year old. He has a great imagination! He never never forgets to give us a hug and kiss before we leave. He LOVES to dress up! Here he is in tights yes tights and Bradens baseball hat...trying to be peter pan. He remembers everything and won't let you forget some things. Unfortunately,He isn't afraid of anyone, but he brings a lot of smiles! He is a little bit OCD; he has to sit in the middle chair, eat from the middle bowl, and all the cereal has to be underneath the milk. We love him sooo much he is a great part of the mix that is the Squires!

5.Halloween was fun this year...We went to the ward trunk or treat, the school parade, and went trick or treating. Josslyn was so fun this time, she couldn't say trick or treat, but she did say thank you or "danch jew"as she really pronounces it. The boys get sooo excited and I love that about them. They are "into" whatever we do and it makes it so fun! I took sooo many cute pictures of everything that weren't saved, but I did take this one of the cheerleader and dragon on my phone soooo....

6.Stake Conference. Our stake conference was this last weekend, and it was really so good. I always struggle to get myself to go to big, long things like this because it is so hard with the kids, and a bit of a sacrafice to give up my Saturday night with Stu, but it ended up so great and actually fun. The messages were about family roles and I loved every single one. I also got to sing in the stake choir which is one of my favorite things. You can always feel the spirit sooo strong when you are singing. I didn't get to sit by Stu, but we went out to dinner after and our friends showed up so we really enjoyed that time together. Sunday was a bit harder with all the kids, but they did okay. The only problem was that the last song I had to go up and sing with the choir and Stu had taken Josslyn out soooo during How firm a foundation, Camden came running up on the stage and down off the stage TWICE. How embarassing in front of the whole stake. I just hope it didn't take away from the spirit. Overall it was some great meetings and I'm glad we made the effort to go!

8.Presidential Election and Prop 8. So I have expressed my opinions a number of times in previous posts about this subject but now that it's all over I just wanted to pull it all together for myself mostly, So bear with me! On Monday Stu and I joined with others in fasting to pass the Prop 8 ammendment in CA. We were so happy to learn that it passed since we feel so strongly about the definition of marriage and the right for us as parents to teach our own children what we believe the definition of Marriage is. I know many of you may be wondering why I even care since this was a California issue...well after much research I learned that those kind of decisions eventually effect many aspects of my personal life...ie education, and religion to name a few. I really believe that God has defined marriage and I'm grateful to again see God's hand in preserving it!

Speaking of Historic...I want to talk about Pres elect Obama for a sec too. I am not pleased with the choice that this country has made for president, and I am sure that we are going to have some unpleasant changes coming our way, but I am expressing my support for him and this blessed nation. I hope and pray that he will earn the respect of those who disagree with his policies, and that he will do his best to preserve the freedom of this Nation. I am pleased to take a step forward by electing a black president and I do realize that this is a historic time and I'm glad to be part of it...even though I didn't vote for him!

WHEW!!! THE END OF THE WORLDS LONGEST POST!

Don't forget to...

VOTE!!!!!

Yep folks it's time to wait in the lines and do what we gotta do! I don't care what your decision is just make an educated one!

My last year of youngness!

I am going to try to enjoy my last year of being "officially" young! Yesterday was my 29th birthday! I have had a great couple of days! On Friday I got together with two of my girl friends and went to Vegas! Wahoo! Stu came home from work early and took my kids and my friends two kids so that we could go have fun! We shopped, ate, shopped again, rode the NyNy roller coaster, ate again, and then headed home! We didn't get home until 2:30am! I loved the car ride and shopping with no kids. When I got home there was a cute sign on the garage that Stu and the kids had made for me wishing me a happy birthday. Sunday night our friends brought me a birthday cake, and Monday I did nothing! I literally read a book and played piano basically all day! My cute neighbor took our kids, and Stu and I went to dinner where he got this GINORMOUS taco. ( We laughed our heads off because this was in addition to his already huge burrito.) We went shopping for halloween costumes and if you know Stu at all you can imagine how funny this adventure would be. He is really a hilarious person. We went and got a frozen yogurt and ate it on our cozy couch while we visited. I would say a pretty great birthday! Oh yeah and I love how excited kids get even about their parents birthday. Camden asked me if I wanted a princess or a Dora pinata! I guess everyone has to have a pinata for their birthday huh? So I am basically 29 from here on out right?

Bread,Politics,Apples,and Pumpkins

Okay so here is mish mash of a post!

Yesterday I was in a "domestic" mood and decided that I was going to learn to make bread, so I tried white and wheat and it wasn't too bad! I really felt like I need to at least know how to make a loaf of bread if I am going to have wheat and flour in my food storage so here it is. I'm going to be a bread MASTER soon!

There is no white bread left, and this is all that's left of the wheat. Josslyn loved it!

While the bread was cooking I also made some oven dried apples. They seriously ended up cooking for 10 hours, but they turned out yummy! I got this new peeler, corer, slicer and LOVE IT! I will use apples more cause it won't be so hard!

Okay now about Politics. I have had some seriously engaging conversations lately with family and friends regarding the political here and now. I am really sick of it, but I can't stop listening, and being bugged by all the ridiculous things that are going on. I am more convinced now than ever where I stand regarding economic policy, moral issues, and other political issues, and for some of these things I am ready to make a stand. I am looking forward to voting and then having the election over. I also have been interested about the churchs position on certain issues, (issues, not candidates or political parties). I feel like it is seriously refreshing that the church has publicly shared our views and our responsibilites on issues like abortion, marriage, stem cell research etc...If you haven't read them, You should. You can find them on Lds.org or even in this months Ensign. Don't forget to Vote!

I know this is a bad picture, but here is our annual pumpkin carving results. Stu get's templates from online and We let the kids pull out all the "guts"! Then he and I end up carving the pumpkins. It was pretty fun and messy. Making memories though right?

Picture tag

I've been tagged again...I am supposed to post the 4th picture in the 4th folder in my pictures.

Here is the blurry picture of Braden and Mitchell, climbing the rock wall at the Children's Museum at the Gateway in SLC! We really had fun that day!

I tag Debbie J., Jenni, and Sarah W.

I'm just going to say it....

I HATE SHOPPING! There I said it. I've been pretending for years that I actually like spending my free time with my gal pals looking at all the things that don't fit, or I can't afford, but I am going to break free and say that the only thing I like shopping for is FOOD and even that isn't that fun! This probably explains why I don't have any cute clothes. I know that I am not your typical "girl", but I have had enough experience to know that everytime I go shopping I come home thinking that I look like a vagabond, and feeling somewhat depressed or discouraged. Part of my problem may be that there are NO stores where I live. I have to travel 2-4 hours to get to any stores that I remotely like. I don't like shopping for furniture, decorations, accessories, and especially clothes. Now don't get me wrong, I do love new outfits, I just don't like finding them. I think I may need a personal shopper. I set out today to find some cute clothes for our family pictures and after searching EVERY store in the area hauling around 3 kids, I went home feeling yucky and a bit ticked. I'll try again tomorrow. I guess, if I have too.

Funny little Mitch

Okay so Mitch is pretty funny these days. If you know him at all you know that he is a bit intense. There are two things that he is pretty intense about right now...Football (or whatever sport is in season) and the mail.

Mitch is basically obsessed with the mail. He comes home from school eats lunch and then sets off on his bike with a grocery bag and the mail key in hand to get the mail. It is so funny to watch since the mail box is quite a bit higher than he can reach so it takes several jumps to make sure that he has gotten every little piece of mail. Then it basically goes like this...Mitchell with a sad face; "Mom, I know, I know there is nothing in there for me."

and I always say "Well let's see. Sorry Mitch not today, but you can have this letter from Geico if you want." Then Mitchell says "Really? Thanks mom, but why does Braden or you get mail all the time and I don't?" It has progressively gotten worse and to the point of tears sometimes. Finally I called cute Aunt Kara and had her send him a letter and when it came you should have seen his face!! I thought it would make it better, which in some ways it did, but he is more intense than ever. Kara, We may have created a monster!

Okay and one quick story about football. Mitch isn't old enough to play football, but Braden is, soooo in true intense Mitch fashion he has been to every practice. At first it started with Mitchell walking the sidelines all practice, then he would walk right next (and I mean siamese twin close) to the coach and finally the coach started puting him in the line up. Thank goodness Bradens coach is so great and let's Mitch practice with them. Yesterday in practice Mitchells intensity was paying off and he was playing pretty well against the older boys. Finally the coach said "Come on guys can the whole team beat Mitch?" Again, you should have seen his face. All the other players were laughing and saying "Let's see what you can do little man." He thought he was the coolest kid ever when the coach had the whole team line up against just him. Let's just say the score at the end of this little drill was 5-0 with Mitch being the winner. He still can't stop talking about it!