Fun with my Mom ("Lola")

The Annual Snowman Swap!
hUzZah!
This is seriously a favorite event of the season. Mom hosts it every year. I will definitely miss it (except everyone always stealing from ME. . . ha!) Maybe I'll start it in Denver.


Church Christmas Party!
Okay, so even though my mom is in charge of this event every year . . . I am ALWAYS her personal assistant (i.e. - the director of all entertainment) each year. This is always fun, bust stressful! It was totally different this year, but a blast. We turned the completely bare gym into a Christmas wonderland (with the help of the youth) during a 3 minute version of "We Need a Little Christmas!" Fun!


Luke & Lola's Gingerbread House!
My mom has started a new tradition since Luke's been old enough of having a one-on-one Gingerbread House Making Party with him. He LOVES it and this year looked forward to it for 2 days. He is very inquisitive about what looks best where and likes Lola's opinions. He also EATS as much candy as he puts on. Shocker!

November: The Month of Big Celebrations

Our baby Miles turned one November 7!
We cannot believe it! He is SUCH a happy, determined, hungry, snuggly little guy. We are SOO thrilled to have him!

Luke was ALL ABOUT "helping" Miles open his presents (Shocker!) although Miles was doing just fine on his own! He was thrilled about his gifts.
We were so glad my parents, Papa & Lola, along with Michael & Sierra were there to celebrate with us!

Kami turned the BIG 3-0 on November 16th!

Yes, it's true! I am 30 and can't believe it! I was actually really dreading this birthday (for the first time ever) so I guess that means I really am getting old. HOWEVER - 30 ain't so bad after all! :) The anticipation was far worse than the actual event. Jake was interviewing in Denver on my b-day (HOORAY!) but, I was bummed he wasn't there. He DID have my friends and family carry out the surprise party he had planned. It was so fun! (Pictures to come soon from my sister's camera.)

Jacob & Kami celebrated their 5th Anniversary on November 19th!
Again, another milestone. Five years and going strong! My neighbor had given me a gift card for my birthday to a really fancy steakhouse - so that's where we went to celebrate. Ironically, I did not get steak - I got Alaskan King Crab, Lobster Bisque & Creme' Brule'. Amazing. Yummy. I want more! Ha!

Thanksgiving with my family and Grandma Rae!

We were so glad that Grandma came down to spend the holiday with us in Georgia! It was her first holiday without Grandpa - so it was tender, but she was amazing. We all missed him though.

Luke & Lola playing FOOTBALL! Yeah!

We took Grandma to the High Museum of Art to see the DaVinci exhibit that's there now. It was fantastic. Luke had a great time too making crafts at the kids center.











Now that we are about to move away from Georgia . . . sniff . . . I was glad my Grandma wanted to see some of the Civil War sites that I hadn't seen yet.

Barrington Hall: One of the last remaining Plantations in the area.






The Cyclorama: An amazing 400 foot long, 50 foot high painting depicting the Battle of Atlanta that turned the war around and basically led to the Union Victory. Grandma and I are standing next to The Texas. This train went on a backwards chase to catch up with The General that had been stolen by Union soldiers under cover as Confederates. Cool story!!!
















BYU beat UTAH!!!
Yeah! This is always an event of much emotion in our home as we are divided: I am a Cougar, Jake is a Ute. (I know, I know. It is amazing we fell in love!) This year, we watched the game with the Mansell family - obviously ALL die-hard Utes. And WHY, you may ask, are MY children in RED??? I met Jake and the boys there. DADDY got them ready. Ugh. That's okay! Luke was shouting"Go Cougars!" with me by the end of the night. AND - we won. That's all that really matters!

Please excuse our mess . . .

Please excuse our mess.
This blog is under construction.
Thanks for your understanding.
J - K - L & M

Halloween & More Fall F-U-N!

Fun with DADDY in the yard!
The little boys were having a BLAST
getting a ride in the wheelbarrow!
Mommy didn't even mind that
they were getting dirty! Ha!




















































Our annual trip to the PUMPKIN PATCH! We love it!

Apparently Miles wanted little Natalina to stop talking. Wow. If he only knew. It never ends. Girls always wanna chat it up!!!
Luke loves his buddies J.J. and Preston!

Our Litte Preschool

A few friends from church and I have started a little preschool for our kids. They are all still two years from Kindergarten, but we are not ready to send them off to "real" preschool. These photos were from the first day at my home, October 7. We each take a week. Today was week 3 and it's going GREAT!!! Our studies? Line strokes, numbers, letters, structured play - and theme lessons like, for October: leaves, apples, pumpkins and Halloween. They L-O-V-E it! It makes them feel so BIG and they are learning too! Hooray!

Babysitting

Since we have lived in Georgia, Jacob and I have become known as the "ward babysitters" at church. We don't babysit for just one evening, but when a couple goes out of town - we go and stay with the kids for days at a time. These trips are anywhere from 2-12 days in length. Sometimes it's hard to get the kids adjusted to a new house (especially at bedtime) but mostly we LOVE doing it and we all have a great time! (The money is a big help too.)
Usually we watch these guys - MarLeice and Richmond.

Luke at 8 months w/ MarLeice - 2006


Luke at 1 1/2 with Popcorn - 2007

Richmond and Luke at 2 1/2 - 2008

We've stayed with them about 10 times
and have had lots of adventures together.
However, we've started staying with "The Brothers" - Brandon, Nathan, Austin and Preston. Luke loves this! We have 6 boys with our families combined, but it is a blast! We took everyone out to dinner at 5 Guys one night and 4 different people came up to me and said "SIX boys?! You are a BRAVE woman!" I explained that they weren't all mine, but that didn't help with the people who just stared at our "family" and didn't say anything to us! Ha!
Here was our stay last month with them.

Bedtime Story


The boys love that Jake will play Wii with them!
(Like they really have to twist his arm!)

Bowling with the boys. It was Luke's first time ever and it was HILARIOUS!
The ball rolled at a painfully slow pace, but he had a blast!

Miles crawled up stairs for the first time - with everyone cheering him on!

Luke and Preston - bedtime buddies!
(I think they look like brothers - what do ya think?)

Two Funerals

GRANDMA MARY

We were home from Florida 24 hours before we headed off to Utah for a week for Jacob's grandmother's funeral. We were sad to see Grandma Mary Burton go, but after battling cancer for 5 years, it was a blessing for her. We were so grateful to be there with Jake's entire extended family to celebrate her life. September 5,2009.

It was so precious to see Jacob take Luke with him every step of the way as a Pall Bearer and explain things to him. It's amazing how simple the Plan of Salvation is! Even a 3 year old can get it - mostly.

Jacob's Mother (the third from the right) and her siblings

Jake and 3 of his 4 sisters (they were all there, though)

Luke really had fun with his cousins! (They were all there but one.) He especially got a kick out of the two baby girl cousins. It was like he hasn't just had a baby in his house for the entire last year! He said to me TWICE: "Mommy, I want a baby sister!"
All in good time, my sweet. All in good time!

GRANDPA VERNE

Two weeks after we returned home from Utah, we got word that MY Grandfather, Verne Hunter, who has been battling Alzheimer's for a decade, was going downhill fast. Miles and I jumped in the car with my parents a few hours after this news to try and make it to Ohio to say our goodbyes. Sadly, a few hours away from our destination, we got the call that he had passed away. It was really hard on everyone - especially my mom. It was really good that we were there for my Grandma though. All of my aunts and uncles had flown in by the next day and we spent the next four days making arrangements. During that week I scanned old photos from his life and made them into an iMovie on my aunt's Mac. It was really awesome to see his life in photos. I thought about that essay called "The Dash." About how when you see the birth and death years (1927 - 2009) the dates really don't mean much. It's the dash ( - ) in between that really counts because that represents all you have ever done. I think the essay concludes with "how are you spending your dash?" I can attest that my grandfather spent his loving, working, playing and serving. He was a fine man who left a legacy of patience, diligence, faith and honor. He was even making people laugh just weeks ago and the one thing that never left his memory was music. He could sing songs till the very end of his life. I believe I will be the same way. I feel connected to him in that.
October 2, 2009

Jacob, my dad, my uncle, my brother, my cousins and Luke being Pall Bearers.


All the Grandchildren and spouses (minus 3).

7 of the 8 Great-grandchildren.


Grandma Rae with 2 of her 4 kids (All were there, though).

After the funeral, we had dinner and went out on Grandma's deck to have a campfire in her fire pit. All 30 of us were out there at some point, singing songs, talking, laughing, roasting marshmallows and remembering Grandpa. It was sooo awesome! Truly a celebration of the family that came from him!






While we were at Grandma's, this adorable, abandoned kitten followed a few people home from an evening walk. We named him Curtis and all the kids had a ball playing with him. Everyone liked the kitty so much that it was a little competitive as to who was going to get to give him a permanent home. My cousin, Ian, and kids won. Miles loved to chase him. Poor Curtis.

My Grandfather was buried in the same cemetery as both of my dad's parents. It's pretty cool to know that all of my grandparents will be "together." On that note, while we were in Westerville (the town my dad lived his whole life, where my parents went to high school together, where I lived the first 16 years of my life - Go Buckeyes!) we found out that the house my dad grew up in was for sale. We made an appointment to see it and were amazed at the beautiful updates to the old house and were glad for them staying true to the integrity of the home.

Jacob and Miles out by the old garage.

It was truly a trip to reconnect with and remember all of my grandparents. I'll never forget it!