What do you know, we finally got a blog! I can't guarantee we will update it, but for anyone who cares, it's there and currently up to date (for now):
http://myfavoritebeans.blogspot.com/

Ho Ho Ho

The girls got to visit with Santa and recieve a gift from him at Adam's work Children's Christmas Party.  

 Avery doesn't like to talk to people, but she really wanted a gift, so she suffered through it.  Emily is just shy anyway, and Sarah is loving it all:)

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We made our candy train for family night and, I have to say, it's the best one yet and the girls put their car together all by themselves.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

I apologize for the poor quality of this video. I've been fighting with Blogger all evening, but since it won't let me upload anything larger than 100MB, this is the best I could get. 

We loved spending Thanksgiving in Idaho with the Beans, Hills, and Piippos. We were sad that more people couldn't make it, but we did have a great time with everyone there! We miss you all already!

Christmas Tree Adventures

Just starting out and ready to hike. Everyone is in good spirits.

One down.....

Two down.....

Three down and we are out for the count.

5 minutes in and and Avery had already fallen down 6 times into various bushes,and we were way behind.  Adam had to finally put her on his shoulders.  

10 minutes later,I was screaming, both older girls were on the ground and Adam was way ahead.  

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Finally, we made it to the blessed tree!!

Adam showing the girls about the saw.

 Watching it fall.

 Dragging it out was much easier as it was all down hill and not through such thick forest.

All happy again:)

Daddy giving the girls a lesson in animal tracks as we go.

Taking a break to make snow angels.

Emily found mice tracks and tried to track it out.

 Made it out alive.  I don't know how Adam can navigate through the forest like that.  I was totally lost.

 Making an organic snowman.

Pine cone buttons, Berry eyes, Stick nose, weed arms.

What a fun time we had making a snowman in the forest!!

Dressed down and ready to go back to Grandma's

Every tree wants to be picked to be a Christmas tree. This lucky little one is just perfect for us.

Nuggets

We had some training this morning from Elder Gibson in the General Young Men's Presidency, and he said some interesting thing, so I thought I would share:

- The decision to lower the missionary age stemmed from a desire to curtail the loss of youth after high school.  President Monson told Elder Nelson, "We are having a hemorrhage in our youth.  You are a doctor and I need you to fix it."  When Elder Nelson and the General Young Men's Presidency pitched the idea of lowering the age for Elders to 18 to President Monson, the first thing he said was, "What about the women? They ought to go at 19." His next question was, "Do you think this will result in more temple marriages?"

- When the member of the Presiding Bishopric are set apart, they are given keys similar to those of other bishops, but they are instructed that their keys are "dormant," meaning they take direction from the President of the Church.  The Presiding Bishopric has essentially no authority and can't even preside at almost any meeting.

-  The Church expects us to have 100,000+ missionaries after the first quarter of next year; however, they recognize that the numbers will drop in coming years and stabilize; one of the concerns they had was not pressuring women in to going on missions. The Church estimates that 25-30% of women will go on missions.

- The Church changed the Strength for the Youth pamphlet to emphasize group dating not as a group of boys and girls in any number of combinations, but instead a group of couples, each boy having one girl he is on a date with

- The Church stripped the activity portions of the Duty to God program because it felt that Scouting covered that need

Trials of Teenager

Dear Family,

I know that we're in a little different state of life then everyone else, but let me tell you- trying to live the gospel standards with teen's is challenging.   And bless their hearts, they're doing an amazing job.

Brant's BIG football playoffs were supposed to be on Saturday- and it was HUGE because they were having them in the big college football stadium. Tonight we got word that they moved the games to Sunday.  Nothing is worse then seeing your son cry, because he knows that Sunday's  are special.   There weren't any arguments or complaining, just a few tears and lots of Hugs.

If any of you have stories of how living the gospel has blessed your life, we'd love to feature them during our next FHE.  Their is strength to be gained from hearing about other people that you know and how they've chosen the right... 

And maybe if you happen to be talking to Brooke or Brant or Alex, would you let them know that they are doing a good job?

Thanks.

Jen

Family Reunion Video

Per Mike's request, I compiled the family reunion photos into a video. Mike and I didn't plan ahead enough to get enough footage for another injuries/fights/insanity video like we did last year, but hopefully you'll enjoy this one. Thanks to all who took/contributed photos!

More Family Reunion Photos!

Just wanted to quickly let everyone know that Alisha and Jen have both uploaded family reunion photos to the Dropbox folder I shared with everyone. If you need me to send you the link again, let me know. You should all definitely check them out as soon as possible - there are lots of cute photos (and videos!) of the kids!

I Recommend........

I Recommend.....

Hiking in rubber boots. 

Hugging in a corn patch.

Being towed from the back of a boat.

Amazing firwork shows put on by an amazing uncle.

 Getting soaked in the fountains at Lagoon.

Riding a racing bike.

Having a pool in your backyard.

Building a fire in your garden plot.

 Fishing with Adam.

Surrounding yourself with geese. 

Riding an ATV in your pajamas.

Watching Old Faithful in the rain.

Riding scary rides in the city park.

Climbing the highest tree you can find.

Taking a kayak out on the lake.

 Wearing your Grandpa's shoes.

Taking a nap in the park.

Growing a garden.

Talking your Mom into having a bake sale.

Fishing coins out of the City water fountain.

Eating at Five Guys.

Hooking yourself up to these things at the fair.

Running a sack race with kids twice your age.

Dressing your cat up like an NBA star.

Wading out to get that shiny thing.

Playing Skee Ball at the mall arcade.

Sleeping together in your Grandpa's camper trailer.

Learning to play tennis with your family.

Watching a movie from the back of your truck.

Filling your pool full of water balloons.

Spending a summer with the Mattson's.

(Good by summer, now on to a wonderful fall and winter)