Getting Christmas Trees

Reid and Mitch cutting down the tree


Me and the kids in front of the tree we chose
Reid and the kids
All of our family on the 4 wheeler with the snowmobile wheels we were trying out.

Savanna, Reid and Carolina in front of the fire
Brad and James having some dinner
Steve and the kids in front of the fire
Julia and Carolina
Reid and Aaron
all you can see is snow
Here comes Reid- this thing throws up a lot of snow- he wasn't even going fast

Reid and Carolina
Reid- he never stops working!
Treyton shoveling some snow
Carolina ready to make some lunch

It is our annual tradition to go with Reid's family to Island Park on Thanksgiving weekend and get a Christmas tree. We went this year again, and we didn't think there were be much snow, but we were wrong, there was a ton of snow. In fact we barely got back to our usual spot. We had to stop and put chains on our tires and we still barely got back there. We had a lot of fun though. We made a fire, had some lunch, played on the 4 wheelers and picked out our trees. We missed Grandma Mickey and Danny who had to stay home still recovering from knee replacement surgery. It wasn't the same without her.

Thanksgiving Day 2011

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year. We went with my Dad's side of the family for dinner at the Kearney building. My family has been celebrating Thanksgiving with the Sargent family for at least 40 years. I never knew Thanksgiving any other way until I got married. I suppose we will continue to celebrate it with the Sargent family at least until my grandma passes away. Sometimes I feel like we are eating dinner with a bunch of people that I don't know very well since we don't see these cousins very often. But it is good to renew these relationships and I know that Grandma loves it.

This year I invited my friend Kathy Peterson to have dinner with us. Her husband Jim passed away 1 year ago and she doesn't have any children or family in the area. I invited her but didn't think she would actually come, but she did. I really enjoyed her company and hope that she enjoyed herself as well. I have known Kathy for about 18 years, we worked together at Melaleuca years ago and have just kept in touch all these years. She is such a sweet lady and one of my favorite people in the whole world. She has really struggled with Jim's death as anyone who lost a spouse would, but she doesn't have the same religious belief's as I do and I think that she feels very lost. It really makes you realize how lucky we are to know the truth that families can be together forever and have a knowledge of where we go after we die. I hope that I can always be a friends to Kathy.
Reid and Carolina getting ready for dinner
Savanna and Mitchel playing some basketball after dinner
Treyton and Daxton (Alan and Annette Sargent's son)
My Dad and Kathy Peterson cleaning up
Me and Kathy
Reid and I
Steve and Angie
My Mom
My Dad and Reid
Uncle Neil, Grandma and Dad
Stevan, Reid and Kathy
Ruth, Denise, Adam, Leah and Tony
Kent and Naomi
Sara and Shane
Carolina

Major life changes

I haven't updated my blog in a while because I have been a little depressed. I am trying to snap out of it, but it is what it is. I use my blog as our family journal and then print it out each year so I have a copy of it, so I wanted to document this part of our lives as well.

At the beginning of October Reid lost his job at the INL. The very day that he found out he lost it he had a new job working for Doug Andrus Distributing driving truck. I love my husband so much for being willing to do whatever it takes to support our family. Most people would have probably at least taken a day to mourn the loss of a job and to get their head on straight before starting to look for something new, but not my husband.

This whole change has been very difficult for both of us. His driving job takes him away from home from Sunday until Thursday night. So far he has been able to be home all day Friday and Saturday and then he leaves again Sunday morning. It is extremely physically demanding working very long days and not sleeping much at night. He has to help load and unload the salt and lumber that he hauls. We are very thankful for the job and in this economy feel very blessed to have it, but know that he won't be able to continue doing it for the long term, it is just very hard on the family and on his health and mental well-being.

I know that our Heavenly Father is very aware of us in our individual lives and that he blesses us, and I do feel extremely blessed because we have so many blessings in our lives. I am also very aware that this trial is small in comparison to some of the other trials that people have in their lives so I don't want anyone to think that I am complaining because I am not. But I also want to be able to look back on this time in our lives and remember it for what it really is. I feel like through this trial I have been brought closer to my Heavenly Father, to my wonderful husband, and to my family. I have seen the generosity of others and have had to learn how to be on the receiving end of service. I hope that I can do the same for others.

Mitchel wrestiling 2011

Mitchel is wearing the red singlet in all the pictures.












Mitchel is doing wrestling again this year with the Bonneville team. He absolutely loves it! But the thing about wrestling is that it takes up a lot of time! He has practice twice a week and then usually one match a week and one tournament a week. But luckily with the matches and tournaments you don't have to go to all of them. Since it really isn't a team sport, if you don't go to the matches it doesn't hurt the team. So we have just kind of picked and chosen which matches and tournaments we go to. They are so chaotic and so many people go that it is kind of stressful. But it is really fun to see our boy wrestle. He is doing a great job, he tries his best which is all that matters and he has won about half of his matches.

Halloween 2011

Treyton and cousin McKay- they were both cowboys!


This year for Halloween we had many different opportunities to dress up. Trick or Treating at Melaleuca, the school parade, Savanna's Daddy Daughter activity and actual trick or treating. The kiddo's kept switching their costumes. I was horrible at taking pictures this year, these are a few I got.

Savanna dressed up as a dirt biker and then a princess
Mitchel dressed up as a dirt biker
Treyton was bat man and a cowboy with his horse
and Carolina was snow white.