Gingerbread house Vote

After Church today we decorated our gingerbread houses... Our Elders overheard and so we invited them to come and play with us! We only had two kits so Elder Moon and I worked on one and Malachi and Elder Kanno Worked on one.

We had LOTS of fun...we kept telling them that they were our practice children!!

So you get to VOTE! Our Houses have VERY different styles!!

This is HOUSE #1-

Note the really cool porch light and bricks on the chimney and muti- colored lights on the front!

This is HOUSE #2-

Note the globby frosting and scarry looking gingerbread man santa comming out of the chimney!

Your Vote counts- Which Gingerbread house is the best??? Please leave a comment and vote!

Black FRIDAY!!

So I did NOT take any pictures (lets face it...who has time to snap a quick shot when you are tripping the old lady so that you can get to the $4 jammies first) but I did want to tell you what a marvolous time I had....

SO I have never done Black friday before, you always hear all of these Horror stories and I was scared that I would get trampled! But last year I was working at Walmart and watched all the crazy people and decided that I could do that! So this year Mom and I hit all the shops! We started at 11:30 pm and headed to Walmart (sales start at 12:01) Got what we really wanted then hit a second Walmart to sift through the leftovers. Then Hopped from Toys-R-Us to JC pennys, Victoria Secret, Sears, with a quick stop at Krispy Kreams for some re-fueling! We decided to skip Target because we had bigger fish to fry---K-MART!! WAY fun!! then on to Mclendons and home by 9 am!! We had SO MUCH FUN people watching...People are So FUNNY!! All-though we had to stop making fun of all the "Crazy" people, because its a little hipocritical to make fun of all the Nut-jobs at Walmart when you are standing in line with a cart overflowing eating beef jerky at 1 O'clock in the morning!!!

I love Black Friday!

Thanksgiving at the Swifts!!

So this year we went to the Swifts for Thanksgiving! It was lots of fun to relax and just hang out...

and see all of our family and how big everyone has gotten!

As if Malachi didn't play in the snow enough (See last post) He wanted to play in the snow when we got there....

He said "playing in the snow if more fun with Kids to play with!" - Isn't he cute!

Of Course you cannot get all the Swifts together without Playing GAMES...

....AND GAMES....

and MORE GAMES!!

I Love all of the Thanksgiving FOOD!! YUMMY YUMMY FOOD!!

By the way, I am converted! I am been a LONG time beliver that Hibachi Turkey is BY FAR the BEST way to cook Turkey...That is NOT true!

DEEP FRIED TURKEY is DELICIOUS!!!

There was so much food...we all ate way too much!

And ate...and ate...and ate!!

It was wonderful to see everyone and spend time with Family...I am so greatful for Family that lives close and opens their homes to us----Mostly so that I do not have to learn how to cook a Turkey!!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Snowman and Snowdog

Thanksgiving morning Malachi was off work and the snow was just meltied (yes Meltied) enough to make a snowman! Malachi got it started then me and missionaries came to play too!

Elder Moon did the face!

Brucie was outside too! He was so COLD but he really wanted to play with us outside!

We didn't have any Carrots so we had to use a orange screwdriver! Worked out alright!

Cute Huh!! I am so going to E-mail this to their mothers!

Malachi Loves building HUGE snowmen!


So earlier in the week Malachi made this a mini "snowdog" but I didn't have my camera and it melted too much So I told him he should make a Bruce sized "Snowdog"!

He is like a snow artist!

Which one is the real Dog!!

WE LOVE SNOW!! HOPE IT SNOWS MORE!

A little Snow!

It snowed On Sunday!! We love snow! This is a picture after church in the snow I know it is dark and you cannot see but Audrey, Clara, Jerm, and Malachi made a snowman at sunday night dinner!

NW Trek

So The Ashcraft family came to visit this week...we did lots of Really fun things while they were here like have a tea party, and Thanksgiving dinner and we went to North West Trek!

Honestly I spent most of the time holding/pushing/rounding up a kid so I didn't take many pictures!! Keep an eye on Chappells or Ashcraft blog for more pictures! We saw Lots of really cool animals up close! Here is the whole gang!

Patience is a Virtue

This is a GREAT Talk, and I needed it today!

"Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with somthing and doing all that we can- working, hoping, exercising faith: bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring, it is enduring well. "
-Dieter F Uchtdorf

The Whole Talk

Oh Christmas Tree!

So ya'll are going to make fun of me...but I put up all our Christmas decorations and we are playing Christmas music and I have Christmas in my Sentsy warmer! Because I was working at Albertsons and Walmart last year I compleatly missed the whole Holiday season! I got out our Christmas decorations last year, and they sat in boxes around our living room!

So We are excited about Christmas early this year! I cannot wait for all the yummy Holiday food!

Catch Up---

So I think I suck at blogging...I don't tell you things in the order they happen, and when lots is going on I blog less, and when my life is simple I blog lots....So here is my update....
Did you know I Quit my job? almost a month ago I decided to no longer work at Albertsons!! WAHHO So now I am in a HUGE transition in my life! What should I do with it??

Well I am still kinda trying to figure that out....I would like to be a Stay at home mom...but for now I will settle for being a stay at home wife and try to be a little bit more domestic!I have been spending A LOT of time babysitting and hanging out with family, So if you or someone you know needs a babysitter you know who to call...my schedule is very flexible!

It has been really fun to not have a work schedule dictate my days! I can work on prodjects, visit, and pretty much do what I want to do!

I have been making a goal for myself to have a full dinner at the table three nights a week....we are a mostly fend for yourself couple, and we have sunday night dinner at my parents once a week...So this has been really fun!

I Finaly got to tie this quilt that I have been wanting to make for our bed!

Oh Malachi is such a good supportive husband! Lucky me!

Oh and Malachi went to a Halloween party...guess what he was?

Date night!

We got to go out to a movie on Saturday! It was really fun...we went to Value Villiage before and found some great deals and then watched the movie and of course ate snacks!

We went to see "Life as we know it" it was a REALLY good movie...it is about two people who have mutual friends and their friends die so they are left with the baby...really a good movie, a romantic comedy, but a tear jerker at times!

Great life

Sometimes I get bogged down in the depression of infertility....I am so impatient...I have a hard time waiting to be chosen for adoption....I can't help but dwell of the fact that I STILL do not have children and I am not a mother....That desire is not going to go away, however I need to remember that besides that "minor detail" I have a Great Life! I am lucky to have a Wonderful Husband who loves me and who is committed to our Eternal Marriage. He has a Great Job that he loves and is stable! I am lucky enough to be a Stay at home---wife! We have a Large Home that we are fortunate enough to be able to share with the missionaries. We have the Gospel in our life that acts as a compass and beacon and gives us purpose. We have many great Friends that help us to learn and grow. We have Two AMAZINGLY Supportive Families who help us in our time of need and a a great source of joy to us. We have a bouncy and happy Puppy who we love very much! Our children will come to us in the Lord's time....and when they do we will be ready!

Cart before the horse...

So I admit it, I am deffintaly a cart before the horse kind of person... I always pictured myself having lots of kids and driving a mini-van...well the kids part hasent happened yet, but we did get the mini-van!!!
We found a great deal on craigslist and it was too good to pass up- So we are selling out little Dodge Neon and trading up for a bigger car! We know we will need the room-eventualy!

Update: So we were contacted about three weeks ago and asked in we would be willing to take a group of 4 siblings- we were so excited!! Unfortunatly they choose another family, this is devistating, however we know that must be heavenly father's plan for them.
ALSO...before we found out about these children we were planing on trying IVF, however after much prayer, thought, and crying we have decided to hold off and put our faith in God and hope that he is preparing our children for us!
Wish us luck!

Kendra's baby

Since Kendra doesn't have a blog I thought I would take it upon myself to post a picture so that everyone can see this cute baby...She is almost two weeks old and her name is Annalie (I am sure that is spelled WRONG...but it's said "ANNA-LY" or "Anna-leigh")

Penelope's Birthday!

Just some quick shots from Penelope's Bithday party this weekend! Malachi and Tucker hanging out!

Everybody played games while Penelope was sleeping....

....and then presents! Fun party!

Fair- Silly pirates!

I LOVE the Puyallup fair! We didn't think we would be able to go on a budget this year but my mom got us free tickets and there was a free shuttle so we didnt have to pay for parking! Well...and we ate lunch at Costco before we left! I love Malachi so much, he is so good to me. I had a really grumpy thing happen to me and he can always cheer me up! We had so much fun!

We checked out all of the farm things, giant pumpkins, the water pump, jams, jellies, honeys, and such! They always have great displays!

....and we went through all of the barns and I had to take a picture of every cute baby animal! This is a really cute baby Cow! WE saw the cows, chickens, bunnies, dogs, horses...

...and this goat? This goat was so funny because all the other goats in the pen were acting goat-ish and this guy was staning ontop of the spindle and acting like he was king of the rock!

Have you ever played the game "pass the pigs" ? I wanted to get a sharpy and draw dots on these guys!

MALACHI'S FAVORITE- The hobby hall!!!!!! If you find your birth year on a penny you get to keep the penny (Ohhh, AHHH)

in the hobby hall there was also a cribbage tournement! Malachi had to sit down and play a game!

And we got to watch a few free shows....

Okay so this is a child's circus and instead of a lion they had a dog, and the guy used a funny voice...however the dog was REALLY good and the act was funny! So we stood and watched!

We also has to watch the Hypno-Chick.....She was anoying and the music was bad- however the show was SO FUNNY! This was a few of the guys strutting their stuff on mucle beach! I wish I would have gotten a picture of the other guys...she said "take off your shirts if you feel comfortable...So as you can see one young cute guy chose to leave his on- the two other guys were BIG FAT HAIRY OLD MEN and they ripped it off like no big deal! It was so funny!




So this was my FAVORTIE show....

So they set up this 10 foot deap pool and this blow-up pirate ship and these diving boards and diving platforms up this pole....So basicly they were just doing REALLY COOL diving stunts- they they would dive together-or holding eachother, or pretend to fall and dive cool...and every time they would do a trick stunt the captain would go "Silly pirate"!


They were obiously all really tallented, but it was very nerve racking for me to watch because all of this is Portible...how can you possibly have somthing secure of safe when its only there for a two weeks.....the last dive one guy did it from 50 ft up----50 ft up into a 10 foot pool!

We had so much fun at the fair this year, we didn't ride any rides and we didn't eat a lot of food (exept for scones and fudge) but we really had a blast spending the day together!