Fun shots

I just had to share these fun photos.

There were no broken bones. Actually not even a cry after this one. Almost every family home evening night ends with David having target practice on the kids with nerf guns. If you get shot your out and if you catch the dart you become the shooter. So far David has been the only shooter. No he's not practicing shooting for hunting animals, it's practice for the wii. ( See my new couches!!)

Turkey Trot

The Turkey Trot got rained out the day before Thanksgiving so it was postponed til today. I just have to share some pics.

And Kylie's off.She didn't bring home a turkey but she finished and had fun.

It's nice to have Jared and Kylie a grade apart because usually their activities are after the other. Jared was concentrating so hard on running that he didn't even give Mom a high 5. No turkey here either.

Jordan also ran but I was having that free lunch with Santa so we missed it. Sadly no turkeys, pies or the like for the Abbott Family. I think we need to start training in the summer for this. Maybe right after Havasupai next year.

Christmas is Coming

We are off to a great start this Christmas season. We spent Thursday morning putting up the tree and decorating it. Then on Friday, David put up the lights on the house and finished the decorating. I spent the wee hours trying to get the Black Friday specials and got a great start to my Christmas list. I only wished I got more of some items. Oh well. I had a great time shopping with my friends (the only way to do it). I hope to have Ging take my Christmas photos this week (after the flu sickness has passed through her family and Mom & Dad & Boyd). My neighbor gifts are waiting for cute little tags and they should be ready to be passed out on Monday. Then I can sit and enjoy the holidays.

On Monday, Santa came to Karah's preschool (The teacher is about to have a baby so I'm sure she wanted to get this out of the way). Landon was so excited to go to Karah's school and had so much fun. They had lots of activites to do before Santa came.

Making potpourri cups.
Rubbing shaving cream on Santa's beard.

Santa brought a book for every child even Landon. When Santa first walked in Landon crawled into my lap scared. But when his name was called Landon jumped right up and wasn't worried at all. I guess it helps knowing he is going to get a present. When Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas Landon said, "This" holding the present. It was cute! I guess you had to be there.

Karah was excited to get her name called. She told Santa that she wanted a dog for Christmas. I don't think so. I don't think so.

Karah wasn't bashful at all. She was so excited to shake Santa's bells as we sang Jingle Bells.

So today, Tuesday, with Karah's other preschool we had lunch with Santa. From the moment she woke up she was asking if it was time to go. I hope it was everything she thought it would be. We went to Paradise Bakery where the kids ate a lunch of mac n cheese, fruit cup and cookie plus a goody bag. Did I mention this was free?

Then Santa made his rounds to us. Look at this Santa. He was the best I think I've ever seen. He was very happy and sat and talked with each child for a few minutes. I Believe!!I love this picture. She was in heaven. This is Karah's preschool class. (The one I do with a bunch of moms.)

Yard Work -Kids Style

The day before Thanksgiving, for some odd reason the kids wanted to do yard work. I asked them what they wanted but they said nothing. I think they were trying to butter us up for something. I'm a little embarrassed to even post these pictures of our yard. As you can see we have totally let out backyard go. It's hard to do yard work on a yard that you completely want to change someday.

Not sure what Kylie and Landon were doing here. Maybe smoothing out the rocks.

Jared is conscentrating on that raking job.

Yes, those are scissors that Kylie and Karah are using to cut the grass. Come to think of it, I haven't seen those scissors since.
Jordan had appointed herself the bush cutter. and David was inside doing computer work and I was taking pictures.The kids spent about 40 minutes doing their yard work. They even cleaned up the backyard of toys and hauled in a few things I had outside for DI before a storm rolled in.

David's Latest Project

My new calling in the ward is the Food Storage Preparedness person. So I decided to have a canning night in my garage the first week of November. Oh, boy did David move into action. He put up the attic ladder that I gave him 2 years ago for Father's Day, insulated the attic and put up flooring and shelving in the attic from recycled signs. He enlarged the pantry to a 6 by 13 foot room (over doubling it). He spent alot of time on this along with his father and few other guys from work. This is something we have talked about doing and it's great to have it almost completed. He needs to put shelving up in the new pantry, again old signs, and I'll be good to start filling it up.


Before shot. You can see the writing on the wall. My old pantry size. And now my new pantry. The kids have had fun making it a Clubhouse. A 6 by 13 foot room would make a decent bedroom or play room?? The new storage area didn't even quite take up half of the 3rd car stall so just maybe 6 or 7 years down the road a little kids car might fit. Maybe one of those Smart cars.

So I'm going to have another canning night in January so I think I'll plan on doing it in the backyard!!

Halloween

Here's my little clan on Halloween night. Pirate Girl, Dracula (Thanks Mom for making the cape), Hannah Montana, a Princess Ballerina out of the dress up box, and Landon as Spiderman. He is totally into Spiderman right now, even though he has never seen a cartoon or anything about it.

We went to a JCB (tractors) party and they told each kid to take a pumpkin home. I don't think they knew I have 5 children. Anyways we snagged 3 of them and they were huge. We had fun cleaning out the guts, as the kids would say.

On Halloween night our cul-de-sac all gets together to BBQ then go trick or treating. Lots of family are invited to join also so there's probably 30 people or so. This year we had David's parents come and my mom and Boyd. When Mom showed up alone, I was disappointed Dad wasn't with her and called him a party pooper. About 10 minutes later, a creepy guy showed up wearing a black cape asking each person if they would like some of his potion. Some of the adults were getting a little nervous but as soon as he came towards me I knew exactly who he was. Sorry Dad to call you a party pooper. Thanks for getting into the spirit of it. I just wish I would've taken a picture of him.

The next morning the kids got up early and traded their candy with one another. Do you remember when we did that? I guess it's just an instinct kids have.

Hawaii

Well, the peeling has stopped and the tan is fading so I better post some pictures on Hawaii.

We first arrived to Kauai, checked into our room and drove around looking for a good snorkeling spot. On Thursday we went up to the North Shore and enjoyed a full day at Tunnels Beach snorkeling, laying out, snorkeling, relaxing, sleeping and snorkeling. Yes, this is the day we got burned. You forget how exposed your back and arms are to the sun when you snorkel. We swam with turtles and tons of fish. Afterwards we enjoyed a coconut. Actually I realized later the coconut wasn't ripe and it was gross. I was suppose to drink the juice but yeah right! We fell into a tourist trap.

On Friday we kayaked a river and hiked to Secret Falls. Then we went to Poipoi Beach for more snorkeling, relaxing and enjoying the sunset.

I have to put this in because Lynette and Justin worked so hard to get the lighting just right. Notice the umbrella that we borrowed for the shot.

On Saturday we went on a fun bike ride. I keep telling David that I want to get a tandem bike when the kids are older and I don't need a baby seat on the back of mine. So of course we had to try them out. I think I'll leave the front seat to David though. Afterwards we head to Honolulu. We immediatly went to Hanuma Bay and, yes, snorkeled, relaxed, and slept.

On Sunday we went to Church and took a tour of Pearl Harbor

Monday was our crazy day. Justin and David started the day off in a cage 3 miles off the coast of the North Shore surrounded by sharks! They took an incredible Hawaii shark encounters tour and loved it. If we had another day they would've done that again. Lynette and I found a nice beach, layed out, played cards, and enjoyed the scenery!

Afterwards we went snorkeling at Shark's Cove and then to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Anyone who has been there will probably remember this guy. Notice he's on his tiptoes.

We did miss our kids during the week and here's proof.

We had a wonderful time. We didn't do everything that we wanted to do so I guess we will just have to go back someday.

Thanks Lynette and Justin for a great time and the great photos. Thanks Dondra and Cheri for watching the little ones for us. So we are looking for travel mates for a cruise in 3 years. Anyone?? We are thinking the Eastern Carribean??