The Jazz Game

The day after Christmas, Dan, his Dad, his brothers, and some of the cousins went down to Salt Lake to watch the Jazz play. Braden and Brianna got to go with Bo, CC, and Kels. they had a lot of fun getting autographs, hanging out, and watching the game! Here are uncle Jim and Uncle Mike. If anyone wants to know anything about any player in any sport, between these two, they will know the answer. Jim told the kids where to go to get autographs of the Jazz players. Jim and Bo went and got Maverik autographs. These guys are crazy!...But we love it!

Here are the kids, just watchin' the game!

Here is Dan and Grandpa, you can't see the family resemblance at all can you?

Ryan and Chris went too. This was a great opportunity for all of the brothers to hang out together. They'll remember this trip for a long time!

These guys really scored with the autographs. Not only did they get current players like Boozer, but they also got past players like Thurl Bailey (in the picture) and Mark Eaton. They had them sign these basketballs and they also got free blankets (score!). They had a blast!

While they were all gone, Mom, Danni, and Emilee stayed behind. Emilee got to play with Ty, Gordon, and Akazia, and mom got to go to Buddy's with the girls (which I've been craving FOREVER!) while Uncle Stuart babysat the kids. I think I got the good end of that bargain...something about Stuart having to clean up a flooded toilet?!

Our Snow Bunny!

Danni came outside to help me shovel walks one day, she absolutely loved it! She has been so much fun to have around lately. She's very interactive and likes to copy what I say and do. She's even starting to prefer Mom over Dad, which has never happened (although occasionally she prefers "Nana" over both of us).

It's too bad she didn't like the snow this much when we went to Donnelly to our friends cabin and went sledding. She may have fallen off the sled that Dan was pulling on the way to the sledding hill and after that, it was over. She didn't even make it down once before mom had to carry her all the way back to the car and wait for everyone.

The Grandkids - and Kelsie

This is a picture of all of the grandkids on Dan's side of the family (and his little sister Kelsie). Every time we take a picture like this, someone always asks, "why is Kelsie in that picture?" Since there's only 4 years between her and Bo, she's just always been one of the kids! She turns 18 this next year, I wonder if she will still want to be one of the kids?!

Braden's #12

Braden got to celebrate his birthday this year with his uncle Mike! We were in Poky for Thanksgiving and it happened to be their birthdays! Grandma Byington made Braden a cake and Melissa made Mike one. We didn't want anyone to feel left out! I choose not to have Mike's cake after Tay and Akazia help "blow out" the candles (there may have been a slight bit of saliva involved).

The kids get to pick out where they want to eat out for their birthdays. They can pick anywhere...Texas Roadhouse, Goodwood, Macaroni Grill...but no, every year, guess where Braden picks...Golden Corral. Well, we were there with all of the other "quality" customers. He says he'll always pick that place because we never get to go there any other time. He's right. I took some pictures there, but I didn't have my memory stick in and I can't get them off of my camera!

Braden didn't ask us one time while we were in Pocatello what he was getting for his birthday, which was amazing, I wouldn't have been able to do that. When we got home, late of course, we asked him if he wanted his gift yet. Suprisingly he said he did. He got a "Fathead" NFL Rams helmet. He was so excited and kept giving us hugs and saying, "thank you mom and dad!" He made us put it up on his wall that night. It does look really cool, and someday we'll finish his room and it'll look even cooler! Happy Birthday Buddy, we love you!

Our Big Weekend

This was an incredible weekend! Our sweet daughter Emilee turned 8 in November and was baptized the first weekend in December. We are so proud of the choices she has made. She's a great example to us all. Another exciting thing that happened was Braden turned 12 and received the Aaronic Priesthood. I can't believe he's 12 already and is a deacon in the church. He is such a great kid and his family loves him very much...even his little sisters whom he teases incessantly. Here's Emilee and Daddy before entering the baptismal font.

We had so many people at our house that weekend. Dan's whole family stayed with us (except Mike and Melissa who stayed at Shane's - can't really blame them). My family stayed with Jay and Shawna. After the baptism we had everyone over for fish tacos. At one point we counted 22 kids with at least that many adults. It was a lot of fun. We had our good friend make homemade refried beans and Mexican rice to go along with it...thanks Jen. Thanks to all of our family and friends who made the effort to celebrate this special day with us!

After the priesthood ordination on Sunday, we had a family group picture with the Burrup side. It's amazing to see this kind of support. What really touched me during the ordination was how big the circle of priesthood holders was. Braden has such great examples to look up to as he grows in the gospel. We love our family very much.

My Attempt at a Photo Shoot

So I decided to do a photo shoot of the kids all by myself. I started with Danni when Braden got home from school and told him to go change. Danni was so not in the mood, but I got a couple of shots. This one shows the little mischievious grin she can get sometimes.

Braden came out and I snapped a quick one then had to go help the girls get their clothes. By the time I made it back out, a HUGE storm rolled in and we were done. Hope you like this picture because it might be the one we use on our Christmas cards. Two out of the 6 members of our family isn't bad.

Cuddles

Danni is not known for giving out cuddles, so when you get one, it's a picture worthy moment. Braden woke her up from her nap so we could get ready for church, but she wasn't ready to wake up yet. She just sat there forever letting him hold her. He said it was his first really long cuddle. Notice her arm over her eyes? That's what she does when she's tires, and she has done that since she was in the womb. We could never get any 3D ultrasounds of her because her arm was always in front of her face!

1st Annual Turkey Trot

I read somewhere about a family that would do a "Turkey Trot" every year on Thanksgiving. I thought it was a great idea and we tried it this year. It wasn't as big as I was hoping, but I'm not giving up! The weather was perfect. I just thought it might be a great chance to get the kids out of the house and moving a little bit. I was under no delusions that I was "working off" any food that we were about to partake. I would have had to have been out there all day! It was a lot of fun! Notice there are no pictures of Grandpa Byington? Well, we all walked out of the house together, but he took off by himself while we waited for a few more people. So much for family bonding. We just did a leisurely couple of laps around the park by my parents' house, about 1 1/2 miles.

Rachael decided she needed to run it. Here she is lapping her hubby and kids. She ran about 3 miles. Great job, way to show the rest of us up!

Is anyone shocked that Braden was bringing up the rear? Here he is trying to cut the corner! We love our little "Pokey Bear."

Next year might be colder, but it will happen. We had a lot of excuses like, " I was putting the turkey in the oven," "I had to start my rolls," and "we didn't know it was that big of a deal." All right, all right, I'll give you one year, but next year, we'll see you there!

Happy Turkey Day!

We went to Pocatello this year (what a shocker) for Thanksgiving. My mom decided, since everyone was making other plans for dinner, that she would do a Thanksgiving brunch. I thought it was a fabulous idea. We made the yummy breakfast casserole and had different breads and fruit. It was great.

Here's grandma, making sure everyone else is taken care-of...as usual!

Eric and Carly and Seven are moving to Portland soon, so who knows when the next chance we'll get for pictures will be. Seven's mom said he has to change his hair back before they move. She said he has to make friends first, then he can have whatever color of hair he wants.

This was the only picture I took at grandma Burrup's Thanksgiving dinner. I'm horrible at that! This was a 20 pound perfect turkey. It was the biggest grandma has ever made. The whole dinner was fabulous. Dan only wishes I could cook like his mom. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

HSM3 Party!

For Emilee's party this year, she decided to have a High School Musical 3 party! Our theater here has a little party room, so we had the party and watched the movie at the theater. She invited 10 cute little girls and we had so much fun! After watching the movies, we went back to the party room and had GIANT cupcakes (I've always wanted an excuse to buy these from Costco)!

We had a few minutes afterwards to play games. The girls played Duck, Duck, Goose and Simon Says. It was the easiest party I've every had to do! I highly recommend it. Happy 8th birthday Emilee!

Welcome Home Uncle Ryan!

Dan's little brother (well, not so little anymore) Ryan came home from his mission in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Sunday morning. Everyone was so excited to see him! He'd never met Danni before, as I was hugely pregnant when he left, so this was a fun moment. Of course Danni wasn't as thrilled as he was, but that's just Danni. There were a ton of people in the airport to welcome him. Braden said it was the smallest airport he's ever seen, he thought the part we were in was just the welcoming center...nope...it was the WHOLE Pocatello Airport! Dan's parents spent almost 2 weeks in Ukraine picking up Ryan and seeing all of the sights. They brought home this fox fur hat. Danni loved it and wouldn't let anyone else see it. It was so soft.

Ryan called and called for KaDee to come see him. Finally, someone had to tell Ryan that KaDee is almost def and he needed to go up to her! She may be def, but her memory is still there...she loves Ry and was so excited to see him.

Of course the kids were so excited to see what Uncle Ryan may have brought back for them. He got all of the kids beanies that were so cute (or cool for the boys). There was a lady there that Ryan had paint the temples that we were all married in and the dates on wooden eggs. They were beautiful. They said "Together Forever" in Russian at the top and in English at the bottom, except on some of them, the English didn't translate very well and ours says "Togever Forever!" I love it! He also got all of the guys and the big boys ties - they were way cool. All of the wives got little Christmas nestling dolls - the kind that hide inside each other. Danni loves to play with it and try to figure it out.

The cousins filled Ry's room with balloons and they found their way into the studio. After popping most of the balloons by wrestling with Ryan and his friends, the kids finally fell asleep. It was a very long, exciting day! Welcome home Uncle Ry!

SPUDNUTS (Need I say more?)

I was just thinking that in all of the years I've done spudnuts at Halloween, I don't think I have one picture...I'm usually too busy cooking! This year I had lots of help and it was so much easier and a lot more fun! Thanks to Staci and Kaidree! I made one and a half batched this year (a half batch more than last year) which is A LOT of donuts since one batch makes about 9 dozen or so. It was so great seeing our friends and neighbors and having them stop in for a while. I loved seeing all of the costumes and bags full of candy.

Joe is famous for his "double-dip" donuts. He likes to dip them again in the glaze...drowning them once in sugar just isn't enough.

Here's Emilee getting caught with a mouth full. Ed certainly wasn't a stranger to the spudnuts either. He talked about how he would go to Linda's and help himself to a full plate of them. These really do bring back lots of memories. This is only year 4 for me, but hopefully there will be many more years!

Every year we learn a little more. Dan thinks he's got next year all figured out. We are checking the kids' candy bags at the door, hiring a babysitter to stay upstairs and entertain the kids (maybe there will be a little less destruction and a few less candy wrappers all over), and the adults can just hang out and chit chat. Sounds like a plan to me! Now all we have to do is find a babysitter willing to work on Halloween!

We Love Halloween!

Halloween was a piece of cake this year. The kids all picked costumes that we already had (except Danni). Brianna was a zombie creature...she makes a pretty good dead person. Emilee was a monster bride. I'm not sure when my girls went from girly to gory, but I'm not sure I like it. As long as they're happy I guess!

Danni made the cutest little ladybug (at least I can still dress her girly!). She loves ladybugs. Her room has ladybugs all over, so it was one of the first words she could say. She wouldn't take off the antennae (ears as she called them).

Kaidree and Staci came over and helped this year with their kids, so they got to come over (as well as McKenzie) and go trick-or-treating together. It was the first year we let all of our kids go by themselves. I'm still not sure how I feel about that. Danni only went to two houses and I felt like she got jipped, but Dan reassured me that she really didn't care. Braden somehow snuck out of the house before I could get any pictures. He was a football player again this year and went with his friend Ethan all by themselves. Then, our good friends had turned their house into a haunted house and had over 30 kids over to go through it and have a party. They're crazy, but our kids sure loved it! It was a really fun Halloween!

They're Over...whew.

Well, soccer and football are now officially over! After all of the rain-outs, make-up games, end of season parties, cold and windy games, it's all over...just in time for basketball. I didn't get very many pictures because my camera is kinda crappy, but here are a few of the girls. No action shots, bummer. Here is Emilee (#4). She played great this year. She's in the rec league and just loves to be out playing with her friends. She scored lots of goals and had lots of assists. Emilee and Caleb are toasty warm during one of Nana's games. This game was freezing!

In Brianna's second to last game, she got the ball at about midfield and lost her left shoe...but she drippled all the way down and scored a goal! I didn't even notice her shoe was off until she came running back, grabbed it, and put it on again. She did great and scored at least one goal in almost all of her games. Her coach said she is one of the kids who "just gets it" when it comes to playing soccer. I think this was a huge compliment. This was the freezing game. With soccer and football over, basketball is now starting. Braden is playing AAU and Dan is coaching him. Brianna is playing right now too and Dan helps when he can, their practices are on the same nights at the same time. We didn't even get one week's break between seasons! I guess that's the joy of having kids!