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!