November 2011

We were so excited for Thanksgiving this year. All of my sibling except for Cherisse's family :( were going to my parents this year. I love just hanging around and relaxing with family. On Friday we all decorated mini gingerbread houses. This kids got quite creative.



That's Beckam's proud smile. His daddy was a great architect and helped build the house and then he decorated it.

Maddy and Olivia did a great replica of the nativity scene. So cute!

Brooklyn was lucky to have Aunt Meagan's help with her reindeer stall. Do you recognize Rudolph on the side?

This is such a fun project that even I couldn't help but have a go at it.

I think this should be a fun family holiday tradition to keep every year.


This is the dinner table all set nice for Thanksgiving dinner. We had the works-Ham, turkey, stuffing, rolls, potatoes, gravy, corn, grandma's russion salad, green been casserole, fresh cranberry sauce, and of course yummy pies.


We had several tables set up to accomidate our growing family.
Colby enjoying the Holiday football games.
Grandma hard at work finishing up Thanksgiving dinner.
Everyone helped and made it a special dinner.
After the Thanksgiving Feast, the men went outside and shot dad's bow's.
Such a manly thing.
This is one of the cutest (and mischievious) little guys ever!
Aunt Meagan put a lot of effort and made the kids tables really special. Notice the pilgrim ship centerpiece, the pilgrim hat crayon holders and all the fun festive papers the kids colored while waiting for dinner. So Fun! You'll notice I have no more pictures after Friday. That's because everyone started dropping like flies with the flu. We were sorry that the week ended that way and we didn't make little Kalyn's baby blessing. It was so nice though to be with family. Love you guys and am so grateful for all my many blessings. We are so blessed!

October 2011

A lot happened in October-mostly the end of the month-so I'm trying to remember what happened at the beginning. Zachary had his first band concert-they did well, let's just say Zac was practicing tonight and there was considerable improvement :) I'm glad he's learning a musical instrument since I wasn't very successful and getting him to play the piano. Jonathan tured 9! My cousin Dayne got married in the Salt Lake temple that day so he got to spend it with me and extended family. He wanted a Lemon Meringue Pie-so thank you to Mrs. Marie Callender!

Alisa had her baby mid month. She is a little cutie. Alisa did well and is adjusting with the new life of motherhood it seems. We went up and got to see her the day she got home from the hospital. Crystal and her boys were also down(Colby was at the BYU game of course:) And then we went and ate some ice cream at the Y's creamery-Mmmmm! Short visit- but nice.
The annual carving of the Pumpkin! The girls and Ethan couldn't get enough of the pumpkin "guts". Squishing it through their fingers, sliding their arms across the big pile's laid onto a cookie sheet-they had fun. Ethan had a kick when we'd turn the lights off with each Jack O lantern with a candle in it.

Wes surprised me with tickets to Odyssey Dance's Halloween program- THRILLER!! Freaky, enthralling, morbid, genius- As you can see, I'm a little torn up on my person critique of the performance. I do NOT enjoy scary stuff, I haven't been to any type of Haunted forest, house, or maze since college- BUT- they were such beautiful, talented, dancers-AMAZING! Here a glimpse of what we saw-http://www.odysseydance.com/thriller2010slc.html

Soooo. . . . . we had our first broken bone in the McKinney house. Halloween morning I was running around getting all the kids costumes on, hair done, make-up, breakfast, a little last minute sewing, etc. I was just finishing up a few last minute things -like taking pictures of the kids right before they walked out the door to the bus because I didn't know how long some of their costumes would hold up. Just then I heard a thud and Ethan crying-which by the way is a daily occurance pretty much. The kids said that he had fallen off the kitchen counter, so-a lot more concerned I started looking and feeling over his head for any bumps etc. I laid him on the couch, and that's when I noticed-his arm was visibly deformed-"Broken!" I gasped, "His arm is BROKEN!" The kids were by then walking out the door, but as soon as they heard that, turned around to come back. "GO!" I yelled. "GO to the bus!" I didn't think it would help them at all seeing his arm and I just couldn't handle all the kids with me knowing I would be rushing him to the ER. They ran out while I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off. Little Ethan's face had just turned white like a ghost-I found the phone-and called Wes-No answer! What the heck-pick UP! I then started wondering if I called 911 if they could get him to pick up his phone-No, that was just crazy thinking-so I called again-He picked up-and then I fell apart. Crying, helpless, sobbing. He said he'd meet me at the ER. I then ran around some more. "A hankerchief, I need a hankerchief!" I'd worked @ scout camps long enough to know that I could help stabalize his arm somehow with a hankerchief. I found one-but still not knowing exactly what I was going to do because I didn't want to hurt him-Just then-a knock at the door. It was my godsend neighbor NURSE extrordinaire-Jill had come to my rescue. Calm, collective, experienced, she secured his arm, calmed me down, and buckled him into my car. She had been at the bus stop when my kids announced the drama happening at home. A tender mercy!
Ethan broke both his radius and ulna. He had a small contusion on his head which I believe if his hand hadn't broken the fall-his head would have-and I don't even want to think what could have happened. We had an older more experienced Dr-I had complete confidence in his skills. They had to sedate him but were able to set his arm in a pretty timely manner. I was worried that Ethan would be miserable for awhile but he seemed to be his same old self in no time-trying to climb and jump on furniture-AGAIN-but with one arm.
This experience made me appreciate the good health of my children-this was such a traumatic experience for me-because-it is a RARE occurance for me. I have compassion for those that have to watch their children suffer or worry about their children's health and safety on a daily basis. I'm grateful for caring neighbors, skilled and knowledgeable Dr's, the priesthood(Wes gave him a blessing), insurance, the Comforter, and a loving Heavenly Father.
I don't have pictures of everybody because of the little fiasco but Brooklyn was a pirate, Hailey was a French Maid, Cameron was a nerd, Jonny was a clown, Zach was. . . .??? Ethan was Batman.
I decided to be Queen of the Nile for the night. I had "Walk Like an Egyptian" playing in my front room and told all the trick-or-treaters if they wanted a treat they had to "dance" or walk like an egyptian from the front door to the candy platter-HE HE-it was FUN! I liked having a little power -HA! WEll, that was the last day of the month-a long day!

Little Man's Birthday

Yep! It's official-my baby is no longer a baby anymore. Ethan turned the BIG Terrible 2 on Thursday. It doesn't take much to make a 2 year old happy.

He loved his "Vroom, Vroom" cake and kept sneaking in the fridge so he could look at it-though he didn't care much for eating it.
He kept saying "MMmmmm" as he was shoveling his favorite-mashed potatoes and gravy-into his mouth.
This is his soccer friend Levi who he runs around with. We watched him one day and Ethan and him were like little twinners. Levi was born three weeks earlier than Ethan so they are very similar in their likes, personalities, facial expressions etc.--well, except Levi can say complete clear words and sentences and Ethan still talks jibberish. He loves cars, Elmo, balls, his mommy (and her hair), wrestling his brothers and dad, and being his sisters play pet. He is a monkey and will climb up whatever he can get a toe hold on. He loves to eat hot dogs, eggs, mashed potatoes and chicken nuggets. His sippy cup filled with milk is like a crutch to him-I swear sometimes he might as well just have a bottle. He is the gatorade skifer at soccer games. It's really embarrassing when one of the boys teammates catches Ethan drinking out of their Gatorade bottle. He is a boy's boy!!! The crooked neck squash have become great guns-he loves to find bugs and man handle them or squish them with his fingers. He loves throwing rocks or running as fast as he can from his mom down the road. We love our Ethan and so grateful that he is a part of our family-stinker pot and all. Happy Birthday Ethan!

September 2011-Alisa's baby shower

Other than the craziness of every day life-like starting my dance classes etc, September has been pretty filled with just day to day stuff. Saturday we had a baby shower for Alisa. It was a great turnout! It was nice to see everyone. We had a nice lunch(chicken penne pink sauce, salad, bread, cheesecake w/ a peach raspberry topping and a cake that I made with fondant and rice crispy treats) Look how cute and little Alisa's belly is. So excited for her!

Grandma Childers is so great to always come and be apart of family festivities. She is so helpful and we'll just clean clean clean. I'm glad she got to just sit and relax for a second.
I got to cuddle with Cute little chubby chunky Hyram-Thanks Meagan for sharing!
Hyram was getting some one on one time with his new cousin - Ahh, look how good of a mommy Alisa will be.


OH, and by the way, did I mention my sister Melanie was dating someone, Seriously!?!?!? I know!! I can't see it either-kissing, hugging, holding hands-Yup, that would be MELANIE!( he he he he)

August 2011

August is the McKinney Clan's Birthday Bash Month. Cameron started out our August with a BANG! Big boy turned 11 on the 1st. He takes after his mom and wanted a cheescake for his birthday.Miss Priss Hailey turned 7 on the 11th. Her Aunt Angie spoiled her with sunglasses and all other COOL accessories. She was walking around the house struttin and saying "I'm pop u lar" (roll eyes-sigh) Anyways, she wanted a mermaid cake so the girls and I had fun putting this Little Mermaid cake together.Miss Brooky Wooky turned the BIG 5. I can't believe she's now old enough to go to school. She is so excited and I'm sure will be filling some big pants with those little legs-she's one smart little cookie. She wanted an ice cream cake-we still haven't had her friend birthday party(or Zac's-I think I'll combine them somehow to make life a little easier)

School started-I couldn't tell really if I was excited for it to start or not. I don't mind that I don't have kids trashin the house and fighting every other minute-but-the responsibility of making sure 5 kids are doing their homework-especially a 7th grader-gives me a headache to say the least. If all we did is sit around the house after school that would be one thing but I have three kids in comp soccer, three in scouts, Zac in SBO, me RS and dance, and who knows were Wes is and what he's doing most of the time(work and bishoping of course)-I swear we're NEVER home.

Anyways, it started, and the kids seemed pretty excited and ready for a new year. I kept forgetting to take a pic of Zac before he left for school, my brain isn't quite functioning properly when he gets up and leaves for the bus in the mornings. I finally remembered and got a pic while he was eating breakfast.
The end of August we had our Smith Family Reunion. We booked the old(built in like 1910) Whitaker Cabin down by Smith Morehouse. Both my grandparents and parents had spent their honeymoon there so I was excited to see it. Needless to say it's changed a little. They built around the existing log cabin but all the original log framing and some of the original windows were there. They had plumbing-two bathrooms, and a nice kitchen added on to the old porch. There was like 14 full size beds.
We went to the lake and had a great afternoon. Here Angela is sporting our Lady Gaga life vest.


We had a nice time just chillin and relaxing and enjoying each other's company and good food.
The night we returned home the kids were making fun of their sister Hailey because her forehead was swollen from a bug bid and they called her Quasi Modo. The next morning when she woke up her right eye was completely swollen shut-poor girl. She looked so pitiful. I'm assuming she was allergic to whatever bit her. Anyways, a full month!

July 2011

My newest handsome little nephew-Hyram Steven Smith. Born 9 days overdue to an awesome tough mommy! That's one proud papa I'm telling ya!
My baby sister got married the end of July-it was a fun family filled affair! We were all in the temple together as she got her endowments out and of course during the sealing. That was very special!!!!
All the girlies were in awe of the beautiful harp music played by Angela's very talented friend Katie McGregor.
The kids had SO much fun playing and running around with each other. Wish we could all be close to have more of these experiences.
All of my parents grandchildren except for sweet little Lucy. I don't think it would have been possible to get all of them looking at the camera at the same time.
See the kids expressions on their faces?!? Yep-Ang and Thomas were kissing-EWWWW! I told them to close their eyes but they didn't listen.(he he)
The reception set up. Yummy
The Hatch Family Band set a nice atmosphere for the reception. I'm not saying that there wasn't any rock music played-let's just say it was fun and lively!
Angela wanted pearls on her cake. I incorporated a lacey motif with it to fit her style of wedding.
The Debonaire Groom
The Blushing Bride
Ethan has turned his toilet obsession to a more productive one. He now sits ON the toilet instead of IN the toilet. Surprisingly he goes potty in the toilet prettu regularly. It would be nice finally to not have diapers anymore but I'm not holding my breathe.
July 6 my oldest turned the big 12. He received the priesthood that following Sunday. My parents and Wes were able to attend. I can't believe it! It's fun to see him pass the sacrament and fulfill his other priesthood obligations. My dad stayed after that week to help drywall the boys room downstairs. I'm so grateful-I don't think we would have ever got it done. There room look nice and I'll have to post pics later on. Zac went to scout camp at Camp Loll the last week of July with Wes. He got eaten alive by mosquitoes but other than that seems to have had a great time. I took Cameron for the first time to Day Camp at Camp Kiesel. It was nice to spend a little one on one with him which isn't very often.
Zac got to ride the Snowcrest Junior High Student Officer float in the 4th of July this year. He seemed to have a good time.
I did my own float this year for my dancers. I was prepared-unlike other years when I flew off the seat of my pants and decided to pull something in the parade the morning of. I forgot my camera and so didn't get any pics during-but I hurried and took a few as we were taking apart the float. I had three giant firecrackers, balloons, a flag, and huge company logo signs on the side.

I turned the car that pulled us into a "Cars" version of Uncle Sam. That hat looks a lot smaller than it actually is. He had a flag a big USA on the back- and then I had posters with collages of my students on the back side windows. The kids had a lot of fun riding in the float this year.