Dallin cracks me up. He stuck this horn on his chin and announced, “I’m King Tut!”

Today, I am grateful for my three amazing children and their sweet letters to Santa Clause. Each letter is infused with the writer’s unique personality, and I am so thankful for them all.

Dallin and Hyrum really get into Crazy Hair Day at school each year. They plan for weeks how they want their hair to look. This year, Dallin wanted to look like an old man with all white hair and  Hyrum wanted red hair with a skunk stripe down the middle. Don’t ask me why. I have no clue where they come up with these ideas. I just think they’re adorable.

See the sexy man in the red hat kneeling down in the middle of this picture? I’m completely and absolutely in love with him.

He has had an incredibly difficult year. His world has come crashing down around him in the last eight months and what he’s gone through would have destroyed anyone else, but not my husband. Through it all he has counseled our family and our congregation to have faith and to have hope. From the pulpit last Sunday, he told us, “You can never wander so far off the path that your loving Savior will not come to your rescue. He loves you. He will find you and guide you back.” Through everything that has happened this year, he has selflessly served in his calling, he has raised an incredibly difficult lab puppy, he has coached a soccer team that had an amazing season, he has fixed and patched every broken thing in our home, he has brought me flowers and supported me through all the insecurities and adjustments that came with my new job at the gym, he has read with our children and taught them true doctrine, he has watched movies with us and taken us on happy vacations, and he has worked tirelessly and thanklessly at a job that he hates so that he could provide for us.

Which is why I am so excited for him today. Because today is his last day at Phytomer. He has worked there for eleven years and is happily saying goodbye as he moves on to greener pastures. Congratulations, my love. I am so proud of you. And so thankful for you.

Here’s to much better times ahead.

I am super late posting these pictures from October, but I wanted to share because we had so much fun. We went to the Syracuse Pumpkin Walk in October. The boys got all dressed up in their costumes and we had a great time looking at all the cool carved pumpkins, laughing at the singing pumpkins, meeting larger-than -life-characters, and sitting around the toasty campfire. Happy memories.

Hyrum watches me prepare for my Insanity classes each week and is excited to try every new move with me. The other day, he decided to put together his own class and even drew a sign, illustrating each move. It starts with 5 push-ups, then moves into 5 burpees, then ends with 5 vertical jumps. What cracked me up, though, was that he called the burpees, “hiccups.” I loved it. I might use that in class this week. 50 hiccups sounds a heck of lot easier than 50 burpees.

Our last child to learn to read is well on his way. I have enjoyed watching each of them come alive as they realize they know the words and can read an entire book. Hyrum loves the Sam and Matt series and giggles as he turns each page and reads about their silly antics. I am so proud of him.

We love to celebrate silly holidays and strange special occasions as a family. We have a tradition of having cake and ice cream on everyone’s half birthday. We sing half the birthday song and they blow out half a candle. Yeah, we’re weird like that.

I heard the cry of disgust from down the hall and then heard the linen closet door open and close. When I went to investigate, I found Dallin laughing hysterically and Hyrum, shirtless, toweling himself off. “Do I want to know what happened?” I asked. Hyrum glared indignantly at his brother and exclaimed, “Dallin sneezed on me.”

 Brothers are gross.