GIVING THANKS 2009

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we had a "pre-Thanksgiving" dinner over at Cam and Jenny's with all of my family. Delicious food and good company...the kids had a lot of fun playing together, and at one point they were all jumping off the couches. They certainly took advantage of adults who were too busy talking to pay attention! It is always fun when all of my family gets together. We have the most interesting and hilarious discussions...Before all of the Thanksgiving festivities began I decided to run in the Turkey Trot! I am training for a 1/2 marathon for the end of January, so I thought this would be good practice since I have never run in a race. I finished just over an hour (1:06 to be exact). I thought I would have a hard time since I had not run 6 miles yet in my training, but I took it slow, and felt good at the finish. It was especially fun seeing my little family half way through cheering me on from the side, and then seeing them at the finish line! After the race we rushed home and got ready for our Thanksgiving lunch with the Williams. Ladd and Janet had everything set up outside and it was a beautiful day! I ate way too much and especially stuffed myself with the dessert. I barely saw Wyatt and Luke the whole day. They ate really fast and then played for hours with their cousins on the trampoline, at the park, and downstairs with all of the toys. Here we have PJ deciding he wanted to get into the pool (Jared was kind enough to throw him in). Although it was a nice day the pool was freezing! Here I am visiting with some of my sisters-in-law. This is when we decided it might be fun to go the the mall at midnight, spend $100 and then get $50 back on a gift card. This was as close to "black Friday" as I wanted to get. Jared's dad took a snooze right there at the table!

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

ME AND MY BANGS

Thought I would give bangs a try since I decided my forehead is too big. I think I'm liking them!

REALLY??

Is my 5 month old really sitting up on his own already? Really? Where does the time go? Where's my little baby? I think that the more kids I have, the more I realize how I just want them to stay little longer. I guess Levi just wants to keep up with his brothers...he loves to watch them and if I lay him on the floor he will roll and scoot himself all over the place. He grabs at everything, holds things in his hands, loves to eat rice cereal with fruit/veggies, enjoys his bottle (getting too impatient to nurse), loves to smile, pushes up on his knees and toes, and can now push up to a sitting position without even realizing it. I can't believe how fast he is growing...makes me sad.

A couple weeks ago I decided to give the rice cereal a try...Levi seemed to really be interested in food and I just felt like he was needing a little more nutrition. He liked it OK, but once I added a little fruit he LOVED it... if it's warmed up, even better.

PRETTY BOYS

Oh how I love these boys! I never would've imagined that I would be blessed to have 3. I love the relationship Wyatt and Luke have. Wyatt is a great big brother to Luke (and Levi). He protects him and makes sure he is doing OK (most of the time anyway). I sometimes wonder if Wyatt is the reason Luke doesn't talk much. It's funny to hear Luke say something that we don't understand, and then to hear Wyatt try to guess what he said..."Do you want sugar, Luke?" Even though whatever Luke said wasn't even close to that he will always say yes. Wyatt loves to call Levi, "my baby" and likes to hold him. Luke is talking a lot more and is so cute. He says, "self" (for myself), and lots of other things. He is really good at repeating and if he doesn't know how to say a word he will make something up. We had family pictures taken last Saturday afternoon and after we got back we decided to have a little photo shoot of our own in the front yard. The boys were so tired of smiling, but we did catch a few good ones. I'm anxious to see how our family pictures turn out...

VETERAN'S DAY

Thank you to all of the veteran's out there who have and still are fighting for our freedom!...and that includes my dad (Desert Storm veteran). Jared laughs at me, but I am very patriotic and sometimes get emotional when I sing or even just hear the National Anthem. I know how blessed I am to live in this country and to be raising my family here. Although my dad was away at war for 9 months, I have such fond memories of living on the base in Ft. Campbell, KY. I always knew I would see him again. I will never forget how all of the wives pulled together when the men were away and supported each other. At school we sang how we were proud to be an American, and our front yard was decorated with yellow ribbons. When my dad came home we made patriotic "Welcome Home" signs and watched as he flew in formation in his helicopter. It was neat hearing all about his experiences (he kept a journal) and looking through all of the stuff he brought home. I wish I could remember everything better...I knew what was happening, but I was just 10, so all I really cared about was which team I would be on for capture the flag. I realize now the huge sacrifice that my dad (and mom) made.

This year we went out to Superstition Farm's Moo moo Palooza (Jared worked, as usual, and was certainly missed. I always feel bad when he calls on his lunch break and hears about all of the fun we are having without him). The farm offers tours, horseback riding, animal feeding, and lots of free milk. The weather was hot, mid 80's, but at least it wasn't in the 90's like it's been for the past couple of weeks! My dad, Mickey, Chance, Cole, and Connie and Tim's family joined us for a fun couple of hours. The kids were so, so excited! Wyatt was confused for awhile and thought that we were going to Taylor to visit his cousins farm. Our conversation to the farm consisted of me trying to explain to Wyatt that we don't ride cows. He then explained to Luke that cows are just for things like milk, yogurt, ice cream, and cheese. Both boys couldn't wait to get there, so the line to just park felt like forever (it was very crowded..apparently other people like to get into places for free too)! Wyatt is such a boy! He was dirty and dusty just 1 minute after getting out of the car. I asked him what happened. His reply, "I was kicking dirt." Wyatt is all of the sudden Mr. Independent, so he ran off several times to go find free candy once we got inside. He also rode on a pony named Scooter and tried to kick a soccer ball into a hole. I laughed when he decided to pick the ball up and throw it into the hole his last try. He also surprised me with a brand new cheesy smile... hilarious. Luke, on the other hand, was afraid to lose me , so he held onto my hand most of the day. He didn't want to feed the animals or ride the horse, or eat his white ice cream (he wanted blue like Wyatt), but he did enjoy the milk, candy, hay ride, and getting up into the tractor.

Levi is such a pleasant little guy. He was just content being held by Grandpa Webb the whole time! He also enjoyed playing with an empty milk carton.

FALL PARTY

Here we are at the Francom's annual Fall Party! I look forward to this party each year for many reasons...the cooler weather (Hey, I was just excited to be able to wear a light scarf and not break a sweat), the live music (this year Cam and Jenny even played a little ditty), the dessert table, the good company, the food, and the decorations! For the past couple of years Jared and I have had the priveldge of attending, and each year it just gets better and better. For me, the party marks the beginning of the holidays...family get-togethers, food, Thanksgiving, Christmas. I enjoyed visiting while sipping my hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, and having a fun night with my favorite person...Jared.

HALLOWEEN 2009

This year for Halloween our costumes were put together so last minute! I hadn't even thought about them much and then all of the sudden it snuck up on me. Luke's was the only one we had been talking about for awhile. Once, a couple months before Halloween I asked the boys what they wanted to be and Luke said he wanted to be a ghost (we cut up a pillow case, painted his face, and put flour in his hair). A couple of times after that I would catch him chasing Wyatt around yelling. "oooh, ghost!"

Wyatt was Superman. I used some of the stuff from his Nacho Libre costume from a couple years ago and Jared made the logo (he's so crafty). Jared was a senor and I was his senorita, and Levi was our burrito (which, sadly, we didn't get any pictures of).

This year was much more laid back compared to last year! We had the annual Williams Halloween party, complete with a cackling witch and a pimp. Every year Jared's mom dresses up as a witch and at the end of the night everyone has to give her a kiss for some candy. Every year one of the kids is deathly afraid of her..this year it was Luke. Luke kept his eye on the witch the entire night and would not give her a kiss. Finally once we were headed out the door and grandma took her hat off, he gave her a kiss.

On Halloween we attented Abbey's 4th birthday party and then dressed up one last time for our ward Trunk or Treat. While we were driving home we noticed a big party at our neighborhood park, so we let the boys jump around in the bouncer they had set up. It was funny watching Luke bounce (and get bounced) with the big kids! We figured the boys got plenty of candy, so we decided not to go around our neighborhood for more (in fact, we're still working on what they did get).