We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

We decided to have a Christmas Eve eve slumber party, we brought down some mattresses, Scott and I slept on the pullout couch mattress we put it on the floor. The kids had started watching as many Star Wars movies as they could over break. So we watched Rogue One, then started A New Hope because that is where they were at in their marathon. We  turned the lights out at 9:30 and played truth or dare. But the dares had to be something you could do laying down, like do your best Yoda impersonation, say the alphabet backwards as fast as you can.  Rylan was working and when we told him to join us when he got home he said he wanted to be in his own bed. Bo was in heaven laying down next to all of us, he moved around the room and took turns laying next to each person. I woke up to his face next to my face, this is why he isn’t allowed in our bed. Madelyn and Ian made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, Ian made his in about 20 minutes, but Madelyn was so careful and made a two...

In October Scott went to Idaho to hunt. While there he was introduced to Beau who was a newly adopted dog of the Kohrman family.  He had been living with a couple who had some larger dogs who were picking on Beau, so Breezi said she would adopt him, but then her dog started biting and hurting Beau so she jokingly asked Scott if he would like a dog. During the 2 weeks he was there, he got to know him and then called me to ask if he could bring him home. After learning about his calm and loving demeanor, I said yes. We wanted to surprise the kids so Scott bought the necessary supplies and drove across the country with our new dog who he changed the spelling to Bo because Beau is too feminine he thought! Scott arrived home as the kids and I were at a ward Halloween party. We had pre-arranged that I would go into the house and tell the kids that I was going to see if the surprise was ready yet. I went in and Scott was standing in the kitchen with Bo, so I motioned for them to come int...

Rylan had a great marching band season. They made finals and finished 9th overall out of 27 Class AAA bands! Rylan also got his first job at Jimmy Johns. It was a brand new store that opened up, he and his friend Jonah applied and interviewed together and they work most shifts together. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with just our family, Maddy said she wanted to be in charge of the pies so she made a pumpkin and Key Lime Pie all by herself. Madelyn had her cheer competition, she was as cool as a cucumber, she didn’t say she was nervous at all. She is so cool. There were three different divisions based on average age and their team was in the oldest, hardest division. They performed really well, they smiled, had spirit, did their stunts, and cheered loudly! They were 2nd to last to perform and the last group also did really well but they had a lot of experienced girls and threw in some extra tumbling. The other team won by .5 a point, but our girls were...