We have much to be grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving Day is the one day of the year we take out of our lives to give thanks for all we have been given. So I will take a moment to let everyone know what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my family- my husband who loves me despite my flaws, my beautiful children who give me such joy.

I love this picture!

I am thankful for my mom and dad and my sisters and brother.

I am thankful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

I am thankful for my country, the United States of America.

I am thankful for Pete's job and all of his hard work to provide for our family.

I am thankful for my beautiful home.

I am thankful for my friends and the great support system that I have.

I have much to be thankful for, my list could go on and on.

I am also very thankful to have a sister who lives close enough to us that we can celebrate Thanksgiving together.

This year it was Gina's turn to host Thanksgiving. We got to Gina's for dinner right at 1:00. We were hoping to get there by 12:30, but it took us a half an hour to get the kids out the door and everything loaded into the van! I guess that's what happens when you have four small kids.

We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner. I love turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and green bean casserole.


We had a great time visiting and eating! After dinner the kids played while Gina and I visited.
This is Pete's favorite past time!

The guys took a little nap while they "watched" football. A couple of hours after we had dinner we dug into the pie. Gina made two pumpkin pies and I made a blueberry and brought a chocolate one. Jaron got his own slice of chocolate and devoured it! After it was gone, he licked the plated and then started eating the plate! He is so silly!





I always make a blueberry pie for my Pete because it is his favorite! It is his granny's recipe who was a blueberry farmer. From what everyone says it is excellent, but as most of you know, I hate cooked fruit, so I have never actually tasted it.

It was a very fun and yummy Thanksgiving. Thanks, Gina!

SALE AT SHAYLEESCORNER!

I've decided to have a Thanksgiving sale at Shayleescorner. Come look at my boutique bows!

My Boutique Bows

As most of you know, I love to make bows. I have been making bows for my daughter, nieces and friends girls for over three years now and it is my passion. I have now after much encouragement from friends and family decided to open an etsy shop. Come check out my bows and spread the word to your friends and family. My shop is Shayleescorner on etsy.com.

Mommy Tag

Kenyon was tagged by his cousin Eli to do this mommy tag. When Brandon heard Kenyon answering the questions he wanted to do it, too.

1. What is something mom always says to you? "No"
2. What makes mom happy? "Cleaning up my desk" I would think it would make me happy if he cleaned his desk, not me!
3. What makes mom sad? "Hitting my brothers and sister."
4. How does mom make you laugh? "Tickle me”
5. What was mom like as a child? "I don't know”
6. How old is your mom? "twenty three" That's a great age! Just flip that and he got it one!
7. How tall is your mom? “30 in.” HEEHEEHEE!
8. What is her favorite thing to do? "Clean” ????? I have to clean. Definitely not my favorite thing to do.
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "Go on the computer” Yep!
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "Being the best cleaner”
11. What is your mom really good at? "Cleaning"
12. What is your mom not very good at? "Trying to catch kids." So funny!
13. What does your mom do for her job? "Clean"
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "Broccoli" Yum!
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "Cleaning my bedroom” What a goof!
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "A cartoon mommy"
17. What do you and your mom do together? "Go on one on ones”
18. How are you and your mom the same? "We're both Phelons"
19. How are you and your mom different? "You're a girl and I'm a boy"
20. How do you know your mom loves you? “When you hug me.”

Kenyon tags Andrew, Alex and Evan

1. What is something mom always says to you? "Get busy!" This is my favorite saying.
2. What makes mom happy? "When you tell me something and I do it right away”
3. What makes mom sad? "When I don't listen."
4. How does mom make you laugh? "I don't know." I guess I never make him laugh! :(
5. What was mom like as a child? "You had glasses." Yes I did, but not until I was fourteen.
6. How old is your mom? "thirty-one" Close.
7. How tall is your mom? "9 feet!" One thinks I'm a giant, the other a midget
8. What is her favorite thing to do? "Playing games like Ticket to Ride.”
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "Clean”
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "Making bows” Wouldn't that be nice!
11. What is your mom really good at? "Cleaning" Apparently I like clean a lot.
12. What is your mom not very good at? "Winning lots of games" How sad!
13. What does your mom do for her job? "Take care of us." and boy do I love it!
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "lasagna" Yum!
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "When you help me.”
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Snow White, 'cause your hair." I guess because I have dark hair.
17. What do you and your mom do together? "Go on walks.”
18. How are you and your mom the same? "We both argue." Oops! I guess I shouldn't argue so much!
19. How are you and your mom different? "You're an adult and I'm a kid."
20. How do you know your mom loves you? “Because you hug me.”

Brandon tags Shannon, Kolton and Matthew

Goodbye Grandma

Last Friday, November 7th, we headed down to Utah for my Grandma's funeral. I got the kids out of school an hour early and then picked Pete up at work on the way out. We got to Utah about 4 am. I was surprised to pull up to my parents house and see the lights on. I thought that they would be in bed, but they got up at 3:30 knowing that we would be pulling in soon. It shouldn't have surprised me. They can't sleep when they worry and they are both worriers!

On Saturday, we got up late and hung out together and enjoyed visiting. Sunday all of my siblings went to my parents ward. It was fun sitting in Relief Society with my mom and my four sisters. I can't remember the last time that happened. Sunday night was the viewing. It was a very long, sad and stressful evening. It was fun to see my cousins and friends who I have not seen in a long time. Luckily, Pete's mom lives in Pleasant Grove, so he and kids came and stayed for about an hour. Brandon was fascinated by the whole thing. He kept wanting to go up and look at her. I was really surprised that it didn't upset him. Pete has always been very open about death, so that is probably why.

Grandma's memorial table

My mom and my sister Amy

Me and My sister Cindy

My dad and uncles-Bill, Gary, Carter, Dave and dad

Monday was my grandma's funeral. It was a rainy and dreary day. The weather matched our moods. There was another viewing that morning at the church before the funeral started. People kept coming and coming and coming. They finally had to cut the line off and close the doors, so the funeral wouldn't start late. I hate the closing of the casket ritual. It is just so final. I was very teary. My dad said the family prayer and he did a wonderful job.

The funeral was a great dedication to my grandma. It was definitely a celebration of her life and who she is. She has five sons and all of them spoke. My dad is the eldest and he spoke last. It was a wonderful way to end the funeral. He did a wonderful job. It is a different experience going to a funeral with young children. I would be getting all emotional thinking about my grandma and what was being said and then, I would hear, "mom, I can't find the red crayon!". It is harder to really be in the mood and sentimental with the kids there. The final song was "God Be With You Til We Meet Again". I hate this song at funerals because I just fall apart. I bawled through the entire song and was very sad.

After the funeral we had a luncheon put on by my grandma's home ward. We were able to really enjoy this time catching up with family. All twenty four grandchildren were able to be there. We got a picture of us all which was really fun. They also tried to take a picture with all the great grandchildren that were there, but that didn't turn out so well. Jaron got hysterical. I'm not sure why, but boy can that kid scream!
All twenty four grandchildren

The luncheon


Kenyon really enjoyed the luncheon. He was very creative and came up with a brownie sandwich creation. Sounds yummy, huh? That is until you realize that this sandwich is two brownies with a piece of ham in the middle! YUM! I don't think people thought he would actually eat it, but he did! At least he made everyone laugh on sad day.
The normal sandwich



Kenyon's brownie sandwich



After the luncheon we headed down to Mona, Utah for the graveside service. My grandma and grandpa grew up in the tiny town just north of Nephi. It was cold and wet and we waited for about a half an hour for one of my uncles and his family to come. There was a little mix up on the time of the graveside service. My cousin Kelly dedicated the grave and did a wonderful job. It was a sad time and I have a hard time believing she is gone. I know that she is happy with my grandpa, her parents and siblings. I am so grateful for the gospel and the comfort that it gives me at times like these. I know I will see my grandma again and it will be a happy day. God be with you til we meet again grandma!


My sister Amy and me

Jaron's Stats.

Jaron went to the doctor for his eighteen month appointment a couple of weeks ago. Because of Halloween and them my grandma passing away I have never posted his stats. So, here they are.

Head-47 cm
Weight-23lbs (20th percentile)
Height-31 in. (10th percentile)

I can't remember what percentile his head was, but I think it was like 60th or somewhere close. He is short and chunky! Gotta love his big belly!

Memories of my Grandma-

I stole this picture from my cousins blog.
This is more what my grandma looked like
before her stroke two years ago.

Now that I am a little more in control of my emotions I would like to write down some memories of my grandma.

My earliest memories of my grandma are at her house in Orem when we used to come visit every summer. I remember camping out on her patio. Having family parties on the holidays with homemade rootbeer and icecream. She was all about getting her grandkids together to play. She wanted us to be close to each other.

Some later memories are of visits she made to our home in Virginia. She helped my dad finish an entire room in our home for my mom while my mom was in Utah visiting her mom. She was a very giving and generous person. I also remember getting into many fights with my grandma. As I got older I realized that we are very alike in many ways and so that is why we knocked heads. We both had hot tempers.

When I went to college I stayed with her for a couple of summers. She let me use her truck to get to and from work and school. The last summer before my grandpa passed away I lived with them and I treasure those memories of both grandparents. My grandma loved to "do lunch" with her many friends and so my grandpa and I would "do lunch" with each other. We always went to the Kenny Rogers Roasters.

I worked at the BYU bindery while going to school. There were many mornings that my grandma would show up at the bindery with a bag of breakfast for me. Usually an egg mcmuffin or an eclair. She would say, " I know you probably forgot to eat breakfast this morning, so here you go". It meant so much to me. To this day, I have a hard time remembering to eat breakfast.

After marrying, Pete, my grandma and I got even closer. She loved Pete and thought my choice of husband was great. Pete and I got engaged at her home on 8th East on January 10th 1999. We visited my grandma often and enjoyed watching games with her. She is very entertaining to watch sports with! She gets quite violent with her suggestions about what her team should do to the other team.

My grandma is a feisty woman, who has tons of personality. If you met her, you would not soon forget her! She loved life, her sweetheart, her boys, her "daughters in love", her grand kids and her great grand kids (who knew her as grandma great- she loved that name!). I am sure her reunion with my grandpa was sweet. She missed him greatly and was lost without him. I am so happy for her, but sad for me. I will miss her. I love you grandma!

I will miss....

I will miss her sense of humor. I will miss her smiling face. I will miss her spirited personality. I will miss arguing with her. I will miss watching sports with her and hearing "tackle em, rip em apart, kill em"! I will miss hearing her swear! "Where the hell is Taco Bell, where the hell is Taco Bell"!
I will miss talking to her. I will miss giving her hugs. I will miss my grandma.

I love you grandma. Give em "heck" on the other side! Give grandpa a kiss. Thank you for being such a wonderful grandma!

September 7, 1923-November 5, 2008

Vote, People, Vote!!!!

After reading my friend Julie's blog I had to post my own political post. I grew up in Virginia near our nation's capital. Everyone where I grew up was into politics. I don't know if it's because we were surrounded by it or what, but everyone was involved in politics. When I went to Ricks for college I was shocked with how many members of our church just don't care. They say "I'm not really into politics." I'm like your kidding me, right? You do realize that our leaders tell us we need to be involved in our communities. We need to vote. It is so important! If you don't vote, you can't complain about the way our country is going. Vote! Have your voice heard! I don't care if you think your vote doesn't count. It does.

I married a man who is very into politics and I have become even more into it since I met him. The founding fathers were god fearing men, who were inspired to write the Constitution. We must vote to preserve our Constitution. To preserve our rights to bear arms, to preserve the rights of the unborn child, to preserve the rights of marriage between a man and a woman, to preserve our rights to have our voices heard and to preserve our rights to do with as we wish with the money that we make.

I am a proud American! I love my country. I am grateful to those who have given their lives for my freedom. I am proud of my grandfathers who served their country in WW 2- one at home and one in Germany. I am proud of my dad who was in the National guard in the Vietnam war, and I am proud of my cousin Kelly who is serving our country now and has served in Iraq.

God Bless America!

Trick or Treat - smell my feet- give me something good to eat!

We had a wonderful Halloween celebration at our house this year. The celebrations started off with a trip to the pumpkin patch last Saturday. We went with some of our friends who live in Beaverton. We went to the Plumper Pumpkin Patch. It was really fun and had a lot of activities to do. They had tube slides, water races, hay mazes, pumpkins sling shots, hay rides, and tons of other stuff. The kids had a great time. Their favorite thing was the tube slides. They loved those and would go down again and again. Even Jaron loved them! After wards we went to our friends for dinner and to hang out. We had a great time.














We decided not to get any pumpkins or ride the hay ride at that pumpkin patch because they were pricey. So instead we decided to go to Joe's Place on Monday night for their pumpkins and hay ride. This is the pumpkin patch we usually go to and we LOVE it. It doesn't have a ton of exciting things to do, but it is inexpensive and fun. We got there a little late and missed the last hay ride, but when we were standing there explaining this to the kids, farmer Joe walks by and hears us and says he is willing to do one more ride for us. We were thrilled! What great customer service! We each got to pick an apple and eat it on the hay ride. It was such fun! Then we chose our pumpkins, weighed them, and then as Pete was paying for the pumpkins, the guy who weighs the pumpkins started weighing the kids. They thought that was great fun! Brandon was 58 lbs. Kenyon was 45 lbs and Shaylee was 31 lbs.







On Tuesday the boys went over to their friend's house for a Halloween party. They got all dressed up and went over to watch Monster House. We didn't get any calls to pick up our scared little boys, so they must have been pretty brave through the movie! Brandon did get up in the night with a nightmare, though. Not unusual for him. When he was little we had to hide Sleeping Beauty because he insisted on watching it, but then would wake up with nightmares all night long.

On Thursday, Shaylee had her Halloween party at school. She was able to dress up and then each of the kids brought candy to share. She came home with a bag full of goodies. She thought that was a great day at school.

Our week was so busy that by Friday we still hadn't carved our pumpkins and I wasn't sure when we would be able to do it. The boys, especially Brandon were very upset. I got to go to Brandon's school and help out with pumpkin math on Friday afternoon. All the kids were talking about their carved pumpkins and I was feeling really guilty, so I decided since it was a beautiful afternoon when they got home from school, we would sit out on the front porch and carve pumpkins before trick or treating. They came home and we got busy. Luckily Pete came home while I was doing Brandon's so he was able to help. The kids drew the design, Pete carved and I scooped. (our kids don't like the pumpkin guts and won't stick their hands in the pumpkins!)
They turned out cute and were lit all night long for the trick or treaters to enjoy!

After carving pumpkins the kids got into their costumes and went trick or treating with our friends who came over from Beaverton. Our neighborhood is a fabulous neighborhood to trick or treat in. There are so many houses and it is very family friendly! We get a ton of trick or treaters. In fact when the door bell rang at 9:00, we decided it was time to turn off our lights! The kids got quite a haul! They each have a grocery bag 3/4 full of candy! That is a lot of candy!







Brandon is an ice wolf ninja


Kenyon is a storm trooper


Shaylee is Mariposa a butterfly fairy


Jaron is a pumpkin- a killer pumpkin
He insisted an carrying Kenyon's gun!

We had a wonderful Halloween and my kids are already planning their costumes for next year!