Krysta turned one!

Krysta's birthday was November 27! I can't believe how fast this year went by- and that she's already one! We were so blessed to be able to spend her birthday in Payson, Utah with Scott's family, since it was Thanksgiving. It was so nice to have family there for her party.

As you can see, she got a lot of help from her siblings in opening her presents.

Her Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Ron gave her this ball bouncing toy. She loves it!

Some recent pictures of Krysta,

And some pictures of her siblings,

here's Tyler, and then Emalyn,

Here we are playing in the snow (it finally came!)

And here's Krysta in the shirt that her Grandma Linda gave her:

Happy Thanksgiving!

...Can anyone else relate to this?...hmmm...maybe after a very satisfying Thanksgiving dinner...

Happy Trunk or Treat!

Saturday was our ward's "trunk or treat". For those of you unfamiliar with this, it's where kids go to a parking lot and trick or treat to each other's cars. We had so much fun. (Remember this from your visit last year, Mom?) Our ward also serves homemade Idaho potato french fries (of course!), hot chocolate, and donuts. It's fun because everyone comes, whether they have kids trick-or-treating or not. So we went, decorated the trunk of our van with spiders and spiderwebs, and the kids got SO MUCH candy. Seriously, I couldn't believe how much they got just at that one activity. Here's a picture of them in their costumes. (We didn't dress up Krysta.)

I bought these cool spiral curlers for Emalyn's hair, and after trying and having it not work out very well a couple of times, we decided to try again yesterday for the primary program. It finally worked! The pictures don't show it as well as it really looked. Scott took these pictures, and I guess Emalyn wouldn't hold still. So, this is Tyler, "man", and Emalyn. One night while getting ready for bed, Tyler made this. He says his name is "man."And here is Krysta, practicing her typing skills. I hadn't realized how close her high chair was to the computer, until I looked over and saw her doing this.

Also, yesterday, I was called as our ward organist. Yeah, I'm scared. I've played a couple of times, messed up badly at least once each time, but I'm the only one in the ward who knows anything at all about the organ (other than the organist just released). Our organist that just got released has a bad back and needs surgery, so our ward is pretty much desperate. But I'm going to use this opportunity to get really good at it! and I'm going to need to practice tons, which might be difficult with three children at home... And just for those of you wondering, the organ is VERY different from the piano! I'll just share with you what happened yesterday. As previously mentioned, it was the primary program. So there's like tons of kids sitting on the stand all around the organ. Especially these two boys who kept trying to play the foot pedals, while I was sitting up there. So, after the sacrament song, I turned the organ off completely, so that they wouldn't be so tempted. Then after the program was over, and it was time for the closing song, I went up, and turned it back on. That was when I found out how long it takes an organ to completely turn on. About two full minutes. Which, when you're sitting there, with the chorister and the entire congregation looking at you, waiting for you to start the intro to the hymn, is a VERY long time!! I kept trying to play the keys, but no sound would come out at all. So I'm sitting there very panicked and people are wondering why I'm just sitting there, and finally it turns on. But I was still pushing keys trying to get a sound out, so when it turned all the way on, it pretty much blasted these awful notes for a second or two. Then we sang the closing hymn. Everyone in my ward knows I'm still learning the organ, so no one asked me what happened. They are all very kind and patient with me as I'm learning to play. The funny thing is, I wished they would ask, just so I could explain what had happened!

Our kids' favorite quote

Every night at dinner, one of my kids will say, "Is this dinner?" I or Scott answer yes. Then they say, "Dinner is for dessert." Seriously, we have this conversation just about every night. I don't even remember why it started. But I think they've got their priorities alright. That's the whole reason we have dinner. For dessert.

General conference and the month of September

This weekend was General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I always look forward with anticipation to this event. This is where we get to hear the Latter-day prophet and apostles speak the word of the Lord for us in our day. This time I heard a lot about joy and hope and how to find the source of that hope. There is so much hardship in the world that this message of hope and joy gives me particular happiness. I needed a reminder that I know who the Source of Hope and Joy is, our Savior Jesus Christ. Sometimes I get so bogged down with the day-to-day frustrations and details that I forget to turn to Him. I forget what I know. I forget that I have a testimony of Him and how He can help us rise above our weaknesses and trials and find joy for ourselves, and how to share that joy with others around us. I'm making a new goal, just to remember. To remember what I know and to live it.





In other news, have you noticed the "Witch Doctor" song on my playlist? Well, Tyler and Emalyn said I needed to put a Halloween song on my list, so I did a search for "Witch" and this song came up. I played it and they LOVED it! So now it's in my playlist.

And now to catch up the last month, which flew by so fast that I only got one post in the whole month:

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Reed's Dairy (literally just about a block away from our house). We got to see their cows, ducks, goat, and sheep. And of course, we got to taste their ice cream.

A couple of weeks before that, we went to Scott's parents house for the weekend. We didn't get many pictures (why do I always forget my camera?) But here's a cute one of Tyler and Emalyn playing with their Grandma Nancy.

While we were down in Payson, Heidi very obligingly went into labor on Labor Day and had Jaxen. We got to see him and hold him before returning home. He is a beautiful baby boy. We're so happy for you, Heidi and Jaron!!

Tyler turned 6!!!

Tyler had his birthday, and we let him have a party for it. We had it on a Saturday, and some of the kids we invited couldn't come, so I don't think I'd have it on a Saturday again. Other than that, though, it was great and tons of fun! He wanted Spiderman as the theme (no surprise there!!!) and this is the amazing cake I made. The cupcakes on the outside are spiderwebs with plastic spiders on them. I got the ideas from the internet, and it turned out so much better than I thought it would.







I thought it would be so hard to find spiderman stuff that was inexpensive since the movie came out a while ago, but I found a spiderman tablecloth at the dollar store, and then I just went with a spider them the rest of the way, which was really easy since halloween stuff was already in stores. The boys actually thought for a while that the two big spiders close to the cake (below) were real! They got kind of scared though, so I told them they were fake. Then they REALLY liked them, and were so "brave" to touch and hold them in their hands.
I made these Spiderman masks for them to decorate (Emalyn and Tyler are posing with theirs before anyone got to the party). For some unknown reason, I only got pictures of one of the games. They had to practice their balance and walk along the "Spider-walk" (below) to be just like spiderman. Some of the braver ones did it with one of the spiders on their head.

Present opening-always so much fun...

The following two pictures are from a couple weeks before, when we visited Scott's parents in Payson, and they celebrated Tyler's birthday since they wouldn't be here on the day. They got him a train set, which he loves!

Ketcheson Family Reunion

It finally came! Our Ketcheson Family Reunion was Aug 14-16. We had so much fun, and we were so happy that so many were able to come. Cheryl and Ryan and their families were unable to come and we REALLY REALLY missed you!

On Thursday, we went to Aunt Laura and Uncle Steve's house in Rigby and we were able to do some weeding and other yard work. Look at these hard workers!

We also had a barbecue that evening, and we had a beautiful cake (baked by Amy and frosted and decorated by Belky) for Cheryl's birthday. We made calls all that day to her and ended by calling and singing happy birthday to her and blowing out her candles for her.

Weston and Megan worked the grill and did a wonderful job with the hamburgers and hot dogs.

I missed the whole bury Grandpa with pillows, but when I was looking through the pictures from the reunion, I found this one, and just had to share it. Grandpa's a pretty good sport.

Day 2 (Friday): We went to Crater's of the Moon, just over and hour west of Idaho Falls. It's a huge lava flow and dead volcano. We did some hiking, and went into some caves.

I'm not sure what they're examining so closely, but it must have been something really cool.

A very cute couple,
Another cute couple (I warned Megan I'd put this on the blog),

Dave, Belky, and family (Victoria is on Dave's back),

Day 3 (Saturday): The adults (except for Scott and Dave and Dad) went to the Family History Center to do some research on the Ketcheson Family, while Scott and Dave stayed home with the kids and made ducks. First they painted the ducks, then while the ducks were drying, they went to the Snake river and fed real-live ducks.

After lunch, all the adults except for Scott and Dad went back to the family history center. Scott, Dad and the kids put the ducks together and walked to the park by our house. They also went swimming.

The finished ducks!

Grandpa and Victoria watching the swimming.

That evening, we played "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" hosted by Dave and Belky. Oddly enough, and sadly, we didn't get any pictures of the first game. Weston and I (Amy) were the guinea pigs. Mom sprayed a whole can of shaving cream onto my head and then the kids threw Cheetos at my head. Megan did the same to Weston. Megan balanced the shaving cream on Weston's head really well, but mine was slipping pretty bad off to the right. I had a hard time keeping it on. Then Weston and I had to run around the swing set 5 times and get back in our chairs. Then they counted to see who had the most cheetos still left on thier head. I won!! By like 40 cheetos or something! So if this ever gets admitted into the Olympics, you all know who should enter!

After that we played a game where you put an orange into one foot of nylons and tied the other leg around your waist, so it hung down between your legs. Then you were supposed to swing that orange and have it hit another orange on the ground, trying to make it go forward. Here's some pictures and videos of the contestants;

Scott won,

I'm so impressed that Dad even tried with his neck still recovering from surgery, but he did alright,

Megan had by far the most unusual technique:

Dad helping Megan.

Here's the cutest video of the two youngest at the reunion, Krysta and Victoria, sharing and playing together:

The reunion was so much fun. It would have been perfect if everyone could have made it. We really missed you Jennifer, Ryan, Mel, Kylie, Jared, Natalie, Josh, Matt, Blake, Cheryl, Kayli, and Bryce. We hope to see you all soon. I just really wanted to thank everyone again for the help they gave me during the reunion. I cried and cried when everyone had to go. I am so thankful for family and the strength and support we can all be to one another even though we all live so far apart. I love you!