THANKFUL 'Thanksgiving Day' THURSDAY

I'm a couple of days late with my 'Thankful Thursday' post, but with Thursday being Thanksgiving Day, I didn't have a minute to spare to even get on my laptop, let alone do any posting. But, also, with it being Thanksgiving, I didn't want to skip this post-even though it's no longer Thursday.

I'm thankful...

--that we were able to have all of my family over on Thanksgiving Day(minus Camille & Rich and their family--we missed them!).

--for the rain that we received on Wednesday and Thursday (although it made for a wet holiday).

--that we were able to have Kassidi, Nathan, Julia, and most recently Mason, live here with us for the past year or so (they left this morning to move to California for the next 6 months).

--for all that I've been blessed with (my faith, family, friends, etc).

--that Steven, Dustin, and Dani (our exchange student) put up most of our Christmas lights on the outside of the house the past couple of days (only a few more to go, boys).

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for

my fellow Bunko gals (and, of course, Bunko, which is tonight-Yeah!).
pizza--a staple at our house.
homemade ice cream.
chocolate.
chips and salsa.

Confession--it's lunch time, I'm hungry, so my post is reflecting that(but, really, I am thankful for all of those things).

THANKFUL THURSDAY

Well, it's an hour shie of Midnight, but still time for me to write my Thankful Thursday post.

I'm thankful

--for homemade sugar cookies.
--that Kregg comes home tomorrow.
--for FALL(cool mornings, crisp apples).
--for thoughtful neighbors.
--for Kellan, who turned 11 this week on the 9th.

Cabin Fun

During our Fall school break this past October, we spent a week at the cabin in Greer, AZ. My sister, Robin, and her family came with us, and also another nephew, Skylar Larson, along with Daniel(our exchange student). The weather was perfect. Steven, Skylar, and Daniel(Dustin wasn't with us because of football practice), spent every day hiking--we rarely saw them during the daylight hours. We made smores-a first for Daniel, spent a day at the creek, and played a lot of games. A good time was had by all. I spent most of my time relaxing and reading(a total of 5 books--Yikes!). We love the cabin, we love Greer, we love spending time with family, and we love doing things that we don't take the time for when we're at home(aka games, reading, time with each other). We're so grateful that we have the cabin available to us and that we're able to go there--I wish we could go more often. Life is so simple and uncomplicated when we're there.



The creek was ice cold, but didn't seem to stop the kids from getting in(a couple even 'fell' in). The day we left a storm blew in--thunder, lightening, rain and hail, and lots of it--and it got pretty cold. It made packing up and cleaning a bit more difficult, especially since it felt like we should be making a fire and huddling in front of it instead. The cabin is now closed for the winter, so until next year.....

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I've decided to add a new regular post to my blog called 'Thankful Thursday'. My sister, Camille, does this, and I love the whole idea behind it--(hope it's ok, Camille, that I use your idea). I think if more people thought about the things in their lives that they're thankful for, despite the trials and tribulations we all go through from time to time, people, and the world in general, would be much happier. I'm going to try to do this every Thursday(and for sure at least once a month). Since today just happens to be Thursday, and in fact, the first Thursday of November, which is traditionally a month of Giving Thanks, I thought it most appropriate to begin today.

I'm thankful for:

-- a wonderful husband and children, with whom I'm am sealed to for eternity.
-- a healthy, new grandson--baby Mason.
-- good friends (who bring much joy and laughter, and a few tears, into my life).
-- the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
-- Free Agency(although at times I question it when it comes to my teenagers)!

New Grand-baby!!!

Kassidi and Nathan have had their baby. Mason Lewis Jeppesen was born this morning, Nov. 2,2008 at 4:24am. He weighed in at 7lb 11oz and was 21" long. He is a beautiful baby boy. Kassidi is doing great. Welcome, baby Mason!!

Halloween!!

I guess Halloween pictures are pretty self-explanatory, but here's a brief decription. Steven, Dustin, Dani, Kourtney, and Kellan all had other plans for Halloween. Kregg stayed home(and went to bed-boring!), and I took Alec, Parker, and Karsyn 'trick or treating' over in my friends neighborhood. Kass and Nathan also brought Julia over there. We had a lot of fun, the kids received tons of 'cavity promoting items(aka candy)' and then I proceeded to stay up to wait for the older kids to get home by their curfew(why is it always the mom?). Parker and Karsyn had so much fun hanging out with their friends and knocking on doors and having people give them candy(Karsyn wants to do that everyday, now).

As a side note to Steven's dive meet, I just want to thank my parents for coming out and watching and supporting him. It was a bright, sunny, warm day(not the best environment for my mom, thus the big umbrella in the picture). Steven appreciated having his grandparents there, and his older sister, Kassidi--along with Julia and Karsyn. Kregg was out of town working in 'Vegas, unfortunately, but will hopefully be at the State Meet.

Regional Dive Meet

On Thursday, Oct. 23rd, Steven participated in the Regional Meet for Diving to determine who qualifies to go to the State Meet next week. It was an 11 dive meet held at McClintock High School. The competition was a bit more intense this year, with some really good divers. Steven did a wonderful job, and performed some beautiful dives. In the end, he took 1st place, but it was close, with the top 3 finishers finishing within a point of each other. Yikes--a little too close for my comfort. We're looking forward to the State Championships next week (on Halloween--Oooooohhhhhh, scary!) at the ASU dive tank. We're proud of Steven and all he's accomplished thus far. After the school dive season is over, we're hoping to get him in some club dive so he can further his talent in the sport of diving. You're awesome, Steven!!

Vegas, baby!

Parker, Karsyn and I made a trip to Las Vegas to visit my sister,Camille, and her family. We spent three days there, and had a great time. Parker and Karsyn had a lot of fun getting to know their 'Vegas' cousins, and Camille and I enjoyed doing nothing--just relaxing(at least for me) and visiting. Thank you, Camille, for your hospitality. It was a fun visit. Even though their pool was on the cold side, the kids didn't care, and did a lot of swimming.

While in Las Vegas, we were able to get together with friends of ours that live in Henderson--Roger and Melvina. We had dinner and a wonderful visit with them. Thank you to the both of them for an enjoyable evening. It was great to visit and catch up.

Ok--so Dustin's birthday was back in May, but apparantly we 'forgot' to make him a birthday cake and he has not failed to remind me of this fact for the past couple of months. Tonight after football practice he once again asked me when he was getting a cake, so tonight I baked him a cake. He chose chocolate, and we even sang Happy Birthday to him again(although I couldn't find the candles, so we just used a few lit matches). He seems satisfied now that he has finally had a birthday cake.

Swim/Dive Meet

Steven and Dani(our exchange student from Spain), had a swim and dive meet yesterday. They both did great. Steven placed 1st in Diving, and Dani placed 1st in his exhibition swim of the 100 meter Freestyle. Good job, boys. Dustin also had a JV Footbal game last night. He played great, and made an awesome catch for a 15 yard gain during one of the plays. I don't have pictures of Dustin playing in the game, because right after it started we got hit with a massive wall of dust from a major dust storm that hit and lasted for over an hour. There was no way I was taking my camera out in all of that. Thank you also to Grandma and Grandpa Stapley for coming to both the swim/dive meet and the football game(and sticking it out through all that dust). Kourtney also had a Choir concert at school, but Kregg attended that and I don't have any photos. She did great, also.

Labor Day Fun

Labor Day---this year giving new meaning, personally, to the holiday, as it ended 5 'labor'-intense days of Jodi being bedridden after coming down with an attack of kidney stones. She even compared it to the labor involved in giving birth, but in the end, this 'labor' only had a few grains of 'sand' to show for it. Yes, this labor day we not only celebrated all those that labor, but also the freedom of no more labor--at least when it comes to 'the stones'!LOL On a serious note-it was one of the most painful experiences and I pray none of you ever have to go through that.

Labor Day turned out to be a beautiful day. In the afternoon we went over to our friends house, the Chandler's, and went swimming and BBQ'd. The kids all had a lot of fun and we appreciate their hospitality. These pictures are of the boys doing flips and such-Steven, Dustin, our exchange student from Spain-Dani, and Taylor Foysten. Oh, and of course I had to get a photo of Kregg to show that he got in a pool at least once this summer(obviously from the 'glare' it was only once!).

School Starts!!

The new school year started yesterday, July 28th. Can you tell from the photos which kids are more excited than the others? Steven is a Junior and Dustin is Sophmore. Kourtney and Alec are both in Jr. High in 8th and 7th grades. Kellan is beginning 6th grade, and Parker is so excited to be in Kindergarten(my first one to go to all day Kindergarten). The past two days have gone well. After a few schedule changes for a few of the kids, hopefully everything will now run smoothly. Kellan and Parker can walk to school, as we now have a school quite close to us. That's a whole new experience for us--no busride for them. Dustin is playing football again this year, and has been going to practices all summer and attended football camp in Showlow a few weeks ago. Steven will begin diving in a couple of weeks, and is really looking forward to it. Their high school now has a pool, so that will be great. Steven continues to Lifeguard after school, and will probably continue for another couple of months until they close the pools for the season. Kourtney is in orchestra for the fourth year playing the violin, and Kellan is also playing the
violin. Piano lessons will also be beginning again

soon for Kourtney, Dustin, and possibly Kellan.

I was hoping to simplify my life somewhat this school year, but I don't know if that is going to be possible. Karsyn and I are now the only ones at home during the day--what are we going to do?

We're going to have play dates, maybe see a movie once in a while, shop--you know, girl stuff.

She's only one little 3 yr old, but she keeps me hopping. She is always very busy with a lot of attitude and personality. We did have one accomplishment--she was 'potty-trained' about 3 weeks ago. She has done great and it's been wonderful not to have to buy diapers for her anymore. Once she made up her mind to wear 'big-girl' underwear, it was all so easy. I have to thank Kellan and my niece Tyelo for also helping out with Karsyn and training her. They spent almost a whole Saturday asking her every 15 minutes if she needed to use the bathroom. By nightfall, Karsyn was a pro(and getting a treat every time didn't hurt either). Thanks you girls for all your help!! Well, here's to a great shool year.

Exchange Student

We ended our summer by being a 'host' family for an exchange student from China. His name was Lui Jinrui, and he was 15 years old. He was here for only 3 weeks, but we really enjoyed having him in our home(and we think he kind of liked us, too, because he was really sad when he had to leave today to return home to China). He did a lot of things with the kids(went to Aaronic Priesthood Camp with Steven and Dustin, tubing down the river with Dustin, swimming, etc.), and he also enjoyed playing with the younger kids(hide and seek, trampoline, games). We loved him, and hope he can return someday to visit. His English was fairly good, but there were times when there was a definite language barrier. It has been a wonderful experience for our family, and we were sad to say goodbye to him this morning. Karsyn has asked were Jinrui is all day long; we will all miss him. Hopefully we'll be able to stay in touch via e-mail and snail mail.

Knott's Berry Farm

On Saturday, June 7, I took my four youngest(Alec, Kellan, Parker and Karsyn) to Oceanside, California. My sister, Robin, and her three kids(Tyelo, Satchel and Tatum) came with us, and we met my parents there. Kregg had to stay home and work, Steven had work-he's a lifeguard for the City of Chandler, Dustin had football practice and work, and Kourtney was going to girls camp. The weather was nice and COOL--unlike here were it's 107 degrees in the shade. On Tuesday, the 10th, we took the kids to Knott's Berry Farm.

We had a lot of fun-- the kids had a blast. We stayed in the kiddie area most of the time, but my dad did manage to persuade Robin and I to go on the Supreme Scream with him. He loved it- I will never go on it again. It shoots you 250 ft (52 stories high) up and drops you like an elevator but way fast. I hate heights, and it was only out of love for my dad ( and the fear of being called a chicken) that I went on it. First, and last, time for me.

After that we went on an awesome rollercoaster that also shoots you straight up in the air at 80 mph, and then straight down, but I can handle coasters-in fact I like them because

they're fast. I am thankful for the time

spent with my parents and my sister
and her kids. I love doing things with
family and having my kids interact w/ their cousins. On Wednesday evening my mom, sister and I went through a session at the San Diego Temple. Thanks, Dad, for watching all of the kids(we did try wearing them out earlier at the beach). The temple was absolutely breathtaking-inside and out. The rest of the week we just played at the beach all day. The kids had a great time playing in the sand, finding seashells, and braving the cold waves. We came home on the 14th, and now it's back to the summer heat of Arizona. I'm going to attempt to put some of the other pictures I took in a slide show. It will probably take me a few days since I will most likely have to enlist Kassidi's help in doing this. They're all pretty much of us at the beach. I love going to California on trips, and spending time at the beach. I really enjoy watching the waves, and the power that they have as the tide comes in and goes out. What a beautiful world our Heavenly Father created for us.

At the end of a full day at Knott's Berry Farm