New Year's Eve

 
Scott and I went to Patrick and Mary Sallaway's home for dinner and games. Patrick had his family over and we played Apples to Apples with his sister Kelly. I don't remember who won (I think Mary) but I know I was the big loser. :) We headed home around 11:30 to be able to celebrate with the kids at Nana and Papa's. Sydney and Haley were babysitting so they weren't there. Uncle Martin and Aunt LaRee were down from Utah. My sister Bonnie was there to hoot and hollar too. We went home and Sydney, Haley, courtney, Sean and I played Wacky Six until 3:30 in the morning. It is such a fun game - it was a Christmas gift from my good friend Linda. Thanks Linda!
Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and fun filled New Year. Hope 2010 is your best year yet!

Christmas With The Herrell Side

 
We celebrated christmas with the Herrell's the day after Christmas. Sandy (Scott's sister) and David Wagner, Sister Debbie Bell, Sister-in-law CarolAnn Wright and her son Angelo and Courtney's boyfriend Sean came. Tyson had to work so he couldn't be there. We tried something new this year and just bought one gift to exchange. If you were a boy you brought a boy gift and girl, girl gift. $10.00 price range. For the kids I just bought some small gifts and they did the game where one person opens a present then the next can either open a new one or steal one from someone else. It turned out to be a nice day together.

Christmas 09

 We had another great Christmas this year. Nellie got a new bike for Christmas, which was a good thing because she had been telling everyone for a long time that Santa was bringing her a new bike for Christmas. She loves it and rides it a lot. She still needs to get the slowing down before you round the corner thing down, but I am happy she can ride it good. Haley got a bike too and loves it. Sydney went shopping for new clothes because that's all she could think of that she wanted. Kristen got a new camara (black Friday deal). Courtney got a printer for her laptop. Brandi loves her MP3 player. Tyson was excited for his laptop (refurbished). We hope your Christmas was as happy as ours was.
We love all the gifts we get and all the fun parties and get togethers, but also try to remember the reason for the season, Jesus Christ.

Christmas Morning

 
The picture of our house is to show that this is as close to snow as it gets on Christmas for us Arizona people.
A few years ago Scott decided that instead of waking up and going right to opening up presents we needed to start with a good breakfast. The first year the kids about threw a fit, the next year was a little better & this year I think they were totally fine with it. We had pancakes, eggs & bacon.

Christmas Eve Pj's

 
On Christmas Eve we always open one present - Pajamas. It's been a tradition for years and we love it.

Christmas Eve

 
Tyson's girlfriend Christina brought some treats to us and later that night we went to Brunswick to bowl. They had a party for all the employees - free games, bowling and a pot luck dinner. Even though Courtney quit working there a month before that, they let her come anyway. Her boyfriend Sean works as a mechanic there so he would have invited us if not. I didn't do too bad for not bowling in years. Haley is doing the "got a spare" dance in her picture. It was soo much fun. After that we were off to open our Christmas Eve present at home.

Nellie's Gingerbread House

 

The kindergarten class sang some Christmas songs to the parents then we made gingerbread houses with the kids. I think Nellie used almost every candy that was on her plate. She was so proud of herself. I love gingerbread houses - they are always so fun to make and look at.

Temple Lights

 
The girls and I went to see the Mesa Arizona Temple lights. It is always so beautiful to see. We treated ourselves to Pete's Fish & chips after.

NFR

 
Scott & I went to Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo. We left early Friday morning and drove (about 6 hours)to Vegas. That night we went to the Rodeo. So much fun! Our favorite part is always the bull riding, but it was all good. We saw two world records be broke in the team roping. The first was a record time of 3.4 seconds and a minute later another team broke that one by doing it in 3.3 seconds. It was amazing. We went to the Cowboy Country Christmas show on Saturday and drove home that night. We have been wanting to go the the NFR for years but never made it. We had so much fun we are already planning to go next year. It was fun to get away just the two of us.

Lucy - her lipgloss is popping

 
Lucy found the girls lipgloss and was putting it on. It was so cute. She was soooo sad when I took it away from her. Mean Grammie. :)

Cousin's Party

We had our Cousin's party on December 5th, Haley's birthday. We made ornaments, scarfs, snowman treats, had pizza and doughnuts and skipped the caroling for that night because it was raining. We usually go caroling to some of the neighbors. It's always a fun night.

Haley's 12th Bday

Haley turned 12 on the 5th of December. She is so excited to be going to Young Women's now.
I brought cupcakes in to her class at school to help her celebrate. She wanted to go see the movie New Moon and then wanted Cold Stone Creamery ice cream after the movie. It was a cold day too.
Haley is a good girl and a joy to be around.

Tree Trimming Time

 
The girl's always have a fun time with the tree decorating. Most of our ornaments are ones that have pictures of them on it, or ones they made at school. We get a laugh at some of them, and an aww at other ones. Nellie and Lucy helped rearrange a few of them this year.

Roundup 09

Scott got to live a dream he's had for a long time. In November we went on a roundup in Marana, Arizona. My brother-in-law's (Russ) parents (Brad & Donna DeSpain) own a ranch there and invited us to come along. Scott got to be cowboy while I got to be photographer. Our good friends, Mary & Patrick Sallaway came along and his brother Sean & his wife Marie.
The day started by rounding up the cattle. I got to drive the jeep (so much fun to drive) out to where they were and take pictures. When they were all back at the ranch sorting of the cattle started then immunizations, tagging ears & branding. The men who had been on lot's of roundups were thankful to have pictures taken of it for the first time. Brad & Donna treated us to pizza and pie when we were done.
We both had so much fun and are excited to go on the next one in spring.

Thanksgiving 09

We celebrated Thanksgiving outside this year. Between Mom & Dad's house & my sister Bonnie's. The weather was great. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast with my Aunt Jean & Uncle Dean Beutler, their son Ryan & his wife Amanda, their daughter Amy & husband Mike Trent & 9 kids, Cousin Theo & wife Millie, cousin Chris Martin & Ronnie her son, neighbors Ron & Victoria, Aunt JoAnn, the Pages & Nana & Papa. It was a beautiful day. All the food was so yummy. Aunt Jean makes the best pies ever.

So thankful for family, friends and the gospel in our lives. We love you all. Thanks for all you do.

Nellie's Thanksgiving Program

 
It was fun to go to Nellie's kindergarten Thanksgiving program. The kids sang some songs for us and we had a little feast. The next day they had another feast for just her special ed class. Brandi & Courtney came to it.

Chad Is Home

My sister Bonnie's son came home from serving a 2 year mission in Recife Brazil. It was so fun to see him. They had a welcome home party for him the next night. He didn't want to show off his Portuguese speaking skills too much. It's fun to listen to him talk - he wants to throw some Portuguese in now and then and he forgets some of the English words. He has some great stories from his mission. It's really good to have him home.

Stake Family Rodeo

We had our Stake Family Rodeo at the Fisher's home. Lot's of food and fun. Scott & my brother Curt were rodeo clowns. My nephew Jacob won $100.00 by pulling it off of a pig. My sister's and I entered in a goat/sheep dressing contest. 1st one to put a large pair of panties on it wins. We won 1st place. They gave us some movie tickets and candy for winning. That was a treat because we didn't plan on getting anything for winning.

Bishop Curt Shumway

My brother Curt was called to be bishop of our ward on November 15th. My brother Duane had served in the bishopric with Bishop Kevin Clark for over 5 years. I am proud of my brothers. They are good men.

Herrell Family Pics 09

San Tan Frybread - Arizona State Fair 2009

San Tan Frybread - Arizona State Fair 2009

We made it thru our 17th year of selling our frybread at the Arizona State Fair. It started October 16th and ended November 8th.

Arizona State Fair

Because our Trunk or Treat at the church was the day before Halloween - we went to the fair on Halloween. It's always dead at the fair that night, so it made it a perfect time to go with the kids. They love going. It didn't cost to get the kids in because we had a parking pass. The food was free. They filled out read & ride papers to get three free rides for reading books. Except for Courtney my kids really don't care about the rides especially the scary ones, so three rides is plenty. Courtney likes the scary ones, but can live without them. So except for letting them buy something in the commercial building it was pretty cheap. We all bought sunglasses except for Brandi because she doesn't wear them. Brandi wanted to make a tie dye shirt. Nellie loves books so that's what she wanted. Haley & Nellie had fun playing in the kid zone. Good times, good memories.