Christmas Manger Scene

For Family Home Evening a few weeks before Christmas Miley was in charge of the lesson and decided she wanted to do the Christmas lesson. She made all the costumes from our dress up box. Lilly was a Shepard and we didn't have any sheep so she had her hold a picture of sheep in her hand. Miley was also a Shepard. Belle was a angel, Gabby was an wise man and Hailley was Mary. As Miley read the Christmas story she would stop and point out which person was that character. It was so cute. My Grandma was visiting for FHE that night and loved it. So she decided that Miley would be in charge for Christmas Eve with all the cousins. I will post those pictures later.

Christmas Concerts

Miley had a Christmas Concert where she was able to play the xylphone. She did a great job. Lydia had her first concert in school she sang some very cute songs and had a great time performing with her friends. They sang the reindeer hockey pokey, we wish you a Merry Christmas and Many other Christmas favorites. They were both very nice concerts although Miley's went way longer then expected. We are so proud of our good little singers.

Garden

This year was such a cold summer that we had peas all summer. The rest of the garden didn't fare as well. I did get enough green beans to actually do a whole canner worth. I just pulled the last of our carrots here in November. They were the largest carrots we have ever had. I think next year I will wait just as long.

Christmas Tree Adventure

Carlee and Spence family posing for Kyle's camera and not mine.

Riding in the back of the Truck with the trees. (Only going 5mph on the dirt road at the farm)

Gigi and Lilly


Carlee and Spence family posing for Kyle's camera and not mine.


Kyle and Spencer carring their tree to truck

Gabby and Miley carring our tree.





The weekend of Thanksgiving we usually put up our christmas tree. Since we moved into the new house(Its been 5 years and 2 more kids since) we haven't picked up a live tree. Well, Lilly and Lydia have never been to cut down their own tree so we decided to this year. It is such a fun experience that we will now do it every other year. We always loved doing it but we were worried about needles and sap on our new carpet and we have a fake tree that looks pretty close to real. I always miss the smell.

So we invited Carlee and Spencer to go with us. My Aunt Jinny was here along with my cousin Megan. They came along as well. With 8 kids tromping around looking for trees it was interesting. Carlee and Spence found there Noble first. We put it in the truck. Then we drove to the area with just normal ever greens. We finally found one we could all agree on and Kyle and the girls all took turns cutting it down. We then went back to the office for hot chocolate and they twined it to make it easier for transport. It was a lot of fun. They kids were playing tag in the trees and they all said they can't wait until next time.

Belle's Baptism Photo Shoot

Carthage Jail

While on our trip to Missouri we decided to take a trip north to Illinois to Nauvoo.
On our drive up we stopped at Carthage Jail. It was an experience I will never forget as we learned more about the last few days of the Prophet Joseph Smiths life.
It must of been so scary to see the mob and hear them coming up the stairs. Then hearing and seeing the bullets coming through the door. Them holding the door shut. Watching your brother get hit. It must of been horrific. Joseph went to the window while being shot fell through the window and down to the ground where he was shot many times more. Someone said the Mormons were coming and they all left very quickly. During that time the Nauvoo legend was a large Army.

I am grateful for Prophet Joseph Smith and how he was brave enough to always stand up for what he believed. Even when he was being persecuted for the things he beleived. Never denying the fact that he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus and they told him not to join any church. He then restored the gospel to the earth. Moving so many times and being persecuted and chased down for the things he taught. I know he was a prophet and I am grateful for the sacerfices he made for all of us to have the restored gospel.

Lake Michigan

Last October Kyle had a photo shoot in Michigan, and Missouri. I went with him to help. This is our visit to lake Michigan. I couldn't believe there were waves in a lake. I couldn't see the other side of the lake. It surely looked like an ocean to me. I even had to taste the water to make sure it wasn't salt water. It sure was beautiful. We took these pictures at a state park. We ended up doing a mini photo shoot. It was so fun!

Nauvoo Cabin

We stayed in this cute little cabin. That was an original pioneer cabin somewhere in the united States. The owner looks for the old cabins and fixes them up and moves them to Nauvoo. It was so cute the Bathroom looked like an a out house. It was very nice. We liked it!

Great Pumpkin Halloween

Grandma Hoisington's for the traditional Great Pumpkin search. They always have so much fun with all the cousins.

New Member of the Family!

Our neighbors cat had kittens and Miley and Kyle fell in love with this kitten. They ended up droping her off earlier then I thought. She was super young and would cry all the time. It has been just over a month now and her and Lolly are getting along great and she seems to have settled down a bit. If you see scratches on me or my children its the darn Kitten. Miley is the owner of this cat but Lilly thinks she owns this kitten. She will not leave her alone. She is tolerent of my 2 year old carring her like a baby. She even wraps her up in her doll blankets.That is what Lilly calls her Baby Boo. Lilly doesn't even care if she scratches her. I end up having to move her into the laundry room away from the 2 yr old terror. Miley named her BOO because she is black and we got her a couple weeks before Halloween. She loves to cuddle. She is a baby and loves to play. I was so Happy when our older cat decided to be friends with her. Now they play and get along well. They are right now sleeping right next to each other on Belle's bed. I haven't dared let her outside yet she is so small and I know for sure she would be eaten by something. She can learn from Lolly our older cat how to defend herself. So when I feel confident that she can go out all the time I will.

Gabby Volleyball

This fall Gabby did Volleyball at her new school. This seems to be a sport she loves. I think she will keep playing every year.

Belle's Birthday at Great Wolf Lodge!

For Belle's 8th Birthday we had an opportunity to go to the Great Wolf Lodge.
Kyle's brother Steve had a Prepaid Legal Seminar there and we were able to get a great rate because of the seminar. We had so much fun and we are so grateful for Steve inviting us to go. We had a small party for Belle at Jack in the Box for dinner. Where she opened gifts and we had strawberry shortcake. Belle loved the wave pool. Gabby and Miley pretty much just hung out with Connor, Simon. They went on all the large water rides many times. We went in the water park both days. The girls played and played and played. Lilly wasn't sure of any of it the first day and wouldn't let me set her down. The second day she didn't want to leave the water.
She was mad when we had to get out.

They also had Trick or Treating which was fun for the kids and a DJ and dancing in the lobby. My girls were loving it all.

Thanks Steve for making Belle's Birthday so much fun plus we were able to spend it with the cousins and family Uncle Mike, Uncle Steve and Rylen, Ava, Simon and Connor. With so many Uncles there we were able Kyle and I to go on some of the big water slides.

If you ever get the opportunity to go there it is worth it!

Happy 8th Birthday Belle

 

I can't beleive that it has been 8 wonderful years with you my dear. I love how sweet you are and how you are always looking out for your little sisters. I am looking forward to your baptism and the many more wonderful milestones for you in the future! We love you!!

Labor Day Weekend a visit from Cousins

We had a wonderful visit over Labor day Weekend. My cousin Harmony and family came for a visit. My kids love her kids and they love to hang out. The last 2 summers she has invited my older kids to spend a week at her house with her kids. She owns a horse training center. Where she has 50+ horses there. My kids are always in heaven.
So we had a great time hanging out with them. We also spent a day working on getting My Uncle's House cleaned up for my other cousin. It was a fun filled weekend.
Harmony and Dan we look forward to your next visit.

Slug Bug

 

The girls lately everytime we are in the car are playing that slug bug game. Where when you see a VW bug they slug you. So the girls down loaded this picture so the could slug each other when they are home. I had to go over the rules of the game and that pictures don't count. I also told them no punching hard. So I can't get in the car without anyone saying slug bug. I remember playing it with my siblings.

Girls Camp

 

This year I was able to go to Girls Camp with Gabby. This was her first year and she was very excited. I was along with 3 other ladies in charge of 17 1st year(12yr olds). They were so much fun. I loved how excited they were to do everything and learn all the camp songs and just have fun!

I was Lucky to be able to work with one of my friends who since I moved out of her ward we don't see each other very often. We had so much fun together!! It made everything bareable.

Gabby had a fabulous time. She made some really good friends that I think she will be friends with for a long time. She is still singing those camp songs and teaching her sisters too. I think they will know most of the songs long before they ever get to go to camp. If you see her you should ask her about the Mormon boy Rap song. It cracks me up.

I was a little nervous at first to go since we were sleeping in tents this year. It all worked out. So we will see if they ever ask me to go again.

I wish I had pictures of the mud ball they played. One girl in our ward I could only see the whites of her eyes. It was kick ball in the mud. It looked like tons of fun!! Gabby loved it!!

The crafts were fun too and they had a slip and Slide. Instead of a polar dip they did a polar slip!

I will say at the end of the week I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open and was looking forward to a shower and my bed.!
Girls Camp 2011

Goodbye Uncle Robert

Here he is in his garden with Carlee's kids!

 

 

 

At my Grandma's 80th Birthday with Lynn(his daughter)to bad his eye's are closed!

Just before the 4th of July my Uncle Robert suddenly passed away. My kids and family were devastated. He was the guy who was always there for you. He had a fabulous garden and every summer we would go and pick strawberries and rasberries and get veggies. He would also grow pumpkins for mine and Carlee's kids every year! We would go and he would let them pick them from his yard. He also had chickens and my kids loved to go with him to see if any had laid eggs.

Just the week before he passed away he was here at my house playing with the kids and helping Kyle with some carpet work. He was a painter and a jack of all trades. If there was anything you were looking for Robert either had it or knew exactly where to find it. He was always giving the kids gum! He had a stash in his car just in case we either stopped by his house or he came over. My kids were always happy to see him! Robert you are greatly missed and we love you!!

A Hike to the Beach

 

Kyle has been wanting to take the whole family on a hike for forever. Every year I am either pregnant or have a child to small to hike. This year he was determined. He was planning on taking us to lake Ozette. At the last minute we heard about this suppose to be secret hike to the beach that is only mile and 1/2 long. We drove on logging roads to reach the starting point. All the kids packed in with packs of some kind. When we put Lydia's on her she pretty much just fell over it was so heavy for her. So Kyle ended up packing in 2 packs and I don't know how much more. We had 2 tents and all of our sleeping bags and food. It took us about an hour and half to do the hike. There was a lot of roots but it wasn't to bad. Lilly even hiked most of it.

When we got there Kyle took the filter to get some water from the creek and guess what it stopped working. So we ended up boiling all of our water. It was a little unnerving for me to be filling up the water can and see bugs swimming on top of the water. I just kept telling myself we are boiling everything our of it. It worked out just great. Our first day in it was cold and we were fogged in. I was worried we would spend the entire trip in the cold. That whole day Belle wasn't acting herself and I kept asking her if she was OK. She would say I'm just cold. I was cold so I didn't think much of it. Then she was asking if she could go to sleep. It took me all day but it dawned on me to check her head and she was warm. I took her temp and she had a fever of 101 something. I felt so bad. I gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. She ended up missing a beautiful sunset. In the morning she was feeling better.

The next day was Awesome it was warm and we walked down to the Norwegian Memorial. Around 1900 a ship was caught in a storm and was looking for the sound when he saw light on the beach and turned thinking it was a light house. The ship went down with only 2or 3 survivors. Who made it to the beach and went to the cabin they thought was the lighthouse. Berried their comrades on the beach. Later came back and berried them in the treeline. Norwegian group came and placed a memorial there for them. It was interesting and my kids thought it was awesome. We then played on the beach all day. Lilly loved it she couldn't stay out of the sand the whole time we were there.

We couldn't find any good cups that were cheap enough to hike in with so Kyle bought the cheap sippy cups and we used those for hot chocolate. It worked out good and it was perfect for the little ones. On our last night Kyle and the kids decided that they wanted to make a buoy into a swing. So they found some rope(there was a ton of stuff washed up on the beach and there was plenty of rope) and hung it in a tree. It was fun. We also took glow sticks at night and tied string to them and swung them around at night and the girls would throw them and run after them. They did that one night for at least an hour.
We hiked out the next day!

We had a great time and we decided that we will probably make it a family tradition. I think next time we might have another family come with us.

Gabby's 1st day of school

This year Gabby decided to go to a school on Vashon. She takes a ferry to school everyday. She now has a cell phone so I know she is ok. She has also started Volleyball. She stays after school then takes a city bus to the Ferry and then catches a ferry home. I then pick her up at the ferry dock. She is so grown.

Time Out For Women

 

Time out for women came to Seattle in April. We went to buy tickets in Feburary and they told us they were all sold out.
My little sister posted on facebook that she was looking for tickets. She came up with 3 for Friday night and 4 for Saturday. My Mom Booked a hotel the day before and Kyle said he would watch the kids. We went on Friday hopeing to find tickets and sure enough someone was selling tickets outside that they couldn't use. It was so much fun and I really needed a weekend like that. It ended up being My Mom, Alisa, Carlee and me. Here is a little blurb about what it was all about.

It’s not like any other weekend or any other gathering or any other group of women. And it’s not like any other tour. The TIME OUT FOR WOMEN 2011 "CHOOSE TO BECOME" a full weekend of inspirational messages and music. And this year we're talking about YOUR POSSIBILITIES. It was an inspiring weekend of choosing who and what you want to become.

Last Day of School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the girls with their teacher except for Gabby! The other pictures are Gabby's friends that she won't be seeing much because she has decided to go to Vashon instead of Marcus Whitman next year.!

Happy 80th Birthday Grandma

For my Grandma's 80Th Birthday we all got together at China Sun Buffet for a
Party. It was so nice to all be together celebrating her life. My Uncle Kirk flew in from California and surprised my Mom. Another friend of my Grandma's from CA came up to visit and just happened to be here for the Party. My Grandma was so excited for this party. She was the one who picked out where we were going to have it. We decorated it and was able to get a nice cake and all. It was a wonderful evening. We were even shown an old movie from when my Grandma must of been in her 20's doing some kind of dance with some of her friends she had been taking a dance class. It was so funny to watch.

People who attended were my family and then all my siblings were there with their families except Jared(he lives in Idaho). Uncle Kirk, Harry Kahuhu(Alisa's boyfriend)Kathy, Cousin Lynn, and Uncle Robert.

Grandma we love you and are so glad you live so close now!!

Happy Fathers Day Kyle!

 

For Fathers day this year we just stayed home and relaxed. It was nice is all I can recall!

Congrats on Graduateing Chelsea!

My little sister graduated from high school recently. This is my youngest sister. She was born the summer before my senior year in High School. When Kyle left on his mission she was barely walking. When we got married she was 3. When Gabby was born she was 5. So it is about 18 years apart. She doesn't even remember a time when Kyle wasn't around.

She is an awesome example for my sweet daughters. She graduated with a 3.8 GPA while also graduating with her Associates. We have a program here called running start where you can take college classes at the local college and also get your high school credits. She is super busy she works 2 jobs and is so fun to be around.Chelsea I am so proud of you! Have fun in all your endeavors at BYU Idaho!
We will miss you!

Memorial Day Fun!

On Memorial Day we all decided it was time to have a Hoisington Day of Fun. One of the grand kids saw some pictures of us all playing at a Park about 5+ years ago. So we all decided to do it again. We all went up to Port Townsend and visited 2 of our favorite parks. It was a wonderful Day! We can't wait for the next time we all get together.

 

Hoisington Family 2011

Happy 12th Birthday Gabby

Well it is hard for me to beleive that my oldest baby is 12 years old and going into Young Womens. Gabby you have become such a good big sister and example for your sisters. I look forward to seeing you loving YW and all the exciting new steps you will be taking in your life. We love you!

I was surprised by this!

 

One morning when I went into wake up the kids I found Lilly and Lydia both asleep in the Pak and Play. Lilly has been in the pak and play for awhile now. We had to take the crib down because she was climbing out and fell plus the crib was falling apart. We tried to just put the crib mattress on the floor but that was not working. So I put her in the Pak and play. She can climb out of it as well but it is much closer to the ground. It keeps her in for a couple minutes so I can shut the door. She does climb into bed with her 2 older sisters. This was a surprise because the older sister was in bed with her. I love that they love to be with each other.