-THE ELDER FAMILY-

I heard Jordyn downstairs in the famly room talking to chewy (our dog) "Chewy do you want to be a cow when you grow up? huh? do ya? okay.....Mom chewy wants to be a cow when he grows up and I am going to let him k. So I said well where would we keep him?..."In the backyard of coarse!" Love my kiddos:) there is always a laugh.

Jordyn started Kindergarten. She has been waiting for this day for 3 years!(since Jade has been in school) She gets to go in the afternoon, her teacher is Mrs. Larson and from what I have seen she is truly an incredible teacher, it sure takes a lot of work to be a Kindergarten teacher. Here is a picture of her first day. It is now November when I am getting around to posting this and so she has been going to school for awhile and really likes it. Her best friend is a boy named Kael, he is adorable, Jordyn says that they run around and just play. I have had a chance to help out in her class every Monday and see that Jordyn is always checking up on Kael making sure he is okay, I think that it is so sweet of her. She is a very tender, sweet girl. She is the best reader in her class, and has been and outstanding student so far this year. We are very proud of her.

From the time I was 12 years old I have made it a tradition to go to Michael McLean's "The Forgotten Carols" Well he used to come and perform for 2 days(a Tuesday night and wed. night), now he just comes one night which is Wed night. So that causes a problem for the Justin Elder family!!!! Justin has drill with North Logan and Weber on Wed. nights so that means no chance for us...so I then noticed that Jon Schmidt was coming to Logan and so we went to that and I bought the DVD performance of The Forgotten Carols to watch at home with the whole family. It was last Saturday that we went to see Jon Schmidt, we like to say he is an ADD,comic musician!!! We laughed and had a great time. We also went with Brad and Holly to dinner at Aggie's and then to the concert. When we got to the concert we ran into Lori and Eric Derr's family and Grandma Dupree so we were able to sit with them and enjoy the concert together with some of our extended family. In fact the first song t...

This year I helped out in Jade's classroom for their Halloween party, I helped with the donut on a string. They had a great party full of 6 different activities for them to do and a huge buffet of treats...yum yum. Jordyn had a lot of parent help and so I didn't help but I peeked at her and the fun that she had, they made these darling spider hats she looked adorable. Halloween fell on a Sunday and so we took the kids out Saturday night. We had a fun time, we went out to eat as a family at Fredrico's and then we took them to rich homes:) funny I know but they hit Jackpot, they got awesome treats and awesome things that were not candy which I liked lol. Jordyn was the "go getter" man she hauled it to many houses, Jade was a great big sister and helped Tyler. We also took them to their Great Grandpa and Grandma Yates home, they always have a special treat set aside for the kids. They then went to the neighborhood there cause it's a senior citizen area, it turned...

So it was a nice Sunday morining, we were about to go to church when Tyler pulled down a glass vase and broke part of it, I then put it up on the counter until I could get to it later because I love the flowers in it and needed to try to save them....so anyway I did a stupid thing by leaving it on the counter cause Tyler got it again and when he grabbed it-it cut his thumb! right away I knew he needed stiches so here is one of many injuries to come with this cute kid:)lol

My parents live in an amazing area in South Jordyn, we love to go visit them, this night we went and got a Gelato and sat by the fire....good memmories

Jade and Jordyn are into to a lot of Primping! They spend a lot of time in the bathroom doing girly stuff already, thank goodness we have more than one bathroom! They actually are really good for their ages I think they do their hair really well. This is them on a Sunday afternoon after a makeover, they also gave me one too! I don't complain at all I LOVE to have someone play with my hair.

We had a Dupree family reunion in July this year at Mark and Janet's home in Idaho Falls, they have a huge backyard and so we all brought motor homes and tents and camped out, I really enjoyed being there, the Dupree family is always so fun to be with, I love getting together with all my cousins and their kids. We played games visited, ate great food, Mandy did some amazing face painting, we all watched the fireworks which were the best I have ever seen and the longest! We got a slip n slide this year, we have a little bit of a decline in our backyard that works great, this was so funny to watch chewy playing with the girls and then of coarse Tyler, well the picture tells it all:)

gotta love Justin's facial hair.....he loves to pull of soooo many different looks:)

So I have alot of catching up to do, lots of pics to post....... We live right next to the Green Canyon corn maze,so one of our favorite fall things to do is take the kids to it, we had alot of fun getting lost in there....although Justin is so dang good we could never really get lost he always knows where we are at lol.

Sunday we had our Primary program, which was so enjoyable. I am so grateful to be teaching in the Primary especially being able to teach Jade's class. The first song that the primary sang brought tears to my eyes, the spirit was so strong that I was hardly able to sing, I felt so dumb;)....then I looked and every single sister in the primary was crying, so then I felt better lol. I was so touched to hear Jade sing the song:" My Heavenly Father loves me", she sang this song with 3 other girls, her voice is turning into a more mature voice, it wasn't so kid like. Jordyn lucky girl got to say part of the 4the article of faith which she already has memorized so she got it easy:) My dad was able to come and see the girls, I am so glad that he is around to see them, they were sooo excited to sing for him. My mom had to practice with the Tab choir for the christmas program so she wasn't able to make it. Tyler did soooo well, I thought that he would want to come up ...

Jade sang at her school tonight in a choir performance, she did so well. I feel so grateful to have her going to the charter school. I never had a problem with the public schools but now that I have been able to see her go to public school for 2 years and then this Thomas Edison Charter school for 2 years as well, I am way Impressed! They work so well and so creatively with the children. The 3rd grade put on a program on the history of logan, the songs that they sang were so dang cute and creative, they have the children really learning alot even through there singing teacher. So Jade already knows 2 of the Aggie songs which was her favorite part so after it was all over we celebrated by going and getting Aggie ice cream! So proud of her and the awesome student that she is:) Way to go Jade! There is no school tomorrow so we are having a movie night, thanks to netflix:)Jade chose Jack and the beanstock.

So in one week, Our dishwasher was recalled for a part starting fires in many homes....I feel blessed that it never did start on fire for us!!! Our fridge/freezer just stopped cooling and freezing, our toilet upstairs broke, a part in our sprinkler system broke, the fuel pump went out in our van right as we were trying to leave to go to Colorado because Justin's brother's baby boy died. None of my worries can be so bad.....we had a memorable experience going to the Funeral for baby Beckett, it was very hard to see Jed and Ashley have to go through something so incredible hard. I really am grateful for the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation to know that they will get to see there son again, I can't even begin to imagine not being apart of this beautiful gospel. We had a nice time with family. On our way home it ended up taking awhile...we got stuck in traffic because of an accident and then my father inlaw got a hole in his tire! We made it home at 1130pm last ni...

So my one and only boy turned 2 yesterday! Time sure has flown by, it feels like it should be his first birthday. He is getting so big and looks like a toddler now. I will have to post pics later, my camera broke and so I had my mother in law take them and so I will post them when I get them, I do have a pic of his cake which turned out cute. He is really into cars lately, you usually will see him with a car in each hand and as many as he can fit into every pocket that he has! Today Justin caught him playing outside with some cars just walking around and then he kissed the car that was in his hand, so ya he really loves cars. He would watch the cars movie 2-3times a day if I would let him. He loves to be outside with chewy, and did I say he loves cars! He is talking alot and is such a joy to our family, I love having him, my baby:)

I am feeling so grateful for my life right now. I feel so blessed to have the jobs that we have, Justin has wonderful jobs right now, we couldn't ask for anything better right now. We are so blessed to have the benefits that come with our jobs. I am still working at the kidsklub, which doesn't feel like work at all! I love the girls I work with and the benefit of the gym...... I love working at Logan nursing and rehab. I meet the neatest people that I get to take care of....I am only there 1 or 2 days a week so I don't ever get burned out, I feel blessed to work there. I am taking care of a Patient who can't speak because of results from a stroke, but we have a special connection together....words literally can't express the experiences I have had with her, she is so special to me and I realize the important things in life just being around her. I have had a lot of other workers tell me that this patient really likes me....they say that they can just tell by her exp...

Jade wrote this on February 24th 2010, Nothing is better than my house. I feel the warm sun in my house. I hear lots of screams of joy and laughs. I smell the blue sweet sky and the sweet smells that my mom's cooking. I taste the cold air and good smells. I touch the plastic ball, wet grass cold air. I love my house.

Yesterday we were driving to the store and Jordyn said "Mom I learned that there are taste bugs, and I know that they help you to taste your food!" I love to hear cute things like that.....taste bugs, taste buds, whatever right!! I thought that it was cute. Jade then said "oh sweetie, do you mean taste budddddds, with a d not a b? Jordyn then thinks for a minute and then said is that right mom? I explained it to her and so now she nows they are taste buds:) Jade and I got a kick out of Jordyn, she is learning so much these days that Jade and I are so amazed by her, lots of fun. I hate to think my days are growing short for when she will be in school all day:( On the other hand she is counting every minute! Ty spends his days outside already him and chewy are just little buddies, very cute to see them just walking around the backyard together, If Ty is out by himself without chewy then chewy is sitting by the back door watching his every move! Today Jade went to s...

Justin and I have the opportunity to teach the CTR 8 class this year, which is great because Jade is in the class. They are a good age to teach because they actually listen and participate! Jordyn is giving a talk today and I am so proud of her because this is the first talk that she can read it herself! She is so excited to do it and stand up there all by herself! This is her talk: " I would like to share a poem with you that talks about the Savior. Jesus is my Savior, for He rescues me from me. I'll try to explain just how to you. It's very clear to see. Heavenly Father sent me here To learn to choose the right. I can't get back to live with him unless I win the fight. Each day I have to make a choice Some days I seem to choose the path that leads away from Christ, and that's the way I lose. But God knew that I'd need some help, so Jesus said he'd come and be my Savior so I can try to be the best I can become. And when I try to change my ways- a better pe...

So I really should blog everyday since I want our blog to be our family journal. Tonight I ran upstairs to set out the girls clothes for Sunday and so I was not gone long....I came downstairs to find that the stairs are wet..?...so I start asking the girls why are the stairs wet, they don't know and then I look at Ty who's shirt and sleeves are dripping and so is his stuffed animal dog, come to find out he was in the bathroom stuffing animals in the toilet and then running all around the family room with them while our dog, chewy chases him....ummm not such a fun game for mom! Gross!!!!!