Finlayson's: Catch Up

Well it seems like I'm forever going to be playing catch up. So instead of telling everything that's been going on, I'll give a few highlights (especially where I don't have pictures).Eli had a thanksgiving feast at school where he and the rest of his class read a story about the Mayflower. He was Samuel, and had to read all his lines without any help. The class had been working on this for a while.

The rest of November went pretty fast. Thanksgiving was wonderful and small, I loved it.
Fast forward to December, my beautiful sister Nile left on her mission so I was able to go see her for her farewell. While I was there another sister Shahn, received her endowments in the Bountiful temple (it was her way of having Nile be a part of her wedding since she would be in the MTC when Shahn got married). Peyton had a Christmas program at her school that was extremely cute (I have the video but it doesn't want to upload on here). We had Christmas and the kids were definitely spoiled. Santa brought Peyton a Fur Real pony Butterscotch (that she promptly renamed). It's a horse that you (kids) can sit on, make eat a carrot, and brush. I have to say, it's pretty cool. Eli received his very own gun from Santa. It's a 22 rifle and he is being taught responsibility with it.
I know this is a novel idea, but this was the first year that we didn't go into any debt over Christmas. We are trying very hard to get out of debt and so far it's going great.
January brought up to the middle of the school year, and Eli was on the Dean's List. That means his grades were between 95-98%. I am so proud of him.

Then in February, Nanie had her birthday.

After Nanie's birthday, we made the drive up to Utah for Shahn's wedding. While we were there, Peyton fell asleep in the hoberman(?) ball. It's really cool, it will expand and if something is in it (like a body) then it stays open, but if nothing is there, then it goes back down to the small ball.

We went to Harmon Days (it's at the grocery store) where schools can raise money. We took the kids to frost cookies, do a ring toss, go fishing, and get popcorn. All of it was inside Harmon's. At the same time, my brother Sam was playing with the Highland drum line at the front of the store.

That night, we celebrated Zoe's birthday by going to Hires. After we got home our wonderful friend Jennifer Richards, brought over this amazing chocolate lava cake (yes it had hot fudge in the middle). AMAZING!

The next day was the wedding. Here are the young-ins who couldn't go into the temple, but look how sweet they look.

Jennifer was able to get a few pictures while the professional photographer was getting them as well. I'm so happy that I have a couple pictures from that day. If was amazing and Andrew is absolutely PERFECT for Shahn. They are so wonderful, and I'm proud of them for making the commitment to be an eternal family.