"I Love This Time of Year"

The snow is finally starting to fall and it is beginning to look alot like Christmas. I love this time of year and the feel of my home when the tree gets put up and all of the decorations. There is definately a different spirit among us all at this time of year. Sunday, we had a very awesome Testimony meeting. Many people bore there testimonies and I know that all were touched by the spirit and everyone's testimonies became stronger. What an awesome day we had. We have started our December out with an awesome TaVasi Concert that Hannah was involved in. She did such a great job. I will try to post a video but just know that this will be my first time so we will see. I am unable to post a stinking video or slide show. Jeanna can you help me out with this. I am feeling uncapable right now. Thanks Jeanna, for the awesome craft bazaars. I had so much fun creating and selling our crafts together. Now what craziness can we get involved in? I guess for the next couple of weeks, lets enjoy the quiteness. I really did enjoy myself. Thanks again for being that awesome friend you are!
Saturday after the craft bazaar, we had our ward Christmas Party. What a fun time we had. I was on the committee but was still able to enjoy the night. I was in charge of making the advent calendar, possibly a picture will be posted later. We had a very good dinner, Family Pictures, ornament decorating, making a service advent calendar, singing Christmas Carols, the nativity story, and then Santa and Mrs. Claus came to visit with the kids. What a fun night to be together with our ward. Unfortunately Riley and Layton could not join us because Layton was playing basketball in Lander and Riverton and Riley was playing ball in Sheridan and Gillette. There were to many activities planned for this weekend but I hope my boys know really where my heart was. After the ward Christmas party, it was still pretty early so I thought I would support my husband as it was his work party also that night which he did come to the ward Christmas party for a bit and then off to his own. I know that he was grateful that I came but we did not stay long. Definately not the same feeling as our ward Christmas party. I was very exausted as the night came to a close thankfully. We have a pretty busy week ahead of us but then it will hopefully slow down as we enjoy our Family and this Christmas season. I am so grateful for the birth of our Savior and for our Heavenly Fathers plan for each of us. I will strive to keep these feelings in my heart all year long and try harder to be the kind of person that He knows that I can be.

Thanks Lynn & Heidi for the Awesome Thanksgiving.

We had such a fun Thanksgiving Day! We started out the day leaving Green River about 8:00 Thursday Morning. Traveling to Ririe, Idaho. My Brother and his Family built a new home there and it is such a beautiful place. Up in the mountains. No cell phone service or phone service. We left all of our cares back in Green River. I hope nobody needed to reach us. Anyway, We arrived at about 1:30 p.m. and everyone else was just arriving also. My parents, My oldest brother, Lani and wife, Kathy, my neices Anna, Amy, and there cute little families. Brian, my nephew, he had just broke his arm in a football playoff game but was doing well, My brother Rick, brother, Lynn and family, they were hosting the family dinner, Little brother Rhett and his wife Heather. We had such a yummy dinner with so many pies. Oh so good. It is to bad that I get so full so fast. Well, maybe that isn't such a bad thing. It was such a relaxing weekend. We watched movies in there home theater, played pool and air hockey, the little kids had a ball playing in the Harry Potter house under the stairs. It was just so much fun being together and getting reaquainted. Thank You Lynn and Heidi for the fun weekend. Here a few photo's of our day.







Friday morning, Heidi made us an delicious breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, ham, the works. What a great way to start the day. It was hard to say goodbye. We did not want to leave . We did make a quick stop by Torrey's house to say goodbye to his Dad and then we stopped by his Grandma's house to see his Mom and Grandma who is 93 years old and still is doing so good minus some back and knee pain but always looks so beautiful.It was so good to see them. It is good to be back home though after the long drive. I am thankful for the safety and the wonderful weather that we did have. That drive is long and we are always so grateful for our safe travels. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and we are so grateful for each of you.

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others."

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We are so grateful to all of our friends and family. You play such a huge part in our lives and we are grateful for your example and influence that you have shown us. We have been greatly blessed this past year with good health, great friends, great kids, (well as far as I know), and a great life. We just want to show our gratitude to all of you and thank you for all that you do. Love, The Hix Family

Our Craft Bazaar was a great success!

This week has been a very busy one but OH, SO MUCH FUN! About five weeks ago, a friend of mine, Jeanna, and myself decided to make & sell crafts at a craft bazaar. Unfortunately, we could not get into any bazaars. We were twelvth on one waiting list and third or something like that on another one. So we said, what the heck, lets decorate my garage like a winter wonderland and have our own. We had so many people wanting to join us that in the end, we had to turn several away because of lack of space. Here are just a few photos of our day.







We did have so much fun but when the night was over, I was dead tired. This is just a quick post but I hope everyone has a great week. Thanks to all who made our first annual craft bazaar a huge success. I am not sure if that means that it is a tradition or what. Maybe. It is hard to say right now.

"What an Adventure"

As Graci says, "We are going on an adventure," and boy did we. Thursday morning, Torrey, the girls, two kittens, and myself started out on a big adventure. Taylor, Torrey's nephew, and Lyndsie were getting married and the Family dinner was Thursday night, which was so good. Dutch oven chicken and pork with this killer BBQ sauce. So good!!! Shellie, Torrey's sister had put together the cutest video of both of them. Friday morning we went to the Idaho Falls Temple for Taylor and Lydsie's Sealing Ceremony which was so awesome. Each time we attend a wedding in Idaho Falls, it takes me back to that most memorable day Torrey and I were married there 17 years ago. What a beautiful day it was. There was a slight chill in the air but the warmth of the sun felt so, so good. Here are a few pictures of the good looking couple of the day.
We then went back to Torrey's parents house and packed up our things and met my family at my little brothers new restaraunt that he and his wife Heather, just bought. The food was so, so, good!!! We visited for a bit with my parents, Heidi, and her kids, and with Rhett, and Heather.
Heather loaded us up with chips and salsa for our next adventure. We were headed to the Green River Football State Championship game against Gillette. They had beat us by one point in the regular season so the game was at Gillette. The two boys had stayed at home and did not make the trip to Idaho with us because Riley had to ride the bus Friday morning with the football team and Layton had two basketball games on Saturday but really could not afford to miss school. Layton's games were eventually canceled as some of us parents called the Athletic Director and begged so that we could all go to the championship game and cheer on our Wolves. The sad thing is though, they will probably not be made up. We all eventually met up in Gillette. Layton rode down and stayed the night with his friend, Zach Huber and his Family. Anyway, back to our road trip. With two days full of driving ahead of us. Our goal was to make it to Cody, Wy. on Friday and we were making good time. I hadn't been to Jackson for so long by way of the pass going through Driggs and Victor so that was so pretty coming through the pass. Here is a picture of the Grand Teton Mountains that I grew up with in my back yard anyway, we got about 30 miles into the park when we discovered the road was closed so we lost about 1 hour of traveling time so we looked at the map and decided to travel to Riverton that night and get a good nights sleep and then leave Riverton by 8:00 a.m. so we could get to Gillette by kickoff time of 1:00 p.m. With twenty minutes to spare, just enough time to take a quick potty break and go throughthe drive in at Wendy's we made it just in time. Talk about a heart breaker of a game but it is pretty awesome that Green River even made it to the State Championship game. Gillette has over 2500 students and we have about 750-800. Those boys made some critical mistakes but played their guts out and it was a game right up until the last 2 seconds of the game. A few pictures of Riley. He was bummed that he never did get in the game but he is already determined to start next year and they just might have another State Champion team. This first picture is of the team praying that Colter's field goal to win the game is good. That prayer was not answered in that way that day as they lost by two points.


The ride home back to Green River was long. Another 7 hours. We made it home at about 11:00 p.m. Torrey was conducting Sunday morning and they put in a whole new Primary Pres. My new calling is the CTR 8 Primary teacher. Hannah is way excited because that is her Primary class. It is finally a relief having a calling after being released from Stake Girls Camp Director because I was just a little frightened as to what they might call me to. I am excited. I love to be in Primary and I never feel My Saviors love for me stronger than in Primary.
This week is filled with craft, crafts, and more crafts with pictures to follow.

Babysitting, 2 trips to SLC, Halloween, & Basketball. What more can you fit in a week. Plenty, because we did just that...

Monday was an eventful day as I started watching a brand new baby. "Lila" What a sweet little girl. I had been talking to my friend and she was telling me all of the mortifying things that has happened to her over the last few years that she has watched kids and I was thinking, "What in the world am I getting myself into." but on the other hand I was also thinking, it is only one day! I can handle anything for one day a week. Then she came to the house. Crying for the first thirty minutes or so because I just wasn't holding her right, or feeding her her bottle right. I felt like it had been forever since I had held a baby and then I was really thinking, "What in the world am I doing?" I finally was able to get her to calm down enough to eat and then burp, and then it seemed like everything was alright. She looked up at Graci and I and grinned and we knew that we could handle this. She is a sweet little baby and we can't wait to have her again on Monday.

The middle of the week was filled with the girls basketball games, piano lessons, haircuts, Achievement Days, Basketball and Football practices, and Books and Magazines, and not to forget the dang paper route. Thursday, Torrey, Graci, and I traveled to Salt Lake which I had a Dr. Appointment. It is always a relief when I am finished. I always pray that this is not going to be the day that changes my life Forever. I am so grateful that everything was good. Torrey and I started reflecting back on just how blessed that we have been with Good Health and five Healthy Pregnancies and now Five Ever Growing Children. We are so Grateful for them and the blessings that they are in our lives. We finished some shopping for my craft bazaar in November.


Friday was filled with Haunting and Ghostly Activities. This is a picture of the mummies I made for Hannah's class, made out of Twinkies. (I know, not the healthies but we were going for "Haunting, not healthy" Hannah thought that they were awesome! At least I scored one with her. That is what is important right? Here are some pictures of our Lawyer, Pirate, and Little Princess.


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
After the TRUNK OR TREAT, we went to the wolves first playoff game. Riley had been picked to be on the playoff Varsity team so that was exciting. He worked those side lines well. Go RILEY!! Hopefully he will be able to get into the game for a few plays at least but if not, we are so proud of you and your football season. You did put your heart into it and played very well.

Saturday morning was filled with Layton's Basketball games. The season is underway. I am so excited! I love to watch basketball.
Layton had his work cut out for him all day. Both Lander and Riverton had very tall boys but he did pretty good using his body to keep them out. We will get them next time. It was still fun to watch.
After a day filled with Basketball and Torrey working, we all jumped in the car and headed back to Utah for my Niece, Ashley and her new husband Jaime Snyder's open house. They were married in Hawaii in August. It was fun to see them and to meet Jaime and his Family. Most of my Family was there and it was good to see them. It has definately been awhile. We were able to finally make it home at about 2:00 in the morning.
Needless to say, Church came very early this morning but what an awesome day. Riley was ordained a priest today and was given an awesome blessing by his Dad. I am so proud of him and the good kid that he is. Thank You Torrey for being the great husband and Father that you are. Your boys definately have an awesome example to look up to and follow. I sure do Love you and appreciate all that you do for me and our Family.

My 6 quirky quirks about Me!

Jeanna, I thought we were more alike but after you revealed your 6 quirks, I realized that we do have differences.




1. Grocery Shopping, I am totally opposite. I have to start on the non foods side of the store and then finish with my produce on top of my cart. I am a freak when it come to grocery shopping. I have to go down every isle in the store and everything is organized in the cart and then when I put my groceries on the conveyor belt, they are all organized there also. My breads together, my toiletries, my dairy, my frozens. Uhm! No wonder I always cause a line to start behind me when I am checking out... I then ask for my most special bagger which bags my groceries just right, carries them out for me, puts them in the car, and then I get that extra icing on the cake. A big ole kiss! I do love to grocery shop. Now don't any of you start asking for my special bagger.


2. I work best under pressure. My house can be totally organized and clean and then if I have a project that has a deadline, I will wait and wait and wait but always have it on my mind and then BAM! I create it but it turns my house into total chaos. My husband has learned to just leave me alone during this time and he knows that it is his turn to cook dinner... I have tried to work on this one.


3. I have got this big quirk with towels. In college, I watched a video that showed how many germs and bacteria live on our towels. That, for one reason or another, has always stuck with me. Needless to say, I can only use a towel once. So you can see why I don't mind if my kids throw there towel on the floor because I will put a batch of towels in the wash everyday. It is a good thing that I do like to wash, fold, and put away towels. which I quess could be a quirk in and of itself...

4. I am petrified of MICE or anything that moves very quickly. There is nothing that freaks me out more than this. I can't even put a picture of the little creature on this post. My children know my week spot and play tricks on me. They have been known to get dryer lint out of the dryer or anything that is furry and throw it at my feet just to watch me scream and jump to get away from it. They laugh and think this is so so funny. If you ever use this information against me, I am not sure what will happen, but don't try to find out.

5. I have this thing with dirty socks left on the floor. Whats worse though, they are stinky boy socks. If my boys want to get a rise out of me, this is one way to get it. I have no idea why they cannot just take them off and put them in the hamper which is not to far away but no, I find them shoved under, in, around, and on the coach. DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!

I know that I have a ton of weird habits but I cannot think of them. I am posting my five and I will update my sixth when it comes to me. Thank Jeanna for the tag. It makes you really stop and think about yourself.