Photographer

Rocklond has been very interested in taking pictures lately. here are some of the pictures that he has taken.  We even taught him how to turn on the timer so he can take pictures of all of us.

he took a picture of a craft I made for Christmas

He wanted to show me putting in the shelves in his closet

I might have helped him set this picture up.

here is the finished shelves (pic taken by rocky)

 Yep he took this one

 look at how proud he is of taking this picture

Rocklond also has other talents. he loves to turn on and off the lights in the house. He is only tall enough to reach a few of them and so he has to get creative. I like to call this picture "If at first you don't succeed"  or "third times a charm"

and here is rocky and I

and rocky and his dad

and this picture should also be called "If at first you don't succeed" or "100 times a charm" I Finally made CARAMEL!!! after many many years of failed attempts. 

Thanksgiving

The weather here in Houston has been amazing we have been able to spend so much time outside just enjoying the perfect temp. 

We love to bike over to some of the duck ponds and feed ducks in the morning when John is still asleep. 

We also have been making a little movie for my families Video Christmas Card. If you would like to watch it follow this link.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o31PEfRJcEo

we hosted thanks giving this year. It was our first year to make a whole thanksgiving dinner. I Loved cooking everything.  I think I just loved the fact that We have a house so we can host thanksgiving. that is what I am so thankful for. We moved into our house the day before thanksgiving last year. I can't believe that we have lived here that long!

here is our table with some of the food on it. 

and here is everyone all around the table. We celebrated a day early so that John would be able to be there the whole time and we wouldn't have to worry about him needing to run off to work. 

John's brother and his family joined us this year for our wonderful feast.  We barley put a dent in all of the food I had made. next year I will either by a smaller turkey or have a larger guest list. 

on thanksgiving day we went to a friends house for a 2nd thanksgiving dinner. We hadn't planed on going because we didn't want to impose on family time but they were persistent.  thanksgiving night our neighbors invited us over for a thanksgiving party where I can't believe I still had any appetite left for turkey and stuffing. 

We started decorating for Christmas. here is rocky trying on some  stockings.

then we spent the rest of the holiday playing outside and staying away from any and all stores. 

We are so thankful for Our family, Freinds who have become like family, our House, John's job that he LOVES and of course Rocklond. 

Caleb Gets Baptized

John’s family all came in for my nephew, Caleb’s baptism.  The first day we went to Kema and rode the rides. Rocklond was really brave and went on everything that he was allowed to go on.

The next day we went to Galveston. We went on a dolphin tour and got to see a lot of dolphins jumping.  Then we went crabbing for an hour before we were kicked out for being on private property (opps). 

So we went and cooled off at the beach. The water was a little cold at first but almost all of us went in and played in the waves.  

 That night Kira put on a really fun costume party. Everyone dressed up in costumes and we played fun games. There was a lot of really good food too.  Although after watching  the pie eating contest I wasn’t as hungry.

The next day we went to a balloon festival at NASA. The balloons were fun to watch floating over head. We then went around and looked at he balloon festival. It was very hot and we had a big group and it didn’t take long for the sun and the standing to wear us out. Somehow we all managed to stay at the festival long enough to eat lunch and go over and tour some of the NASA buildings. 

 I was so glad that we did because it was really cool. John and I had been to NASA a few months a ago and were extremely disappointed by what we had PAID to see.  This time was completely different we had paid $10 a car to get into the festival and this gave us backstage access to several of the NASA buildings. We went in rooms that usually aren’t open to the public. It was so cool to see the same thing that I had seen a few months ago only this time I was on the other side of the glass. We were actually walking around the stuff. 

That night we went to Ammon and Kira’s ward party and had a great time getting eaten by mosquitoes.  We didn’t know it was a dinner for them too.  Rocklond liked the trunk-or-treat part but he was done the moment someone gave him some milk duds.  And he insisted on stopping and eating them all before proceeding.

Sunday was Caleb’s baptism.  It was so nice to have so much family there for this event.  The whole program was full of Picketts.  We are all so proud of Caleb and what a great kid he is.  Shortly after the baptism it was time for some of the kids to head back to Utah. We took a quick picture of everyone all together.

Colorado trip1

I have been buying tickets online about every six months for the last three years and I have never made any -mistakes in booking. Until I checked my E-mail Saturday night and received a "It is time to check in E-mail"  I had accidentally bought tickets. I left two days later to Colorado for a week on a unexpected but very good surprise trip. I had looked up the tickets because that is when Emily was blessing her new baby celebrating her oldest 2-year-birthday. I thought I decided against the trip because I would rather come at a time that would be less hectic for Emily.  It turned out to be really fun and even more fun because I get to go back in a few weeks.
here are some pictures from my trip. my camera died early in the trip and so I don't have very many pics to share.

Asher, Bridger and Rocklond all ready for bed.

so much fun to have someone the same size to play with

me and Baby Bridger. He was such a sweet baby while we were there.

Rocklond pushing Aunt Emily and Asher

 Asher and Rocklond sharing the scooter.

 Hillary and my mom and dad came in for the blessing. so three sisters went out for Ice cream.

rocky trying to break the pinata

Asher being sung happy brithday at his Baseball themed party.  I got to make the cake.

Rocklond and Asher eating some yummy food (mostly pinata candy).