December 2017

Christmas Fun

We enjoyed the Sing-a-long downtown and spent a few minutes taking selfies.

We were able to see Santa a couple of times this year. We saw him at the gymnastics meet and then down in Meadow at the church Christmas party on Christmas Eve.

Santa brought a terrarium to Cort for Christmas and with the money from 

grandma he was able to get a bearded dragon. The family chose 

to get a bearded dragon as well. We have been enjoying having them. 

 Life in December

 I was so excited to finally finish painting these three cute wooden projects for Christmas! We got a nice full Christmas tree this year that was redecorated a few times for us as you can see in the bottom right photo. The kids wanted to take a photo in the display at Target. It was fun to see the changes in how my kids decorated the nativity scene.

We had fun with cousins at the Kunz Family Christmas Party. Cort wanted to leave out carrots for Santa's reindeer with Santa's cookies. December tuckered Kent out. 

We went couch shopping and bought a new couch and chair for Christmas. 

Cort's reflections entry went to district. He is one amazing artist!

Cort received a troll patrol award for his honesty this month. Cort loved the purple stuffed animal Santa brought him in his stocking. Braxton brought in this ad to buy our house and told me he was mad. He actually thought someone was going to buy our house. Someone dropped a box of things on our porch this year and it was a pleasant surprise!The trampoline net was frosted and I thought it looked cool...literally. Showing off my fluffy hair-do. We were able to help welcome Shantel back from her mission to the Philippines.

Shantel reported on her mission on Christmas Eve so we went down to hear her speak. Everyone was there so Pam wanted a family photo. Not the best photo, but it's what she got.

Family Photos 
We were able to get family pictures for Christmas this year and I LOVE them!

Merry Christmas 2017

Dear Friends and Family,

               

Another year has come and gone and again we reflect upon our blessings. Our boys continue to enjoy a variety of activities including singing, soccer, boy scouts and helping mom grow gray hairs. Kent has been blessed to complete a giant (nearly one million square foot building) project at Midgley this fall. I have been working on putting my Discovery Toys business back into my life as I finally feel like I am getting a tiny bit of a handle on mothering my three boys. I have also been blessed with a love of family history work that has blossomed this year!

We were surprised this spring when we found out that we were expecting another child. Sadness came when soon after that news we found out that this baby was only here for a moment as the pregnancy had developed in my tubes. This meant surgery & recovery for me. We were blessed with wonderful friends and family who helped us so I could recover fairly quickly.  

The end of the summer brought a long awaited trip back to Oregon to share with my kids a place that I love. I think they were as mesmerized with the state as I was because they were planning the next trip back before we even left. We were blessed with that travel bug a second time this fall when we took a trip with my family to Moab/Monticello over fall break. I know that the Lord knew we would need that wonderful break because it couldn’t have been more perfect.

As we reflect back on this year we are truly blessed to have a happy and healthy family and wonderful friends and family to love. Let us not forget our Savior who has given us the gift of His atonement and Eternal life. Thank you for all the love and support of our family! We love you and wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

                                                                                                Love, Kent & Marlies

                                                                                                                Braxton, Cort and Marshal

November 2017

Cort's 7th Birthday

Our ward combined with a neighborhood across 90th and Cort's Primary class got a lot of new friends. He was so excited to invite all his new friends to his birthday party. 

From top left to bottom right we have Rose, Jonah, Layla, Sophie, and Rose.

Here we have Abella, Eleanor, Eli, Josh, and Gabby.

Life in November

 The kids decided they needed to read at the store. Marshal is one busy boy from bathing in the bathroom sink, to archery, and sweeping the kitchen it is hard to keep up with him.

I was tagged in Facebook to share photos that told about me so I snapped a picture of my beautiful plants. Syrina came over and helped me color my hair since Kent was worried I couldn't do it on my own. I was super excited to vote and wanted to share it. We had the missionaries for dinner and one was from just outside Mobile, Alabama. Kent got a phone that could be used as a projector. We brought out out gratitude turkey and I keep working on my family history project.

Beautiful November Skies

There is nothing as beautiful as the painted skies the Lord gives us!

Christmas in November???

So Halloween is over & now we have to deal with those overzealous people who start listening to Christmas music 24/7 and drive us crazy, right? We'll I used think that way. I'd think let's not totally skip over Thanksgiving and head straight for Christmas. Then one day I had a co-worker who said she thought the two holidays were synonymous and asked what the big deal was. At first I didn't understand. Over the years I have come to understand and appreciate her comments. They are the first things that come to mind when I hear others complaining about Christmas in November.

First I'd like to say that I would never want to skip over Thanksgiving! It truly is my favorite holiday. I think it is one of the most important holidays there is. In fact it really bothers me to have Thanksgiving dinner and hurry and eat without taking time to be thankful. For me that is the most important part. I love the turkey, potatoes and pie, but without the opportunity to be grateful you may as well eat pizza and watch football all day. I loved growing up when we would sit down just before dinner and everyone would say just one thing they were thankful for and then we would eat and visit all through dinner.

As we practice the virtue of gratitude and become more thankful we realize just how much we have. When you focus on what you have you stop looking at what you don't have. You will
find that you are very rich even with very little. Here's the Christmas part.. If you are very rich then you have something to give. When you give something you have to someone who needs it you feel even more rich. Sometimes that excess is money and sometimes it is something else. When we recognize how much we have it is so much easier to give to others freely!

See how it works? As you go into this holiday season try and remember that you truly do have a lot. Sometimes we are blessed with the love of family and friends where others have none. For some it's a blessing just to be alive and healthy. No matter what I'm certain you do have something that someone else does not have. When you realize what it is you are thankful for celebrate it! Then don't forget to freely share what it is you can give. So go ahead celebrate Christmas in November if you'd like! Sing the Christmas songs you want to sing and put up your tree early if it makes you happy. Whether you start your celebration early or not don't forget to celebrate being thankful too!

October 2017

Conference and Fall Leaves

We love to take a drive to see the leaves change on conference weekend. 

My younger boys enjoyed finding each apostle as they spoke in LDS conference.

It's always beautiful to see the changing colors.

We found some snow and got out to have a snowball fight.

Halloween

Marshal was a dragon for Halloween, 

Cort was a punk rocker and Braxton was a wolf.

Kent finally set up his Halloween decorations and surprised 

trick-or-treaters on Halloween and the kids loved carving pumpkins!

It's always fun at the school parade!

We enjoyed picking out pumpkins at Petersen's Farm 

and my kids did well on Halloween night.

The many faces of Marlies when she gets into the spirit of Halloween.

Life in October

Marshal fixing his bike. Marshal having fun with cousin Levi. Cort enjoying soccer. 

Marshal hiding in the blanket. Cort won an award for his Reflections artwork!

Nothing better than crazy morning hair, great photos of Erik and Mariel, 

a girl night out to see my friend Kristen's production, and empowering quotes! 

Kunz Family Trip to Moab - Fall Break 2017

Hole in the Rock

Sometimes you come up with a great idea. We decided instead of a family camp out this year we would take a trip to Moab and this trip ROCKED! On our way we stopped off at 

Hole in the Rock. It was an interesting place. 

Newspaper Rock

We had a good time exploring Newspaper Rock. 

My younger siblings wanted to do some hiking around so they took Aaron and 

Braxton and went exploring. Braxton enjoyed going with them. 

A bunch of us enjoyed spending some time climbing.

Arches National Park

The rock formations at the entrance of Arches National Park. The formations I know are 

Balancing rock, The Three Gossips, Courthouse Towers, and sheep rock.

The kids enjoyed the hike to delicate arch and Marshal was a champ hiker!

Braxton and Austin found this cool rock to climb into.

We finally reached delicate arch. It was awesome! 

There was a line to get your picture taken with it.

More delicate arch.

We enjoyed a few other arches as well.

The boys loved exploring at Arches!

Dead Horse State Park

After Arches we took a detour to Dead Horse State Park and enjoyed a cool view!

Taking in the sights!

Kent showing Marshal how to take a selfie!

Beautiful views...

...all around!

Moab Fun

Uncle Brian came up with a fun rocked launching project! 

We had a blast...literally.

Nothing like braiding hair for your uncles! 

We also enjoyed celebrating Dad/Grandpa's 70th birthday!

I made a good arm rest for these shorty's!

We had beautiful fall colors on the way back home!