The Thatchers: Lots of Stuff

Just a cute pic of the girls on a free dress day. They are getting so old! Anne looks like a teenager!

Sorry if some of these are repeats of the last blog. I couldn't remember where I stopped and we have similar pictures from both of our phones so...

Playing with some two week old puppies in Colorado.

Riding horses...

Check! One more thing off my bucket list...riding a horse without being led. Harder than it looks :)

Playing at cousins' house.

Jet and his new cousin Brielle

Quality fun time with Uncle Gabe.

Mommy daughter eveing out to a friend's daughter's wedding.

Future bball star?

I love this pic!

Labor Day family getaway fishing trip up at Jordanelle.

Rock snow man.

Goodies from Carrie!

Football buddies.

Napping in the jeep.

Good big sis. He's as big as she is it seems :)

End of soccer season. I got to coach the last couple games and practices of the season and I loved it!

Pinewood Derby night.

Happy 11th Anniversary to us! Very fitting to us we went out to a yummy dinner at Red Lobster and then a night of gokart racing. It was awesome!

School Carnival

Another pic of Anne's baptism.

Selfie

Homecoming races

Hahaha :) Love his face.

Fishing at Manila Pond.

Halloween 2016. Yes, we love Star Wars. We have Darth Vader-Rachel, Storm Trooper-Sarah, Leia-Anne, Rey-Ilene, Han Solo-Jet, Chewy-Zac.

Halloween at school.

My birthday adventures. Zac took the day off and gave me a day off. So I decided to go for a hike up G-mount.

I shot a deer...ha.

Zac spoiled me and made me an apple pie for dessert.

Happy day.

Playin.

Fun with Cosmo before the BYU game.

Free day at the aquarium in Salt Lake. I love both of their expressions.

Oh my Sarah.

BYU game day.

Post Turkey trot 4 mile run on Thanksgiving. It turned out to be a great run...a little cold but great.

We went and saw Santa at the Riverwoods. Sarah was so excited to ask Santa for a "Moroni" :).

Anne asked for a purple curtain for her puppet theater.

Rachel, crazy enough got shy. James was intruiged.

Snack time after school is warmer next to the fire.

Sometimes this is how it goes.

Fun in the snow.

Handsome little lumberjack.

We had to go exchange some tickets and we happen to run accross this display. Made Sarah's day.

I was cleaning some dishes with baking soda and vinegar and Jet thought it was yummy. Cute little weirdo :)

We did some science experiments to get ready for a teaching demo in Anne's class at school.

Our Christmas card this year.

Playing kitchen.

Anne definitely has an eye for the sparkly.

Yummy dessert I made for a family Christmas party. Chocolate chip cookie dough (made with graham crackers instead of flour), whip cream with chocolate chips, and chocolate pudding with chocolate chips. Mmm.

Zucchini from our greenhouse zucchini plant.

Winter greenhouse part 1. Tomatoes, jalepenos, beets, zucchini, basil, and potatoes. The tomato plants grew big but didn't flower and produce much. The jalapenos did great. The beets didn't produce anything. The zucchini actually produced a pretty big zucchini and some small ones. The basil plant went to seed and the potatoes were tiny. So I dug everything up but two tomato plants and the jalepeno plant and we are trying broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, and cabbage. We also bought some flourescent lights to hang from the ceiling to give the plants added light and heat during the winter. We'll see!

Decorating the Christmas tree. It was fun going to the lot to pick out a tree this year. It took a little while to find one that had a strong Christmas tree smell, which is what we like.

It's hard to see but he is actually covered in sparkly stars. I texted Zac this pic and his response was "Did a Cullen bit him? If not my girls are in trouble." Hahaha!

Rachel got a Target gift card from Grandma Thatcher for her birthday. She was so excited to go buy some new snow boots and a lego character.

This boy loves his drumsticks. For a while he carried it all around the house with him. He was actually not too rough with it so I let him tap on things. He did not want to let go of it when it was time to eat so....

"Tree of Life" in Draper.

Drum practice with Uncle Loren.

Rachel's Christmas Concert.

She is in the very top left corner.

Jen made us a fun Passover dinner one night and taught us about the customs that went along with the different dishes.

Our Cosmo kids club also included some tickets to a couple BYU basketball games. Go Cougs!

Sarah was so excited to see Cosmo.

We got hit with a bad bug during Christmas break which traveled through all of us. James had it to begin with and poor guy got hit the worst. He was sick for about a month with runny nose, cough, and then throwing up and no appetite. I think I was next with a bad cold for about three weeks, Zac had a cold for a couple weeks, Sarah had a cold for a week and also threw up on Christmas Eve, Anne had a cold for a couple days, and Rachel was congested for a day.

This is Jet being sick. That wet spot on his shirt is from throw up. Seriously, the happiest sick kids I have ever seen. He was such a trooper.

But it did take it's toll. This is how he fell asleep for an early nap one morning.

Zac saw that I was having a rough time being sick and taking care of sick kiddos and brought me these one night just to cheer me up. Yeah I got a good one:)

Jet loves Shizzie. He has no fear of her except once when Shizzie sneezed in his face. That wasn't so fun for him.

Giving his sister a ride. Strong boy.

Trying out the new cotton candy machine from Uncle Kenric's family. Yum!!

For Fall Break we wanted to get out of town without going too far so we had a fun day in Provo! We visited some old favorite spots.

Storytime at Provo Library. I remember taking Anne to these when she was Jet's age.

This picture is awesome to me. This is the second time in her life that she went down and sat on the blanket and we went to story time for years. Kids have their own time tables. Rachel and Sarah are in the older storytime, ha :)

BYU Dinosaur museum

Picnic at my favorite Provo park, Memorial Park. Kind of a hidden park off center street.

Great big world map.

Carousel rides and ice cream at "Provo Beach Resort"

Blickenstaff's toy store in Riverwoods.

I didn't get pictures of our last adventure because my phone died, but we ended the day closer to home with a chilly but fun fall hike up American Fork canyon with Aunt Jennifer.

Create your own pizza night.

We switched our cell phone plans from Verizon to Sprint. The girls had fun in the store.

All the kids playing on the swingset.

Sushi night!

Cute retro dresses. Rachel is wearing Jen's and Anne is wearing one of mine.

Sarah's cute curly hair.

Doughnuts!

Fishing at Manila Pond near our home.

It was a successful day for everyone. Rachel is pointing to one that she caught but was too small so she put in back.

Anne's catch.

I LOVE this picture :)

Our ghetto old jogging stroller on its' last legs. The buckles finally broke off so I had to wing it.

Waiting for Anne to be done with dance class.

Pumpkin carving!

In our family order.

Snuggle time with Sarah while Jet takes a nap.

BYU football game.

Anne sleeping.

Veterans being honored at half time. Always warms my heart.

Cougar tails...mmm.

Another fun pic.

Date night testing out the massaging chairs at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Berry Pancakes

Free haircuts from the BYU football game cause somebody made a field goal during half time.

Anne....wow. We loved her long hair but it was such a pain to brush.

The girls loved sitting in the chairs.

So cute!

Free aquarium day! We got there right as it opened so we had the place to ourselves for about an hour. It was awesome!

Warm day for a bike ride. I love that Sarah's helmet is on backwards.

I tried pushing the bike trailer as a jogging stroller one morning...didn't quite work but the kids had fun.

Sarah's portrait of Zac.

Our riding lawn mower was having some malfunctions so we hired some of my cubscouts to come help rake up our leaves.

BYU football game.

It was surprisingly warm, especially for November. We had to cool Jet off after his nap.

Anyone that has known our family for a while understands why I had to take this picture. Anne finally outgrew this shirt that she wore for about four years. Sarah is now the happy owner and Anne is surprisingly ok with it.

Rachel's Thanksgiving turkey that she had to dress up and disguise for school. All by herself.

Destructo is this boy's actual middle name.

We seperated the kids' Halloween candy into jars and put prices on each one ranging from 1-10 cents. Every two weeks they bring me their chore charts and for every sticker they earned they get a penny. Then everyone so often they go to the "candy store" and buy treats. It helps motivate them to do their homework and chores and also teaches them about money.

I had to start these chore charts to help my brain remember all the things the kids needed to do every day after school.

Sarah loved these snails she picked up out of the garden. :)

Anne's new glasses!

Stretching before my Turkey Trot run.

Snow angels after my race.

Waiting for the results after the race.

Taking care of their babies.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Turkey meat worked its' magic on James.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving food. This year I did cherry, sweet potato pecan, and apple.

Anne's doodling.

This was very entertaining for him....for a good while.

Rachel's Christmas list.

Going to see Santa at the Riverwoods.

Train ride after.

The kids put on on their own Santa show. Rachel is Santa and Anne and Sarah are reindeer. I took a video but one of the reindeer had a wardrobe malfunction so it won't be posted ;)