Christmas Greetings!!!!

From our house to yours, we write a special note,
This year has seen change, even owned a goat.
But alas the goat's gone, and so is the year,
its time to reflect on our blessings so dear.

Our newest blessing is our little Lil'
she's so very sweet-definitely no pill.
Her eyes are so big, her feet twirl 'round
Holding her in your arms is the best blessing around.

Hannah's so nice, she can light up a room.
Her smile's contagious, She cleans with a broom.
She brings us much joy and also much laughter,
We're happy to have her forever after.


Sissy is schooling in preschool this year.
She's smart as a whip, she has little to fear.
She's such a blessing and we love her so much
She's quick to console others with her gentle touch

Drew is growing tall, strong, and brave,
He always is helpful and good to behave.
Drew builds and constructs and figures things out,
He's a great worker - of this there's no doubt.

Jeannette is the cutest and loveliest gal,
Whenever I see her I say out loud WOW.
She cleans and cooks and nurtures so well,
She's everything to me, I love her as you can tell.

Jed has some issues
His is definitely no winner,
This morning he made breakfast
From the previous nights dinner.

OK, now it is Jeannette's turn to write,
Jed is too humble
So I must make things right.

Serving and working are things Jed loves to do
He does it quite often, he's a good father too.
He fixes, helps clean, and changes diapers as well.
He's such a trooper, we all think he's swell.

This year has been wonderful, joyful, and great.
So many things for us to appreciate.
We hope all is well with our family and friends,
Finding you happy, healthy, and grateful for the blessings God sends.

Merry Christmas!!!!
Love,
the Denning Family
Jed, Jeannette, Drew, Madelyn, Hannah, and Lily







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Random Bunch of Pictures

So there was not much of a transition from fall to winter. This snow hit us after one of the most beautiful fall days we had!

I don't really know why this picture is here. I don't think it was the picture I was wanting to upload....and I tried to delete it, but no....so here ya go. This is Jed and I messing around with the camera.

Lily was giving the cutest biggest smiles, and I could never quite get the timing right to capture them. So it looks like she is not even happy, but she really was!! I still think it is a cute picture of her and my dad.

It took a really long time before I could let Hannah hold Lily independently and feel half-safe about it. She is doing pretty well, but you have to be there constantly because suddenly she will say, "I done." And then she totally lets go.

One day I found Drew running off with my kitchen dishes, and later he asked me to come see what he made. He was quite excited to introduce me to "Woody." I think we watched Toy Story 3 the night before...

I made these cupcakes for Thanksgiving and while the rest of us were entertained, Hannah decided to pull up a chair and have a taste test. I am surprised to say that she exercised self control and ate a single cupcake entirely by herself--practically licking the wrapper clean.

See?

Here Jed was singing some songs and Lily was completely captivated, and just laid there and listened. I thought it was sweet.

Madelyn turns 5!!!

Madelyn had a birthday November 15th! This was the most anticipated birthday of any in our family I think. Madelyn also started preschool on her birthday, so it was extra special!!

She got to open her presents before Daddy left for work and Drew left for school. She loves getting clothes....help!!!

All ready for the big first day of school.

Just a cute shot of my grown up girl!!

It's party time! We had family come over to celebrate in the evening.

Poof! Surprise!! You cracked that normal looking cake open to find a rainbow!! This picture is really bad, but it was the only one I had with Madelyn and her cake. We love you Madelyn!! So happy that you are in our family!

Sisters

In the mothering sphere, it's moments like this that just bring a smile to your face!! I walked in my bedroom to find Hannah laying right next to Lily on the floor. Hannah put on a movie, and yes she can do that all by herself without being taught. I just saw them being SO cute together!!!

Our Logan Trip

The first weekend of November, Jed and I headed down to Logan to see my niece perform in the play "Suessical the Musical." It was a really fun play that our whole family got to go see. The kids are still singing the songs, and it has been a month! I'm a little behind in blogging.... We stayed at my sisters house and had a campout in their basement. Hannah was WAY too excited about camping out and didn't go to bed until 2:30 A.M.!! Luckily we made good use of the wee hours and skyped my sister Julie who now lives in Abu Dhabi. It is 10 hours ahead there. It was so fun to "chat" with my sister and "see" where they live!! I'm sure we will be looking into skype for ourselves soon!
In the picture above, Lily is sucking on my sister Pam's thumb while staring at her pacifier. We just thought that was kind of funny. Here are some pictures of our children playing with family in the leaves on the very last beautiful "fall" weekend!!






And I really thought this picture was cute. Lily was playing with her feet all the way down to Logan...well in her waking hours of driving I suppose. So this is all I could see on our drive. Cute.

Thanksgiving Daily

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! We were able to spend Thanksgiving with Jed's side of the family at his uncle Mike's house. It was a really nice dinner and it was a good chance to see some of Jed's cousins we don't see very often....or else I don't since I don't work with them! The next night we had another dinner at Jed's parents house with Jed's immediate family. That was delicious and really fun too! Then Saturday it was off to Rexburg for another delicious Thanksgiving dinner with wonderful company too! It really was so fun to spend so much time with family!! I love all my family and feel so blessed to be able to have so many of them nearby!!

This season has definitely had me considering all of my many many blessings. We had a family home evening where had many of our blessings listed on paper. It was fun to listen to our children's thoughts on what was most important on that list. Here is my list of things I'm most grateful for:

I'm grateful for a Savior and Father in Heaven who love and watch over my family and I. I'm grateful that through the atonement I'm able to repent of my many mistakes and shortcomings. I'm so grateful that through the atonement I have hope! What a wonderful gift and blessing.

I'm grateful for a wonderful and loving husband. I'm grateful that he has work. I'm grateful that through that work he is able to provide for the things that our family needs. I'm grateful that he is supportive of me in my goals and calling. He is there 100% with no complaints. Thank you! I'm grateful that we have eternity together, because it really will take that long for some of his admirable characteristics and traits to rub off on me!! I truly do feel so grateful that he took a leap of faith and married me!

I'm grateful for four beautiful healthy children who teach me so much!! My life is blessed daily for being a mother. I love those little ones so much, I don't know what I would do without them. I'm grateful that they are so forgiving of me and love me despite my several weaknesses. I'm grateful for their warm hugs, smiles, kind words, and help.

I'm so grateful for so many things, but those are the ones dearest to my heart! I hope I can walk with a spirit of Thanksgiving each day for all the blessings which come to me, large and small!

I ain't no Cowgirl!!

Ok, so I have nothing against cowgirls, in fact I probably appreciate them now more than ever before..... Our neighbors have cows. Large cows. Cows about to meet the end of their lives as they know it in a couple of weeks. Well, I noticed one of those large cows had escaped and was wandering and chowing on our grass. I tried to call the neighbors, no answer. So I called Jed to get their cell phone number. He called it, and no answer. Jed told me not to worry about it, so I didn't for awhile. Then I noticed the cow was getting close to the road. I talked to Jed and he says, "the cow's not going to hurt you, just go get some oats and lead it back to the pen." I called around to get the neighbors other cell number and I got a hold of the wife. She calls her husband, calls back and says he's about 10 minutes away. Whew. Then I asked, its getting pretty close to the road. Do you want to do something? She said if I got the oats, he would probably follow me right back into the pen. Easy enough. Ok. I can do that. I go outside, walk past the cow....no problem. I finally figure out how to open their horse trailer to get the oats out. I fill a bucket with some oats, and head towards the cow. The cow sees me with the bucket and heads the other way! Then he goes into our ditch, so I shake the bucket and hold out a scooper with some oats. I get his attention but he didn't seem convinced to come my way. Then I decided to lay down the scoop of oats on the ground and hopefully ease him toward the pen. So I lay it down, then cow fury breaks loose. I was not prepared. The cow starts jumping and bucking and charging me!! I start running in the opposite direction as fast as I could--keep in mind this is a 1,000 pound cow mass running and bucking at me. I ran up our little hill that goes to the road for some hopeful safety. And just my luck, he stays on our lawn and doesn't follow me!! So that scared me to death. Then I'm just trying to think of what to do next when my neighbor pulls around the corner!! I only tell him "Your cow does not like me." Then I follow him toward the cow and tell him where he broke the fence...yadda yadda. Then he holds up the bucket and the cow goes nuts again--bucking and jumping up...and then running in my direction again. I try to keep my composure and casually walk to my house, since my neighbor was also acting casual and composed apparently not afraid of this GIANT cow going to plow us both over..... Then I turn around and watch for a minute and this cow just doesn't want to go back into the pen and starts acting crazy... my neighbors cowboy friend comes around the corner, where I am, with a rope and I feel like I can safely turn around, they clearly don't need my help anymore. :) I reach my house and Madelyn runs out of the house, totally and clearly scared for my life. She can't keep her composure, she saw the whole thing!! She thought I was going to die. So did I for a minute! I'm just glad I wasn't trodden under hoof of cow and lived to tell the tale!!

Birthday Girl--2 years old!!

Our Hannah turned two last week. She is such a fun girl, and even though two year olds are notorious for trouble....this stage is so fun because they are so funny!! We love our little Hannah. We all get so many smiles from her.

Thoroughly thrilled with the giant sticky hand she got from Uncle Booner. She loves to give it a toss and see where it lands!

Hannah was too cute when it was cake time. She sang the entire birthday song to herself and blew out the candles without anyone having to coach.

She was quite patient with present opening. She had Drew help her out with the tricky toy packaging.

Hannah liked her spider cake. Since we celebrated her birthday on Halloween, we had to have a Halloween-ish theme. We also made pumpkin ice cream.

This ended up being fun for everyone!! It has been out for several days straight. It entertains them for quite awhile and makes very little mess. If it does make a mess it is only water. I am a fan.

Halloween

Halloween was great this year. Our ward held a trunk-r-treat on Friday night. It was so clever and cute. They had a faux fast food drive in. Every car pulled up and got to order from a few of their meal options, then we pulled up into the parking lot and the YM/YW delivered our food to the car. What a cute idea! So above is Hannah enjoying her corn dog before the candy laden festivities.

The kids waiting for their meals to be delivered.

Me and the kiddos. Drew--pirate Madelyn--butterfly Hannah--duck Lily--teddy bear

The kids ready for some trick-r-treating action. On Saturday night we headed off to do more trick-r-treating with family. It was fun and just as always, they got spoiled!!

Little Miss Lily

This picture makes me laugh, it is so classic Lily. Lily is extremely easily startled. She has the biggest eyes that just light up like this whenever she hears anything even semi-loud.

Lily is such a sweet little girl. So extremely patient. She hardly ever cries, even when I know she is starving. She just doesn't want to be a bother. Jed and I will always "talk" for her and say things like, "Mommy, if it's not too much trouble, I'm getting a little bit hungry..." When she does cry it is one that will break your heart, and she has a sad face to match.

Lily also loves the night life. She really comes alive and is so animated at about 8:30-11:00 at night. She talks, laughs, kicks, smiles, and is totally ready for a party at the same time every night!! (love those lovable rolls)

She looks so grown up in those baby jeans!

Hannah is having so much more fun with Lily. She even shares her blanky with her!!! Major improvements! It is getting so fun. I love that Lily has such a cute sibling audience to cheer her on when she rolls over, or when it is bedtime everyone has to give her a hug and kiss.

Now I've got to go cuddle my girl...

Birthday Season!

September is the beginning of birthday season around our place. I love it. For Jed's birthday I decided to make a cheesecake, not just any kind. . . A REAL cheesecake. I had never made one before...but I love a good cheesecake and had wanted to make a real one for a long time. I got me a springform pan and everything. I stayed up til midnight making it and it turned out great. Happy Birthday to my best friend/favoritest person in the whole wide world! Hope this birthday was marvelous! ;)

I loved that on my birthday the kids came into our room at 5:45 Am "Daddy, daddy, it's mom's b-day!" Then I hear them "secretively" making a b-day breakfast. Then they came and got me when they were done to surprise me with presents. I kind of had a hand in my gifts this year (I accidentally won my gift on Ebay! for an excellent price though) but Jed still managed to surprise me! It was such a great b-day, great weather, great memories, and a great family to share it with!

We had a picnic up at the cemetery to celebrate Ellie's birthday. Can't believe it's been three years. I love this sweet picture of Madelyn.

Hannah.

I love Hannah. She is hilarious, dramatic, and has such a zest for life. All of this compacted into her tiny little frame. Jed and I always laugh to ourselves as we listen to that little girl, and wonder "Where does she come up with this?" For example: the other night we were driving in the car when the word "treat" was mentioned by her siblings. Well of course she picked up on that and came up with this: "I need treat. . . I so hungry. . . . I need treat--so bad!!" and she says it in the most desperate voice she can muster. She is such a clever and funny girl. Not only that, but she has a knack for mischief. . .

Dispensing of an entire bottle of soap in the bathtub.

She pushed a chair over to climb up to her high chair, to climb up on the counter, to get to my purse, then search through the contents of my purse. As you can see she got what she wanted. If you notice the quality of the pictures on some of these isn't that great, that's because of Hannah. She got a hold of my camera and smudged the lens. :)

She does have a sweet side! Too cute.

I cannot find a safe place for my make up anywhere. I'm certain she can sniff out foundation!

No place is sacred.

I guess she can sniff out mascara too! :)
This is in nowise a full or comprehensive list of the extent of her mischievous adventures.....just a sampling over the last few weeks!