Merry Christmas to all and to all "check out our family pictures!

We had a great Christmas here at our house. We are really enjoying being home together and being LAZY! I have needed to go to the grocery store for quite a few days. The day gets away from me and I say "Oh well, I will just do it tomorrow!" It is the great thing about having 2 full weeks off school:) We have been spending alot of time with my family this past week. Jill is here with her husband Jason. They just got married in October and we have enjoyed getting to know him. I do not have a whole lot of pictures I want to post from Christmas Eve or morning. Although they were both great. We went to my mom and dad's house on Christmas Eve and had dinner, opened presents, and had a program full of music and a Nephite Christmas story play. We came home and opened our Christmas P.J.'s and a small gift from Grandma and Grandpa Comstock and read the Christmas story in Luke. Then we got orange rolls, eggnog, and carrots out for Santa and the reindeer. Jordan and Whitney went on Jordan's paper route together. The paper was nice enough to have it ready to deliver before bed on Christmas Eve. Then we all got snug in our beds and waited for Santa! On Christmas morning everyone came to my house for breakfast. Which is a tradition. We have scrambled eggs, with ham and cheese, and "Christmas snails", and French hot chocolate! Julie brought a yummy fruit bowl too. We just hung out and played some of our new Playstation games. Then everyone left and we watched a bunch of movies and took naps. A PERFECT DAY!

Yesterday we went and took some family pictures. These are some of our favorites! I am not the best blogger. I do not know how to turn that one picture or erase it! Sorry!

My favorite Young Men/Women Activity!

We had the BEST joint activity on Wednesday night at church. ( I know that many of you fellow bloggers are leaders or parents to youth so I thought you might be interested in this idea) We put together some fruit and treat baskets and broke up into groups (of about 6 or 7 youth) and went to visit some of the older couples in our ward. The couples told us about what life was like when they were children and teenagers in the forties and fifties. At the house I went to Brother Snow told us about how he loved to go to the movies with his friends and the kids asked how much it was to see a movie. He told us 14 cents! He said his mom would send him to the store for a loaf a bread that cost 7 cents. The youth asked questions and then we closed with Brother and Sister Snow giving the youth advice on how to stay close to the Lord. We then met back at the church and the youth shared the things they learned from the different couples in our ward. The bishop then encouraged the youth to be sure and say hi to their new found "friends" when they saw them each week. The youth absolutely LOVED the activity. Jordan said he was so sad he did not invite his friend Zach he has been fellowshipping. Jordan said, "I heard we were taking fruit to old people so I thought Zack would not want to come. I wish I would have invited him. That was SO cool!"

Madelynn's Baptism

We had such a great day on Halloween! Madelynn was baptized in the evening. Both sets of her grandparents were able to be there. She also had some aunts, uncles, and cousins there. A bunch of the girls from Mark's soccer team and some of my Laurels came too. And the most special thing of all was that Jordan baptized her. I was so proud and brought to tears. I am so proud of Jordan that he is a worthy priesthood bearer and that he wanted to baptize his sister. I am so proud of Madelynn and her decision to want to be baptized. It was quite a special day for our family. One of those times you want to never end! The only bad thing about the day was that Madelynn was quite sick. I just kept giving her Tylenol and telling her she would be fine. We had quite a time planning a day that everyone could be at her baptism and with people there from out of town and state we HAD to do it! We found out later that night that she had the infamous "Swine Flu" So we successfully spread it throughout the church and Chili's restaurant. I knew she was really sick when she did not want to go trick or treating and took her to the doctors office. She was given some tamiflu and was pretty ill for about a week. She is all better now thank heavens!

Miss Utah!

Miss Utah 2007, Heather Anderson came to visit my school Wednesday. The platform she ran on was drug and alcohol awareness. I was in charge of Red Ribbon Week at my school. (which is a week to talk about drug and alcohol awareness) I got her email address and asked her to come and speak to the kids at our school and several other area schools. I even lined up a lunch date for her and Jordan:) Well, Wednesday we had a HUGE snowstorm here and Miss Utah was driving down from Sandy. She got stuck around the Beaver Mountain Pass for 4 or 5 hours! She drove 1 mile in
4 1/2 hours! Needless to say she arrived in Cedar City much later than she originally had planned. She missed her lunch date and a few school speaking engagements. She is coming back to Cedar in November and Jordan's date has been rescheduled. She was the nicest girl who told a great story about her brother and his death caused by his addiction to drugs. She talked about the small steps that led him to eventually become addicted to cocaine and his overdose. The kids really loved listening to her speak and she did such a great job telling her story. This her with Whitney, Courtney, Madelynn, and Courtney's friend Sydney.

BYU Games, Birthdays, and Baptisms Oh My!!!

Mark, my dad, me, Whitney, and her friend Keeley all went to the BYU game a few weeks ago. It has been a while since I have been in the stadium and Whitney has NEVER been to a game. We wanted her to see how fun it is. Especially since she is talking about going to the University of Utah! I think she just says that to make Mark mad:) It was so fun to be on campus again. I remember when Mark and I were students and we would see people walking around with their families. I always thought they were SO old! Well that was me a few weeks ago! I guess I am officially OLD! Oh, and I think I am a REAL mom now too. (story about that in a minute) Courtney turned 11 yesterday and Madelynn ( my youngest child) turns 8 today! Were has the time gone? Madelynn will be baptized by her brother Jordan on Halloween Day. What a great day it will be. Now about being a REAL mom. Years ago when Jordan was about 2 years old we were living in my Aunt Kathleen and Uncle John's basement apartment. I was outside with Jordan and my cousin Jacob, who is Jordan's age. Jacob looked at me and said "You are not a real mom." I said," Why would you say that Jacob?" He looked at me very seriously and replied, "My mom has 5 kids and you only have Jordan and Jordan has a Grandma who is not even old. You can't be a real mom because you only have Jordan." Well Jake I think I have reached REAL mom status now! Now Jacob's mom is a grandma that is not even old. Oh, how time flies!

Homecoming

I just love to blog. What I don't love is never being able to find the time to do it! Jordan went to the Homecoming dance oh about 3 weeks ago. I have been meaning to post these cute pictures ever since then. He went in a group with two boys from our ward and some girls that play on Mark's soccer team. They are such a great group of kids. I am so happy he makes such good choices in friends. Hey and he has good taste two. Look how gorgeous all the girls are:)

JORDAN

Jordan gets his own post since I did not put any pictures of him on the first day of school post. Here he is on the day of his first Varsity Football game! He scored 4 of the teams 10 points. He is the kicker and he made an extra point and a field goal. Way to go Jordan! Oh and yes he has a beard. The team grew them for the first game. He shaved it after the game because they lost. I hope a clean shaven team will win tonight!

BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

We all went back to school last week.




























It is nice to back to our routines but we do miss our lazy summer days! Whitney is starting her first day of high school looking as fabulous as ever!!! Of course she finished her outfit with flip-flops (it is all she EVER wears) Mark and Whitney getting ready to head off to school together. Yes that is right, Mark, Jordan, and Whitney all go to the same school. Most kids would have a problem having their dad at school with them. But not when your dad is Mr. Comstock, one of the coolest teachers at the school. Yes, Mark has found his life's calling; and he does a fabulous job! Just ask ANYONE who has ever been in one of his classes or has had him for a coach. Madelynn is ready for her first day of second grade. She will no longer be in her mom's class. I am a bit sad about that. But she will just be down the hall when one of us needs a hug. Courtney is ready for the fifth grade and going to conquer it in style. She has a great teacher this year who is one of our neighbors. And also Whitney's Mia Maid teacher. That lucky lady gets to teach two of my darling daughters. I am out of time and I want to publish the post so I will add some pictures of Jordan when I have a minute.

Oquirrh Mountian Temple

While we were in Park City Mark and I took the decided to take the the kids and go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house.  It was so beautiful.  It was such a great opportunity to be in the temple with the kids and let them see the beauty of the temple. We were so happy to have Jodi and here children join us.   Mark and I noticed that there was a definite difference in the feeling in the temple.  Yes, it was gorgeous however, it just felt different than being in the St. George temple or any other dedicated temple.  That was a testimony builder for me!  

Comstock Family Reunion in Park City

We had so much fun in Park City with Mark's family!  His parents are so wonderful to organize such a fun week.  EVERYONE came!  Which I believe is a great testament to what wonderful people his parents are.  All the children and grandchildren WANTED to be together.  I hope that when my children are grown and have families of their own they will want to come together and share memories like we did this week!  I took far to many pictures to post all of them so I just chose a few to post.  (Sorry if I left you out)  There were 43 people there so I left out quite a few of my pictures.  We stayed at our favorite place "The Mountainside Marriott"  Our days were filled with poolside chats, playing kickball at the park, enjoying meals together both outdoors and indoors, shopping, movies, games, rides, trips for ice cream with grandma, and mostly just enjoying one anothers company.  That is what a family reunion is all about.  It was a GREAT time.  Thank you again mom and dad!  We love you!

4th of July in our great town!

The 4th of July is so much fun in Cedar!  The whole town turns out for a fun parade in the morning followed by games in the park, bar-b-ques with family and friends in the afternoon, topped off with fireworks at night!  We enjoyed the parade with our cousins and grandparents and hosted a bar-b-que that afternoon and fireworks that night!  It was a fun day with family!  Although we missed Jordan.  He was in Georgia this year for the 4th.  He had a great day with cousins and aunts and uncles in the south!

"I have learned SOOO much from Whitney!"

One night in Vegas we were out on our balcony and Madelynn says, "I have learned SOOO much from Whitney mom!"  I said, "Oh, really like what?"  She responded quite quicky, "Oh, like how to gloss it up and how to text and stuff!"  Isn't she lucky to have a big sister to teach her all the important things in life?