It's an very merry "ugly sweater" Christmas...

I thought I would post a picture of our Christmas tree to show that we do have a little Christmas
spirit in our home, and then after I took the pic I realized that the top row of lights are out...oh well..
So I'll give just a brief explanation of our family Christmas party. The theme was "ugly sweater"
We were to go to DI and find the ugliest sweater we could find and then there would be a contest
for the ugliest sweater. It was kind of fun. Here are the results...and other random pics. Above we see Emily playing with her new cell phone that she got for her birthday...Happy Birthday Emily!!! We sang happy birthday at least 25 times through out the night... Meg is giving the Christmas Message...
Here it looks like Meagan is giving Kasey some kind of lecture...What did he do this time..:)
This is Annabelle...look how much she has grown ...oh and her mother of course in an ugly sweater...
I'm a little scared for these three amigos...Grandpa in the middle with Chase and Kasey, all wearing girl sweaters...we just couldn't decide if grandpa was a B or C cup...
Here we are in all our "ugly sweater" glory...some of the kids took theirs off...spoiled sports...
Costner took 1st in the young men's category for ugliest sweater...
Coco took first in the woman's category...sweater was so bright in real time!!
I just took this pic to show Court and Ty that they really do want a baby...
Abby took 1st for the young women's category...
And all of us together for a Very Merry "Ugly Sweater" Christmas...

May the Spirit of Christmas light up your hearts and your homes...all our love

Our trip to Omaha "Flippin Freezing" Nebraska

Ok this is going to be a long post because there were so many things to see when we went to Omaha. Meagan had some investigators getting baptized and I had the time off so we jumped in our car and made that terrible, nasty long road trip. It was a very fun, very exausting, very informative trip...So I'll show several pics to you to see all we accomplished and all the great people we met while there. Here we are in Kanesville where the Prophet Brigham Young was sustained as the 2nd President of the church. 12 thousand saints camped here while planting crops for the saints coming after them.
The mission president...President Newman...He was wonderful
The Mormon Trail Center has a gingerbread display for the holidays and this one reminded me of Blaine.
We got to attend a zone conference with the missionarys and here they were doing a gift exchange.
Meagan is sitting in a bath tub used on the trail. Is also a laundry tub.
Do you remember the pictures Meagan sent last year of the gingerbread cutouts. Well now it's my turn!
Here we see Meagan corrupting the sister missionarys mind with technology. (iphone)
I want to live in this gingerbread.
Here is Freido. Do you remember him. He is still investigating the church, but what a great guy. So nice. I really enjoyed having lunch with him.
These two missionary are the ap's to the president. Elder Kinderman and Elder Barlow.
Here is a typical log cabin that would have been built in winter quarters. Two family's had to share....It was small
This is Elder Chipman who is the Trail Center Director. He and his wife were kind enough to let us stay with them for a couple of nights. They were great.
President and Sister Newman took us out to breakfast one morning. Everyone was so good to us. I'd forgotten what it's like outside of Utah. Out there in the Mission field/world"
These lovely folks are the reason we made the trip. The Empy family was baptized on Friday night and it was really great.


I also want to do a shout out to President and Sister Nelson who let us stay with them a couple of Nights in Gretna. They were so much fun. I wish I had pics of the Christmas Party we attended in Gretna and the Surf and Turf Platter that President Nelson talked me into when they took us out to dinner. (Really, the crab legs alone were unbelievable:)
It was a great trip...

A Post Thanksgiving post...

I forgot that I had some pictures of thanksgiving this year so I decided to post them even though it's almost Christmas ! (2 weeks exactly) In the above picture...Chase thought it would be cool to eat a whole turkey leg. ( I don't know where he get these ideas) So here he is giving it the old college try! I think he got sick of it pretty quick.
Here is the Adult table with Grandma and Grandpa, Blaine and Jodi with Rod and Julie hosting. It was a great Thanksgiving...mostly because I didn't have to cook and it was at someone else's house! I'm grateful for that!!

Meagan's Homecoming Day...

(Sister Doxy-Crapo)

Today was officially her homecoming day...She spoke in church and gave a great talk that put most of the people in tears. She did a great job. After Church we all went to my house to eat lunch and boy was that a lot of people in a pretty small house. So here are just some random pics of the day. Below you see Meg and Becca. Meagan and Sister Doxy (the cute girl above) taught Becca and her Dad the gospel and they were baptised a little over a year ago. Becca is here in Utah for school now.

Here we have Uncle Rod and Cute cousin Emily...

This is Bishop Swain, he was Meagan's bishop before she left for her mission.

Here we have cousin Amanda with baby Peyton and hubby David.

Granny Thayn and Kim with cute cousin Mariah (hope the spelling is right)

Now the guy above is Dan...He was in the mission with Meagan and this guy is an amazing musician. He gave us a little private concert and it was my favorite part of the day. Aside from seeing everyone of course :)

cousin's Cody and Devin...I just thought this was a cool picture...

Cousin Costner and baby Annabelle with Tyler giving one of his looks...

My favorite neighbors The Bigelow's (thanks for the cookies Andrew!:)

I want to thank everyone for pitching in with food and drink! It was a fun day and and great way to end what was an amazing time for our family. We're glad she's home with us and that she served her Heavenly Father with all her heart. Now who's next? :)

Peyton's Baby blessing

We have yet another baby added to the clan. Peyton David Edmunds...His blessing was sunday night so it was fun to see everyone and the new baby's (that includes Sister Henson)...ha Above you'll see the proud Grandpa Lynn, of the new addition, holding his grandson Nico.
Here is Meagan holding Peyton, while I look wistfully on wishing and hoping to be a grandma someday :)
Here is Court and the good Aunties of Peyton...That's code for babysitters.
Mandy is the proud Mom along with Great Grandma and Grandpa Thayn...That was great grandparents in case you missed that...whew

Welcome baby Peyton...you are loved

She's Home!

So the day is finally here and here we are at the airport tying to wait paitently...The "kids"are having an hard time.
As you can see by Chase's face, we may have arrived at the airport a little early...oh well
Then the moment arrives when we see her and cheers go up all around. There were 4 missionairys coming home together, so there were lots of people at the airport to greet their loved ones.
Of course the next day we have to go shopping and lunch...it's tradition for us Henson girls.
And here is the end result. She was so excited to put together an outfit and go out to see friends. Can't even tell from her clothes that she just off the plane...:0

Meagan is coming home!!!

Sister Henson (Meagan) will be home this friday (the 14th). We are so excited and ready for her to be home. What an amazing experience this has been for our whole family...Never have we been so blessed and felt closer to our Heavenly Father than the last 2 years. I'm so grateful.
I have to say that I am, of course, proud of Meagan and her dedication, but more than that I am so happy for her. So happy that she has had these experiences..That she gets to start her adult life with this foundation. I think it's what every parent wishes for their children. I have great kids...and I love them all.
This is a part of her last letter that I loved reading. It may help explain why I'm so happy for her.

(from Meagan)
I’ve been anticipating this last week that I’m going to get the question “So, how was your mission?” about a thousand times when I get home. I’d like to take a moment and answer that to everyone who reads this email so that I only have to say it in real life about 987 times (I’m not sure how many people read this). Words like great, amazing, wonderful, incredible, just don’t quite do it justice. A wise word from one of my favorite members here helped me to put it into one sentence. Here it is: It’s more than I ever thought it would be. I’ve learned more, I’ve experienced more, and I’ve found more joy than I ever thought I would. I’ve loved more, cried more, had more faith than I thought possible. I’ve seen more miracles, more conversions, and more opposition than I could have ever imagined. I’ve learned to trust my Heavenly Father, my Savior, the Spirit and myself. I’ve learned to be patient with the Lord’s timing, others, and most importantly, myself. I’ve learned how to work, how to set goals, how to become the daughter that my Heavenly Father wants me to be. I’m not there, but I’ve got the tools and I understand how to use them. I found that when I truly lost myself in the work, that’s when I found out who I really was. That’s just some of the miracles of a mission. So if you ask me about it, please come equipped with tissues and an hour, and then I might be able to explain to you what the last 19 months of my life has meant to me. I am eternally indebted to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to come here. To allow me to represent His Son, teach His Gospel, and fix me all at the same time. Not to mention all the work that He had to do to help the people I teach become converted despite me. I stand all amazed.
I thank you for the support you’ve been. For the prayers you’ve offered on my behalf and the people here. Thank you for paying your tithing and allowing the work to move forward, it’s blessing millions of people and one girl in particular.
I leave you my witness that Jesus is the Christ. That He lives. That this is His Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That His Gospel was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. That the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and will bring you closer to Christ because, as Elder Smith put it, “you bump into Him a lot more often in it.” I love you all. I’ll see you soon.
Love, Sister Henson


ps. feel free to come see her...she'll need things to do :)

Basement update

We've done most of the painting in the basement and have moved on to the fun stuff of decorating. It's still a work in progress, but it looks so much better already that Blaine and I actually go downstairs again! It's been years since we've wanted to watch a movie down there...haSo I hung the curtains that I made yesterday and I also made the pillows...for those of you who know me...they know what a huge deal that is...
Blaine is staring me down...daring me to take a picture of him and put it on my blog...ha I did it!
Just another view of the TV room...
Notice the cow hide on the back wall. Both Blaine and I loved the look of it and our kids were horrified that we would hang it on the wall. I don't get it...It looks good...don't you think so?

We will be working on the other side of the room this week where the computer desk is, so I'll update that when it's done. We also put the counter tops in the kitchen this weekend, but I'm going to hold off blogging that till it's all done.

Only 12 days until Meagan comes home! So the timeline is definitely marching on. I think we will actually be done with the remodel, and ready for visitors!!

Happy Halloween!!

Since we don't have little children any longer we have to dress up our dog. She really loves the trick or treaters, cause she thinks they are coming to play with her. Courtney dressed up for work, as you can see, and I think she looks great. She's a rockin fairy! She even won the prize at work, which was a piece of paper...wow Cute!

Sorry it's been so long...

I know I haven't updated for awhile, but we've had computer problems...Hopefully I can show you the updates on the remodels this weekend so stay tuned...I'm working on the basement right now. Anyway...

Sister Henson will be flying home on ( imagine drum roll) Nov 14th at 10:00 am!
I am so ready to have her back. She needs to be part of the family again and I need another girl at home. Her homecoming is set for Nov 23rd at 11:00 at the stake center by our house. So please come and have some lunch with us right after!

Yea!!!

Come listen to a Prophets voice...

Today Blaine and I had an amazing experience. We got to attend General Conference for the first time. My sister came down from Oregon and was able to get tickets for 5 of us. It was very cool when the Prophet came in and everyone became completely silent...We weren't suppose to take pictures inside the conference center, but everyone was sneaking pictures so I decided to go with the masses. This is my sister Tami, her daughter Afton and her husband Michael.
This of course, is all five of us. Someone kindly agreed to take a picture of us. In this picture there is sunshine, but when we arrived in Salt lake it was pouring rain!

I loved Pres. Monson's talk about change. I find his words and mannerisms very comforting. Thanks for the tickets and the experience Sis....

Bedroom remodel accomplished!

So this weekend my sister Tami kindly agreed to come all the way from Oregon to help me fix up one of the many rooms I'm trying to get ready for Meagan's homecoming (Nov 14th is the release date). We used our extra bedroom for a sewing/extra storage room but now that 3 out of 4 of my children will be living at home again...:| I've had to give up my extra room and it was in sore need of a remodel.

This is the room after we removed the gamma ray green walls and I was going for a black and white room with splashes of green. One angle...and the chair folds out into a bed...
Sorry about the angle of the next two pics but above is another angle that shows the curtains I made and the mirror I painted from a garage sale...
The above (before pic) shows the green walls I had to cover with two gallons of paint....
This is my ever helpful sister who is full of good decorating ideas and as you can see...really really loves to paint...just look at her face if you don't believe me..;)
Then my other helpers were Court and Afton...Tami's daughter...but wait...they don't look like they are painting the walls...

So we have counter tops still to do in the kitchen and just a few touches to finish in Meagan's room and then it's on to the basement...Be looking for the emails and texts from me begging for painters on the basement...Painting Party!!!