Christmas and New Year

Merry Christmas, the kids had so much fun this Christmas. We definetly kept the Lord in sight and enjoyed Christmas even more.

The kids got a Wii from Santa and we have been enjoying playing Guitar Hero and Mario Party 8 and all that. I have to admit I suck at all of it. My video playing games are numbered I think.

Beau keeps joking that I will put all the kids down for a nap and be playing guitar hero all afternoon.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year. I hope that 2009 will be a great year for all, including us!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas

*This year we are sharing our family blog with all of you. What a great way to stay in touch.

We have been so blessed this year and look back, with great memories, over the last year.

We have had much to be grateful for and with that comes great blessings and also much heartache.

*In August we lost Jeff's mother, Maxine, to pancreatic cancer. We were able to be with her and Jeff's family before and during her passing. It was such a wonderful, spiritual experience that we will remember our whole lives. She is greatly missed and we love her so much. I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches us we will be together again someday. We take great comfort in that and knowing we are an eternal family.

*Looking back over the year we have also had alot of fun and have been very blessed.

1. We have enjoyed several trips to Lake Tahoe with our trailer to enjoy the lake and the festivities of Tahoe. We have enjoyed it with many of our friends and family.


2. Jeff still works for Newtron and has been with them 11 years now. He is their General Foreman. The company is so good to us. We are so thankful for them.


3. Joy is still working hard teaching preschool and watching a few children in our home. The economy has forced us to downsize but has made it more enjoyable for Joy and given her more time with our own children.


4. Jessica is still working for Home Depot. She still has the same boyfriend Chris. Nothing serious, that we know of.


5. Matt is working for Olive Garden and training to be a manager and soon will be opening up a new store in possibly, Stockton.


6. Jennny has survived her first semester at Santa Barbara City College and being away from home. She now knows what it means to be a starving student but she is enjoying every minute of it.


7. Beau is a senior at Liberty High School this year. He has been enjoying every minute of it. He has been going to semenary every morning (when he goes) and he played football this year, which he lettered in. He also lettered in Volleyball and Wrestling last year. He is looking for a job and anxious to start college and get his EMT so he can train to be a firefighter/paramedic.


8. Emma will be 4 in January. She is enjoying preschool with her mother in the mornings and preschool in the afternoons, three days a week, at one of Joy's friends, preschools. She is looking forward to having her ears pierced for her birthday. She just experienced ice skating for the first time the other night and watched her first 3D movie, Bolt. She is enjoying keeping her parents on their toes and helping take care of her younger brother, Jake.


9. Jacob is 19 months. He is a wurl wind. He keeps Joy hoppin all day long. He enjoys fingerpainting everything including his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all over the table. He has been participating in Joy's preschool program and is finally starting to talk a little bit. He likes to say Beau's name over and over and over again. His favorite past time is running from his mom when he has a stinky diaper and splashing in the bathtub.


10. ALthough our children are all at different points in their lives right now, we love each and everyone of them so much. We are so proud of who and what our children have and are becoming. We know that through others like our friends and family that help teach and mold our children and co-parent them is what truely makes them the successful people they are and will become.


11. We are so blessed to have our health and strength and the love of our friends and family. We would like to invite all of you to help us celebrate this year. While we give thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the love he has for us and also to celebrate his life and the great example that he is to us. Wishing you all the best for 2009. May it be a healthy and happy year. Love, The Hepworth's

New Family Pictures

These pictures aren't photoshopped or touched up yet. As you can see we had a issue with the backdrop but she reassures me we can fix the final print. I hope so because we paid alot of money to have them done. Anyway, these are the picture retakes I hope they turn out better then the last ones.

Stick Horse

This is a stick horse that Beau got for Christmas when he was Emma's age (3). I found it in the closet the other day and pulled it out and the kids love it. I just had to share them on it and them looking cute and of course Buster. He had his shots today and also got a microchip put in today too. He is down and out tonight:( I hope he gets feeling better soon!

Field Trip With The Kids

So we went on a Field Trip with Emma's Preschool, Little Wonders, to the Pottery Corral. We painted gingerbread boys and girls ornaments for Christmas. It was fun to include all of my kids and really sweet of Beau to help his brother make one. He loves him sooooo much. We have a ton of fun and this will be something my kids will remember when they see their ornament on the tree that they made on the field trip.

Beau

Well Beau is a Senior this year and I am feeling sad. He will be leaving the house soon. I can't believe how the years have flown by. The only thing that has happened is I have gotten older, fatter and meaner. Anyway, Beau is my oldest and Jeff's fourth. He is a good kid but he keeps us on our toes. We love him a ton. Just wanted to share some photos of him now.

Tumble Time Bus

We have the Tumble Time Bus come to Joyful PReschool once a month. It is a bus that has the floor and walls all padded and then she does an obsticle course in the bus. Last week their were tubes, a trampoline, monkey bars, a slide and a balance beam. She also did like a circle time with them where they sang and did musical ribbons and so forth. The kids loved it. She will be coming again this Friday. She brings the bus to our house and parks it right out in front of the house. It is great.

Christmas Cookies

The kids and I made Christmas cookies for a cookies exchange I am participating in tonight. They used their cookies cutters that they got from Grandma Maxine. (That is their grandma that passed away in August). They had a ball as you can tell. Jacob was the cookie making king. I would roll out the dough and he would have his cookie cutters on it faster then I could go. He even sprinkled flour on the table for me. Emma had a blst too. They both really enjoyed making a mess and not getting in trouble for it.

Buster the Dog

So we have a new dog. WE got him about 6 weeks ago and we love him so much. He is a full bread and papered Yorkshire Terrier. We named him Benjamin "Buster" Hepworth. The kids have had so much fun with him. He is the best thing I could have ever got for my kids. Emma used to be so scared of dogs and now she is playing with him all the time and acts totally normal now. Jacob likes to play too rough with Buster and ends up getting nipped at and scratched all the time. He is constantly getting marks on him. Anyway, I had to share our new addition to our family. He is in our family pictures but they are so small that you can't really see him.

More Family Photos

Family Photos

So Thanksgiving was awesome. We had 28 people at our house for dinner. We got our tree up that night and had our family pictures the next day. Just wanted to share them with you.

Smith Family Farm

We went to the pumkin patch at Smith Family Farm with Emma's preschool, Little Wonders. The kids had so much fun. They sang songs in the barn with a crazy man and his mother and then they went to a petting and had a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick their pumpkins. We wondered around and went to the hay maze and the indian village with indian huts and we planted cabbage and broccoli. It was a great day. The kids all decorated their shirts to match for Halloween and to say that they were all from Little Wonders Preschool.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween Party for the kids at Joyful Preschool. Emma was Tinkerbell and Jacob was Peter Pan. They looked so cute. They had a ball. We went to the church trunk or treat party the weekend before Halloween. On Halloween we went trick or treating around our block and then went to Beau's football game. They lost but it was a fun game.

Preschool Visitor

We had a visitor at Preschool today. Fluffy the snake. The kids loved looking, feeling and seeing him move. The especially liked hanging him from their necks. My assistant Kristyn has this huge corn snake. It is orange and we are studying orange this month. She brought in his newest shed and of course, the star, Fluffy.