A time of thanksgiving...

I definitely have so many things to be thankful for. Here are a just a few:
My family is my greatest strength! How I love each and everyone of them and want them to be happy. I also am grateful that I can have all my children and parents live so close. what a blessing!
My testimony of Jesus Christ and for all that He has done for me and for his example.
I am thankful for our Redlands temple and the joy and peace I feel when I enter into it.
I am grateful for the beautiful area that we live in----I love our mountains and our nearby beaches.
I love and am so grateful for flowers! (they make me feel happy) and all of Heavenly Fathers' beautiful creations!
I am so grateful for yummy food! so much of it---so little time!
I am so grateful for my beautiful old home---especially my new bedroom that Scott has finished.
I am so thankful for health and strength---to be able to serve the ones I love.
I am thankful for friends---who are such great examples to me and to my family.
I am grateful for my eternal companion, who is kind and patient, spiritual, funny, hardworking, and handsome!
I am truly thankful to my Heavenly Father, he blesses us with miracles each and every day.
My heart is full.

The LOVE BUG has bitten! ♥

It is true that love has struck! ♥ On November 7th Rachel and Zak got engaged! They are crazy about each other! The future Elcocks are making big plans, and they are not wasting any time--that's for sure. We are
all excited to have Zak in our family. There is so much fun ahead.

October- 2008

October was filled with some fun moments like dressing up for Halloween. Our San Sevaine Ward Party was great fun. Jenna loved trunk or treating. We enjoyed October Conference---a family tradition and favorite weekend of the year. Chrissy and Gregg found out they are having a baby girl! Poor Dad H. fell and broke his hip. Ocotber was not fun at all for him. Mom stayed by his side faithfully. Halloween brought fun for our birthday girl Coral, who turned 3! What a treat she is! Bradley and Jammie dressed up pretty darn cute with the girls, of course Jenna freaked out at Bradleys' costume for the rest of the evening. Little Ashton dressed up for his first Halloween. The weather is changing and I love it when it cools down and actually seems like fall.

A recent family picture...

This is a recent family picture taken by our ward photographer (and Bishop's wife, and dear friend) Lori Larson. She took pictures of each family in our San Sevaine Ward. This is my family that is still living at home, my others that I love and their spouses (Bradley, Jammie, Stacey, Andrew, Chrissy and Gregg) are living on their own---Love to all of you! It seems odd to have a family picture without them. There is nothing greater than the gift of family!

Ashton's Haircut

I had the privilege of giving Ashton his first"real haircut". It took his Mom and Aunt Karren to help keep him from squirming too much, but it was worth it! What a handsome little man!

September

September came and went already? Wow! We enjoyed a Labor day dinner with our Hampton family courtesy of the Hortons. We always enjoy being together!
The Hampton girls had a lunch day together, we all went up to Victorville to see Stacey and Ashton. Never can have enough time together---we always want more....
We enjoyed a surprise birthday bash with the Miller family for my Dad who turned 76. All of my kids were able to be there. Kevin came from Vegas. We enjoyed being together. Vinces spaghetti was yummy!
I had the privilege of cutting Ashtons' hair for the first time---
On my Dads' birthday, the girls and I met up with him and mom and brought lunch to celebrate. Scott had a birthday also, he turned 51!

Hot August Nights...

The hot month of August proved itself again, but with the heat comes trips to the beautiful beach, and moments of relaxation. Scott and I had a getaway weekend in Carpinteria. It was such a great trip! We celebrated our 29th anniversary together (which was really in June, but life was too busy) We have been truly blessed. Who knew that we could be so good together? We went into Santa Barbara for dinner and walked the pier. It is beautiful! and we love Carpinteria ( where we have enjoyed our family vacations for 12 years now) where Scotts' Grandpa Whitney lived with his family. His Great-grand father and uncle drove the stage coach. His family had a boarding house and stables about 1/2 mile from where we camp. We love it there!

Jolly July! 2008

Karren turns 12!

Our Karren turned 12! It just seems like yesterday that we welcomed her into the world. She is #7 of our 8 children--we use to refer to her as "7th heaven"---Jenna calls her "Nee". Karren loves to read and write stories. She enjoys music, cooking, and doing art projects. She loves spending time with her family and friends. She is an Aunt to Kayla, Coral and Ashton! Karren is a wonderful example to her little sister Jenna. She is kind,sweet, adorable and so dear to all of us. We are so blessed to have her in our family! She will always be our beautiful baby girl! Love you Karren!

Is it really true???

Wow! Is it really true? We could hardly believe it when Chrissy and Gregg announced that they are expecting a baby! Due sometime around the end of March, 2009. We of course snapped a quick picture and had a celebration toast with some Martinellis' that had been chillin' in the fridge waiting for a moment of joy!

Oh, the month of June--part 2!

Wow! June was one of the busiest and craziest months ever for our family. It was packed full of family time, and that was great! Birthdays were celebrated, fathers day, Philips farewell, Chrissy's graduation, farewell party for Philip, and Scandia, Stake conference was a special weekend as Scott was called to serve as 2nd counselor to Pres. Rich, along with 1st co. Pres. Jones. Elder Clayton and Elder Lawrence came and presided. what a treat to be in their presence. They were warm and wonderful and taught so much in such a short time. We left early the next day for Utah to take Philip for his mission. We enjoyed being together with everyone and showing Jammie the sites of Utah. Dropping Philip off was definitely bitter-sweet. We are so proud of him and his decision to serve. These have been wonderful moments our family has to treasure.

Oh, the month of June-part 1

Chrissy Lynn Shook Graduates!

Happy Graduation Day Chrissy! Our Chrissy graduated from Cal State University on June 16, 2008. (fathers' day---what a great gift!)
We are so proud of her and all of her accomplishments. She is truly an amazing woman!
Graduation ceremony followed Philips' farewell on Fathers' day Sunday---Philip gave an outstanding talk. He paid great tribute to his father. Amazing! All of our children were asked to sing for the meeting and it was a beautiful, sweet, cherished moment in my heart. we had family over after Sacrament to celebrate fathers' day, Philips farewell then we went on to the graduation. What great stuff!

I love to see the temple...

The choicest blessing for me as a mother---is to be with my children at the temple. I was filled to the brim with joy to attend Philip's endowment with my husband and four of our children. We loved celebrating a double endowment with Michael, Philip's cousin.. These two boys (that are 5 days apart) are leaving for their missions one week apart. We loved having so many of our family there to share our joy! This is what it is all about---family and covenants!

Happy wedding day!

On May 10, 2008 we celebrated Jammie and Bradleys' wedding. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful ceremony, and they were a beautiful couple! Happy, happy, day!

Happy May!

May has come and gone! It was a busy month, but filled with lots of family times that I love!
We had 3 birthdays, Abbie, Chrissy, and Gregg. We had a beautiful wedding for Bradley and Jammie. Mothers' day was wonderful. Stacey and Andrew spoke in Sacrment meeting, they were both amazing. I loved May!

April happenings

April has come and gone, so hard to believe. It was busy and fun!

We enjoyed General Conference, lots of park fun, Jenna lost 2 teeth, Mary had her bridal shower, I enjoyed our annual sisters' weekend at the beach, Mormon Prom, and I loved the beautiful flowers of spring!

I am trying to catch up (I feel behind) So here are a sprinkling of Hampton happenings from January through March. A Mission call to Lima, Peru, a baptism, birthdays, valentines, engagements, fun--good times!

Karren is beautiful!

My sweet friends Lori and Lisa grabbed up Karren and wisked her off for a photo shoot. WOW! See for yourself how beautiful the pictures turned out!

Where In The World Will Philip Serve His Mission?!

We are all excited as we await the arrival of "the envelope"! Philip's papers have been sent in and according to our calculations he should be getting his call any day now!! Philip is ready to serve wherever the lord sends him and we know he will be a wonderful missionary!
Don't forget to take the poll and tell us where you think Philip will go!