Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas eve we had a mexican dinner here at our house. We had green chile burros, chicken enchiladas, bean burros and mexican rice and a apple pie for dessert, everything was yummy. We had a little Christmas program but the kids were playing around more than playing their part, but it was cute. Christmas morning we opened presents, we got a family tent and all the kids got their own sleeping bags also, so when we go camping as a family they each have one, they thought that was pretty cool. Then we headed to my parents and the kids all got new bikes, they were thrilled, later that day we headed to Nathan's dad's house for Christmas dinner and stayed there a while. I am always a little sad when Christmas is over, I love the Christmas season and can't wait until next year.

Brenna's Christmas program!

Brenna had her kindergarden program at school yesterday. She was so cute up there singing all of the songs and doing the actions. She is getting so big and doing well in school. It is so much fun at this age, they love school so much.

Our Tree!

Christmas tree!

We have our tree up, but we had to put it on a table chest thing so Brig would not get to it. I finally wrapped some presents yesterday so the tree doesn't look so naked at the bottom. I love Christmas and how the kids get so excited about everything. We are going out this Mon to have everyone get a present for the name they picked, that should be interesting. I think I am almost done with presents thank goodness it always seems to take forever.

Brig has a ton of hair!

Weekend Review!

Well we had an eventfull Thanksgiving. My brother and his family came from Phx for the weekend and Nathan's sister and her family came also. The kids always love playing with their cousins, and were outside most of the weekend which was good because they can be quite loud. We went to Nathan's dads on Wed to celebrate a nephews b-day and then thursday I went and helped my mom cook and get everything ready for dinner. Nathan was at his dad's most of that day until it was about time to eat. Everything was yummy and my pies turned out great. I am officialy ready for Christmas, went shopping Friday morning, not early though and got most of the shopping done. That is always a relief once that is finished, I feel like I can enjoy everything else. We usually decorate on Nathan's mom's b-day as a rememberance of her, she loved Christmas so much but we will have to wait because he has ym's that night. The kids are excited for Christmas although I told them if they don't clean there room I am going to talk to Santa about no gifts, hopefully that will get them to clean there room. We finally got a new camera, I was having withdrawls, we had been without one too long. Until next time!

Thankful!

I love this time of year and getting together for Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. I love being in the kitchen helping my mom try to get everything ready on time while the food is still hot. I love lounging around and just visiting with family. I also love pies, I usually try to make a couple different kinds so we have a variety. I love eating leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner, it is such a comfort thing. I love watching my kids run around with their cousins without a care in the world. I love that I can decorate for Christmas a couple days later. I am so thankful for my family, friends and all those that have had a impact on my life. I think of many of you often that I don't get to see but always remember the friendships we share. I am thankful I can be with my family forever.

Halloween 2008

We went to our church's trunk or treat. We hit every car and I think the kids have enough candy to last the next year. Earlier in the day I went and helped at Brenna's class for their Halloween party. It was nice to go and help out, I made frosting to decorate cookies and pumpkin chocolate chip bread for Emma's class. I am done baking until Thanksgiving. All in all it was a good day, it seems so hectic but before you know if your done.

Happy Boy!

Brig is finally saying ma ma and it is so cute. He just says it over and over. Sometimes I wish they could stay this age forever. He is so happy to see everyone new and when the girls and Nathan come home he crawls over to the door and smiles from ear to ear. I love it, he is such a sweet happy boy and now that his 2 top teeth are finally coming in he is finally over the whinny teething, for a while anyway.

More pict!

North Carolina!

Well the boys and I went to N.C last week . On the way out there Brig cried most of the flight off and on, was not fun. Jack did great and was a trooper, he looked so cute carrying his backpack and following me around the airport. I felt bad his backpack was pretty heavy, I asked him if he could run with it on and he said no. We missed our connecting flight so had to wait around for another hour for the next one. My aunt and uncle were there to pick us up. We mostly hung out at her house and did some shopping. It was hard for Brig to get adjusted to the 3 hour time change, so he was crabby and also teething. Jack had fun playing around the house. We went to the mall and he rode on the carousel which he loved. Nathan and the girls had a fun time without me and went out to dinner and to sonic for shakes and also to the cove to swim. Thankfully on the way home Brig slept most of the flight and the lady next to me held him a bit and didn't mind at all. I love going to visit my aunt and uncle they are such wonderful , giving people. When I got home there was a huge banner saying "we missed you" with a huge airplane and us in it, it was very cute. I am glad to be home.

No camera!

So something funky is going on with my camera, it wont focus right, so needless to say I am cameraless for the time being. Brig has been doing the army wounded soilder crawl for a while and just yesterday started to crawl normal. He looks so cute doing it, I so want my camera to take a picture of him, hopefully we can figure it out soon. I am getting ready to go to N.C next week to visit my aunt. I am only taking Jack and Brig, I hope all goes well on the plane and that Brig will acually sleep a little. Jack is so excited to ride on the plane I think he will be fine. It will be a long day but I am looking forward to seeing my wonderful aunt.

Box Mix!

Okay so acually the french doughnuts are a box mix, but I did still make them. They are from Cafe du Monde which is a wellknown french cafe in New Orleans. You can get the mix online at www.cafedumonde.com and it is called beignet mix. Sorry to dissapoint those that thought I did it from scratch, but they were still tasty. I have an obssession with the food channel and travel channel and these were shown on both and they looked so scrumptious. Anyway I will stop blabbering now.

Treat!

So the other night I made beignets wich are a french doughnut. They kind of looked funny but they were sure tasty. The recipe said it made 24 and we ate every last one. We talked about talents and the kids said mine was baking, because the beignets were so good. I thought that was cute. They were sure messy but we had lots of fun eating them.

Apple Annie's

Yesterday I went with Brenna's kindergarden class to a apple orchard. On the way I remember why I don't like going on field trips, "the bus ride". It was awful. Anyway we rode a hayride to pick the apples and then had lunch, went to the bakery and got some apple butter. All in all it was a good day, nice to spend time with Brenna, she is my little peanut. I tried to take a few pictures of just Brenna or just Brenna and I and the little girl that was with us would not get out of any of them, so needless to say she is the one in the background and wouldn't let me take one of just Brenna, oh well maybe next time.

Early Annniversary!

So Nathan and I decided to go to Scottsdale for a early anniversary. We left Thursday morning and went to a temple session. It had been a while since we had gone together. After that we checked into our resort and relaxed for a while. We decided to go to Mexican for dinner since we don't have good Mexican food in S.V. We went to a place called Garduno's, yummy. It is still really hot in Scottsdale, so we took a dip in the pool for a while. We didn't have to worry about getting burned late at night either. The next morning we went to the pool and hung out for a while, it was already getting hot at 9am(yuck). Then I went to get a haircut at a place called Sachi, I have been there before and I really liked them, even though I can never get my hair to look like they did it afterwards. We went over to my favorite mall, Scottsdale Fashion Square and ate lunch and shopped a little ( I love that place). I have been dying to go to this cupcake place called Sprinkles, they were so good, now I can finally say I have gone. I contacted a few friends we hadn't seen in like 8 years and met up for dinner Fri. night at Macaroni Grill. It was nice to catch up with them and see how they are. They are such a fun couple. Then we went back to our room and hung out a while and went to sleep, it was nice to be able to sleep in for a couple days. On the way home we stopped by some friends to see their new baby. Sat. we got home at about 2 and picked up all our munchkins at the grandparents, thanks so much to all of them for helping us out and letting us enjoy our little getaway.

Walking!

Okay so those of you that know me, know I hate exercising. Well I am finally getting up every morning and walking. My friend Alish and I meet and go together. I am so proud of myself. I hate to get up but I always feel better afterwards. Now I have to work on lifting my free weights so I can get toned on my arms. Those new shoes I bought months ago to walk in are finally getting some use. Hopefully I can keep it up. Thanks Alish for motivating me!

Nothing much!

Not much has been going on lately besides the usual school, work and meetings with Nathan. Nathan has been fighting a cold and stayed home 2 days last week, that is a miracle in itself. He never stays home. The girls are enjoying school, Brenna acts as if she has been in school all along. I am glad they are doing well. I think Jack is getting used to Brenna being gone although every day they get on the bus he says , I miss the girls. It is pretty cute. I am getting my hair done tomorrow which it is desprately in need of, it has been a while. I seem to be finding more and more grays and I am not thrilled about it. This week should be good hopefully more exciting stuff to write about later.

1st day of School!

Well today is the 1st day of school, I don't think I have seen Brenna so excited about something for a while. She was so ready to leave all morning. I took Emma and Brenna to school, Jack had to have his lunch bag also. As soon as we got to school Emma said see ya, she is a old pro now 3rd grade. She ran off. We stayed with Brenna until the bell rang and then all the parents followed behind the kindergarden classes until they reached the classrooms. She didn't cry at all, I am glad I was a little worried about her. I hope she has a fun day and meets lots of friends. Now to keep Jack busy until they get home. It is already so quiet in the house, not used to it but I like it.

Fun filled Sat.

Lots of family came in town on Saturday for Emma's baptism. It was so neat to have Nathan be able to do that. After the baptism we went back to my parents house and had my mom's yummy pulled pork sandwiches, great potato salad and a awsome cake. Emma had said she wanted a cake with flowers and butterflies that were in a meadow and Lisa did just that, it was beautiful. We had a good time just hanging around and eating. Emma opened some presents, and then we had cake. We were so glad to have alot of family able to come and support Emma. It was a special day.

Emma Pearl is 8!

My sweet Emma turned 8, yesterday. I can't believe how fast she has grown. It seems like yesterday when I was in labor for 17 hours with her. She is so driven and smart and is so determined to learn things on her own. I can't wait to see her grow and develop even more in the next few years. I am so thankful for her in my life. We went to teddy bear connection with a couple of her friends and then came home and made ice cream sundays. We went to mcds for dinner(yum just kidding) her choice and then went to cousin for another party. It was a fun day.

Fun with friends

Well I met up with a few of my good friends from high school this past weekend. We try to get together once a year if we can. We went to the Az grand resort and had lots of relaxation. Jana and I got there first and were dying of heat stoke even though I grew up there I still can't believe how hot it is, so we took a quick dip in the pool before Jamie and Taya arrived. We chatted in the room a while and then decided to go to Carrabas for dinner. It was yummy but there was a huge cockroach crawling up the wall by my head needless to say I freaked a little, I despise cockroaches. We informed well I informed the waiter by screaming and we moved to a different table, they said they found it but I didn't believe them. We finished dinner and went for a night swim which was realaxing. Went to bed about midnight and woke up went to breakfast well brunch it was 11am and then headed home. It was a nice weekend and my sweetie was so good to take care of all the kids. I had fun and look forward to next year.

All four of us getting ready for a night swim, the water was so nice.

My friend Jamie, she is such a sweetheat, it was so good to see her again.

girls weekend!

Our comfy bed, that I slept until 8:30 in the morning, don't think I have done that since I have had kids.

Well no pict of the party but the cake sure did turn out good it was so yummy. It will definately be a keeper. You never know if something will turn out the first time you make it, so that was nice that it was so good. If anyone wants the recipe it is called chocolate intensity and it is on the Nestle website.

Well we are done with swimming lessons and Emma moved to the next level, thank goodness. After a month of the same class she better have passed. I think Jack and Brenna will still be the same level next summer, they still don't know how to swim on their own yet. I can't believe school starts in less than a month. I have started the clothes shopping and will go soon with the kids to get backpacks and lunch bags. I told them they have to take their lunches everyday except one day that they have their favorite lunch. Jack wants a lunch bag too, so I guess everyone gets one. I think he will be lonely without Brenna gone all day. I am looking forward to it, only 2 kids at home yipee! It is my mom's b-day today so we are going their tonight, I made a cake called chocolate intensity, hopefully it turns out. I'll post pictures of the party later.

More 4th pict.

4th of July Fun!

We had lots of fun for the 4th. We went to a barbeque in bisbee at some friends house, the kids played around their yard. We stayed for a few hours and then headed home in time to watch the fireworks. We met up with my friend Jana and her family and Nathan's sister Emily and her little by Jordan. Brig loved the fireworks and didn't fuss at all. Jack ran around most of the time with his cousin. It was great weather, and we had lots of fun.

Brig is gettin big!

I can't believe how fast time goes. Brig will be 6 months next week. He is such a little mamma's boy, which sometimes isn't fun when he just want's to be held. He is starting to get chunky, which I think is so cute. He loves to be around people and is a smiley boy. He loves to eat and gets upset when he is done. We love him lots. I love the picture of Brig and Jack, so cute.

Back to real life!

Well we are back in the swing of things after our vacation. They always seem to be too short. The kids had their first week of swim lessons last week and did pretty well. Jack was a little hesitant about putting his head under water, but after 2 days of crying he finally did it. The girls are loving it. Brig and I sit back and relax while they swim. We are finally getting more stuff done to our house. The roof was finished last week, thankgoodness before the monsoons come. Now I have little things in the house to get finished, which I always putting off, maybe I am hoping Nathan will eventually do it. Well that is all for now, not much fun going on this week.

Relaxing Week!

We had such a good time last week in Sedona. The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast. As you can see from the pictures they spent most of there time in the creek, fishing with homemade fishing poles(Emma caught 3). They loved being with all their cousins all day long. I relaxed most of the time in the cabin. We went to Sedona one day and shopped a little. Nathan was happy to be able to fly fish a little bit, it had been a while since he went. Thanks to all the family who made our vacation so fun. We love you all.

Oak Creek!