Peterson's Christmas

Hidey Ho there family!  This is Joel, Megan says it’s my turn to write the update, so here goes (I’m sure we will all hear from Dan, Scott and Ken next week).  Let’s see, we were all sick pretty much all of the last week.  The last few nights, Miles has been sleeping for over twelve hours a night.  He just can’t get better.  Tommy sleeps then starts to cough and wakes himself up, so we get to sit in the rocking chair and sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star a few times, and then he is ready to go back to bed.  Oh yea, there was also Christmas at Faylene’s house.  It was good to get all of the noisy cousins together.  We know Maizy has fun, because we don’t see her until we are on the way home.  She has such a fun time with her family.  Santa gave the kids more than they know what to do with.  Megan didn’t even find out what she was getting, this is a first.  Somehow every Christmas or birthday she finds out and ruins the surprise, but not this time.  Thanks Dan.  Thanks to all for all of the Christmas presents and thoughts.  If we got anyone sick, sorry and I hope you recover faster than we do.

Today is our 12^th anniversary.  It’s amazing that Megan hasn’t kicked me out yet.  I’m going to keep trying to make her give me the boot.  Neither of us had an idea for a gift (I used all of my creative power for a Christmas present), so we are going to town tomorrow to buy tools.  I know that I ended up on the better end of this deal.   But I’m sure Megan has some project up her sleeve to use this new anniversary present on. 

 I can’t wait to read what Dan, Scott and Ken have to say.

Christmas in Lake Havasu

Sad to hear that so many people have been sick! We've been pretty lucky this winter being sick with not much more than the common cold (knock on wood!!).  Maybe it's because it's so warm here, although we did finally have to turn out heater on at night a few weeks ago.

We had a good Christmas Eve and Christmas even though we missed being with our extended family.  We all received fun gifts and enjoyed our traditional new pj's on Christmas Eve and Cinnamon Rolls on Christmas morning.  On Christmas Eve, Taylor asked if it was okay if they woke up really early the next morning.  We didn't want to be up too early, so we told them they could come wake us up anytime after 6.  Guess who was the first one up???  Yep- Tyler!! (and no- that's not a typo!)  He was up at about 5:45 anxious to get things started :)   After discovering what Santa had left and taking turns opening the rest of the gifts, we spent the rest of the morning playing, talking on the phone, face-timing with Grandma and Aunt Mel and cleaning up all the wrapping paper. This year we made sure our camera was in a safe place before hauling out the trash though.   

We had our sweet neighbor-lady over for Christmas dinner. She brought cute little gifts for everyone and even with all the craziness our boys have to offer, I think she really enjoyed herself. She only has one son (who's a heroin addict) and one grandson (who lives in Hawaii), so she doesn't get to spend much time with family. We were glad she accepted our invitation to come over :) 

So far Winter Break has been good.  We've gotten a lot done around the house and my pre-natal appointments are now every two weeks!  Only 10 1/2 more weeks until our little Spider Rider is here :) 

Hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year?

Oh my!  Oh how I love my family....but, it is seriously getting old.....every time some or all of us try to get together, sickness runs rampant!  It has been heartbreaking to watch all of the little ones be so miserable.   And now I'm sitting at home watching Stori while her mom is on IV's at readicare,or community care or somewhere.  On the bright side, we had a beautiful chistmas Eve ...the Nativity was especially touching.  I love this special season!  Our annual celebration of Kent's birth didn't happen this year...cancelled due to various illnesses  :(  May the coming year  be filled with everything wonderful!  Love you all!

It's Christmas time!

I can't believe it is almost Christmas... we had a busy last couple of weeks! 2 weeks ago we had our relief society dinner, and the presidency was in charge, it took a while, beside making the gifts for everyone. We had a live nativity which was really neat. Grace was a beautiful Mary and Cole was a handsome wise man. Diane went all out with the costumes they looked so great.  I am glad that week is over, I even had to talk in Sacrament meeting that Sunday. I really don"t like talking, but i thought i would be nice since it was Scott's month conducting.

Lucy had her 3rd grade music program she did a great job.

This past week i was busy getting presents wrapped before the kids got out of school. we had a friends day and made sugar cookies. grace and Cole are still swimming during Christmas beak. 8-10 every morning except Christmas and new years. they are getting in really good shape. Cole had his first snowboarding trip on Friday, and is still having a little trouble walking :)

I am soo thankful for this Christmas season and for the chance to celebrate the life of our Savior. I have enjoyed conversations with the kids, and holding them just a little tighter. I am so thankful for all of you and  i love hearing about your families every week.

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, we will miss not being there with you!
We love you all!!

 

The Durst's

T'was the Week Before Christmas...........

It's been a busy week for us (as I'm sure it has been for everyone) getting things ready for Christmas.  Is Christmas Eve really tomorrow?!?!  It's been fun getting cards and updates from everyone.  Levi's bump and sore under his nose are finally looking a little better and Tyler got our outside Christmas lights fixed lastnight :)   Taylor, Jon, and Tyler are all excited to be out of school for a couple weeks.  Max misses preschool though.  Every day he asks me- "Am I going to preschool today?"  Tyler and his friend and fellow-teacher, Trevor, went golfing on Friday to celebrate getting through the first half of the school year.  They took Max and his little friend Julian too, and they had a lot of fun- especially riding on the golf carts! 

There was an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest for the teachers early this week so Tyler decided to wear the sweater he got at the last Christensen Family White Elephant Gift Exchange.  He WON the contest!!!  Yay for ugly Christmas sweaters :) 

We wish we could be in Idaho to celebrate Christmas with everyone there, but we are happy and blessed for Tyler to have a teaching job here in Lake Havasu. We hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas and a fun New Year!  Love and miss you all!----Tyler, Jen, & Boys

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, I better write on here before I feel the wrath of mom.  :-)  We hardly ever get on our computer, and if we get online, its usually on the iPad   maybe I will try and add a blog from there next time.  We are all trying to get ready for Christmas  and its hard to believe its almost that time of year in Idaho without any snow on the ground.  It has been bitter cold, so I guess that feels like winter time a little.  We had the chance to go to Temple square last weekend and to the new city creek mall.  We had a great time and the kids favorite part was of course staying in the hotel and going swimming.  We enjoyed seeing the lights and just getting out of town for a weekend.  when we lived in Texas it seemed like every month we would get out of town and go exploring.  I'm excited to be starting school in January and I an finally see an end in sight.  I'm really excited about the major I picked which is Occupational Health Science, and I got my books yesterday.  We are so excited to see those who don't live close by this week and next and wish we could see the rest of you.  Our kids are so excited for more cousins to come visit so they can play with them.  They love being close to Stori and enjoy any chance they get to play with her.  We have taken the extra time to hug our kids a little tighter each night since the horrible school shooting, and Lexi has been fascinated with it and has been watching probably too many news clips on it.  We continue to pray for the families and are heartbroken at such a horrendous act of violence.  Amanda finished grading the rest of her assignments today and has everything submitted, so has officially finished her first on campus semester and is so excited to meet the next group coming in January.  she really enjoys teaching, and I think she does a wonderful job at it.  I have bben so lucky to have such a woman in my life.  I know I just got lucky :-)  I hope everyone is doing great and we enjoy reading the posts and seeing the pics from everyone, The Idaho Christensen's with kids

Ready for Spring

I just had to drive to our nearest neighbors (the Ravstens) to drop off some papers. Instead, I ended up looking for a safe place to turn around (after driving past and realizing that they had no road) to come home. I ended up guessing where the road was because in the time it took me to turn around the road had drifted over again. It hasn't slowed down a bit all day. My kids are ecstatic. Ken and I, who have to drive tomorrow...not so much. After church the kids all bundled up and went outside with sleds and spent hours. Emmy and her three best friends from high school were all planning on coming over for dinner tonight but we told them the roads were pretty bad and to be careful. They got ready to head out and it (finally) started snowing in Logan so they decided to not risk it. It made me sad--I was looking forward to seeing all of them but I'd rather have them safe!In reality, I'm super excited for the holidays and I'm loving that we're getting some holiday snow. Just dreading driving to work the next two days (it's forecast-ed to last that long).
Here are a few highlights:
Those of you who are facebook friends with Emmy know that Daph got her FFA greenhand award and WON the creed-speaking contest. Super-excited for her. She will compete at a higher level next. I honestly think she did as well as the state winner last year. So we will see how far she can take it.
Asher has turned into a little philanthropist. Every year they set out a tree at the school for the kids to put canned foods under and my kids really get into it. Every year I help them find a couple of cans we can spare and they take them to school. The other day Asher was getting ready to go and set down his backpack for a second cause it was so heavy. I asked him what was in it and he opened it to show me. He had TEN cans of Cream of Chicken soup, three cans of beans and a box of mac and cheese. I said, "oh sweetie, we have to eat too! How many cans of soup are in there?" He said "ten." I said, "Oh you don't need to take that much" and started to pull some out and he said, "that's how many I took yesterday." Now that he had mentioned it, my food storage was looking a little thin. Two days later I walked into the pantry to get some tomato soup for spaghetti and it was all gone...  Last Thursday I gave each of the little guys 2$ for the PTA Christmas store at school. Lily came home and started wrapping all kinds of little presents for the family, Sam was excited that he had money left over, and Asher showed my the hat and gloves he bought for himself--that match the ones he bought for a friend that needed them. He can be sweet when he wants to be. :)
Like all of you, I have been pretty shaken up about the events of this past week. I walked into the faculty room at lunch time and the TV was on. I asked what was up and then saw the ongoing coverage. We eventually had to turn it off because the teachers were getting too upset. It was hard for me because my way of dealing with tragedies is to watch coverage around the clock--it makes me feel connected to the rest of the country, I guess. But we had two teachers in tears trying to cover it up before they faced their classes again so we had to shut it down.
I LOVE my job. The fifth graders who were such a challenge to me in the beginning have become my favorite age. They are just so cute. They think they are so big and grown-up and then you occasionally catch glimpses of littlekidness still in them. It's fun. It was just such an adjustment, after focusing on secondary education, and then getting an elementary library, to actually be TEACHING a FIFTH grade group. Way younger that I was trained for, and way older that what I was adapting to. But I love them. Also, they love me, so that helps. haha :) But as much as I love it, I can't WAIT for Christmas vacation. Ready to spend some time at home hanging out with my kids (we're learning "leisure" since the farm stopped being so demanding! :)
I have noticed that my posts are really disjointed. I jump from one thing to the next. I would like to do a rough draft, clean it up, polish it and then post it. But then I would never get a post up and I don't think Mom would go for that so you guys are stuck with rambling posts like this one!
One more thing: Last Tuesday I hit the -30 pound mark since I started cutting out sugar last August. Slowly slowly slowly, but at least going the right direction! I haven't dared weigh since Thursday though because I'm obviously getting sugar in something--My hands and feet have been tingling. I need to watch carefully and see where it's coming from.
That's about all the excitement from around here. Daphne turns 16 tomorrow and is hounding me to take her in to get her license. Another driver! Scared for the next insurance bill! :)
Love you all and looking forward to seeing you after the holiday!

A little Update from Arizona.....

Tyler had wrestling meets and tournaments almost every day last week, so he was gone a lot and was definitely missed.  It's been nice to have him home a little bit more the past few days.  He's anxiously looking forward to the upcoming break from teaching and wrestling. 

Here's the prego picture for those of you who asked :)

I am 28 weeks pregnant this week (only 12 more weeks to go! CRAZY!!), so that means I got to take the dreaded Glucose tolerance test this past Monday.  My results came back negative for gestational diabetes, so I was really glad for that. One less thing to worry about.  I've been keeping busy tending 2 extra kids and trying to keep up with being a mom and with all the things the Primary President is supposed to be doing.  I had the opportunity to attend a special Christmas performance that members of our stake put together.  It was very well done and really brought the spirit of Christmas to those who attended.

Taylor's primary class was invited to their teacher's house for a little end of year party last Saturday.  He had a great time and couldn't stop talking about how fun it was :)  When I got called into Young Women's last year, I decided it would be a good idea to subscribe to the New Era.  Yesterday we got the new December magazines and Taylor pulled out the New Era and read a couple articles.  He read one about dating and when he was done, he said "There was some pretty good advice on dating in there."  It's hard to believe he's getting to the age where he's starting to think about dating! Of course the actual first date is a few years away, but still!  Our kids are growing up way too fast!

Jon is growing, growing, growing!  He almost weighs as much as Taylor and is also starting to close the gap in height as well.  They currently wear the same size in shoes- a 7 in men's.  With a father who's 6'3", it will be interesting to see how tall they actually end up!  Jon's enjoying Webelos and has a really good leader who's getting him on track for earning his Arrow of Light award.

Max is Max and definitely keeps us on our toes.  His last day of pre-school for this semester was on Friday and he brought home quite a few precious little keepsakes that he made for mommy and daddy :)  So cute!  His teacher told the kids that they were surprises and that they couldn't tell their parents what they were.  Max did a very good job at keeping his little gifts for us a secret.  He said "My teacher told me not to tell you because it's a surprise, but I made something for you today." They also had a book exchange where they each picked out and wrapped a book to bring for one of their classmates. Max was very excited to give the book to his friend, Maine.  Everyone at pre-school calls Max "Super Max".

Crash Jr. 2 (a.k.a.: Levi) took his first dive off the trampoline onto the concrete last week. His poor little face got really bruised and scraped up and of course it was right before our ward Christmas Party. I'm just surprised that it hadn't happened before now.  He's also working on potty training himself.  Several times in the past couple weeks I've found him in the bathroom sitting on the toilet.  Sometimes he's made it in time and sometimes he hasn't, but it's a start, right? I guess it's time to get this little guy some pull-ups.  Levi's also become quite the singer.  He loves to sing along with the Christmas Carols in the car and throughout the day he spontaneously bursts out singing the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Happy Birthday To You, Jon-uh :)  He's also recently become fascinated (more like obsessed) with the iPad and Daddy's phone. 

Spider Ryder is kicking up a storm!  He moves a lot, especially when he hears his daddy talking to him and also when his mommy is trying to relax.  As of now, Ryder is at the top of our list as far as names go.  Both Tyler and I like it and haven't agreed on anything else, but I think we will have to wait until he's born to make a for sure decision. 

Well- that's our 2-week update since we missed posting last week.  Hope everyone is doing well! 

Christmas is in full swing at the Peterson's!

I love the view from my front porch!

Oh this week has just been filled with the Christmas spirit! As Christmas inches closer and more and more lights go up, we get more and more excited! Saturday we made a gingerbread house. It was so much fun AFTER we got the parts baked. The dough was so sticky and we couldn't get it off the wax paper. Luckily my level headed husband saved me a "crazy craft lady" episode and we got them baked. Then, the fun decorating began. The girls made the gingerbread men to go in front (our family) I'm little because two big ones didn't work and Tommy is the one driving the sleigh. Joel got some really cool "gold nuggets" from work that are like M&M's. They are candy covered chocolate that are gold and look like little nuggets. So we have a gold nugget walk that our future gingerbread houses will definitely envy. Later we went to Preston to see the lights and played at Arctic Circle. We woke up to lots of snow and it has been snowing all day with 6-8 inches predicted for tonight. Joel and I hooked the sleighs behind our mt. bikes and took the kids sledding down the road. They had more fun than I did. I would be worried about Joel driving to work but apparently we are the only town in the state getting this snow. We checked the traffic cams between here and Elko and from about 10 miles away they have very little snow and the roads are clear. So... let it snow here as long as his drive is clear! See some of you in just one week!

Radfords big week!

This was such a big week for Steven Daniel Radford.
Wednesday, after 14 months of braces, he finally graduated from orthodontics!! And after 4.5 years of school, he finally graduated from college!!! He claims getting his braces off was much better than graduating! I kind of agree. It is sad to be done with college and grow up (until law school).
He also has a job interview on Tuesday to work in I.F. as a PSR worker! I really hope he gets it!
On Dan's graduation night we had his parents and mom come over for a little dinner before the actual convocation. We didn't go to the commencement part, and we weren't too sad about that. We just went and saw him walk. Since Dan is an Art major they had a few people perform; ballet dance, trumpet solo, and ceramics show. It was interesting and Stori behaved very good for a 17 month old.
Stori's big accomplishments for the week were going to bed without her binky and sitting completely quite when Dan's parents took us out to Carinos for his graduation dinner.
My accomplishment was that I took SDR's braces off and worked 4 columns by myself because I work with girls who just don't show up! :) So glad only one more day!!!!

 

random pictures of Stori-on a walk around our complexes and supporting Mitt. She found that at Dan's parents house and walked around with it.

 Sickly Stori Rose. That was how she woke up after the first day of being sick. The one on the pillow is so cute because she just sat on that pillow for 2 days watching Christmas movies while she was so sick and lethargic. She HAD to have her babies with her.

 Yay no more braces!!

THIS THURSDAY Corey and his family come! And that means the beginning of Christmas and that means we are so excited!! I love love love this time of year and can't wait to have lots of family home to celebrate with!
P.S. we finished Harry Potter!!!!! LOVE THEM! Mom, you need to read them and then watch them

Christmas is coming.....

Only 6 more days of work before Christmas!  I really do enjoy working at The Caramel Tree......it's just that a whole month of craziness can be.....well, CRAZY!  Chris told me this morning at church that I had 70 hours of overtime on the last payperiod ending yesterday....  And, that was with Wednesdays off  :)  Tanya and Shyenne had a lot more!  So, obviously, I don't have a lot more to say.  I did get off a little early on Friday so I could attend the graduation of my newest son in in law.  It was quite enjoyable!  Astoria was mostly a good little girl and didn't give her mother too much grief.  Oh, I do have a few more things to report... I now have a very cozy and toasty upstairs family room.....after almost five years, I finally had my gas fireplace installed.  I can't wait to have a chance to enjoy it!  Also, I have sooo enjoyed giving my Christmas gifts this year....thanks to a donation from a sweet and wonderful person who actually asked that their name remain secret. (no relation to our family)   I love the goodness in people!  I hope your nativities will give you much joy this year, and in the years to come!  Being gracious when others are so kind and generous is difficult....but, I must admit that I have loved every minute of  the giving to others that was made possible because of the  gift I received!  (did you follow that :) ) 

One more thing, Shyenne loves NOTHING more (well maybe a few things.....:)  ) than making fun of people when they make fools of themselves....mostly ME!  Sometime last year, someone gave some reflective jackets to Lynne and me to wear while walking in the dark.   This alone was enough to put Shyenne into fits of laughter...then one day while we were finishing our walk, the boys were hurrying to put out the flags so they could get to school.  ( it was some holiday...can't remember which one)  They saw us walking, and told me they couldn't find the spot where they were supposed to put mine.....well, since they were so rushed, I offered to take a flag to my home.....totally not realizing how huge those things are, and what a spectacle I would make of myself walking down the stree in my bright vest, carrying an ENORMOUS flag!   Shyenne loved this story, so, being the good sport that I am and knowing it would be the best present she could possibly receive, I asked Dan to take pictures, and guilted Lynne into joining in on the gift.  The results were perfect!

Crazy Days At The Caramel Tree

Well, it's that time again.....I have been spending a lot of my time at the candy shop.....I put in 70 1\2 hours last week, and I didn't even work Wed....  Still two weeks to go :)   I can't think of anything to write,  I go in to work at 5:00 am or 6:00 am then work for 12 or 14 hours then go home. I got off at 5:30 tonight, thought I would come home and put my poor house in order.....nope.  Here I sit in front of the computer.  Maybe Wednesday...

Dumb and dumber hair?

Joel walked in on Thursday night from being in Nevada for three days. The first thing I said to him is "YOU CUT YOUR BANGS?". Yes, it is true, he got hold of some scissors. See, he asked me last week to trim the front of his hair because it was too long. I trimmed it and it looked nice, well apparently it wasn't enough. He cut it, and cut it, and cut it to get it straight and out of his eyes. What he ended up with is a straight little line across the top of his forehead, yes, it is out of his eyes. It looks a little like Lloyd on dumb and dumber.

 

He is a good sport though and even let me wait until Monday to fix it so my friend Darcy could see it at church. Did I mention that I have the greatest husband of all time?! I just love him....even if his hair looks stupid! :) We took Millie out to eat for her birthday and Grandma Betty came. It was a lot of fun and they sang some happy birthday song to her in Spanish. She reacted in typical Millie style and just froze and didn't move even when they put a giant sombrero on her head. After a minute when she was able to move again she smiled and giggled a little. She really liked it. The kids LOVED the reindeer cake. The petshops that we saw at Ross weeks ago that I though she would never think about again were quite possibly to most exciting present she could have gotten. When she opened it she yelled "The petshops I wanted at the store!" Katie called me on her actually birthday to tell me that Millie is so super smart about animals and should be teaching the lessons this week about sea creatures because she knows more about them than the teacher. She also said Millie didn't know it was her birthday. The poor girl. She got so confused about all the celebrating we were doing and then nothing on her actual birthday.



Wednesday some new kids from the ward came over to play and I got out a dozen eggs and sat it on the counter to take to their Mom and got them ready to go and came back up and this is how I found Thomas. He got a bowl that Millie had put some cute little pine cones in, added an orange, three eggs and got out a measuring cup to stir it all up. I couldn't get mad because apparently he just thought he was cooking. There were eggs running down the dishwasher, all over the granite, all over his hands and then he slid down off the stool so that fabric top got covered. What a good little helper!

 Maizy decided that she should cancel one of her activities next year but can't decide how to cut one out. She loves drama, dance and piano but that leaves her only Friday that she gets home before 5:45 or 6:00 and then on every other Tuesday she has activity days at 6:00. Miles is ready for summer. About this time every year he gets stir crazy and can't stand staying inside and he keeps saying "Boy, it's hotter than a truckload of flying monkeys in here....I'm melting" and then laughing. It is off of veggie tales but it is often very appropriate with the temperatures we get in here with our awesome wood burning stove. Did I mention that it has started SNOWING!!! Yes! We finally have some accumulation!

WE MISSED POSTING LAST WEEK I KNOW, THE WEEK JUST GOT AWAY FROM ME.
WE HAD A BUSY WEEK, GRACE WENT ON HER FIRST DATE, AND TATE TURNED 10. KENT AND KAREN WERE HERE FOR 3 DAYS BEFORE THEY HEAD OFF ON THEIR MISSION ON MONDAY.
GRACE AND HER FRIENDS PLANNED THEIR DATE - IT WAS A SCAVENGER HUNT AT THE MALL. THEY HAD A LOT OF FUN. TODD'S SON MAX TOOK TATE TO A BLAZER VS. KINGS BBALL GAME FOR HIS BIRTHDAY. ( JIMMER DIDN'T PLAY ")
MEL, WHAT FAMILY ARE YOU FROM THAT YOU DON'T LIKE COOKIES???? I THINK YOU MIGHT BE A LITTLE CRAZY :) LOVE  THE PICTURES, MOM I AM GLAD YOUR PARTY TURNED OUT WELL. IT LOOKS LIKE FUN.
FRIDAY WE HAD OUR WARD PARTY AT SILVER FALLS. IT WAS AN OVERNIGHTER, BUT ONLY MOLLY AND LUCY STAYED. NOT MY KIND OF FUN. HARD BED, LOTS OF KIDS RUNNING AROUND FOR ALL HRS  INTO THE NIGHT, NAHHH NOT FOR ME. SCOTT HAD TO GO UP EARLY THE NEXT MORNING TO MAKE BREAKFAST THOUGH.

December is still Autumn

Eph fetching a ball.

Drop, Eph!  Good boy.

It's a pecan tree.  With real pecans you can eat while you watch your dog run around.

This leaf had water on it.  Some leaves had water on them.  Some leaves had none. 

Hazel thought they should have been hazel nuts instead of pecans.

We went to the dog park for playgroup.  I took some pictures.

radford week

I thought I'd write tonight while Stori is laying on the couch being sick and watching Christmas movies. I have never known her to be so lethargic before. :( She has been sick since Wednesday; throwing up, not eating, not drinking, won't let me put her down, and doesn't even like her baths. It's very scary!!! I think we'll take her into the Dr. tomorrow.
But other than the sickness we have been up to:
Having Christmas parties in Mom's ward (the pictures turned out great by the way) and our own Christmas party in our ward. Both were very fun even with a sickly child.
Dan has been doing homework like crazy this week for Finals week. Remember how he graduates from college next week?!? AND get's his braces of next week?!?!? YAY for both! He says he's more excited for the braces to come off, but I think he's just being a wimp! ;)
I would also like it to be known that I have made cookies 3 times this winter. I feel bad that just because Dan and I don't like cookies, Stori doesn't get any. Turns our she didn't care for any of them either. ah well, tomatoes it is!

Well, Stori just threw up again.... better go! :( Love you all!!! Can't wait to see everyone soon and get all the Christmas cards!

Beautiful Grandmother and grandkids. 

The day she got sick. She layed on me the entire night and is still doing it today. :(

This is December 1st. Playing outside without socks or a coat and loving it!! (and her wearing all the ball fringe, ribbon, and rid rac from my craft).

It's Christmas Time!

I finally got up my second tree! And we're decorating the kid's tree with all of their ornaments tonight. I have a few more gifts to buy and I'm done. I am enjoying this holidays season so much more than last year when I was sweating out my last class until a few days before Christmas--I have felt cheated of that all year!
 Still not a lot going on here at our house. I feel like I am running all the time and never really accomplishing anything--but I love it! I love my calling, I love my job, and I really love the people I live with. So, although those three things keep conflicting with each other and keep my running, I don't think I would change a thing....well, I maybe would prefer to not work...but it is a great job that I love.
I have the day off today because Caleb needed a root canal (how cool are sick days? What a great invention!). I was so happy because they noticed that his wisdom tooth was coming in where the sick tooth was so they took an x-ray and we decided to just remove the tooth and let the wisdom tooth be his back molar. So instead of a root canal I got to pay for an extraction. And that is my excitement for the day. Well, that and cases of oranges at Lee's are only 14$. See what I mean about my life not being too exciting?! :)
About my family: the three little guys are still having fun with drama club. It's Mondays and Wednesdays after school and they are working on Peter Pan. It will be quite the production in the spring! haha Sam is a pirate, Asher is Michael,  Lily is Nana (yes, the dog) and a lost boy, and Maizy is the narrator  Bron still likes Middle School and choir. The school called a couple of weeks ago and asked how I felt about putting her back in resource one hour a day--I was thrilled. I wasn't very confident last year when they kind of bullied and condescended me into passing her out of  resource. Huh. Turns out her mom knew what she was talking about. Go figure. She now goes for an hour for homework help and extra reading help. She's really happy with this set-up. Caleb just bought himself an old beat-up motorcycle and is in heaven. Luckily it doesn't always work so I haven't had to be too stressed about him riding it much yet! Daphne takes her driving test next week and is over-the-moon. I've never seen a girl so excited about driving. Of course, now that FFA and her stake youth committee are ramping up for convention and trek, it will be nice to not be running her around alllllllll the time! Emmy came out again yesterday. It was fun to have her here and just stay and hang out and visit for a while. She's in the middle of finals and was able to assure me that she was pretty she's passing all of her classes. (of note: "pretty sure" and "passing"...).
And I guess that's about all I have to say right now! I do have to take advantage of being home alone in the middle of the day--that North Pole village isn't going to set itself up, after all! :)
Love you all!!!!!!!

Information about our Mom and the Mailman?

I would also like to mention that I LOVE the new picture at the top of the blog and I would like everyone to know that our Mother is "a perverted cougar". All I know is that I got it from a very dependable source who works very closely with Mother and was obviously very concerned. :)

Millie is almost 5!

Saturday was all about Millie. Her birthday is on Tuesday and Joel will be gone so I let her choose between a party and the Fun Park and she chose wisely. The Fun Park! We loved it! There is a giant jungle gym and the kids played for two hours straight as hard as they could, only stopping for drinks. I let the kids each invite a friend. Miles wanted Asher, Millie wanted Sam and of course Maizy wanted Lilly and Bronwyn which worked out good for us and the Arnolds. I let Maizy also invite her BFF Hannah since she is moving this month. Millie decided after months of being excited, that she didn't want to get her ears pierced because she thought they would use a needle. I explained to her that they didn't, but no amount of coercion helped until.... I pulled out the big guns and told her that I thought a new animal would help her be brave enough. Yes, as a matter of fact, she believed it would, and that was all it took. Her eyes popped open wide when they did it and that was it. She went silent, which, who knows what that means with Millie? She said it didn't really hurt and now she just LOVES her earrings. We had Bridget buy us a coat for her in Oregon and she wore it for pictures that she and Tommy had on Friday. Tommy was bossing around the photographer and he let him! He was trying to arrange Tommy on a chair and Tommy said "I want this chair" and went and got another chair and the photographer said that was okay and tried to get T to sit in it. Well Tommy went and got the bear and put the bear in it and stood behind the chair posing with it! It was cute but the photographer just shot the flash to make Tommy happy and then he cooperated pretty well. I don't know what our Relief Society President was thinking but I got called to the Music Committee. She said she was trying to think outside of the box but boy was she EVER! Joel also got an additional calling and is charge of "fitness" for the trek. Fun huh? And just an FYI for everyone, when a box of hair color says "deep chestnut brown" it means kind of blackish reddish. Kids and husband aren't a fan but hopefully it will mellow after a couple days of washing it. 

I was in the kitchen on the other side of the island and Joel was taking the garbage out when I heard Tommy laughing hysterically which usually isn't a good thing. I walked around the island and this is what I saw! They were having a flower fight and Tommy was winning! See the swipes on the floor between them? They got scared when they saw me and both tried to hide it by brushing it away! Miles started trying to clean off his pants too.